Philip Hannan

Philip Matthew Hannan (May 20, 1913 – September 29, 2011) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church.

Philip Hannan was born on May 20, 1913, in Washington, D.C. His father, Patrick Francis Hannan, immigrated to the United States at age 18 and was nicknamed "The Boss".

His mother was Lillian Hannan.

Patrick Hannan found work as a plumber, building his trade into a flourishing business that weathered even the Great Depression.

Philip Hannan attended St. John's College High School in Washington.

He captained the winning cadet company in his senior year there.

Before high school graduation, he surprised his family by saying that instead of taking the entrance exam to gain admittance into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he would become a priest.

He then began college studies at St. Charles College in Catonsville, Maryland, and then at the Sulpician Seminary at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

After graduating from Catholic University in 1936 with a master's degree, Hannan traveled to Rome to study at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.

Hannan received a Licentiate of Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and later earned a Doctor of Canon Law degree from Catholic University.

While in Rome, Hannan was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Baltimore-Washington by Ralph Hayes on December 8, 1939.

In the summer of 1940, due to World War II, all American seminarians were ordered to leave Italy by the U.S. Secretary of State, prompting Hannan to return to Washington.

He would later write a book, Rome: Living under the Axis, detailing his experiences under the Fascist Regime in Italy.

After returning to Washington, Hannan was assigned as curate at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Baltimore, Maryland.

When the Archdiocese of Washington was split from the Archdiocese of Baltimore on November 15, 1947, Hannan was incardinated, or transferred to the Archdiocese of Washington.

In 1948, he was appointed vice chancellor of that archdiocese.

While he was vice chancellor, Hannan met then Congressman John F. Kennedy.

For the next 14 years, Hannan would serve as a unofficial advisor to Kennedy on matters of religion and social justices.

In 1951, Hannan established the Catholic Standard in Washington and served as its editor-in-chief.

Later that year he was named chancellor of the archdiocese, and Pope Pius XII honored Hannan in 1952 by naming him a monsignor.

He served as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington from 1956 to 1965 and as the eleventh archbishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans in Louisiana from 1965 to 1988.

Pope Pius XII named Hannan on June 16, 1956.

as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington and titular bishop of Hieropolis; he was consecrated in the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle on August 28, 1956.

Hannan was part of the U.S. delegation to the Second Vatican Council, where he served as a press officer.

Hannan was in Rome for the Second Vatican Council in November 1963 when news reached him about the assassination of President Kennedy, forcing his immediate return to Washington.

At Kennedy's state funeral mass, Cardinal Richard Cushing was the principal celebrant.

The Kennedy family asked Hannan to deliver the homily at the "low" or recited Requiem Mass.

This responsibility normally would have fallen to the Archbishop of Washington at the time, Patrick O'Boyle, but he allowed Hannan to perform it.

During the Fourth Session of Vatican II, specifically on September 29, 1965, Hannan was appointed as the eleventh archbishop of New Orleans, succeeding Archbishop John Cody (later Cardinal), who had been transferred to Chicago.

He moved to New Orleans only weeks after Hurricane Betsy hit the city, and he became a spiritual leader during the rebuilding of both the city and the archdiocese.

He presided over the New Orleans archdiocese during a time of great change.

The Second Vatican Council concluded on December 8, 1965, and Archbishop Hannan led the effort to implement the Council's policies of reform within the archdiocese.

Hannan instituted a Social Apostolate program in 1966 which now provides over 20 million pounds of free food each year to 42,000 needy women, children and elderly.

He also reformed the Archdiocesan Catholic Charities system, which now serves as the largest non-governmental social service agency in the New Orleans metropolitan area.

At the same time, the demographics of the city were changing, as Catholic whites moved to the suburbs, while Orleans Parish became increasingly Protestant.

After the entry of the United States into World War II, Hannan joined the United States Army and was commissioned as an officer and chaplain to the 82nd Airborne Division.

He ministered to the paratroopers during the fighting in the Ardennes Offensive in Belgium.

Hannan witnessed the liberation of starved prisoners at the Wöbbelin concentration camp in Ludwigslust, Germany.

After his discharge from the army, Hannan served briefly as pastor of Cologne Cathedral Parish in Cologne, Germany, during the American occupation.

After returning to Washington, Hannan was assigned as an assistant priest at Saint Mary Mother of God Parish.