William Turner (bishop of Buffalo)

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His Excellency, The Most Reverend

William Turner
Bishop of Buffalo
DioceseBuffalo
Installed1919
Term ended1936
PredecessorDennis Joseph Dougherty
SuccessorJohn Aloysius Duffy
Orders
OrdinationAugust 13, 1893
ConsecrationMarch 30, 1919
by James Gibbons
Personal details
Born(1871-04-08)April 8, 1871
Kilmallock, County Limerick, Ireland
DiedJuly 10, 1936(1936-07-10) (aged 65)
Buffalo, New York, US
DenominationRoman Catholic
EducationMungret College
Royal University of Ireland
Propaganda College
Institut Catholique de Paris

William Turner (April 8, 1871 – July 10, 1936) was an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Buffalo in New York from 1919 until his death in 1936.

He was ordained in 1893, and spent his early years as a priest teaching in various institutions. Upon his appointment as Bishop of Buffalo he was occupied with pastoral duties in a very large diocese.

Biography[edit]

Early life[edit]

William Turner was born at Kilmallock, Ireland. He received his education at Mungret College in Limerick, the Royal University of Ireland, the Propaganda College in Rome,[1] and the Institut Catholique de Paris.

Turner was ordained to the priesthood on August 13, 1893. That same year, Turner was awarded the Benemerenti medal for a commentary on St. Thomas's De Anima.[2]

Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity

The following year he began his career as a professor of Latin and logic at the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, moving to St. Paul's Seminary in 1895.[1] He was rector of St. Luke's Parish in St. Paul. He later became a librarian and professor of philosophy at the Catholic University of America.[1]


Bishop of Buffalo[edit]

On March 10, 1919, Turner was appointed the sixth bishop of the Diocese of Buffalo by Pope Benedict XV. He received his episcopal consecration on March 30, 1919, from Cardinal James Gibbons,[3] with Bishops Denis J. O'Connell and Michael Curley serving as co-consecrators.

Our Lady of Victory, Lackawanna

In July 1919 he was down in Cattaraugus County administering confirmation at St. Patrick's in Salamanca and the next day consecrated the Church of St. Mary of the Angels in Olean, New York.[4] (On February 14, 2017, Pope Francis granted the title of Minor Basilica to St. Mary of the Angels Church in Olean) In August 1922, Turner helped lay the cornerstone of the Basilica of Our Lady of Victory in Lackawanna, New York. In May 1926, Turner gave an address and blessed the "Millet Cross", erected by the New York State Knights of Columbus dedicated "not only to Father Millet, but to those other priests whose heroism took Christianity into the wilderness and whose devotion sought to create in this new world a new France."[5] The cross stands on the shore of Lake Ontario just west of the Fort Denonville's north redoubt.

Turner's younger brother John, also from County Limerick, was ordained in Rome and came to the United States in 1904. He served as pastor of the Church of St. John the evangelist in White Plains, New York. Rev. Dr. John F. Turner died at his brother's house in Buffalo in 1930 at the age of 51.[6] Later that year, William Turner celebrated the feast of the recently canonized North American Martyrs with a solemn pontifical high Mass at the Church of Saint Vincent de Paul in Buffalo.[7] Four days later he laid the cornerstone for the Lyceum at St. John Kanty Parish in East Buffalo, where “...at least 90% of the people were Catholics, but only about a third practiced their religion.”[8]

Turner was a supporter of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, and in 1924 began Catholic Charities in Buffalo in 1924. He established more than 30 new parishes during his administration,[9] including national churches such as Our Lady of Czestochowa Church in North Tonawanda.

William Turner died in Buffalo on July 10, 1956, at age 65 and was buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Tonawanda, New York. A Celtic cross marks his grave.[10]The former Bishop Turner High School in Buffalo was named after him. Built in 1960, the school closed in 2003.

Works[edit]

Turner was a contributor to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the American Catholic Quarterly Review, Catholic World, American Ecclesiastical Review, America, the Philosophical Review, Journal of Philosophy, and the Irish Theological Quarterly; and was editor of the Catholic University Bulletin.[2]

  • History of Philosophy, 1903
  • Storia della filosofia (translated) 1904
  • Lessons in Logic, 1911

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c O'Donnell, John Hugh (1922). The Catholic Hierarchy of the United States, 1790-1922. Washington, D.C.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ^ a b "Turner, Right Rev. William", The Catholic Encyclopedia and Its Makers, New York, the Encyclopedia Press, 1917, p. 173Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. ^ "Proceedings of the Buffalo Historical Society", Publications of the Buffalo Historical Society, Vol. 24, p. 258
  4. ^ "Bishop Turner Visits Cattaraugus County", Salamanca Inquirer. July 4, 1919
  5. ^ Glimpses of Historical Areas East of the Mississippi River Administered by the National Park Service, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1937, retrieved 2009-05-18
  6. ^ "Priest, 51, Brother Of Bishop Turner, Dies", Catholic Transcript, Volume XXXII, Number 35, 6 February 1930
  7. ^ "Pontifical High Mass Celebrated in Honor of the Canonization of the North American Martyrs", Buffalo Canisian, September 26, 1930, p.6
  8. ^ Stephen V. Feeley. "Hard Boiled Parish", Commonweal, April 25, 1941
  9. ^ "Most Rev. William Turner". Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo.
  10. ^ Keenan, Connor (September 27, 2016). "Mount Olivet serves as final resting place for two bishops". Western New York Catholic.

External links[edit]

Wikisource has original works by or about:
William Turner
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Bishop of Buffalo
1919–1936 		Succeeded by
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