Joseph Anthony Murphy was born in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

but raised in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. He became a

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priest and served, inter alia, as dean of the

liberal arts college A liberal arts college or liberal arts institution of higher education is a college with an emphasis on Undergraduate education, undergraduate study in the Liberal arts education, liberal arts of humanities and science. Such colleges aim to impart ...

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was established as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, by John Henni, the first Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Ar ...

for eleven years and as

Vicar Apostolic A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

for the

Catholic 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 ...

mission Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to: Geography Australia *Mission River (Queensland) Canada *Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality * Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * ...

British Honduras British Honduras was a Crown colony on the east coast of Central America — specifically located on the southern edge of the Yucatan Peninsula from 1783 to 1964, then a self-governing colony — renamed Belize from June 1973

(

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, being ordained

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

on March 19, 1924.

Early life and work

Joseph Anthony Murphy was born in

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

County Louth County Louth ( ; ) is a coastal Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of County Meath, Meath to the ...

, Ireland, December 24, 1857. He lost his mother at a young age and his father moved the family of three boys and seven girls to Chicago, where Joseph attended St. Ignatius College Prep and then entered the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

(Jesuits) at St. Stanislaus Novitiate in

Florissant, Missouri Florissant () is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, St. Louis County, Missouri, within Greater St. Louis. It is a middle-class, second-ring northern suburb of St. Louis. Based on the 2020 United States census, the city had a total population ...

. His priestly studies were at

Woodstock College Woodstock College was a Society of Jesus, Jesuit seminary that existed from 1869 to 1974. It was the oldest Jesuit seminary in the United States. The school was located in Woodstock, Maryland, west of Baltimore, from its establishment until 1969, ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, where he was ordained a priest on August 26, 1888. He then served at Detroit College as Prefect of Studies (1895–1905) and on the mission in British Honduras from 1905 until 1910 when he suffered a severe attack of tropical fever.

College dean and bishop

He returned to the States to become dean of the liberal arts college of Marquette University (1910–1921) and then for two years professor of philosophy at

St. Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private Jesuit research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Mississippi River and one of the oldest ...

. He had been requesting reassignment to the

Jesuit mission The phrase Jesuit missions usually refers to a Jesuit missionary enterprise in a particular area, involving a large number of Jesuit priests and brothers, and lasting over a long period of time. List of some Jesuit missions * Circular Mission ...

and it came in the form of his appointment, at age 66, as Vicar Apostolic for British Honduras. He was consecrated bishop by Archbishop Glennon in

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

, Missouri, on March 19, 1924. He would preside from Holy Redeemer, the mother church in Belize with its

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

dating back to 1858. His episcopacy would be marked by construction projects like that of Holy Redeemer Hall, the largest in Belize at the time,*Woods, Charles M. Sr., et al. ''Years of Grace: The History of Roman Catholic Evangelization in Belize: 1524–2014''. (Belize: Roman Catholic Diocese of Belize City-Belmopan, 2015), 207-211. as well as by reconstruction after the

1931 Belize hurricane The 1931 British Honduras hurricane was the deadliest hurricane in the history of British Honduras (known as Belize since 1973), killing an estimated 2,500 people. The hurricane was first detected as a tropical wave off the west coast of Af ...

, a category 4 that killed approximately 2500 people.

Irish Catholic

Born just at the edge of Catholic Ireland, Murphy's zeal for Catholicism was deeply rooted in

Irish Catholic Irish Catholics () are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland, defined by their adherence to Catholic Christianity and their shared Irish ethnic, linguistic, and cultural heritage.The term distinguishes Catholics of Irish descent, particul ...

ism and Irish-English relations. He refused to stand for the

British National Anthem "God Save the King" ("God Save the Queen" when the monarch is female) is '' de facto'' the national anthem of the United Kingdom. It is one of two national anthems of New Zealand and the royal anthem of the Isle of Man, Australia, Canada and ...

at public ceremonies, or to receive the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

bishop for a visit. Murphy seemed to relish the ceremonial of his office. He made a regal entry into Keckchi villages, carried on a chair on the shoulders of the

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

with palm leaves and banners waving around him."Bishop Murphy, SJ, welcomed in state by Keckchi Indians, British Honduras." ''Jesuit Missions'', July–Aug. 1931, cover. For his fiftieth jubilee as a priest

Belize Town Belize City is the largest city in Belize. It was once the capital of the former British Honduras. According to the 2022 census, Belize City has a population of 63,999 people. It is at the mouth of the Haulover Creek, which is a distributary ...

gave him a regal parade.

Cardiac asthma Cardiac asthma is the medical condition of intermittent wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath that is associated with underlying congestive heart failure (CHF). Symptoms of cardiac asthma are related to the heart's inability to effectively a ...

brought on his resignation at the age of 80. He died in his sleep on November 25, 1939, in Milwaukee.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Joseph Anthony 1857 births 1939 deaths Marquette University faculty Jesuit bishops Roman Catholic missionaries in Belize 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Belize 19th-century American Jesuits 20th-century American Jesuits American Roman Catholic missionaries 20th-century American Roman Catholic titular bishops Belizean Jesuits Jesuit missionaries American expatriates in Belize Irish expatriate Roman Catholic bishops Roman Catholic bishops of Belize City–Belmopan Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Milwaukee)