21 Facts About Thomas Bonacum

Thomas Bonacum was an Irish-born American prelate of the Catholic Church.

Thomas Bonacum was the first bishop of the Diocese of Lincoln in Nebraska, serving from 1887 until his death in 1911.

Thomas Bonacum was born January 29,1847, in Penane, near Thurles, County Tipperary in Ireland, the youngest of four children of Edmund and Mary Bonacum.

Thomas Bonacum was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of St Louis on June 18,1870, at St Mary of Victories Church in St Louis.

Thomas Bonacum was ordained by Bishop Joseph Melcher, the Bishop of Green Bay.

Thomas Bonacum then served as pastor of St Peter's Parish in Kirkwood, Missouri.

Thomas Bonacum then furthered his studies in Europe, attending the University of Wurzburg in Bavaria for two years.

Thomas Bonacum remained there for a year before serving as pastor of Holy Name Parish.

Thomas Bonacum greatly impressed the bishops at the council, who nominated Bonacum to be the first bishop of the proposed Diocese of Belleville.

However, the establishment of the diocese was postponed for three years and Thomas Bonacum remained at St Louis during that time.

On July 7,1887, a cablegram from Rome announced that Pope Leo XIII appointed Thomas Bonacum to be the first bishop of the newly erected Diocese of Lincoln.

Thomas Bonacum received his episcopal consecration on November 30,1887, from Archbishop Kenrick, with Bishop Louis Fink and Bishop James O'Connor serving as co-consecrators, at St John's Church in St Louis.

Thomas Bonacum was installed on December 21,1887, at St Teresa's Pro-Cathedral.

In 1888, Thomas Bonacum sued Patrick Egan, a prominent Lincoln citizen and later US Ambassador to Chile, for failing to pay a pledge he had made for the improvement of St Teresa's Pro-Cathedral.

In 1891, Thomas Bonacum brought Rev Martin Corbett of Palmyra, Nebraska, with whom he had many quarrels, before a diocesan court that consisted of five other priests.

The charges against Corbett were dismissed, but Thomas Bonacum tried to remove Corbett from his position in 1894.

Thomas Bonacum gained a victory when the libel suit was dismissed, but it was still the first time a Catholic bishop had been brought to criminal court in the United States.

In retaliation, Thomas Bonacum tried in 1895 to expel one of those priests, William Murphy, who had presided over the diocesan trial that originally ruled in Corbett's favor.

In 1900, Thomas Bonacum tried to remove Murphy from his position as pastor of St Vincent's Church in Seward, Nebraska, which included charge of Immaculate Conception Church in Ulysses, Nebraska.

When Murphy refused to step down, Thomas Bonacum excommunicated him and brought action in court to have him removed from the church property.

Thomas Bonacum died from complications of pneumonia and Bright's disease on February 4,1911, aged 64.