Edmond Francis Prendergast (May 3, 1843 – February 26, 1918) was an Irish-born Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Philadelphia from 1911 until his death in 1918.
Church of the Immaculate Conception, Allentown c.1910
Prendergast then served as a curate at St. Paul's Church in Philadelphia until May 1866, when he was transferred to the mission in Susquehanna Depot on account of his health. He was pastor of St. Mark's Church in Bristol from 1867 to 1871. He then served at Immaculate Conception Church in Allentown until February 1874, when he returned to Philadelphia as rector of St. Malachy's Church.[2] In addition to his duties at St. Malachy's, he was named vicar general of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in 1895. He also served as director of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.[3]
Memorial window dedicated to Prendergast in St. Mary's Church in Clonmel
Archbishop
Prendergast was named the third Archbishop of Philadelphia by Pope Pius X on May 27, 1911.[4] He was later installed at the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul on July 26, 1911.[4] In attendance at his installation was the likes of Mayor John E. Reyburn and Judge Mayer Sulzberger. Due to his own advanced age (68), he received John Joseph McCort as an auxiliary in 1912. During his episcopate, he was known as a master builder and a real-estate genius. He increased the number of parishes and parochial schools for the great number of Italian and Eastern European immigrants in Philadelphia.[3]
In 1913, he opened the Archbishop Memorial Institute for the Deaf. He founded Saint Francis Country Home for Convalescents and in 1916 established Saint Edmond's Home to meet the needs of children affected by the polio epidemic.[5] In 1917, he founded St. Vincent's Orphanage, which would later become Archbishop Prendergast High School.[6]
Prendergast died at the episcopal residence on February 26, 1918.[7]
^"Philadelphia's Third Archbishop". Catholic Historical Research Center of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. July 29, 2011. Retrieved December 26, 2023.
