Joseph Patrick Donahue (November 6, 1870 – April 26, 1959) was 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 ...

who served as

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 the

Archdiocese of New York The Archdiocese of New York () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in the New York (state), State of New York. It encompasses the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island in New York ...

from 1945 to 1959.

Biography

Early life

Joseph Donahue was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on November 6, 1870, to Patrick and Sarah Chambers Donahue. He received his undergraduate education at

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, then attended

Manhattan College Manhattan University (previously Manhattan College) is a private, Catholic university in New York City. Originally established in 1853 by the De La Salle Christian Brothers (Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools) as an academy fo ...

in the

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

. He graduated there with a Master of Arts degree in 1991. Deciding to become a priest, Donahue entered St. Joseph's Provincial Seminary in

Troy, New York Troy is a city in and the county seat of Rensselaer County, New York, United States. It is located on the western edge of the county, on the eastern bank of the Hudson River just northeast of the capital city of Albany, New York, Albany. At the ...

Priesthood

Donahue was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of New York on June 8, 1895, in Troy by Bishop Thomas Burke. The archdiocese assigned Donahue as curate at St. Stephen's Parish in Manhattan, a posting he would hold for the next 19 years. During this period, he also served as priest-secretary to Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Cusack, who was pastor at St. Stephen's. In 1913, the archdiocese transferred Donahue from St. Stephen's to become pastor at Holy Trinity Parish in

Mamaroneck, New York Mamaroneck ( ), is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 31,758 at the 2020 United States census over 29,156 at the 2 ...

. Eleven years later, he became pastor of Ascension Parish in Manhattan. In 1937, Pope Pius XI elevated Donahue to the rank of

domestic prelate Domestic may refer to: In the home * Anything relating to the human home or family ** A domestic animal, one that has undergone domestication ** A domestic appliance, or home appliance ** A domestic partnership ** Domestic science, sometimes cal ...

. Two years later, Archbishop

Francis Spellman Francis Joseph Spellman (May 4, 1889 – December 2, 1967) was an Catholic Church in the United States, American Catholic prelate who served as Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, Archbishop of New York from 1939 until his death in 1967. F ...

named Donahue as

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop or archbishop of a diocese or an archdiocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vica ...

for the archdiocese. Pope Pius II elevated him to the rank of protonotary apostolic in 1940. Donahue also served as a trustee of

Catholic Charities The Catholic Church operates numerous charitable organizations. Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel, while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spir ...

in the archdiocese and the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum in the Bronx, and as chair of the archdiocesan

school board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional area, ...

Auxiliary Bishop of New York

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

appointed Donahue, at age 74, as the

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 ''Emmaüs'' and as an auxiliary bishop of New York on January 27, 1945. He was consecrated a bishop at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan by Spellman on March 19, 1945. The principal co-consecrators were Bishop

John O'Hara John Henry O'Hara (January 31, 1905 – April 11, 1970) was an American writer. He was one of America's most prolific writers of Short story, short stories, credited with helping to invent ''The New Yorker'' magazine short story style.John O'H ...

and Auxiliary Bishop James McIntyre. Donahue continued to serve as an auxiliary bishop until his death in New York on April 26, 1959, at age 88.

References

External links