Joseph Higgins

Joseph Higgins (born January 13, 1838 in Moyvore , County Westmeath , † September 16, 1915 in Ballarat ) was an Irish Roman Catholic bishop in Australia .

Joseph Higgins

Higgins attended St. Finian's Seminary in Navan and St Patrick's College in Maynooth, where he studied theology and church history. In 1863 he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Meath. In 1867 he became President of St Finian's Diocesan Seminary in Navan. In 1887 he became pastor of Castletown Delvin . On the recommendation of Cardinal Patrick Francis Moran , the Holy See appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney in 1888. The following year he was ordained titular bishop of Antiphellus .

In 1899, Higgins was appointed Bishop of Rockhampton to succeed John Cani . By 1905 he succeeded in increasing the number of clergymen in his diocese from 16 to 24, founding six new parishes and building nineteen churches. He had ten primary and secondary schools built and founded ten religious communities of women and two of men for school instruction.

Due to his poor health, he was transferred to Ballarat in 1905 to succeed James Moore as bishop. Here, too, he succeeded in founding new congregations and recruiting new clergy. In addition to thirty new schools, he established ten new monasteries. He brought the Presentation Sisters to Inglewood, the Josephites to Dunolly and the Samaritan Sisters to Koroit and Port Fairy, had the St Patrick's Cathedral expanded extensively, the Nazareth House expanded and founded the St Joseph's Home and the St John of God Hospital in Ballarat. He died of heart failure on September 16, 1915 and was buried in the tomb of St Patrick's Cathedral in Ballarat.

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• Australian Dictionary of Biography - Joseph Higgins
• The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church - Bishop Joseph Higgins