Richard Gilmour

The Right Reverend

Richard Gilmour
Bishop of Cleveland
ChurchCatholic Church
DioceseCleveland
AppointedFebruary 15, 1872
Term endedApril 13, 1891
PredecessorLouis Amadeus Rappe
SuccessorIgnatius Frederick Horstmann
Orders
OrdinationAugust 30, 1852
by John Baptist Purcell
ConsecrationApril 14, 1872
by John Baptist Purcell
Personal details
Born(1824-09-28)September 28, 1824
Glasgow, Scotland
DiedApril 13, 1891(1891-04-13) (aged 66)
St. Augustine, Florida, U.S.
MottoFides et caritas
(Latin for 'Faith and charity')
Signature

Richard Gilmour (September 28, 1824 – April 13, 1891) was an American Catholic prelate who served as the second Bishop of Cleveland from 1872 until his death in 1891.

Early life and education

Richard Gilmour was born on September 28, 1824, in Glasgow, Scotland.[1] He was the only child of John and Marion (née Callander) Gilmour, who were Covenanter Presbyterians.[1] They immigrated to Pictou, Nova Scotia, in 1829, later settling on a farm near Cumbola, Pennsylvania.[2]

In 1842, through the recommendation of a Catholic friend, Gilmour enrolled at a school run by Father Patrick Rafferty, pastor of St. Francis Xavier Church at Fairmount, then a suburb of Philadelphia.[3] He was baptized by Father Rafferty on August 15 of that year.[4] Both of his parents later converted to Catholicism as well.[5]

In 1844, Bishop Michael O'Connor of the Diocese of Pittsburgh accepted Gilmour as a candidate for the priesthood and enrolled him at St. Michael's Seminary.[6] However, after the seminary was closed in 1846, Gilmour was accepted into Mount St. Mary's College at Emmitsburg, Maryland.[7] At Mount St. Mary's, he earned his tuition as a mathematics teacher and served as prefect of the college students.[8] He graduated with a Master of Arts degree in 1848, and then entered the seminary at the same institution.[1] Before his ordination, he was accepted to serve in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.[9]

Priesthood

On August 30, 1852, Gilmour was ordained a priest by Archbishop John Baptist Purcell at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Chains in Cincinnati.[10] He was then appointed pastor of the Church of the Nativity in Portsmouth, along with the surrounding missions.[11] He separated the English- and German-speaking parishioners in Portsmouth, becoming pastor of Holy Redeemer Church for the former while St. Mary of the Annunciation Church was established for the latter.[11] He also built St. Lawrence O'Toole Church in Ironton.[12]

In 1857, Gilmour was appointed pastor of St. Patrick's Church in Cincinnati, succeeding Father James Frederick Wood (who had been appointed Bishop of Philadelphia).[13] As pastor, he established a parochial school.[1] Gilmour then briefly served as a professor at Mount St. Mary's Seminary of the West in Cincinnati (1868–1869).[1] During this time, he published an English translation of a French book entitled Bible History.[14] In 1869, he was appointed pastor of St. Joseph's Church in Dayton, where he remained until becoming a bishop.[1]

Bishop of Cleveland

Following the resignation of Bishop Louis Amadeus Rappe from the Diocese of Cleveland in 1870, the bishops of the ecclesiastical province of Cincinnati submitted a terna, or list of three candidates, to succeed him that included Gilmour, Father Silas Chatard, and Bishop Stephen V. Ryan.[15] On February 15, 1872, Gilmour was appointed Bishop of Cleveland by Pope Pius IX.[10] He received his episcopal consecration on the following April 14 from Archbishop Purcell, with Bishops Augustus Toebbe and Caspar Henry Borgess serving as co-consecrators.[10]

At the beginning of Gilmour's tenure, the Diocese of Cleveland had 160 churches, 125 priests, and 90 parochial schools.[16] By the end of his tenure, the diocese contained 229 churches, 208 priests, and 127 parochial schools.[17] He established a diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Universe, whose first issue was published on July 4, 1874.[18] In 1886, he and the Jesuits founded St. Ignatius College (now John Carroll University).[19]

Gilmour attended the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore from November to December 1884.[20] Bishops Joseph Dwenger and John Moore were originally sent to Rome to obtain the pope's approval of the council's decrees, but faced difficulties.[21] In May 1885, the American archbishops voted to send Gilmour to Rome to assist Dwenger and Moore.[22] He arrived in Rome the following June, and secured Pope Leo XIII's approval of the decrees in September.[23] When the Catholic University of America, which had been authorized by the council, opened in November 1889, Gilmour delivered a sermon at the ceremony.[22]

