Neil McNeil (November 23, 1851 – May 25, 1934) was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vancouver from 1910 to 1912 and Roman Catholic Archbishop of Toronto from 1912 to 1934.

Early life

McNeil was born in Hillsborough, Inverness County, Nova Scotia. He attended Propaganda College in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Career

In 1879, McNeil was ordained as a priest. In 1880 he was appointed vice-rector of College of St. Francis Xavier in

Antigonish, Nova Scotia Antigonish ( ; ) is a town in Antigonish County, Nova Scotia, Canada. The town is home to St. Francis Xavier University and the oldest continuous Highland games outside Scotland. It is approximately 160 kilometres (100 miles) northeast of Halif ...

, and had risen to rector by the end of his service in 1891. He was pastor in Arichat and D'Escousse, Nova Scotia before becoming

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 ...

of Western Newfoundland (St. George's) 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 ...

Nilopolis Delas (, , from ) is a city in Beni Suef Governorate of Egypt, situated on the left bank of the Nile. In Ptolemaic and Byzantine Egypt it was known as Tilothis () or Nilopolis (). It was an episcopal see that a suffragan of the metropolitan of ...

in 1895. In 1904, McNeil was appointed Bishop of St. George's, Newfoundland. From 1910 to 1912, McNeil was Archbishop of Vancouver,

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. After only two years, he became

Archbishop of Toronto The archbishop of Toronto is the head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto, responsible for looking after its spiritual and administrative needs. As the archdiocese is the metropolitan see of the ecclesiastical province that encompasse ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, where he served from 1912 to 1934. Shortly after being appointed as Archbishop, NcNeil was charged with completing St. Augustine's Seminary and the Canadian

Catholic Church Extension Society Catholic Extension (also known as the Catholic Church Extension Society) is a national fundraising 501(c)(3) organization which supports and strengthens poor mission dioceses across the United States. They provide funding and resources to diocese ...

created by his predecessor Fergus Patrick McEvay. Under McNeil, thirty more parishes were established, including those with non-English speaking immigrants in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. He lobbied for fair

taxation A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal person, legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to Pigouvian tax, regulate and reduce nega ...

for

Catholic schools Catholic schools are parochial pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school system. In 201 ...

. McNeil founded the Federation of Catholic Charities when, in 1927, Toronto's umbrella Federation for Community Service refused to continue to fund Roman Catholic charitable institutions. McNeil died in 1934, while serving as Archbishop of Toronto. He is buried at St. Augustine's Seminary.

Legacy

Under his leadership, the China Mission Seminary, later renamed the Scarboro Foreign Missionary Society, and the

Newman Club Newman is a surname of Germanic Anglo-Saxon origins. Newman is the modern English form of the name used in Great Britain and among people of British ancestry around the world (as is 'Numan'), while Neumann (with variant spellings) is used in Ger ...

were established. Neil McNeil Catholic High School in

was named in his honour.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:McNeil, Neil 1851 births 1934 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Canada Roman Catholic archbishops of Toronto Canadian people of Scottish descent Burials at St. Augustine's Seminary Roman Catholic archbishops of Vancouver People from Inverness County, Nova Scotia Roman Catholic bishops of Corner Brook and Labrador