[3] Bonacum received his early education in St. Louis before attending Saint Francis de Sales Seminary, near Milwaukee, from 1863 to 1867.

[7] While pastor at Holy Name, Bonacum attended the third Plenary Council of Baltimore from November to December 1884, as a theological consultant to Archbishop Kenrick.

On July 7, 1887, a cablegram from Rome announced that Pope Leo XIII appointed Bonacum to be the first bishop of the newly-erected Diocese of Lincoln.

[11] By the time of Bonacum's death in 1911, there was a Catholic population of 37,000 with 84 priests, 135 churches and 65 with resident pastors, and 28 parochial schools.

[14][17] Bonacum gained a victory when the libel suit was dismissed,[18] but it was still the first time a Catholic bishop had been brought to criminal court in the United States.

[16] In retaliation, Bonacum tried in 1895 to expel one of those priests, William Murphy, who had also presided over the diocesan trial that originally ruled in Corbett's favor.

[19] When Murphy refused to step down, Bonacum excommunicated him and brought action in court to have him removed from the church property.

[19] This litigation would last for more than ten years, moving through both secular and ecclesiastical courts and even coming to the personal attention of Pope Pius X.

[19] As a result of their feud, Pius X issued a new rule prohibiting priests or bishops from suing a fellow clergyman in secular court.

[23] Upon his death, Lincoln mayor Don Love issued the following proclamation: "By this sad event we have lost not only a great prelate but a distinguished and public-spirited citizen as well...It would be a fitting tribute to display emblems of mourning along our public streets and to close our offices and places of business during the hour of his funeral.