Regis Canevin

{{Short description|American prelate}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = Archbishop | honorific_prefix = His Excellency, The Most Reverend | name = John Francis Regis Canevin | title = Bishop of Pittsburgh<br>Archbishop of Pelusium | image = Regis Canevin.jpg | church = Roman Catholic Church | appointed = January 16, 1903 | diocese = Diocese of Pittsburgh | predecessor = Richard Phelan | successor = Hugh Charles Boyle | ordination = June 4, 1879 | ordained_by = John Tuigg | consecration = February 24, 1903 | consecrated_by = Patrick John Ryan | birth_date = June 5, 1853 | birth_place = Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, US | death_date = March 22, 1927 | death_place = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US | motto = ''Dominus aedificet domum''<br>(May the Lord build the house) }}{{infobox bishopstyles | name = Regis Canevin | dipstyle = The Right Reverend | offstyle = Your Excellency | relstyle = Archbishop | deathstyle = | image = Regis Canevin Bishop of Pittsburgh COA.svg | image_size = 150px}}

'''John Francis Regis Canevin''' (June 5, 1853 – March 22, 1927) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania from 1904 to 1921. He was named a personal archbishop in 1904.

==Biography==

=== Early life === Regis Canevin was born on June 5, 1853, in Beatty, Pennsylvania, to Thomas and Rosanna Canevin,<ref name="history">{{cite book|title=History of Pittsburgh and Environs|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_iGROWogZLRkC|year=1922|publisher=American Historical Society|location=New York}}</ref> on a farm owned by the Sisters of Mercy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schmandt |first=Raymond H. |date=1984 |title=Some Notes on Bishop J. F. Regis Canevin of Pittsburgh (1904-1921) |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44210963 |journal=Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia |volume=95 |issue=1/4 |pages=91–107 |issn=0002-7790}}</ref> After receiving his early education at schools in Beatty, he entered St. Vincent College<nowiki/>in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, in 1871 and St. Vincent Seminary in Latrobe in 1875.<ref name="odonnell">{{cite book|last=O'Donnell|first=John Hugh|title=The Catholic Hierarchy of the United States, 1790-1922|url=https://archive.org/details/catholichierarch00odon|place=Washington, D.C.|year=1922}}</ref>

=== Priesthood === Canevin was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Pittsburgh by Bishop John Tuigg on June 4, 1879, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.<ref name="cem">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oZQuAAAAYAAJ&q=W.H.+Grattan+Flood&pg=PA10 |title=The Catholic Encyclopedia and Its Makers |date=1917 |publisher=Encyclopedia Press, Incorporated |language=en}}</ref><ref name="hierarchy" />After his ordination, the diocese assigned Canevin as a curate at St. Mary's Parish in Pittsburgh, where he remained until 1881.<ref name="curtis">{{cite book|last=Curtis|first=Georgina Pell|title=The American Catholic Who's Who|publisher=Walter Romig|location=Grosse Pointe, MI}}</ref> He then served in the same capacity at St. Paul's Cathedral Parish in Pittsburgh for five years.<ref name="curtis" /> In 1886, Canevin became chaplain at St. Paul's Orphan Asylum and the Western Penitentiary, both in Pittsburgh. He was also appointed as pastor of the mission church in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.<ref name="curtis" /> In 1888, Canevin was named chancellor of the diocese. He left that position in 1893 to serve as pastor of St. Philip's Church<ref>[http://www.saintphilipchurch.org/ St. Philip's Church]</ref> in Crafton, Pennsylvania.<ref name="nytimes">{{cite news|date=1927-03-23|work=The New York Times|title=EX-BISHOP CANEVIN}}</ref> Canevin was named rector of St. Paul's Cathedral in 1895.<ref name="nytimes" />

=== Coadjutor Bishop and Bishop of Pittsburgh === On January 16, 1903, Canevin was appointed coadjutor bishop of Pittsburgh and titular bishop of ''Sabratha'' by Pope Leo XIII.<ref name="cem" /> He received his episcopal consecration on February 24, 1903, at Saint Paul Cathedral from Archbishop Patrick Ryan, with Bishops John W. Shanahan and Leo Haid serving as co-consecrators.<ref name="hierarchy" />

On the death of Bishop Richard Phelan, Canevin automatically succeeded him to become the fifth bishop of Pittsburgh on December 20, 1904.<ref name="hierarchy">{{cite news|work=Catholic-Hierarchy.org|title=Bishop John Francis Regis Canevin|url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bcanevin.html|last=Cheney|first=David M.}}</ref> He was the first American and the first native son of the diocese to become bishop.<ref name="nytimes" /> He penned the article on the "Diocese of Pittsburgh" for the ''Catholic Encyclopedia''.<ref name="cem" />

=== Retirement and death === On January 9, 1921, Pope Benedict XV accepted Canevin's resignation as bishop of Pittsburgh and appointed him as titular archbishop of ''Pelusium''.<ref name="hierarchy" /> Regis Canevin died on March 22, 1927, at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh at age 73. He is buried at St. Mary Cemetery in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania.

==References== {{Reflist}}

== Further reading == * {{Cite book | author=Glenn, Francis A. | title=Shepherds of the Faith 1843–1993: A Brief History of the Bishops of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh | publisher=Pittsburgh: Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh | year=1993 | id=ISBN none}}

== External links == {{wikiquote|John Francis Regis Canevin}} {{wikisource|works=or|John Francis Regis Canevin}} {{commons category}}

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091231014722/http://www.diopitt.org/wel_former_bishops.php Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh History of Bishops webpage] * [https://pittsburghcemeteries.wordpress.com/tag/phelan-bishop-richard/ "Bishops' Row", St. Mary Cemetery, Pittsburgh]

{{s-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{succession box | before=Richard Phelan | title=Bishop of Pittsburgh | years=1904–1921 | after=Hugh Charles Boyle }} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canevin, Regis}} Category:1853 births Category:1927 deaths Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Pittsburgh Category:Religious leaders from Pittsburgh Category:20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States Category:Contributors to the Catholic Encyclopedia Category:American Roman Catholic clergy of Irish descent Category:Catholics from Pennsylvania