Francis Patrick Keough

Francis Patrick Keough (December 30, 1890 – December 8, 1961) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Providence in Rhode Island from 1934 to 1947 and as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Maryland from 1947 until his death.

Biography

Early life Francis Keough was born on December 30, 1890, in New Britain, Connecticut, the second and youngest son of Patrick and Margaret (née Ryan) Keough. His parents were Irish immigrants, and his father died when Francis was only five years old. He received his early education at the parochial school of St. Mary's Church in New Britain, and began his studies for the priesthood at St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield, Connecticut. After his ordination, the diocese assigned Keough as a curate at St. Rose Parish in Meriden, Connecticut. He remained at St. Rose until Nilan appointed him three years later as his private secretary in 1919. He worked to ease tensions between the French- and English-speaking members of his congregation, and reduced the heavy financial debts burdening the diocese. After the war, Keough worked strenuously to increase contributions to Catholic Charities in the diocese. These donations rose from $263,000 in 1933 to over $1 million by 1948.

Archbishop of Baltimore

On November 29, 1947, Keough was named by Pope Pius XII as the eleventh archbishop of Baltimore. He erected 18 parishes in the growing suburbs and outskirts of Baltimore. He himself moved out of Baltimore to a Long Crandon, an estate in Timonium, Maryland.

Like other Catholic bishops of the early Cold War era, Keough was a strong foe of Soviet communism. He supported the founding of the Maryland Action Guild, an anti-communist organization. At a commencement address at the University of Notre Dame in 1950, he warned that 2000 years of Christianity was "...crumbling before the juggernaut of communism."

Keough broke ground in 1954 for the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore, which was consecrated five years later in 1959. He also built many new schools, homes, orphanages and other institutions. He played a key role in the 1958 publication of Discrimination and Catholic Conscience, a joint statement by the United States Catholic Conference and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops condemning racial discrimination in the United States. Seton Keough High School in Baltimore opened in 1988 with the merger of Archbishop Keough High School and Seton High School. It closed in 2017.