Emmanuel Boleslaus Ledvina

Emmanuel Boleslaus Ledvina (October 28, 1868 – December 15, 1952) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Corpus Christi from 1921 to 1949.

Biography

Emmanuel Ledvina was born in Evansville, Indiana, to George Emmanuel and Mary (née Kiefer) Ledvina.[1] His father was a native of Bohemia, and worked as an architect and construction engineer.[2] After attending parochial schools in Evansville and St. Louis, Missouri, he returned to Indiana and entered St. Meinrad's College in 1883.[3] He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Silas Chatard on March 18, 1893.[4] Ledvina then served as a curate at Holy Trinity Church in Evansville and afterwards at St. John's Pro-Cathedral in Indianapolis.[5] From 1895 to 1907, he was pastor of St. Joseph's Church in Princeton.[1] He became vice-president and general secretary of the Catholic Church Extension Society in 1907.[5] He was later named a Domestic Prelate in 1918, and an honorary canon of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1919.[1]

On April 30, 1921, Ledvina was appointed the second Bishop of Corpus Christi, Texas, by Pope Benedict XV.[4] He received his episcopal consecration on the following June 14 from Bishop Joseph Chartrand, with Bishops Cornelius Van de Ven and Joseph Patrick Lynch serving as co-consecrators.[4] He was installed at Corpus Christi on July 12, 1921.[4] During his tenure, he increased the number of priests from 32 to 160, and erected over 50 churches, 53 mission chapels, and 47 rectories.[3] He was named an Assistant at the Pontifical Throne in 1931.[1] He constructed Corpus Christi Cathedral in 1940, and a chancery office in 1947.[6] He invited the Benedictine monks of Subiaco Abbey to establish a community in the diocese and staff a new high school.[6] He also became known for his efforts among Mexican American Catholics in South Texas and for his opposition to the Ku Klux Klan.[3]

After twenty-seven years as bishop, Ledvina resigned due to poor health on March 15, 1949; he was appointed Titular Bishop of Pitanae on the same date.[4] He later died at age 84, and is buried in a crypt under the main altar of Corpus Christi Cathedral.[3]

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References
  1. Curtis, Georgina Pell (1947). The American Catholic Who's Who. VII. Grosse Pointe, Michigan: Walter Romig.
  2. Moore, James Talmadge (2002). Acts of Faith: The Catholic Church in Texas, 1900-1950. Texas A&M University Press.
  3. "GARRIGA, MARIANO SIMON (1886-1965)". Handbook of Texas Online.
  4. "Bishop Emmanuel Boleslaus Ledvina". Catholic-Hierarchy.org.
  5. O'Donnell, John Hugh (1922). "The Catholic Hierarchy of the United States, 1790-1922". The Catholic University of America Studies in American Church History. Washington, D.C. IV.
  6. "Bishop Emmanuel Boleslaus Ledvina". Roman Catholic Diocese of Corpus Christi. Archived from the original on 2010-05-05.

Episcopal succession
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Paul Joseph Nussbaum, C.P.		 Bishop of Corpus Christi
1921–1949		 Succeeded by
Mariano Simon Garriga
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