Bishop Joseph Colgan, DD (1 April 1824 – 13 February 1911), was an Irish born Roman Catholic Archbishop of Madras, India.

Joseph Colgan
Born(1824-04-01)1 April 1824
Donore, Ireland
Died13 February 1911(1911-02-13) (aged 86)
EducationMaynooth College
OccupationClergyman

Biography edit

Born on 1 April 1824 in Donore, County Westmeath, he studied in Navan, and for the priesthood in Maynooth College. Colgan was ordained in 1846. In 1847, he moved to India, where he served as a school principal, and Army Chaplin and priest in the Madras Vicarate.[1]

Colgan served as a reverend for around 30 years, from 1851 to 1881, in the Arcot Cantonment, which at the time had a Catholic population of 2000.[2] Colgan was honored by being named a Fellow of Madras University.[3] Colgan was appointed Bishop of Madras in 1882 succeeding Bishop Stephen Fennelly and became the first Archbishop of Madras in 1886.[4]

Colgan served as archbishop until he died in Calcutta on 13 February 1911.

References edit

  1. ^ Obituary The Sacred Heart Review, Volume 45, Number 11, 4 March 1911, Boston College.
  2. ^ Battersby, W. J. (1851). Battersby's Registry for the whole world, with the complete ordo, or Catholic directory, Almanac and Registry, for...: 1851. W.J. Battersby.
  3. ^ Most Rev. Dr. Joseph Colgan DD Dictionary of Indian Biography
  4. ^ Bishop of Madras www.gcatholic.org