My Genealogy Hound

REV. THOMAS J. O’CONNELL is the beloved and honored pastor of the Holy Cross Church at Ovid, where he has been located since April 20, 1876. The steady growth of the church, and its high standing in the regions round about, attest the worth of the pastoral labor and the faithful attention which it has received from its pastor and priest. The church was organized and built in 1849 by Rev. Father Gilbride, who paid it regular visits until it was able to sustain a pastorate of its own. During these years it has steadily grown, and its congregation now numbers some fifteen hundred souls. In 1851 the first church was completed and dedicated by Bishop John Tiemon, of Buffalo, previous to which time services had been conducted in private houses. About 1865 Father Keenen built an addition to the old church. In 1876, when the present minister came to its pulpit, it had grown to a congregation numbering nearly twelve hundred, and its growth since that time, while not rapid, has been steady and sure. The church also owns a fine and commodious parsonage, which was purchased in 1869 for $6,000, by Rev. James J. O’Conner, of Seneca Falls, at that time pastor at this place.

Father O’Connell, our subject, is a native of Ireland, and was born in County Galway, near Dunmore, in 1846. His parents, James and Sarah (Cunningham) O’Connell, had a large family. Mrs. O’Connell is still living, residing in Ireland. Two of her children are priests in America: Patrick O’Connell, at Sheffield, Bureau County, Ill., and the pastor of the church at Ovid. When a young boy, Thomas spent five and a-half years at St. Jarlath’s College, in his native town, and five years at the Irish College, in Paris, France, studying under the great Irish patriot, Most Rt.-Rev. John MacHale, Archbishop of France. This institution is almost under the shadow of the great Pantheon, where the students learned great lessons of what the Irish race had done for the world and for the Holy Church. While in the latter college the present Cardinal Logue, Archbishop of Armagh, was Father O’Connell’s professor of dogmatic theology and of the Irish language.

In 1871 the young theologian came to America, and June 22 of that year was ordained a priest by the Bishop of Rochester, at St. Bonaventure Seminary in Allegany, Cattaraugus County, N. Y. He was first attached to St. Patrick’s Cathedral at Rochester, and after a few months was transferred to the Holy Family Church at Auburn. After passing three years and a-half there, he returned to Rochester for three months, and then for the same length of time was at Mount Morris, where he did good work in assisting in the reduction of the debt on the church. While he was at that point he also attended to the spiritual interest of missions at Nunda and Geneseo. The church at Ovid is now out of debt, has a good property, and presents a bright prospect for the future. Father O’Connell is an earnest worker, and takes a kindly interest in the spiritual welfare of a few faithful families in Romulus, where he has organized the Sacred Heart Church, of which he has had pastoral charge since 1876.

The line of priestly service which the Ovid church has received includes some notable names in the Roman Catholic priesthood. Father Gilbride was in charge in 1852 and the year following. He died in Waterloo, that year, and was succeeded by Father Kinney. The next year Very Rev. W. Gleason, Vicar-General of Buffalo, entered upon the administration of the church, remaining five years. He was an earnest, eloquent and capable man, and exercised a great influence over a wide field of labor. In St. Mary’s Church at Waterloo he also conducted services; bought the church at Trumansburg, and attended to its care and growth. In 1859 Father Maguire was in charge of the church at Ovid for six months. Fathers Martin, Cavanaugh, Stephenson, Cannon, Dennis English and McMannis were in charge for the next three years. In 1863 Father Keenen came to the church, remaining for six years, and was succeeded in the year 1869 by Father O’Conner, who gave way to our subject in 1876. The congregation is now engaged in building a fine edifice to cost about $30,000.

While Father O’Connell has been a very busy man, he has not neglected opportunities for broadening his knowledge of the world. In 1867 he attended the Paris Exposition; was at Philadelphia to learn what he could at the Centennial Exposition in 1876, and was at the World’s Fair at Chicago in 1893. He has taken but one long vacation, in 1886, when he traveled in Ireland for three months; he visited his Alma Mater at Paris, and also went to Rome.