Nominee: John Mark Gannon
by John H. Rosenhamer

John Mark Gannon was Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie for

46 years. Bishop Gannon was born in Eire in 1877. He was ordained in 1901, and appointed Bishop of Erie in 1920. He served for 46 years till his retirement in 1966. Archbishop Gannon died in 1968, having been a priest for 67 years and a bishop for 48.

During the earlier stages of the Mexican Revolution, when wearing clerical garb, etc. was illegal and no training facilities for Mexican clergy were allowed in that country, he he was appointed chairman of the Bishops' Committee to establish a seminary at Montezuma, New Mexico.

Education was paramount in his thinking. In 1921 he founded Cathedral Preparatory School for Boys. 1933 marked the founding of Cathedral College, which became Gannon University. In the 40's he took the old orphanage building on East 3rd St. and founded St. Mark's Seminary for the training of Diocesan Priests. During the 50's, he led the Diocese in a fund drive from which came the new St. Mark's (now the Diocesan Offices) and regional high schools in Bradford, DuBois, St. Mary's, Oil City and Sharon.

At this time two homes for the aging were established in the Sharon and DuBois area, and St. Mary's Home in Erie was expanded.

Bishop (became a personal Archbishop in 1953)Gannon presided over the greatest growth of the Diocese of Erie. He was not only was he interested in Education. Social Services saw the foundation of Gannondale and Harborcreek Schools.

On the national front, he was chosen the director of the Press Department of the National Catholic Welfare Conference and founded the National Bureau of Information within the Department. In November, 1939, Bishop Gannon was appointed chairman of the Commission for the Canonization of the Martyrs of the United States. In late summer of 1942, Bishop Gannon served as the personal representative of the American hierarchy at the Eucharistic Congress in Brazil. He was the principal speaker at the Fiftieth Anniversary celebration of the Pontifical Coronation of the Venerable Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on October 12,

1945 in Mexico. In 1945, he was named treasurer of the National Catholic Welfare Conference. For five years thereafter, his signature appeared on checks for enormous sums that were targeted for the relief of millions of people both at home and abroad in those critical years after World War II.

Archbishop John Mark Gannon was a giant among Erie natives, and his legacy lives not only in Erie, but in the many lives he touched all over the world in his days as Bishop of Erie.

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