Deceased Friars

Thomas Manning, OFM

Thomas Manning

1922 – 2001

Bishop Thomas Manning, OFM, was born on Aug. 29, 1922 in Baltimore. He graduated from St. John the Baptist Province’s minor seminary and was received into the Order as a candidate for the Commissariat of the Holy Land in 1941, professing temporary vows one year later. He made his solemn profession in 1945 and was ordained a priest in 1948.

Prior to his incorporation into Holy Name Province in 1954, Bishop Manning served as pastoral associate at St. Anthony Shrine, Boston, and parochial vicar at St. Philip Parish in Statesville, N.C., and St. Bonaventure Parish, Paterson, N.J. He was sent to Bolivia, where his first assignment was pastor of the Coroico church.

Less than three years later, Pope John XXIII nominated him bishop of the new Prelacy Nullius of Coroico. He was consecrated in 1959. One of the important successes of his episcopacy was the Seminario del Espiritu Santo that he and Fr. Gavin Hanlon, OFM, founded for the training of mostly native Indian candidates. Two American dioceses adopted Bishop Manning into their diocesan apostolate: Paterson, which staffed and supported a parish in his territory, and Springfield, Mass., which supported Coroico generously and welcomed him in retirement.

He died on Nov. 9, 2001 at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, N.Y. Bishop Manning, Bishop Emeritus of Coroico, was 79 years old, a professed Franciscan friar for 59 years, a priest for 53 years, and a bishop for 42 years.

Each of us should be called a lesser brother, a Friar Minor. Each one of us should wash the feet of the others.”

Main Content

Thomas Manning, OFM

Thomas Manning

1922 – 2001

Bishop Thomas Manning, OFM, was born on Aug. 29, 1922 in Baltimore. He graduated from St. John the Baptist Province’s minor seminary and was received into the Order as a candidate for the Commissariat of the Holy Land in 1941, professing temporary vows one year later. He made his solemn profession in 1945 and was ordained a priest in 1948.

Prior to his incorporation into Holy Name Province in 1954, Bishop Manning served as pastoral associate at St. Anthony Shrine, Boston, and parochial vicar at St. Philip Parish in Statesville, N.C., and St. Bonaventure Parish, Paterson, N.J. He was sent to Bolivia, where his first assignment was pastor of the Coroico church.

Less than three years later, Pope John XXIII nominated him bishop of the new Prelacy Nullius of Coroico. He was consecrated in 1959. One of the important successes of his episcopacy was the Seminario del Espiritu Santo that he and Fr. Gavin Hanlon, OFM, founded for the training of mostly native Indian candidates. Two American dioceses adopted Bishop Manning into their diocesan apostolate: Paterson, which staffed and supported a parish in his territory, and Springfield, Mass., which supported Coroico generously and welcomed him in retirement.

He died on Nov. 9, 2001 at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, N.Y. Bishop Manning, Bishop Emeritus of Coroico, was 79 years old, a professed Franciscan friar for 59 years, a priest for 53 years, and a bishop for 42 years.