Mathias Clement Lenihan

Mathias Clement Lenihan (October 6, 1854 – August 19, 1943) was a 20th-century archbishop in the Catholic Church in the United States. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Great Falls in the state of Montana from 1904 to 1930.

Biography Early life and ministry Born on October 6, 1854, in Dubuque, Iowa, Mathias Lenihan was educated at St. Joseph College in Dubuque, Iowa, St. John's College in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin and the Grand Séminaire de Montréal in Montreal, Quebec.

Lenihan was ordained a priest in Montreal on December 20, 1879, by Archbishop Édouard-Charles Fabre for the Diocese of Dubuque. He was the first native-born Iowan to be ordained a priest. From the time of his ordination until 1904 he was involved in parish ministry in the diocese, and later archdiocese, of Dubuque. His first assignment was at a parish in Vail, Iowa and his second was at Marshalltown, Iowa. In Marshalltown he founded St. Thomas Hospital, named in memory of his brother, Bishop Thomas Mathias Lenihan of the Diocese of Cheyenne.

Bishop of Great Falls On August 26, 1904 Pope Pius X named Lenihan as the first bishop of Great Falls. He was consecrated a bishop at Saint Raphael Cathedral in Dubuque on September 21, 1904, by Archbishop John Joseph Keane of Dubuque. The co-consecrators were Bishops James John Keane of Cheyenne and Joseph Bernard Cotter, of Winona.