KEOGH, JAMES

Editor, theologian; b. Enniscorthy, Ireland, Feb. 4, 1834; d. Pittsburgh, Pa., July 10, 1870. He immigrated to the U.S. with his parents in 1841 and settled at Pittsburgh. Keogh received his doctorate in philosophy (1851) and theology (1855) from the College of the Propaganda, Rome, and was ordained on Aug. 5, 1856. He returned to Pittsburgh, where he served as convent chaplain and pastor of a mission church at Latrobe, Pa. In 1857 Bp. Michael O'Connor appointed him professor of dogmatic theology at St. Michael's Seminary, Glenwood, Pa. He became president of the seminary in 1863 and acted also as secretary to Bp. Michael Domenec, CM, and as editor of the diocesan newspaper, the Pittsburgh Catholic. Disagreement over the management of the seminary and the editorial policy of the newspaper caused him to resign his offices in 1865. He then lectured in theology at St. Charles Seminary, Philadelphia, Pa., and became the first editor of the Philadelphia Catholic Standard, founded in 1866. He was one of the secretaries of the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore (1866), and was considered for the post of American representative in the preparatory work for Vatican Council I. He was acquiring some reputation as a lecturer and contributor to the Catholic World when ill-health forced his retirement to Pittsburgh in 1868.

Bibliography: a. a. lambing, A History of the Catholic Church in the Dioceses of Pittsburgh and Allegheny (New York 1880).

[j. j. hennesey]