Church Roman Catholic Church Education St. Thomas Seminary Consecration February 22, 1894 Role Bishop Ordination May 26, 1866 | Name Michael Tierney See Hartford Successor John Joseph Nilan | |
In office February 22, 1894—October 5, 1908 Born September 29, 1839
Ballylooby, County Tipperary, Ireland ( 1839-09-29 ) Died October 5, 1908, Hartford, Connecticut, United States | ||
Predecessor Lawrence Stephen McMahon | ||
Michael Tierney (September 29, 1839 – October 5, 1908) was an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Hartford, Connecticut from 1894 until his death in 1908.
Biography
Michael Tierney was born in Ballylooby, County Tipperary, to John and Judith (née Fitzgerald) Tierney. At age eleven he, his mother and his siblings, his father having died in the Famine, came to the United States, where they settled at South Norwalk, Connecticut. He studied at St. Thomas Seminary in Bardstown, Kentucky, and at St. Joseph's Seminary in Troy, New York. He was ordained to the priesthood on May 26, 1866.
Returning to Connecticut, Tierney was then named chancellor of the Diocese of Hartford and rector of the cathedral. He was then served as pastor of St. Mary of the Star Church in New London until 1872, when he was transferred to St. John's Church in Stamford. He became rector of St. Peter's Church at Hartford in 1877, and later pastor of St. Mary's Church at New Britain in 1883.
On December 2, 1893, Tierney was appointed the sixth Bishop of Hartford by Pope Leo XIII. He received his episcopal consecration on February 22, 1894 from Archbishop John Joseph Williams, with Bishops Matthew Harkins and Thomas Daniel Beaven serving as co-consecrators, at Hartford. During his 14-year-long tenure, Tierney founded a preparatory seminary; St. Mary's Home for the Aged; St. John's Industrial School; the hospitals at Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, Waterbury, and Willimantic; and numerous charitable institutions conducted by the Sisters of the Holy Ghost and the Little Sisters of the Poor. He also established a diocesan missionary band to preach retreats to Catholics and non-Catholics alike. At the time of his arrival in Hartford, there were 98 parishes, 204 priests, and 48 parochial schools; by the time of his death, there were 166 parishes, 300 priests, and 76 parochial schools.
Tierney later died at Hartford, aged 69.