Patrick William Riordan

Styles of
Patrick William Riordan

Most. Rev. Patrick William Riordan

Patrick William Riordan (August 27, 1841 – December 27, 1914) was a Roman Catholic priest and the second Archbishop of San Francisco.

Patrick W. Riordan, was born in Chatham, New Brunswick, on August 27, 1841. His parents, Matthew Riordan and Mary Dunne. Riordan studied at the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana; American College, Rome, Italy; Colonial Seminary, Paris, France; American College, Louvain, Belgium; and was a member of the first class at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. He was ordained by Englebert Cardinal Stercks, (Archbishop of Malines) to the presbyterate on June 10, 1865, for the Archdiocese of Chicago.He left Belgium for Chicago, October 10,1866. He served as a professor of theology at the Seminary of St. Mary of the Lake, and as a pastor in Joliet and Chicago.

He was appointed co-adjutor Archbishop of San Francisco and Titular Bishop of Casaba on July 17, 1883. He was consecrated to the episcopate on September 16, 1883, and succeeded to the see on December 21, 1884. Riordan built the second, St. Mary's Cathedral (1891-1962) on Van Ness Avenue. He established Saint Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, California.

He died, December 27, 1914, in San Francisco, California. He is buried in the Archbishop's Crypt. Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma, California.

[edit] Sources

Gaffey, James P. Citizen of No Mean City: Archbishop Patrick Riordan of San Francisco (1841-1914), Wilmington, North Carolina: A Consortium Book, 1976. ISBN:0-8434-0628-3
Thomas F. Meehan, "San Francisco", Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911
"Archbishop Patrick William Riordan", www.Catholic-Hierarchy.org, retrieved January 15, 2006