The Archbishop Martin John O'Connor CollectionAn inventory of the personal papers and photographs of Archbishop Martin John O'Connor at The American Catholic History Research Center and University ArchivesContact Information:
Biographical NoteMartin John O'Connor was born in Scranton, PA on May 18, 1900 to Martin John (senior) and Belinda (Caffrey) O'Connor. He was the long-time Rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome (1946-1963), and the founding President of the Papal Commission for Social Communication (1948-1971). He also served as titular Archbishop of Laodicia (1948-1970) and papal nuncio to Malta (1965-1969). O'Connor completed a Ph.D. in Theology at the Pontifical North American College in Rome in 1924, and a Ph.D. in Canon Law at the Faculty of the Lateran in 1929. O'Connor was ordained in Rome in 1924, and then returned to Pennsylvania where he served as assistant pastor of St. Peter's Cathedral in Scranton from 1925 to 1927. He was assistant editor of the Catholic Light, the Scranton Diocesan newspaper, from 1929 to 1932. From 1925 to 1935 he was secretary to the Bishop, and then became Auxiliary Bishop of Scranton from 1943 to 1946. He also served as the Pastor of St. Mary Parish in Wilkes-Barre from 1943 to 1946. In 1946, Bishop O'Connor was called back to Rome to take over as Rector of the Pontifical North American College, which had been vacant during the years of World War II. On assuming the Rectorship in 1946, O'Connor began the rehabilitation of its buildings at Castel Gandolfo and the Via dell'Umilitá, which had fallen into disuse and been taken over by war refugees and students from other Vatican programs. In 1948, with this reconstruction two years short of completion, O'Connor broke ground for a new college campus on the Janiculum Hill, for which he had, by 1953, raised $4.5 million from the dioceses of America and Canada. The campus was officially dedicated by Pius XII in October 1953. By the time of his retirement from the school in 1963, O'Connor had built it from its initial postwar student body of 40, to 280 students, representing some 110 dioceses in North America. During these years in Rome, Bishop O'Connor accepted a charge from Pius XII (beginning in 1948), to organize a Commission for religious and didactic films. This Commission grew over the next twenty years to include all broadcast and commercial media, becoming the Pontifical Commission for Social Communications. In the early 1960s, this Commission was tasked with principal responsibility for Vatican press relations and public communication during the Second Vatican Council. Archbishop O'Connor was awarded one of Italy's highest decorations when he was named Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 1957, and in September 1959 was named titular Archbishop of Laodicia in Syria by John XXIII. Archbishop O'Connor served as a member of the General Preparatory Commission for the Second Vatican Council, and served during the Council as a member of the Commission for the Lay Apostolate. In 1966, he was appointed Vice President of the post-conciliar version of that Commission. Pope Paul VI named Archbishop O'Connor the Vatican's first apostolic nuncio to Malta in 1965; he served in this position until his retirement in 1971. In 1968, he was named consultor to the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. After his retirement, O'Connor returned to the United States in 1979. He died in Wilkes-Barre, PA on December 1, 1986. Return to the Table of Contents Scope and ContentsThis collection comprises the personal papers, records, photographs, correspondence, awards, mementos, and memorabilia accumulated by Archbishop Martin John O'Connor during a career that began with his ordination in 1924 and lasted through his retirement in 1971 at age seventy. The correspondence and diaries of Archbishop O'Connor begin during his studies in Rome and his early career in Scranton, including newspaper articles written by O'Connor during his years as the assistant editor of the Diocesan newspaper, and transcripts of his radio addresses during the 1940s. The Scranton correspondence includes Bishop O'Connor's Episcopal correspondence. The files from the early 1950s include personnel records of the Pontifical College and a partial itinerary of Bishop O'Connor's fundraising travels in America and Canada. The papers continue through his death in 1986. Included are O'Connor's materials donated by biographer (who never finished his work) Monsignor John P. Gallagher, a CUA graduate and fellow Scranton priest. The collection contains 59 boxes of files organized into seventeen series; additional, detailed processing on these materials will be performed at a later date. Box 45 contains restricted personnel records. The collection includes photograph albmus of mounted and captioned photographs, which begin with his years in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and then continue with the eventful history of the Pontifical North American College in Rome during the years of Archbishop O'Connor's Rectorship, between 1946 and 1963. This began with the extensive rehabilitation, reconstruction, and expansion of the College during the postwar years and continued with the establishment of the College as an American door to the Vatican during the Cold War years of increased American presence in Europe. The College and its Rector welcomed many significant visitors including: Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Nixon; a second visit by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy; Papal