Early life and education

Stephen Leven was born in Blackwell, Oklahoma, to Joseph J. and Gertrude (née Conrady) Leven.^[1] One of nine children, he was raised on farms around Ponca City and Newkirk, where his father was a sharecropper.^[2] He received his early education at St. Mary's School in Ponca City and St. Francis Academy in Newkirk.^[2] He then attended St. Gregory's College in Shawnee, and later St. Benedict's College in Atchison, Kansas.^[1] He studied for the priesthood at St. Mary's Seminary in Houston, Texas, for a year before entering the American College of the Immaculate Conception in Leuven, Belgium in 1922.^[2]

Ordination and ministry

Leven was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Oklahoma on June 10, 1928.^[3] At age 23, he was below the age requirement for ordination but was granted a dispensation by Pope Pius XI.^[2] His first assignment was as a curate at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Oklahoma City, where he remained for four years.^[1] During that period, he also served as secretary to Bishop Francis Kelley for two years.^[1] He served as a pastor in Bristow and Drumright from 1932 to 1935.^[1] In 1933, he began a street preaching ministry based on the work of the Catholic Evidence Guild.^[2] On one occasion, the KKK burned a cross as a personal threat at a corner where Leven was accustomed to preach.

From 1935 to 1938, Leven served as vice-rector of the American College at Louvain.^[1] Following his return to Oklahoma, he was appointed a pastor in Tonkawa and his native Blackwell in 1938.^[1] From 1939 to 1940, he served as director of the National Center of Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.^[1] During World War II, he was the official representative of the Holy See to nine German POW camps in Oklahoma.^[2]

Auxiliary Bishop of San Antonio

On December 3, 1955, Leven was appointed auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of San Antonio and titular bishop of Bure by Pope Pius XII.^[3] He was consecrated on February 8, 1956 by Bishop Eugene J. McGuinness, with Bishops Thomas Kiely Gorman and James A. McNulty serving as co-consecrators, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.^[3] As an auxiliary bishop, he assisted Archbishop Robert E. Lucey in performing confirmations and ordinations.^[2] Between 1962 and 1965, he attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council in Rome.^[3] At the Council, he defended non-Catholics by saying, "It just is not bearable to hear them talked about as some kind of strange entity or freak."^[4] He also spoke in favor of the increased participation of the laity.^[2]

Bishop of San Angelo

Leven was appointed the third Bishop of San Angelo on October 20, 1969.^[3] His installation took place at Sacred Heart Cathedral on November 25 of that year.^[2] Credited with making the Diocese of San Angelo financially solvent, he resolved several long-standing financial problems that were burdening the diocese.^[2] He also initiated the permanent diaconate program, which trained and ordained more than sixty men to serve as deacons in parishes and missions across the diocese.^[2]

Leven resigned as Bishop of San Angelo due to poor health on April 24, 1979.^[3] He retired to his native Blackwell, Oklahoma, and died there at age 78.^[2]