Monsignor Robert Michael Nolan (1874-1939)

Mar 13
3 min read

Robert M. Nolan was born on August 20, 1874, in Junction City, Kansas. His parents were Irish immigrants, and he was the youngest of eight children. He was drawn to the cloth at an early age. The story goes that he would tear a hole in a sheet of newspaper, poke his head through the hole, and wear the sheet as vestments of the Church. He was educated by the Sisters of Charity at St. Mary’s and graduated from St. Benedict’s College in Atchison, Kansas, in 1892, the very year St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Fort Worth was built.

He taught Latin and Greek at St. Benedict’s for three years and then moved to St. Joseph’s Seminary in Louisiana, where he completed his theological studies. He was ordained in New Orleans in 1898 for the Diocese of Dallas. His first appointment was in Paris, Texas. He later served as Pastor in a Weatherford parish for two years and then in Gainesville for seven years.

He arrived in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1907 at age 33, to become the Pastor of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church and Dean of the Fort Worth District on Jan. 5, 1908. The District of Fort Worth consisted of 14 parishes. As Dean, Nolan represented Bishop Dunne, then the Bishop of the Dallas Diocese. The Fort Worth Telegram interviewed him for his appointment in Fort Worth as Pastor of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church and said, “..he has luxuriant brown hair and kindly blue eyes. His voice is pleasing, and the cordial handclasp he extends is an assurance of sincerity.”

At the time, Fort Worth had 68,115 inhabitants, and Dallas, Texas had 92,104 inhabitants. Fr. Nolan founded St. Ignatius Academy, the first Catholic elementary and secondary school in Fort Worth. The Sisters of St. Mary of Namur founded the school in 1888, thriving next door to St. Patrick’s.

In 1909, the rectory was built, and Saint Stanislaus, the original Church, was demolished. New Gothic Stations of the Cross were installed in 1909, donated by John B. Laneri, who, later in 1921, donated the money to start an all-boys high school on Hemphill Street that would take his name. It was also in 1909 that Fr. Nolan commissioned M.S. Sanguinet, a leading Fort Worth architect, to build Our Lady of Victory Academy on a high hill perched on a prairie of 26 acres owned by the Sisters of St. Mary of Namur.

In 1910, Fr. Joseph Patrick Lynch, a close friend of Fr. Nolan, was made the Bishop of the Diocese of Dallas and Fort Worth. Lynch appointed Fr. Nolan a Monsignor in 1925 and was Bishop until 1952.

In the 1920’s, the downtown area near St. Patrick’s was called HELL’S HALF ACRE, a haven for hard drinkers, gamblers, and prostitutes. Msgr. Nolan did not want wrongdoings to spill onto the steps of St. Patrick’s, so he donned a special policeman’s badge, along with his Bible, and worked the streets to help enforce city laws. St. Patrick’s area had the lowest crime rate in Hell’s Half Acre. The Ku Klux

Klan (KKK) had also become very powerful and was against Catholics. Many Catholics were persecuted and discriminated against in employment and acceptance into local civic organizations. Msgr. Nolan fought with protestant ministers and Jewish rabbis against the KKK. St. Patrick’s Catholic Church would eventually become a Cathedral in 1953.

In 1925, Fr. Nolan was appointed a Monsignor by Bishop Lynch of the Dallas Diocese, his close friend. Monsignor Nolan was described as over 6ft tall, played college football, was an outgoing man, a dynamic homilist, very determined and assertive, with a great sense of humor.

He oversaw the opening of the all-boys’ Laneri College on Hemphill on Oct. 30, 1921. There were 67 boys in the first classes in grades five through nine. Another class was added each year until they reached grade 12.

Monsignor Nolan passed away on December 23, 1939, at the age of 65 after serving 32 years (1907-1939) as pastor of St. Patrick Cathedral. Amon G. Carter Sr., a renowned Fort Worthian and parishioner, was a pallbearer at Monsignor Nolan’s funeral.

Monsignor Nolan was instrumental in the establishment in 1910 of Our Lady of Victory Academy, the all-girl Catholic high school, and in 1921, Laneri High School, the all-boys Catholic high school. Fifty years later, these two high schools were closed and merged to establish Monsignor Nolan Catholic High School.