Archbishop Michael J Curley

Michael J Curley was born in Golden Island in 1879. He was educated by the Marist Brothers before attending Mungret College, Limerick. He received his B.A. from the Royal University, Dublin and his S.T.L. from Rome. In March 1904 he was ordained in Rome.
His first mission took him to Florida where he became the first resident pastor of De Land.

In 1905 he was appointed Chancellor of the diocese of St Augustine and at 34 years of age was appointed bishop. During the next seven years almost forty new churches were built in his diocese. He was a strong advocate of outlawing racial discrimination.In 1921 he was appointed as Archbishop of Baltimore in succession to Cardinal Gibbons.

In the following eighteen years he had established sixty-six new Catholic schools. In 1939 the see of Washington was added to Baltimore and he became the first archbishop to rule over two archdioceses simultaneously. He was a life-long friend of John Count McCormack. He died in 1947.



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