12 Facts About Francis Hodur

Bishop Franciszek "Francis" Hodur was the founder and first Prime Bishop of the Polish National Catholic Church.

Francis Hodur's excommunication was a result of his rejection of the dogmas of papal infallibility and supremacy after the Council of Trent.

Francis Hodur was consecrated a bishop in 1907 with apostolic succession by the bishops of Old Catholic Church and went on to expand the episcopate of the PNCC to manage diocesan affairs and ordain priests therein.

Francis Hodur was born on Easter Sunday, April 1,1866, to Jan and Maria Francis Hodur in the village of Zarki, 35 miles from Krakow, Poland.

Francis Hodur enrolled as a seminarian in Krakow and studied at Jagiellonian University.

Francis Hodur left Europe in December 1892 for the United States of America, where he hoped to serve Polish immigrants.

Francis Hodur made his way to the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and was sent to the seminary at St Vincent's Benedictine Archabbey in Latrobe.

When issues of contention arose between Polish Catholic immigrants in Scranton, Nanticoke, Wilkes-Barre, Plymouth, Duryea, and Dickson City, and their Irish-American bishop Michael Hoban, Francis Hodur traveled to Rome in January 1898 to seek redress from the Holy See but was unsuccessful, being excommunicated by Pope Leo XIII.

Francis Hodur was consecrated a bishop on September 29,1907, by Gerardus Gul, the Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht, the Netherlands, assisted by Bishop Jan Van Thiel of Haarlem and Bishop Peter Spitz of Deventer.

Francis Hodur then served as the first Prime Bishop of the Polish National Catholic Church and consecrated other bishops, ensuring the maintenance of apostolic succession.

Francis Hodur's funeral was attended by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Charles L Street, suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Chicago, and Bishop Frederick J Warnecke of the Diocese of Bethlehem, along with other prominent Episcopal Church leaders.

Francis Hodur was succeeded as Prime Bishop by Leon Grochowski.