John T. Mullock

From the Catholic Encyclopedia

Bishop of St. John's, Newfoundland, born in 1807 at Limerick, Ireland; died at St. John's, Newfoundland, 26 March, 1869. He became a Franciscan and was educated at St. Bonaventure's College, Seville, and at St. Isidore's, Rome, where in 1830 he was ordained priest. After long service in Ireland, particularly at Ennis, he was appointed in 1847 coadjutor to Bishop Fleming of St. John's, Newfoundland, with the right of succession, and was consecrated by Cardinal Fransoni on 27 December, 1847, at St. Isidore's, Rome. In July, 1850, he succeeded Bishop Fleming. The church made great progress in Newfoundland during the episcopate of Dr. Mullock, a new diocese - Harbour Grace - being erected. The splendid cathedral of St. John's, begun in 1841, was consecrated on 9 September, 1855. Dr. Mullock always took a keen interest in the commercial development of Newfoundland, and was most enthusiastic about its natural resources. He was frequently consulted by the governor on matters relating to the welfare of the colony, and many of his suggestions relating to the fisheries and other matters were adopted. Before leaving Ireland he was a frequent contributor to the periodical literature of the day, and took an active part in the Irish literary movement of the forties. Long before the first attempts to lay a submarine cable across the Atlantic was made (1857), Dr. Mullock had on several occasions publicly propounded the feasibility of connecting Europe with America by means of submarine telegraph. He was the first to bring before the English-speaking world the life and works of the great Saint Alphonsus Maria Liguori, publishing his "Life" at Dublin in 1846, and in the following year a translation of the saint's "History of Heresies and their Refutation". In 1847 appeared at Dublin his "Short History of the Irish Franciscan Province" translated from the Latin work of Francis Ward; he also wrote "The Cathedral of St. John's, Newfoundland and its consecration" (Dublin, 1856).

GAMS, Series episc. eccl. cath.; HOWLEY, Eccl. Hist. of Newfoundland (Boston, 1888); contemporary files of the Nation (Dublin), Tablet (London), and Cork Examiner; Manuscripts in the Franciscan Convent, Dublin.

GREGORY CLEARY.