Bishop John Rooney VG, was an Irish-born

Roman Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' re ...

who served as bishop in South Africa. Rooney was born in 1844 in

Edenderry Edenderry (; ) is a town in east County Offaly, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is near the borders with Counties County Kildare, Kildare, County Meath, Meath and County Westmeath, Westmeath. The Grand Canal of Ireland, Grand Canal runs along ...

County Offaly County Offaly (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is named after the Ancient Ireland, ancient Kingdom of Uí ...

, he attended Carlow College before going to

All Hallows College All Hallows College was a college of higher education in Dublin. It was founded in 1842 and was run by the Vincentians from 1892 until 2016. On 23 May 2014, it was announced that it was closing because of declining student enrollment. The sale ...

in Dublin, to be trained as priest for the Cape of Good Hope Diocese. Following All Hallows, he studied at

Propaganda College The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (CEP; ) was a congregation (Roman Curia), congregation of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church in Rome, responsible for Catholic missions, missionary work and related activities. It is also kn ...

in Rome. He was ordained a priest in 1867. He was in 1886 ordained

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 Sergiopolis, and coadjutor to Bishop John Leonard, whom he succeeded in 1908 as Bishop of

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

, South Africa. He resigned as bishop in 1925.'Irish Bishop Resigns Vicariate in Africa' Bulletin of the Catholic Laymans Association of Georgia, 2 June 1925.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rooney, John 1844 births 1927 deaths Alumni of All Hallows College, Dublin Alumni of Carlow College Cape Colony clergy 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in South Africa People from Edenderry, County Offaly Roman Catholic bishops of Cape Town Irish expatriate Roman Catholic bishops Christian clergy from County Offaly