OMBUS
250
O'MEARA
Ilolinoshurg, Pennsylvania. In 1S76 he was ap-
jxiinted Vioar ApostDlio of Nebraska, and on 20 Au-
gust of tlic sanio year he was consecrated titular
Bishop of Diliona by Bishop Ryan of St. Louis. Dur-
ing his episfo])ale the vicariate developed with won-
derful rapidity. The construction of the Union
Pacific Railway in 1S67, and more especially the ex-
tension of the Burlington Railway in the seventies
ami eighties, "ixMiccl up Nebraska to colonists, and
white settlers began to pour in from the Eastern
states. It became the duty of the new vicar to pro-
vide for the growing needs of the faithful, and the
yearly statistics of the vicariate show how successful
were his labours. In 1880 the Dakotas were erected
into a vicariate, and on 7 April, 1887, Montana was
cut off.
Diocese of Omaha. — On 2 October, 1885, the vica- riate was erected into the Diocese of Omaha, and Bishop O'Connor was appointed its first bishop. The new diocese embraced the present States of Nebraska and Wyoming. On 2 August, 1887, the Dioceses of Cheyenne and Lincoln were erected, leaving Omaha its present boundaries. Through the generosity of the Creighton family, BishopO'Connorwas enabled to erect a Catholic free day college in the city of Omaha. On its completion in 1879, the bishop, who held the property in trust, deeded over the institution to the Jesuit Fa- thers, who are since in charge and hold the property as trustees (see Creighton University). Bishop O'Con- nor also introduced into his jurisdiction the Franciscan Fathers, the Poor Clares, the Religious of the Sacred Heart, the Benedictines, and the Sisters of Providence. A most important work in the bishop's life was the foundation, in conjunction with Miss Catherine Drexel, of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, in 1889 (see Ble.ssed Sacrament, Sisters of the; also "Indian Sentinel", 1907). Bishop O'Connor also helped to establish a Catholic colony in Greeley Co., and (1889) the Cath. Mutual Relief Soc. of America.
The present bishop is the Right Rev. Richard Scannell, D.D., b. in the parish of Clojoie, Co. Cork, Ireland, 12 May, 1845. Having completed his classical studies in a private school at Midleton, in 1866 he entered All Hallows College, Dublin, where he was ordained priest 26 Feb., 1871. In the same year he came to the Diocese of Nashville and was appointed assistant at the cathedral. In 1878 he became rector of St. Columba's Church, East Nashville, and in 1879 rector of the cathedral. From 1880 to 1883 he was administrator of the diocese, sede vacanle. In 1885 he organized St. Joseph's parish in West Nash- ville and built its church. The following year he was appointed vicar-general, and on 30 Nov., 1887, was consecrated first Bishop of Concordia by Archbishop Feehan.
On 30 January, 1891, he was transferred to Omaha. During his administration the diocese shows the same wonderful growth that characterized this territory in the time of his predecessors. Parishes, parochial schools, and academies have more than doubled in number. The diocesan priests have increased from 58 to 144, and the religious from 23 to 37. The old frame churches are fast being replaced by structures of brick and stone, and a fine cathedral of the Spanish style of architecture is in process of erection. The Creighton Memorial St. Joseph's Hospital, costing over half a million dollars, has been erected, and a Dew hospital — St. Catherine's — has just been opened, a home of the Good Shepherd has been established, and Creighton University has been many times en- larged. Bishop Scannell introduced the following orders: (men) the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, who conduct a flourishing college; (women) the Sis- ters of St. Joseph, of the Presentation, of the Resur- rection, of St. Benedict, of the Blessed Sacrament, of the Good Shepherd, the Dominicans, Feliciana, Ursu- lines, and Franciscans.
