Francis Augustine Thill

Most Rev. Francis Augustine Thill
Bishop of Salina
Church	Roman Catholic Church
See	Salina
In office	November 15, 1938—May 21, 1957
Predecessor	Francis Joseph Tief
Successor	Frederick William Freking
Orders
Ordination	February 28, 1920
Consecration	October 28, 1938
Personal details
Born	(1881-03-07)March 7, 1881 Dayton, Ohio
Died	Salina, Kansas

Francis Augustine Thill (October 12, 1893—May 21, 1957) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Salina from 1938 until his death in 1957.

Biography

Francis Thill was born in Dayton, Ohio, to Bernard and Margaret (née Schele) Thill. After attending the University of Dayton, he entered Mount St. Mary's Seminary of the West at Cincinnati in 1914. As a seminarian he established and organized the Catholic Students' Mission Crusade to aid missionaries in foreign fields. Thill was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Henry K. Moeller on February 28, 1920. He then furthered his studies at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in Rome, and toured American missionary outposts in the Orient. Upon his return, he served as professor of oratory at Mount St. Mary's, and became chancellor of the Cincinnati Archdiocese (1935) and Domestic Prelate of His Holiness (1937).

On August 26, 1938, Thill was appointed the fourth Bishop of Concordia, Kansas, by Pope Pius XI. He received his episcopal consecration on the following October 28 from Archbishop John T. McNicholas, O.P., with Archbishops Francis Beckman and Urban Vehr serving as co-consecrators, at St. Monica's Cathedral in Cincinnati. He was installed by Archbishop John J. Glennon in Concordia on November 15, 1938. Despite the lingering effects of the Great Depression, Thill managed to liquidate the dicoese's debt of nearly a quarter of a million dollars in late 1942. On December 23, 1944, the episcopal see was moved from Concordia to Salina, much to the chagrin of local Catholics.

During his tenure, he also laid the cornerstone for Sacred Heart Cathedral on June 4, 1951 and later dedicated it on June 6, 1953. He erected or remodeled twenty-five churches, ten schools, eleven rectories, nine convents, and six chapels. He ordained thirty-five priests and founded the Catholic Youth Organization of Concordia in 1939.

Thill later died at age 63. He is buried at Mount Calvary Cemetery in Salina.

References

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Francis Joseph Tief	Bishop of Salina 1938–1957	Succeeded by Frederick William Freking