Michael Francis Egan OFM was an Irish, later American, prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was born in Ireland in 1761, and joined the Franciscan Order at a young age. He served as a priest in Rome, Ireland, and Pennsylvania and became known as a gifted preacher. In 1808, Egan was appointed the first Bishop of Philadelphia, and held that position until his death in 1814.
About Michael Francis Egan in brief
Michael Francis Egan OFM was an Irish, later American, prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was born in Ireland in 1761, and joined the Franciscan Order at a young age. He served as a priest in Rome, Ireland, and Pennsylvania and became known as a gifted preacher. In 1808, Egan was appointed the first Bishop of Philadelphia, and held that position until his death in 1814. Egan’s tenure as bishop saw the construction of new churches and the expansion of the Catholic Church membership in his diocese. Much of his time was consumed by disputes with the lay trustees of his pro-cathedral, St. Mary’s Church in Philadelphia. He died in Philadelphia, probably of tuberculosis, in 18 14. The exact location of his birth is disputed. Early biographers believed he was possibly born in Galway; more recent scholarship suggests it was Limerick. He joined the Order of Friars Minor and studied at the Old University of Leuven and Charles University in Prague.
He received minor orders, subdiaconate, and diaconate at Mechelen, in modern-day Belgium, in 1785 or 1786. He remained in Ireland until 1787 or 1788, when he may have made a visit to the United States. He arrived in 1802 to serve as assistant pastor to Louis de Barth at Conewago Chapel in Adams County. He became one of the pastors of St. Mary’s Church at Philadelphia in 1803, and presided over many funerals during a yellow fever outbreak in the city that year. He established a province of Franciscans in the U.S. for the first time in 1804, independent of the Irish Franciscoans who were then supervising the American mission. Two years later, a parishioner willed Egan some land along the Yellow Creek in Indiana County, for the establishment of aFranciscan church.
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