Patrick Richard Heffron
Patrick Richard Heffron (June 1, 1860 – November 23, 1927) was the second Roman Catholic bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona, in Winona, Minnesota.[1]
Patrick Richard Heffron | |
---|---|
Bishop of Winona | |
Church | Catholic Church |
Diocese | Winona |
Appointed | March 4, 1910 |
Predecessor | Joseph Bernard Cotter |
Successor | Francis Martin Kelly |
He was born in New York City. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest for what is now the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. On March 4, 1910, Pope Pius X appointed him Bishop of the Winona Diocese; he died in 1927 while still bishop.[2]
On the morning of 27 August 1915, he was shot twice while celebrating private mass by a disgruntled priest named Laurence M. Lesches, who after many reassignments had demanded a parish of his own and had been turned down because of his arrogant behavior and emotional instability.[3] Heffron survived, but the paranoid Lesches was committed to an insane asylum where he remained until his death in 1943.[4] This incident, which was followed by accidental deaths among some of Heffron's acquaintances, is the explanation given for the supposed haunting of Heffron Hall by Lesches.[5]
References
- "The History of the DIOCESE OF WINONA". Diocese of Winona. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
- Cheney, David. "Bishop Patrick Richard Heffron". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
- Ehrlick, Darrell (2008). It Happened in Minnesota. Kearney, Nebraska: Morris Book Publishing. pp. 73–75. ISBN 9780762743322.
- "Answer Man: Winona bishop survived 1915 shooting". Post Bulletin. Rochester, Minnesota. September 4, 2015. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
- Michael Norman. The Nearly Departed. Minnesota Historical Society, 2009.