Gerald Patrick Aloysius O'Hara was an American prelate of the Catholic Church.
27 Facts About Gerald O'Hara
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Gerald O'Hara served as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, as bishop of the Diocese of Savannah in Georgia, as papal regent to Romania, apostolic nuncio to Ireland, and as apostolic delegate to Great Britain.
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Gerald O'Hara was born on May 4,1895, in the Green Ridge section of Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Patrick James and Margaret O'Hara; both of whom were of Irish descent.
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Gerald O'Hara attended Our Mother of Sorrows School and St Joseph's College High School, both in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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From 1911 to 1918, O'Hara studied at St Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia He then entered the Pontifical Roman Seminary in Rome, obtaining a Doctor of Divinity degree in 1921.
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Gerald O'Hara was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia by Cardinal Basilio Pompili in Rome on April 3,1920.
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Gerald O'Hara earned a doctorate in canon and civil law from the Pontifical Roman Athenaeum Saint Apollinare in 1924.
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Gerald O'Hara spent several years studying abroad, traveling through Europe and the Middle East.
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Gerald O'Hara served as a judge on the archdiocesan matrimonial court.
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Gerald O'Hara received his episcopal consecration on May 21,1929, from Cardinal Dougherty, with Bishops John MacGinley and Thomas O'Reilly serving as co-consecrators, at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia.
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Gerald O'Hara was president of the American Catholic Historical Association from 1934 to 1936.
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On November 26,1935, Gerald O'Hara was appointed the ninth bishop of Savannah by Pius XI, succeeding Bishop Michael Keyes.
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The cathedral was built on the former site of Ku Klux Klan gatherings, and Gerald O'Hara even invited Imperial Wizard Hiram Evans to the dedication.
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Gerald O'Hara once criticized the Savannah Press after the newspaper ran a whimsical St Patrick's Day editorial repeating an old story about Saint Patrick.
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Gerald O'Hara allegedly granted upper class women in Ireland to court men during leap years.
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Gerald O'Hara was considered a leader in church efforts to improve race relations, launching a seven-point social and racial program in the 1930s, calling for aid to African American children and heightened awareness of rural issues.
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On July 4,1950, in a meeting at the Romanian foreign ministry, government officials accused Gerald O'Hara of spying for the United States, the United Kingdom and Turkey.
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Gerald O'Hara later said the chauffeur had been tortured and forced to lie.
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On returning to New York City, Gerald O'Hara denied the Romanian allegations, calling them "lies from first to last".
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On July 12,1950, Gerald O'Hara was granted the personal title of archbishop by Pope Pius XII.
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Gerald O'Hara was appointed apostolic nuncio to Ireland on November 27,1951.
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Blanshard claimed that Gerald O'Hara was violating the 1950 McCarran Internal Security Act by serving as an agent of a foreign power.
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On June 8,1954, Gerald O'Hara was named apostolic delegate to Great Britain.
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In May 1958, Gerald O'Hara was admitted to St Anthony at Cheam Hospital in London with a severe case of bronchial pneumonia after returning to the United Kingdom from a foreign trip.
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In 1960, Gerald O'Hara became the first papal representative to visit the British House of Parliament in more than 400 years.
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Gerald O'Hara died on July 16,1963, from a heart attack at his residence in the Wimbledon section of London, aged 68.
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Gerald O'Hara's body was then flown back to Philadelphia, where he is buried in the crypt of the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul.