Daniel Anthony Cronin (born November 14, 1927) is an American

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. He served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston from 1968 to 1970, as bishop of the Diocese of Fall River in Massachusetts from 1970 to 1992, and as archbishop of the

Archdiocese of Hartford The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Hartford () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Connecticut in the United States. It is a metropolitan see. It was established as the Diocese of Hartford in 1843, whe ...

in Connecticut from 1992 to 2003.

Biography

Early life

Daniel Cronin was born on November 14, 1927, in

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located roughly west of Downtown Boston, and comprises a patchwork of thirteen villages. The city borders Boston to the northeast and southeast (via the neighborhoods of ...

eldest son of Daniel G. and Emily (Joyce) Cronin. He attended St. Peter School in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

and graduated from

Boston College High School Boston College High School (also known as BC High) is an all-male, Society of Jesus, Jesuit, Catholic Church, Catholic College-preparatory school, college-preparatory day school in the Columbia Point, Boston, Columbia Point neighborhood of Dorche ...

in Boston in 1945. He studied at St. John's Seminary in Boston from 1945 to 1949, and then studied at the

Pontifical North American College The Pontifical North American College (NAC) is a Catholic Church, Roman Catholic educational institution in Rome, Italy, that prepares seminarians to become priests in the United States and elsewhere. The NAC also provides a residence for Prie ...

in Rome.

Priesthood

Cronin was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

to the priesthood in Rome by Cardinal Clemente Micara on December 20, 1952. He then earned a

Licentiate of Sacred Theology Licentiate in Sacred Theology (; abbreviated LTh or STL) is the second of three ecclesiastical degrees in theology (the first being the Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology and the third being the Doctorate in Sacred Theology) which are conferred ...

(1953) and Doctorate of Sacred Theology (1956) from the

Pontifical Gregorian University Pontifical Gregorian University (; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana), is a private university, private pontifical university in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as a part of the Roman College, founded in 1551 by Ignatius of Loyo ...

. Cronin did

pastoral The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target au ...

work in

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

, Lynn, and Waltham, all in Massachusetts. He then was appointed as an attaché of the Apostolic Internunciature to

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

in 1957. The Vatican named him an attaché of the Secretariat of State in 1961 and as a

papal chamberlain A papal gentleman, formally a Gentleman of His Holiness, is a lay attendant of the pope and his papal household in Vatican City. Papal gentlemen serve in the Apostolic Palace near St. Peter's Basilica in ceremonial positions, such as escorting d ...

in 1962.

Auxiliary Bishop of Boston

On June 10, 1968, Cronin was appointed as an

auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

of Boston and

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Egnatia by

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

. He received his

episcopal consecration A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...

on September 12, 1968, from Cardinal

Richard Cushing Richard James Cushing (August 24, 1895 – November 2, 1970) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Boston from 1944 to 1970 and was made a cardinal in 1958. Cushing's main role was as fundraiser and builder ...

, with Bishops Jeremiah Minihan and Thomas Riley serving as

co-consecrators A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churche ...

, at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston. Cronin selected as his episcopal

motto A motto (derived from the Latin language, Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian language, Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a Sentence (linguistics), sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of a ...

: ''"Ad Oboediendum Fidei"'', meaning, ''"For Obedience of Faith"'' from Romans 1:5. As an auxiliary bishop, he also served as pastor of St. Raphael Parish in

Medford, Massachusetts Medford is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 United States census, Medford's population was 59,659. It is home to Tufts University, which has its campus on both sides of the Medford and Somervill ...

Bishop of Fall River

Cronin was named by Paul VI as the fifth bishop of Fall River on October 30, 1970. He succeeded Bishop James Connolly. Cronin was installed at St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral in Fall River on December 16, 1970.

Archbishop of Hartford

On December 10, 1991, Cronin was appointed the third archbishop of Hartford by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

. He succeeded Archbishop

John Whealon John Francis Whealon (January 15, 1921 – August 2, 1991) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Hartford in Connecticut from 1968 to 1991. Whealon previously served as an auxilia ...

. Cronin was installed at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford on January 28, 1992. He received the

pallium The pallium (derived from the Roman ''pallium'' or ''palla'', a woolen cloak; : pallia) is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the pope, but for many centuries bestowed by the Holy See upon metropolitan bish ...

, a vestment worn by

metropolitan bishop In Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan (alternative obsolete form: metropolite), is held by the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a Metropolis (reli ...

s, from John Paul II at

St. Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican (), or simply St. Peter's Basilica (; ), is a church of the Italian High Renaissance located in Vatican City, an independent microstate enclaved within the city of Rome, Italy. It was initiall ...

on June 29, 1991. On October 20, 2003, John Paul II accepted Cronin's resignation as archbishop of Hartford.

Views

Abortion

In 1975, Cronin publicly denounced U.S. Senator

Ted Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts who served as a member of the United States Senate from 1962 to his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic Party and ...

when Kennedy declared that he would not vote to outlaw abortion rights for women, although saying that he did not personally support it. Cronin once remarked,

"The dominion of human life is in the hands of God. The gift of life starts from the time of conception and ends at the time of natural death."

References

External links

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of HartfordRoman Catholic Diocese of Fall River

Episcopal succession

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cronin, Daniel Anthony 1927 births Living people Saint John's Seminary (Massachusetts) alumni Pontifical Gregorian University alumni Clergy from Newton, Massachusetts Roman Catholic bishops of Hartford Roman Catholic bishops of Fall River 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United States Boston College High School alumni American expatriates in Italy 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United States American Roman Catholic archbishops