He served as bishop of the Diocese of Cheyenne in Wyoming from 1902 to 1911, and then as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Dubuque in Iowa from 1911 until his death in 1929.

He was educated at St. John's Seminary in Collegeville, Minnesota, St. Francis Xavier College in New York City and the Grand Séminaire de Montréal in Montreal, Quebec.

[1] Keane was ordained a priest in Montreal by Archbishop Édouard-Charles Fabre on December 23, 1882, for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul.

Keane was named president of the college in 1882, He left that position in 1892 to become pastor of Immaculate Conception parish in Minneapolis.

[5] Pope Pius X named James Keane as the third archbishop of the Archdiocese of Dubuque on August 11, 1911.

[1] Along with the Keane appointment, the pope created the new Diocese of Des Moines out of the western part of the archdiocese.

Keane was a staunch supporter of the temperance movement in the United States and spoke out frequently against alcohol consumption.