Reference style The Most Reverend Religious style Bishop Name Michael Browne Died February 24, 1980 | Spoken style My Lord Posthumous style not applicable Role Bishop of Galway | |
Michael J. Browne (December 20, 1895 – February 24, 1980) was an Irish prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh, Ireland, from 1937 to 1976.
Contents
Biography
Born in Westport, Browne was ordained to the priesthood on June 20, 1920, for the Archdiocese of Tuam. He later served as professor of moral theology at St. Patrick's College in Maynooth.
On August 6, 1937, Browne was appointed Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh by Pope Pius XI, receiving his episcopal consecration from Archbishop Thomas P. Gilmartin on the following August 10. He supported Prime Minister Éamon de Valera's defense of arrests and police searches for cached IRA arms, declaring, "Any Irishman who assists any foreign power to attack the legitimate authority of his own land is guilty of the most terrible crime against God's law, and there can be no excuse for that crime - not even the pretext of solving partition or of securing unity". (see S-Plan).
In 1939, he was selected by Éamon de Valera to chair the Commission on Vocational Organisation.
Bishop Browne signed his name with a cross and then 'Michael', which lead to his nickname 'Cross Michael'. He was deeply conservative and insisted that beaches in Salthill be segregated by gender.
In 1957, in response to a growing tension between Catholics and Protestants at Fethard-on-Sea, including the Fethard-on-Sea boycott, Browne said, "Non-Catholics do not protest against the crime of conspiring to steal the children of a Catholic father, but they try to make political capital when a Catholic people make a peaceful and moderate protest".
Browne attended the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965, and retired his episcopal post in 1976, after thirty-nine years of service. He died four years later, at the age of 84.
Trivia
Bishop Browne is parodied in Breandán Ó hÉithir`s novel Lig Sinn i gCathu.