Daniel Joseph Feeney
Encyclopedia
Daniel Joseph Feeney was an American
prelate
of the Roman Catholic Church
. He served as Bishop of Portland
from 1955 until his death.
, Maine
, to Daniel Joseph and Mary Ann (née Quinn) Feeney. His father worked as superintendent of the Portland Gas Company. Raised in St. Dominic's Parish, he attended public schools and graduated from Portland High School in 1912. He studied at the College of the Holy Cross
in Worcester
, Massachusetts
, from 1913 and 1915. He then studied at the Grand Seminary of Montreal
in Quebec
, Canada
, for six years.
He was ordained
to the priesthood
on May 21, 1921. He then served as assistant pastor
at St. Mary's Church in Orono
from 1921 to 1926, and as superintendent of diocesan schools from 1926 to 1929. He was pastor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Presque Isle
from 1929 to 1946.
On June 22, 1946, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop
of Portland and Titular Bishop
of Sita by Pope Pius XII
. Feeney, who was Portland's first native bishop
, received his episcopal consecration
on the following September 12, his fifty-second birthday, from Archbishop Amleto Cicognani, with Bishops Matthew Brady
and Joseph McCarthy
serving as co-consecrators
, in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
. He performed many of Bishop McCarthy's administrative duties due to the latter's poor health, and later became Apostolic Administrator
(1948) and Coadjutor Bishop
(1952) of the diocese
.
Feeney succeeded McCarthy as the seventh Bishop of Portland
upon his death on September 9, 1955. During his tenure, he opened a number of rectories
, convent
s, schools
, social center
s, parish
halls, and the diocesan chancery
. The Bishop also freed the Portland diocese of its considerable debt
, which was his self-proclaimed greatest tangible accomplishment. From 1962 to 1965, Feeney was attended the Second Vatican Council
, and was subsequently active in implementing the Council's reforms
, such as by modernizing the Cathedral
.
He died at the age of 75, having spent his last several months at Mercy Hospital
. His funeral Mass
was held at St. Dominic Parish, as the Cathedral was closed for renovation.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
prelate
Prelate
A prelate is a high-ranking member of the clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin prælatus, the past participle of præferre, which means "carry before", "be set above or over" or "prefer"; hence, a prelate is one set over others.-Related...
of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. He served as Bishop of Portland
Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the New England region of the United States comprising the entire state of Maine...
from 1955 until his death.
Biography
Daniel Feeney was born in PortlandPortland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, to Daniel Joseph and Mary Ann (née Quinn) Feeney. His father worked as superintendent of the Portland Gas Company. Raised in St. Dominic's Parish, he attended public schools and graduated from Portland High School in 1912. He studied at the College of the Holy Cross
College of the Holy Cross
The College of the Holy Cross is an undergraduate Roman Catholic liberal arts college located in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA...
in Worcester
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, from 1913 and 1915. He then studied at the Grand Seminary of Montreal
Grand séminaire de Montréal
The Grand séminaire de Montréal is the sacerdotal school of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Montreal. The institution was founded by the sulpicians in 1840 on the demands of Ignace Bourget. A branch of Université Laval's faculty of theology was installed in the seminar in 1878...
in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, for six years.
He was ordained
Holy Orders
The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....
to the priesthood
Priesthood (Catholic Church)
The ministerial orders of the Catholic Church include the orders of bishops, deacons and presbyters, which in Latin is sacerdos. The ordained priesthood and common priesthood are different in function and essence....
on May 21, 1921. He then served as assistant pastor
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
at St. Mary's Church in Orono
Orono, Maine
Orono is a town in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. It was first settled in 1774 and named in honor of Chief Joseph Orono of the Penobscot Nation. It is home to The University of Maine. The population was 10,362 at the 2010 census.- Geography :...
from 1921 to 1926, and as superintendent of diocesan schools from 1926 to 1929. He was pastor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Presque Isle
Presque Isle, Maine
Presque Isle is the commercial center and largest city in the sparsely populated Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 9,692 at the 2010 census...
from 1929 to 1946.