Catholic education

In 1873, in his first pastoral letter as bishop, Gilmour ordered every parish to establish a parochial school where possible and also authorized priests to deny the sacraments to Catholic parents who did not send their children to parochial schools without good reason.[24] The pastoral letter sparked an anti-Catholic response from the local Cleveland Leader to the national Harper's Weekly, in which cartoonist Thomas Nast depicted Gilmour hurling thunderbolts against crouching Catholics.[25]

In 1875, the Cuyahoga County auditor, Lanric D. Benedict, listed Cleveland's Catholic schools as delinquent in paying taxes and put them up at public auction.[26] However, a year earlier, the Ohio Supreme Court had ruled that such property was not taxable.[18] Gilmour subsequently filed an injunction in the Court of Common Pleas in 1876, which ruled in his favor in 1877.[27] Upon appeal, the decision was upheld by the Ohio Supreme Court in 1883, ending the seven-year case and protecting parochial schools from taxation.[28]

Ladies' Land League and Edward McGlynn

Gilmour strongly opposed the Ladies' Land League and their "No Rent Manifesto," which he believed amounted to communism.[29] He also believed the League was turning "our Catholic women into brawling politicians."[29] When the Cleveland chapter of the League refused to disband, Gilmour excommunicated its members in 1882, saying, "Female modesty must be maintained let the cost be what it may."[29]

When Father Edward McGlynn of New York later came to Cleveland to address the Cleveland chapter of the League, Gilmour wrote to the Holy See to denounce the priest.[30] McGlynn was a strong supporter of economist Henry George, but Gilmour opposed the a possible condemnation of George's Progress and Poverty by the Holy See, which he believed would elevate George's profile.[31]

Death and legacy

Due to his declining health, Gilmour traveled to St. Augustine, Florida in March 1891 to recuperate. He died there at age 66 on April 13, 1891. Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills, Ohio is named in honor of Gilmour.[32]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Vol. V. James T. White & Company. 1891. p. 341.
  2. ^ Carr 1903, p. 27
  3. ^ Carr 1903, p. 29
  4. ^ Hynes 1953, p. 114
  5. ^ Hynes 1953, p. 114
  6. ^ Hynes 1953, p. 114
  7. ^ Carr 1903, p. 30
  8. ^ Carr 1903, p. 30
  9. ^ Carr 1903, p. 31
  10. ^ a b c "Bishop Richard Gilmour". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney.
  11. ^ a b Evans, Nelson W. (1903). A History of Scioto County, Ohio.
  12. ^ Carr 1903, p. 31
  13. ^ Hynes 1953, p. 115
  14. ^ Hynes 1953, p. 115
  15. ^ Hynes 1953, p. 113
  16. ^ Sadliers' Catholic Directory, Almanac, and Ordo. New York: D.& J. Sadlier & Co. 1872. p. 161.
  17. ^ Sadliers' Catholic Directory, Almanac, and Ordo. New York: D.& J. Sadlier & Co. 1890. p. 200.
  18. ^ a b Houck, George (1913). "Cleveland" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  19. ^ Hynes 1953, pp. 139–140
  20. ^ Carr 1903, p. 35
  21. ^ Hynes 1953, p. 160
  22. ^ a b Ellis, John Tracy (1952). The Life of James Cardinal Gibbons. Vol. I. Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Company.
  23. ^ Hynes 1953, p. 161
  24. ^ Hynes 1953, pp. 120–121
  25. ^ Hynes 1953, pp. 121–122
  26. ^ Hynes 1953, pp. 129–130
  27. ^ Hynes 1953, p. 130
  28. ^ Hynes 1953, p. 130
  29. ^ a b c Janis, Ely M. (2008). "Petticoat Revolutionaries: Gender, Ethnic Nationalism, and the Irish Ladies' Land League in the United States". Journal of American Ethnic History. 27 (2).
  30. ^ Hynes 1953, p. 183
  31. ^ Hynes 1953, p. 183
  32. ^ "History of Gilmour Academy". www.gilmour.org. Retrieved November 11, 2025.

Sources

  • Quotations related to Richard Gilmour at Wikiquote
  • Media related to Richard Gilmour at Wikimedia Commons
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