PAPAL DELEGATE FROM BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN
NA GR. GERALD PATRICK O'HARA, ArchbishopVI Bishop of Savannah-Atlanta and Papal Nuncio to Ireland, who has been appointed Apostolic Delegate to Great Britain, has come to Dublin and now to London from behind the Iron Curtain.
For some years he was Regent of the Nunciature in Bucharest but in 1950, after a series of trials Cif Latin and Byzantine rite clergy, he Was expelled from Rumania.
On his arrival in Rome, the Holy Father conferred upon him the personal title of Archbishop.
His appointment as the first American prelate to hold an appointment In England provides another link in a chain binding the Hierarchic' of Britain and the United States. The first member of the Hierarchy of the United States, Archbishop Carroll of Baltimore, was consecrated on August 15, 1790, by Bishop Wahnesley, Vicar Apostolic, in the chapel of LuIworth Castle.
Youngest Bishop
Archbishop O'Hara—SaCeeSSOT to Archbishop Godfrey of Liverpool, who was Apostolic Delegate for 15 years—was the youngest Bishop in the world. He was appointed at the age of 33 and consecrated on May 5, 1929, the day after his 34th birthday.
He retains the episcopal see of Savannah-Atlanta.
He is at present in Rome, having gone there to attend the canonisation of Pope St. Pius X.
In the Basilica of St. Mary Major last week he offered Mass near the body of St. Pius X for all who are suffering persecution behind the Iron and Bamboo Curtains. Representatives of the 18 countries of the "Church of Silence" were present.
He is expected back in Dublin shortly, but so far no date has yet been mentioned for taking up his new office in London.
His father was born in Ireland. emigrated to the United States and there became a miner. At the same time be studied at a university and eventually became a dentist.