Gerald O'Hara

Gerald Patrick Aloysius O'Hara (4 May 1895 – 16 July 1963) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Savannah (1935–59), Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland (1951–54), and Apostolic Delegate to Great Britain (1954–63).

Gerald O'Hara was born in the Green Ridge section of Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Patrick James and Margaret (née Carney) O'Hara. His father was a dentist. He attended Our Mother of Sorrows School and St. Joseph's College High School, both in Philadelphia. From 1911 to 1918, he studied at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Overbrook. He then furthered his studies in Rome at the Pontifical Roman Seminary, from where he obtained a Doctor of Divinity degree in 1921.

O'Hara was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Basilio Pompilj on April 3, 1920. He earned a doctorate in canon and civil law from the Pontifical Roman Athenaeum S. Apollinare in 1924. He spent several years studying abroad, traveling through Europe and the Middle East. Following his return to Pennsylvania in 1926, O'Hara became private secretary to Cardinal Dennis Joseph Dougherty, the Archbishop of Philadelphia. He also served as a judge on the archdiocesan matrimonial court.