Ambassadors Clare Boothe Luce and John McCone; numerous visits by American Cardinals; and Popes Pius XII, John XXIII, and Paul VI. Extensive photographic records of two papal funerals and the ceremonies surrounding the second Vatican Council are also featured in the collection. Return to the Table of Contents ArrangementThe Archbishop Martin J. O'Connor Collection consists of 19 Series: Return to the Table of Contents RestrictionsRestrictions on AccessAccess to the O'Connor Collection was restricted until 2006, and is now open to all scholars, except for personnel records in box 45. Return to the Table of Contents Administrative InformationAcquisition InformationThe acquisition of the O'Connor Collection began in 1971 with the transfer, from Marywood College in Scranton, Pennsylvania, of four large wooden crates and eight cardboard cartons containing document files, photograph albums, miscellaneous materials, and scrapbooks. A label from this shipment (in Accession file number two) indicates that a letter of instruction for the disposition of the collection remains on file with the President of Marywood. Over the next ten years, from April 1971 to July 1980, Archbishop O'Connor sent his papers and memorabilia to the archivists and librarians of The Catholic University of America in 197 airmail and parcel post packages, and one rather large parcel sent in 1973. Finally, in 2008, the CUA Archives received a small collection of photographs, correspondence, and Archbishop O'Connor's passport, which had been in the personal files of Monsignor John P. Gallagher (1924-2007) of Scranton, Pennsylvania, who had been Archbishop O'Connor's designated biographer. Upon Monsignor Gallagher's death, Gallagher's sister, Margaret Miller, contributed the remaining O'Connor materials to the collection at CUA. Processing InformationProcessing of the manuscript portion of collection was performed in 1998 by Patrick Ramos and William J. Shepherd. Processing of the audiovisual series was performed in November 2011 by Timothy Porges. EAD markup was performed in November 2011 by Timothy Porges, and in December 2011 by Robin C. Pike. Return to the Table of Contents Related MaterialBinz, Leo, Vatican Council II Collection Hallinan, Paul J., Vatican Council II Collection Ligutti, Luigi, Vatican Council II Collection Norris, James J., Vatican Council II Collection North American College in Rome Primeau, Ernesto, Vatican Council II Collection Sheen, Fulton, Vatican Council II Collection Vatican Council II - Charles Helmsing Vatican Council II - Documentary Project Vatican Council II - Miscellany Vatican Council II - Patrick O'Boyle Vatican Council II - Rocco Caporale Vatican Council II - Val J. Peter Vatican Council II - William Bassett Vatican Council II - William Leahy Return to the Table of Contents Index TermsThis record series is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms. Persons:Cushing, Richard, 1895-1970
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969
Hesburgh, Theodore Martin, 1917-
John XXIII, Pope, 1881-1963
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1960-1999
Luce, Clare Boothe, 1903-1987
McIntyre, J. Francis A. (James Francis Aloysius), 1886-1979
Mooney, Edward, 1882-1958
Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994
Onassis, Jacqueline Kennedy, 1929-1994
Paul VI, Pope, 1897-1978. G. B. Montini/O. Marcolini
Pius XII, Pope, 1876-1958
Spellman, Francis, 1889-1967
Stritch, Samuel Alphonsus, 1887-1958
Truman, Harry, 1896-1980
Organizations:Catholic Church. Diocese of Scranton (Pa.)
Marywood College
Pontifical North American College (Rome, Italy)
Places:Castel Gandolfo (Italy)
Malta
Scranton (Pa.)
Vatican City
Wilkes-Barre (Pa.)
Subjects:Vatican Council (2nd : 1962-1965)
Bibliography"Archbishop Martin J. O'Connor," The Washington Post. December 5,1986. "Archbishop Martin O'Connor dies," The Catholic Standard. December 4, 1986. "Archbishop O'Connor 1900-1986," St. Mary's Seminary and University Alumni Bulletin. Spring, 1987. Banick, T. V. "O'Connor, Martin John," New Catholic Encyclopedia, Second Edition. Thomson Gale: Detroit, 2003, v.10, p. 546. Kurtyka, Edward J. Firmum Est Cor Meum, An Interview with Archbishop Martin J. O'Connor. The Pontifical North American College in Rome, 1971. "M. O'Connor, Archbishop, 86," The Washington Times. December 1,1986. "Martin John O'Connor." With All Patience. Diocesan Guild Studios: Scranton, PA, 1941. "Martin O'Connor," The National Catholic News Service. December 1, 1986. Return to the Table of Contents Detailed Description of the Collection
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TABLE OF CONTENTSDetailed Description of the Collection Series 1: General Correspondence, n.d. Series 2: Miscellaneous and Unfiled Correspondence, n.d. Series 3: Congratulatory Correspondence, n.d. Series 4: Episcopal Correspondence, n.d. Series 5: Scranton Correspondence, n.d. Series 6: North American College in Rome Material, n.d. Series 7: Personnel Records: Priests, n.d. Series 8: Personal Papers, n.d. Series 10: Publications, Speeches, and Clippings, n.d. Series 11: Miscellaneous Stamped Envelopes, n.d. Series 12: Scrapbooks, Photographs, and Mementos n.d. Series 13: General Correspondence, A-Z, ca. 1977-1986 Series 14: General and Personal Correspondence, ca. 1977-1986 Series 15: Diaries and Miscellaneous, ca. 1973-1986 Series 16: Oversized: Photographs, Awards, and Degrees, n.d. Series 17: Correspondence, Photographs, and Passport, 1942-1992 |
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