Thomas Francis Lillis

Thomas Francis Lillis (March 3, 1861 – December 29, 1938) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Leavenworth in Kansas (1905–1910) and as bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City in Missouri (1913–1938).

Biography

Early life One of eleven children, Thomas Lillis was born on March 3, 1861, in Lexington, Missouri, to James and Margaret (née Jordan) Lillis. His parents were both Irish immigrants; his mother was born in County Cork while his father was from County Clare and worked as a railroad contractor and later police commissioner of Kansas City under Governor Meredith Marmaduke.

Thomas Lillis attended public schools in Lafayette County, Missouri. before studying at Niagara University in Lewiston, New York, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree. After his ordination, the diocese assigned Lillis as a curate at a parish in Shackleford, Missouri. In 1887, he was appointed pastor of a parish in Kansas City Lillis was appointed rector of St. Patrick's Parish in Kansas City in 1888 and served as vicar general of the diocese.

Bishop of Leavenworth On October 24, 1904, Lillis was appointed the second bishop of Leavenworth by Pope Pius X. He received his episcopal consecration on December 27, 1904, from Archbishop John J. Glennon, with Bishops John Hogan and John Francis Cunningham serving as co-consecrators at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Kansas City, Missouri. He was installed at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle in Leavenworth, Kansas, on January 2, 1905. During his tenure, he established several new congregations, churches, and parochial schools.

Coadjutor Bishop and Bishop of Kansas City At the request of the clergy of Missouri, Pope Pius X named Lillis as coadjutor bishop of Kansas City and titular bishop of Cibyra on March 14, 1910. He later succeeded Bishop Hogan as the second bishop of Kansas City upon the latter's death on February 21, 1913. Lillis delivered the invocation at the second session of the 1928 Republican National Convention in Kansas City, Missouri.

In 1933, Lillis drafted a resolution signed by his fellow Catholic bishops in an effort to end lynchings of African-Americans. In 1935, he was appointed an assistant at the pontifical throne by Pope Pius XI. He served at Kansas City for twenty-five years, until his death there on December 29, 1938 at age 77.