Francis Brennan

Francis John Joseph Brennan (May 7, 1894 – July 2, 1968) was an American cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as dean of the Roman Rota from 1959 to 1968, and then as prefect of the Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments from 1968 until his death. Brennan was elevated to the cardinalate in 1967.

Biography An American of Irish extraction, Francis Brennan was born in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, to James and Margaret (née Connors) Brennan. He studied at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Overbrook before furthering his studies in Rome, where he attended the Pontifical Roman Athenaeum S. Apollinare and the Pontifical Roman Seminary. He was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Basilio Pompili on April 3, 1920.

Upon his return to the United States, Brennan did pastoral work in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1924 to 1928, when he became a member of the faculty at his alma mater, St. Charles Seminary. He was also an official of the archdiocesan curia of Philadelphia from 1937 to 1940. Described as a "brilliant canon lawyer", Brennan is buried in the crypt of SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral-Basilica.