Henry Joseph O'Brien

Henry Joseph O'Brien (July 21, 1896 – July 23, 1976) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first Archbishop of Hartford from 1945 to 1968.

Biography

Henry O'Brien was born in New Haven, Connecticut, to Michael and Anna (née Sweeney) O'Brien. After graduating from New Haven High School in 1914, he studied at St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield (1914–1917) and at St. Bernard's Seminary in Rochester, New York (1917–1919). Following his return to the United States later that year, he served as a curate at St. Mary's, Windsor Locks until 1924, when he was transferred to St. Thomas Aquinas, Fairfield. When the Diocese of Hartford was elevated to the rank of an archdiocese on August 6, 1953, O'Brien was made its first archbishop. He later joined his fellow Catholic bishops in Connecticut in opposing a bill that would have permitted abortions for pregnancies resulting from rape. He attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council between 1962 and 1965. In 1965 he launched a campaign to end employment discrimination by refusing to do business with discriminatory concerns.

After twenty-three years as head of the Hartford Archdiocese, O'Brien resigned on November 20, 1968; he was appointed Titular Archbishop of Uthina on the same date. He was apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese until March 19, 1969, when his successor, John F. Whealon, was installed in the Cathedral of St. Joseph. He resigned his titular see on January 5, 1971. He died at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford on July 23, 1976, two days after his 80th birthday. He was interred in the bishops' plot at Mount St. Benedict Cemetery, Bloomfield, Connecticut.