Francis Joseph Monaghan

Francis Monaghan was born in Newark, New Jersey, to Thomas P. Monaghan and Anna Loretta (née Daly) Monaghan.[1] He attended Seton Hall College in South Orange, New Jersey, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1911 and a Master of Arts degree in 1913.[2] He then studied at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.

Monaghan was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Basilio Pompili in Rome on May 29, 1915.[3] He earned a Doctor of Sacred Theology degree that same year.[2]

Returning to New Jersey in 1915, he was appointed an assistant pastor at St. Paul of the Cross Parish in Jersey City, New Jersey. He was appointed as an assistant pastor for several months in 1926 at St. Mary's Parish in Roselle, New Jersey. However, later that year he left St. Mary's to become a professor of dogmatic theology and metaphysics at Immaculate Conception Seminary at Seton Hall. Monaghan then served as president of Seton Hall College from 1933 to 1936.[1] He was named a papal chamberlain in 1934.[1] That same year, he received an Doctor of Laws degree from St. Peters College in Jersey City, New Jersey.[4]

On April 17, 1936, Monaghan was appointed coadjutor bishop of Ogdensburg and titular bishop of Mela by Pope Pius XI.[3] He received his episcopal consecration on June 29, 1936, from Archbishop Thomas Walsh, with Bishops Joseph Conroy and Thomas H. McLaughlin serving as co-consecrators.[3] Following the death of Bishop Conroy, Monaghan automatically succeeded him as bishop of Ogdensburg on March 20, 1939.[3]

On September 26, 1942, Monaghan suffered a traumatic brain injury when he fell from a train platform in Watertown, New York. He was a patient at Mercy Hospital in Watertown for the next month and a half. On November 13, 1942, Francis Monaghan died from a cerebral hemorrhage and heart attack at age 52.[1][4]