Pioneer Priests. — Fathers Kelly, Daxacher, Har-
tig, Ryan, Cannon, Powers, f>lach, Curtis, Hayes,
Byrne, Groenebaum, Uhing, Lechlcitner. The fol-
lowing filled the office of vicar -general or admin-
istrator: — Very Rev. Fathers Kelly, Curtis, Byrne,
Choka, and Rt. Rev. Mgr Colaneri, the present vicar-
general and chancellor.
Statistics. — Priests, secular 144, regular 37; parishes, 117; university, 1, students 856; college, 1, students 1.50; academies for young ladies, 10, pupils 1127; parochial schools, 77, pupils 479; orphan asylum, 1, orphans 145; Good Shepherd Home, 1, inmates 210; religious orders of men, 3, members 77; religious orders of women, 17, members 427; hospitals, 5; Catholic population (1910), 85,319. (For early ex- plorations see Cokonado.)
Morton, History of Nebraska (Linco]n, 190()): Savage and Bell, History of Omaha (New York and Chicago, 1894): The Western Historical Co. Hist, of Nebraska (Chicago, 1882); Shea, Hist, of the Catholic Church in the United Stales (New York); Palladino, Indian and White in the North-west (Baltimore, 1S94); Perkins, Hist, of the Trappist Abbey of New Melleray (Iowa City, 1892); Dowling, Creighton University Reminiscences (Omaha, 1903).
James Aherne.
Ombus, titular see and suffragan of Ptolemais in Thebais Secunda. The city is located by Ptolemy (IV, v, 32) in the nomos of Thebes. It is mentioned by the "Itinerarium Antonini" (165); Juvenal (XV, 35); the "Notitia dignitatum"; Hiorocles (Syn- ecdemus) etc. As late as the Ptolemaic e])(ich it was only a small garrison town built on a high plateau to protect the lower course of the Nile. It became after- wards the capital of the nomos Ombitos, then of the southern province of Egypt instead of Elephantine (see in "Ptolemaei Geographia", ed. Miillcr, I, 725, note 4, the epigraphic texts relating to this nome). Ombus was situated 30 miles north of Syene. Its his- tory is unknown. Le Quien ("Oriens christ.", II, 613) mentions two of its bishops: Silvanus and Verres, contemporaries of the patriarch Iheophilus. An- other is noted in an inscription of the seventh century (Lefebvre, "Recueil des inscriptions grecques chr6- tiennes d'Egypte", Cairo, 1907, n. 561). The city was discovered in the ruins of Kom Ombo. A temple of the Ptolemaic epoch could be seen there but it was destroyed in 1893; it had replaced a sanctuary of the epoch of Thothmes III.
Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, II, 491; Hamilton, /Egypliaca, 34; Champollion. L'Egyple sous les Pha- raons. II, 167-69; Am^lineau, La geographic de I Egypte d t'ipoque copte (Paris, 1893), 287.
S. Vailh£.
O'Meara, Kathleen, novelist and biographer, b. in Dublin, 1839; d. in Paris, 10 Nov., ISS.S; d;uightcrof Dennis O'Meara of Tipperary, and gnind-daughter of Barry Edward O'Meara, surgeon in the British navy and medical attendant to Napoleon at St. Helena. When about five years old, she accompanied her parents to Paris, which she made her home. She visited the United States in the early eighties. In 1867 she published, over the pen-name of Grace Ram- sey, her first novel, "A Woman's Trials" (London, 1867). This did not meet with success, which came toheronly later in life, after hard work. Mindful of her early struggles, she was ever ready with encourage- ment to young writers. Of her six novels, "Narka, a Story of Russian Life" is probably the best. Great social problems, such as poverty and suffering, are handled in a large-hearted sympathetic way. The problem is stated in an unobtrusive manner and the solution offered in the old yet new method of Chris- tian charity. Throughout them all there runs a wholesome spirit, remarkable for purity of tone and delicacy of feeling.
Her best work, however, is in biography, for which, it has been said, she had a genius. "The Bells of the Sanctuary" (1st, 2nd, and 3rd series) contain a num-
