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

Biography

Born on 1 April 1824 in

Donore, County Westmeath Donore is a townland in County Westmeath, Ireland. It is located about north of Mullingar. Donore is one of 14 townlands of the civil parish of Multyfarnham in the barony of Corkaree in the Province of Leinster. The townland covers . The nei ...

, he studied in

Navan Navan ( ; , meaning "the Cave") is the county town of County Meath, Ireland. In 2016, it had a population of 30,173, making it the tenth largest settlement in Ireland. It is at the confluence of the River Boyne and Blackwater, around 50&nbs ...

, and for the priesthood in

Maynooth College St Patrick's Pontifical University, Maynooth ( ga, Coláiste Naoimh Phádraig, Maigh Nuad), is the "National Seminary for Ireland" (a Roman Catholic college), and a pontifical university, located in the town of Maynooth, from Dublin, Ireland ...

. 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. Colgan served as a reverend for around 30 years, from 1851 to 1881, in the

Arcot Arcot (natively spelt as Ārkāḍu) is a town and urban area of Ranipet district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Located on the southern banks of Palar River, the city straddles a trade route between Chennai and Bangalore or Salem, between ...

Cantonment, which at the time had a Catholic population of 2000. Colgan was honored by being named a Fellow of

Madras University The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigious universities in India, incorporated by an a ...

. Colgan was appointed Bishop of Madras in 1882 succeeding Bishop Stephen Fennelly and became the first Archbishop of Madras in 1886.Bishop of Madras
www.gcatholic.org Colgan served as archbishop until he died in Calcutta on 13 February 1911.

References

1824 births 1911 deaths Alumni of St Patrick's College, Maynooth Roman Catholic archbishops of Madras and Mylapore Irish expatriate Roman Catholic archbishops {{India-RC-bishop-stub