BOSTON -- A man in the simple brown robes and sandals of a Capuchin friar brought a renewed sense of enthusiasm and hope to the embattled Catholic Archdiocese of Boston in early July, weeks before his formal installation as archbishop of Boston.

Archbishop Sean Patrick O'Malley, who was to be installed July 30 at Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross, spent a whirlwind day in Boston July 1, meeting with the media, clergy sex abuse victims, bishops, chancery employees and patients at Caritas St. Elizabeth Medical Center.

"I address you, my fellow Catholics of Boston, with those words that inspired St. Francis, when the crucified Lord said to him, 'Francis, repair my church,'" Archbishop O'Malley said at a news conference. "I ask you, and plead with you: Repair my church."

Archbishop O'Malley returned at the end of the day to Palm Beach, Fla., where he has headed the diocese since only last October and where he was to remain until his installation in Boston.

A Vatican official said the archbishop's transfer to Boston after such a brief term in Florida was a highly unusual step that reflects deep Vatican concern for the Boston situation and its confidence in the Capuchin friar.

The 59-year-old archbishop succeeds Cardinal Bernard F. Law, who resigned last December after a year of growing scandal over his handling of priests who sexually abused children. In Palm Beach, he headed a diocese whose last two bishops resigned amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

The appointment drew praise from church and civic leaders in Boston, as well as from Catholics in the pew.

Mary Ann Glendon, a Harvard law professor who has represented the Vatican at international gatherings, said Archbishop O'Malley was beginning "a job that would be daunting to anyone," but expressed confidence that he would be "a great force for bringing a divided Catholic community together."

"One sees here today the spirit of St. Francis filling the room," she said of the atmosphere at the July 1 news conference. "It's a spirit of healing and peace and a spirit of joyfulness -- joyful Franciscan charisma that I hope will be contagious here in the archdiocese."

Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington, whom Archbishop O'Malley was likely to join in the College of Cardinals, said in a statement, "Our prayers are with him as he undertakes a very challenging task, but we have confidence that he has all the gifts that are needed for the task of reconciliation and renewal in the church of Boston."

Former Boston Mayor Ray Flynn, who also served as U.S. ambassador to the Vatican under President Clinton, called the appointment "a gift from God to the city of Boston and a gift of God to our church" and said "the church in Boston's greatest days are before us."

Archbishop O'Malley has made clear that his first priority in Boston will be confronting the clergy sex abuse scandal and redressing what he called the "grave errors of the past."

"Together as Catholics, clergy, consecrated religious and laity, we must work to bring healing and comfort to the victims of abuse, and to guarantee that through vigilance and education, our churches, schools and agencies will be safe havens for children and young people," he said at the news conference. "I know that the laity has a great role to play in this process."

Among the areas requiring his immediate attention were financial settlements, which he said he was anxious to resolve.

"We hope that the achievement of financial settlements will be a factor in a process of healing," he said. "Settlements are not hush money or extortion or anything other than the rightful indemnification of persons who have suffered gravely at the hands of priests."

At the meeting with victims on that first day in Boston, Archbishop O'Malley heard some plain talk, according to a report in The Boston Globe.

Bernie McDaid, who says he was abused by Father Joseph E. Birmingham 40 years ago, said he told the new archbishop: "So, Sean, don't blow it."

"The whole room started laughing, and he laughed, too," McDaid said. "So he is human. And I like that. It broke the ice a little bit."

A Capuchin friar since 1965 and a priest since 1970, the archbishop was named coadjutor bishop of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, in 1984 and became head of the diocese the following year. He was bishop of Fall River, Mass., from 1992 to 2002 and bishop of Palm Beach since Oct. 19.

He took temporary vows as a member of the St. Augustine province of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin on July 14, 1965, perpetual vows exactly three years later, and was ordained a priest on Aug. 29, 1970. Following ordination, he earned a master's degree in religious education and a doctorate in Spanish and Portuguese literature, both from The Catholic University of America in Washington, where he taught from 1969 to 1973.

Beginning in 1973, he served as executive director of Centro Catolico Hispano in the Washington Archdiocese until his appointment in 1978 as episcopal vicar for the Hispanic, Portuguese and Haitian communities and executive director of the archdiocesan Office of Social Ministry.

In addition to English, Portuguese and Spanish, Archbishop O'Malley speaks French, Italian and German.

"He could be as comfortable speaking with the ambassador to Portugal as he was talking with a simple immigrant from El Salvador," Capuchin Brother Donald E. Lippert, who now heads the Centro Catolico Hispano in Washington, told The Globe.

Mary E. Alexsovich, Archbishop O'Malley's younger sister, told The Globe that she thought "his legacy would be his work with the poor."

"But it seems it will be the other poor: the poor victims" of clergy sex abuse, she said. "He's got a job to do, and he'll do it."