Joseph Michael Gilmore

Joseph Michael Gilmore (March 23, 1893 – April 2, 1962) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Helena in Montana from 1936 until his death in 1962.

Biography Joseph Gilmore was born in New York City on March 23, 1893, to John Joseph and Mary Teresa (née Hanrahan) Gilmore, an Irish family. When Joseph was five, in 1898, his family moved to Anaconda, Montana, where his father John worked in the mining industry.

Joseph Gilmore studied at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1911. Following his return to Montana, Gilmore served as a professor at Carroll College in Helena. In 1920, he became pastor of St. Teresa's Parish in Whitehall, Montana. He received his episcopal consecration at the Cathedral of Saint Helena in Helena on February 19, 1936, from Archbishop Amleto Giovanni Cicognani, with Bishops Edwin O'Hara and Joseph McGrath serving as co-consecrators. During his 26-year-long tenure, Gilmore presided over a period of great growth for the diocese. In addition to the material development, he developed programs to foster vocations, help resettle refugees from World War II, retrain unskilled workers, aid in adoptions, and promote the lay apostolate. The Vatican named Gilmore an assistant at the pontifical throne in 1959.

At age 69, Joseph Gilmore died unexpectedly on April 2, 1962, in San Francisco, California, while attending the installation of Archbishop Joseph McGucken.