Most Reverend Patrick Aloysius McGovern
1897-1901

Patrick Aloysius McGovern (1912-1951), the austere and formidable fourth bishop of Cheyenne, was a native and priest of Omaha.  Bishop McGovern held two synods, one at the beginning of his administration (1913) in order to introduce himself to the priests, and one at the end (1948) to introduce the new coadjutor bishop, Hubert Newell.  The further purpose of both synods, which included only priests, was to provide for the orderly government of clergy and people and to promote ecclesiastical discipline.  At the 1913 synod, Bishop McGovern promulgated the decrees of the plenary councils of Baltimore and the statutes of the first synod of the diocese of Omaha in order to place the governance of the diocese on a regular juridical foundation.  Similarly, the 1948 synod passed regulations regarding the conduct and duties of priests, administration of sacraments, conduct of liturgy, preaching and giving instructions, and the care of temporalities, all to accord with the 1917 code of Canon Law.  Himself an orphan, Bishop McGovern was very much concerned about the plight of orphans in Wyoming, and worked tirelessly to establish St. Joseph’s Children’s Home (1930) and to obtain Sisters to care for the orphans, eventually welcoming Franciscans Sisters from Wisconsin.  By 1990 St. Joseph’s had become a home for troubled children and had a lay administration.  In 1941 the diocese of Cheyenne became suffragan of the newly created metropolitan province of Denver.