Loras Thomas Lane

Loras Thomas Lane (October 19, 1910 – July 22, 1968), was an American bishop of the Catholic Church. He served as the Auxiliary Bishop of Dubuque from 1951 to 1956 and the Bishop of Rockford from 1956 until his death in 1968.

Early life and ministry

Loras Lane was born in Cascade, Iowa, to Thomas and Josephine (née Barrett) Lane. His early eductation was at St. Martin's grade and high schools in Cascade. After graduating from the University of Notre Dame in 1932, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Loras College in 1933 and furthered his studies in Rome at the Pontifical Gregorian University, from where he earned a Licentiate of Sacred Theology in 1937. Lane was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Dubuque by Cardinal Francesco Marchetti Selvaggiani on March 19, 1937 in Rome.

Upon his return to Iowa in 1937, Lane served as a curate at Nativity Parish in Dubuque until 1940. He took further studies at the University of Iowa before earning a doctorate in canon law from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Lane became an instructor in Spanish and economics, and was Dean of Men at Loras College. He became the secretary to Archbishop Henry Rohlman and vice-chancellor and then chancellor of the Archdiocese of Dubuque. In 1949 Pope Pius XII named Lane a Domestic Prelate.

Auxiliary Bishop of Dubuque

On May 29, 1951, Lane was appointed Titular Bishop of Bencenna and Auxiliary Bishop of Dubuque by Pope Pius XII. He received his episcopal consecration on the following August 20 from Archbishop Leo Binz of Dubuque in St. Raphael Cathedral. Bishops Joseph Willging of Pueblo and Edward Fitzgerald of Winona were the co-consecrators. While he was the auxiliary bishop he also served as president of Loras College.

Bishop of Rockford

Lane was named Bishop of Rockford, Illinois, on October 11, 1956. He was installed on November 20 at St. James Pro-Cathedral by Cardinal Samuel Stritch of Chicago. He attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council between 1962 and 1965.

Bishop Lane was the uncle of Michael A. Hess and was involved in his adoption, as accounted by Martin Sixsmith in his book The lost child of Philomena Lee (see also the movie Philomena). In this book, it is said that Lane had "earn[ed] a reputation among his clerical contemporaries for being hugely ambitious and more than a little cocky".

A long-standing kidney ailment began to affect his health a year before his death. Bishop Lane died at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago on July 22, 1968, at the age of 57. His funeral was celebrated by Cardinal John Cody at St. James Pro-Cathedral with Archbishop Binz, now the Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, as the homilist. He was buried in Calvary Cemetery, west of Rockford.