Thomas Andrew Becker
|
The Most Reverend Thomas Albert Andrew Becker |
|
|---|---|
| Bishop of Savannah | |
 |
|
| See | Savannah |
| Installed | May 16, 1886 |
| Term ended | July 29, 1899 |
| Predecessor | William Hickley Gross |
| Successor | Benjamin Joseph Keiley |
| Other posts | Bishop of Wilmington (1868–86) |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | July 18, 1859 |
| Consecration | August 16, 1868 |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
December 20, 1832 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Died | July 29, 1899 (aged 66) Washington, Georgia |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic Church |
Thomas Albert Andrew Becker (December 20, 1832 – July 29, 1899) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware (1868–86) and the sixth bishop of the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia (1886–99).
Thomas Becker was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to German Protestant parents. After attending the Allegheny Institute, he entered the Western University of Pennsylvania and later completed his studies at the University of Virginia. In Virginia, he met Bishop John McGill, who persuaded him to convert to Catholicism. After being received into the Catholic Church, he decided to enter the priesthood and went to Rome in 1854 to study at the Urban College of Propaganda. He there received a Doctor of Sacred Theology degree.
On July 18, 1859, Becker was ordained a priest by Cardinal Costantino Patrizi Naro at the Basilica of St. John Lateran. Following his return to the United States, he was assigned to a mission including Martinsburg and Berkeley Springs in West Virginia. When his churches were turned into barracks during the Civil War, he was appointed to the faculty of Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland, where he served as professor of theology, ecclesiastical history, and Sacred Scriptures. He later became secretary to Archbishop Martin Spalding, whom he assisted in the preparation for the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1866. He afterwards served as pastor of St. Peter's Church in Richmond.
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