Victor Joseph Reed
Most Reverend Victor J. Reed | |
|---|---|
Auxiliary Bishop of Oklahoma City-Tulsa (1957-1958) |
Victor Joseph Reed (December 23, 1905 – September 7, 1971) was an American clergyman of the
Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Oklahoma City-Tulsa
from 1958 until his death in 1971.
Early life and education
| Styles of Theophile Meerschaert | |
|---|---|
Your Excellency | |
| Religious style | Monsignor |
| Posthumous style | none |
Victor Reed was born in
Catholicism shortly before his marriage.[2] His mother was born in Canada to Irish immigrants from County Clare.[2] The eldest of five children, he had one sister, Mary Veronica; and three brothers, Collins Gerard, John Joseph, and Paul Joseph.[2] In 1910, Reed and his family moved to Bald Hill, Oklahoma, on account of his father's work.[2] They later moved to Mounds in 1912.[2] That same year, at age seven, Reed entered St. Joseph's College in Muskogee, a boys' high school run by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart.[1]
Following his graduation from St. Joseph's in 1924, Reed began his studies for the
Urban College of Propaganda in 1929.[3]
Priesthood
While in Rome, Reed was
ordained a priest for the Diocese of Oklahoma City on December 21, 1929.[4] Following his return to Oklahoma in 1930, he served as a curate at St. Joseph's Cathedral in Oklahoma City for five years.[3] During this period, he was named censor of Little Flower Magazine, published by the Carmelite Fathers, in 1932.[2] In 1935, he went to further his studies at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium.[3]
After earning his
Holy Family Cathedral in Tulsa in 1947.[3] He was made a papal chamberlain in 1949, and raised to the rank of domestic prelate in 1953.[2]
Episcopacy
On December 5, 1957, Reed was appointed
Titular Bishop of Limisa by Pope Pius XII.[4] However, before his consecration took place, Bishop Eugene J. McGuinness died and Reed was named to succeed him as the fourth Bishop of Oklahoma City-Tulsa on January 21, 1958.[4] He was consecrated on the following March 5 by Archbishop Amleto Giovanni Cicognani, with Bishops Jeremiah Francis Minihan and Stephen Aloysius Leven serving as co-consecrators, at Holy Family Cathedral.[4]
Reed's 13-year-long administration was a period of transition and turmoil for the diocese.Traditionalist Catholics picketed his residence and called for his removal, accusing Reed of following "un-Catholic" policies and participating in a "worldwide atheistic conspiracy for world domination" led by communists.[6]
Reed died from a heart attack at age 65.[5]
Bishop Reed had ordained Blessed Stanley Rother, martyred in Guatemala in 1981, to the priesthood.[7]
References
- ^ a b c d Exton, Benet S. (July 4, 2008). "Book Reviews: The Road to Renewal". Catholic News Agency.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bonner, Jeremy (2008). The Road to Renewal: Victor Joseph Reed & Oklahoma Catholicism, 1905-1971. The Catholic University of America Press.
- ^ a b c d e f Curtis, Georgina Pell (1961). The American Catholic Who's Who. Vol. XIV. Grosse Pointe, Michigan: Walter Romig.
- ^ a b c d "Bishop Victor Joseph Reed". Catholic-Hierarchy.org.[self-published source]
- ^ a b c "Transition and Turmoil: 1958-1971". Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.
- ^ "Oklahoma Catholics In Vehement Dispute". Reading Eagle. August 14, 1966.
- ^ "Blessed Stanley Rother".