On June 22, 1946, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop
Auxiliary bishop
An auxiliary bishop, in the Roman Catholic Church, is an additional bishop assigned to a diocese because the diocesan bishop is unable to perform his functions, the diocese is so extensive that it requires more than one bishop to administer, or the diocese is attached to a royal or imperial office...
of Portland and Titular Bishop
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 Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches is that he be ordained for a specific place...
of Sita by Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
. Feeney, who was Portland's first native bishop
Bishop (Catholic Church)
In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders and is responsible for teaching the Catholic faith and ruling the Church....
, received his episcopal consecration
Bishop (Catholic Church)
In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders and is responsible for teaching the Catholic faith and ruling the Church....
on the following September 12, his fifty-second birthday, from Archbishop Amleto Cicognani, with Bishops Matthew Brady
Matthew Francis Brady
Matthew Francis Brady was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Burlington and Bishop of Manchester .-Biography:...
and Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Edward McCarthy
Joseph Edward McCarthy was the sixth Roman Catholic Bishop of Portland .McCarthy was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, and was a childhood friend of Bishop John Murray. After attending Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts, he was ordained to the priesthood on July 4, 1903. He then taught...
serving as co-consecrators
Consecrator
Consecrator is a term used in the Roman Catholic Church to designate a bishop who ordains a priest to the episcopal state. The term is often used in Eastern Rite Churches and in Anglican communities. The term "Principal Consecrator" is used to designate the primary bishop who ordains a new bishop...
, in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception may refer to:In Benin:*Basilique de l’Immaculée Conception, OuidahIn Burkina Faso:*Ouagadougou CathedralIn Canada:*Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception...
. He performed many of Bishop McCarthy's administrative duties due to the latter's poor health, and later became Apostolic Administrator
Apostolic Administrator
An apostolic administrator in the Roman Catholic Church is a prelate appointed by the Pope to serve as the ordinary for an apostolic administration...
(1948) and Coadjutor Bishop
Coadjutor bishop
A coadjutor bishop is a bishop in the Roman Catholic or Anglican churches who is designated to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese, almost as co-bishop of the diocese...
(1952) of the diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
.
Feeney succeeded McCarthy as the seventh Bishop of Portland
Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the New England region of the United States comprising the entire state of Maine...
upon his death on September 9, 1955. During his tenure, he opened a number of rectories
Rectory
A rectory is the residence, or former residence, of a rector, most often a Christian cleric, but in some cases an academic rector or other person with that title...
, convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
s, schools
Catholic school
Catholic schools are maintained parochial schools or education ministries of the Catholic Church. the Church operates the world's largest non-governmental school system...
, social center
Social center
Social centers are community spaces. They are buildings which are used for a range of disparate activities, which can be linked only by virtue of being not-for-profit. They might be organizing centers for local activities or they might provide support networks for minority groups such as prisoners...
s, parish
Parish (Catholic Church)
In the Roman Catholic Church, a parish is the lowest ecclesiastical geographical subdivision: from ecclesiastical province to diocese to deanery to parish.-Requirements:A parish needs two things under common law to become a parish...
halls, and the diocesan chancery
Diocesan chancery
A diocesan chancery is the branch of administration which handles all written documents used in the official government of a Roman Catholic or Anglican diocese....
. The Bishop also freed the Portland diocese of its considerable debt
Debt
A debt is an obligation owed by one party to a second party, the creditor; usually this refers to assets granted by the creditor to the debtor, but the term can also be used metaphorically to cover moral obligations and other interactions not based on economic value.A debt is created when a...
, which was his self-proclaimed greatest tangible accomplishment. From 1962 to 1965, Feeney was attended the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
, and was subsequently active in implementing the Council's reforms
Aggiornamento
-Code of Canon law:Originally, the word referred merely to an adjournment of the Code of Canon law, as John XXIII said himself in his 1959 speech. However, the Code of canon law was only completed in 1983, after a long delay of 18 years after the end of the Council...
, such as by modernizing the Cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
.
He died at the age of 75, having spent his last several months at Mercy Hospital
Mercy Hospital
-Australia:* Werribee Mercy Hospital - Werribee, Victoria* Mercy Hospital for Women, Melbourne - Heidelberg, Victoria* Mercy Hospital, Western Australia - Mount Lawley, Western Australia-New Zealand:* Mercy Hospital - Auckland...
. His funeral Mass
Requiem
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead or Mass of the dead , is a Mass celebrated for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, using a particular form of the Roman Missal...
was held at St. Dominic Parish, as the Cathedral was closed for renovation.