Edward O'Rourke

Edward Aleksander Władysław O'Rourke (; ; 26 October 1876 – 27 June 1943) was a Polish Roman Catholic priest, bishop of Riga and the first head of the bishopric of the Free City of Danzig (Gdańsk).

Early life

O'Rourke was born on 26 October 1876 in Basin, Minsk Governorate, Russian Empire (modern-day Belarus) into an aristocratic family of Irish ancestry, which included many high officers in the Russian military. The most prominent was Joseph Cornelius O'Rourke. Family held imperial titles of the Russian Empire and of the German Holy Roman Empire but also petitioned to retain the Irish count title as well, which was granted by the Tsar in 1848. His father was Michael O'Rourke and his mother Aniela Bochwic, daughter of Polish philosopher and Paulina née Majewska.

Initially, O'Rourke attended a private Jesuit College in Khyriv for two years starting in 1888. He then spent the next two years at the 1st Gymnasium in Vilnius, and finally graduated in 1898 from the Alexander Gymnasium in Riga.

He began his higher education at a Riga Polytechnical Institute, where he joined the Polish student corporation "Arkonia".

O'Rourke's position in Riga was problematic as German forces occupied the city in Sept 1917. He was appointed Apostolic Delegate for the Baltic States. In November 1921 he was also appointed the Pontifical Delegate for Russian refugees in Danzig and East Prussia, and in 1928 for Catholic Russians in Germany. He hosted a synod from 10 to 12 December 1935, but growing pressure from the Nazi-majority senate made him resign as bishop of Danzig after he had tried to appoint four additional Polish parish priests. After going to Rome, O'Rourke tried to return to his Diocese in Poznań, but his visa application was rejected by the Germans.

O'Rourke died in Rome on 27 June 1943. His successor as Bishop of Danzig (and later Gdańsk) was Carl Maria Splett. In 1972, O'Rourke's ashes were moved from Campo Verano to his former bishopric, now in Poland; they were buried in a crypt in the Oliwa Cathedral.

Ancestry and relations

John O'Rourke (1728–1786) Cornelius O'Rourke Lieutenant General Joseph Cornelius O'Rourke (1772–1849) Count Moritz O'Rourke Count Nicholas O'Rourke