Maurice F. McAuliffe

Maurice Francis McAuliffe was an American Latin Catholic prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the bishop of the Diocese of Hartford in Connecticut, U.S., from 1934 until his death in 1944. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the same diocese from 1926 to 1934.

Biography

Maurice McAuliffe was born in Hartford, Connecticut, to Daniel and Catherine McAuliffe. He graduated from St. Peter's School in Hartford and Hartford Public High School in 1894, and attended Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland, for a year. He then continued his studies at the Grand Seminary of Saint-Sulpice in Issy, France, and at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt in Eichstätt, Germany.

McAuliffe was ordained to the priesthood in Eichstätt on July 29, 1900, by Bishop Franz Leopold von Leonrod.Following his return to Connecticut, McAuliffe was appointed to the faculty of St. Thomas Seminary in Hartford. He served as vice-president of the seminary from 1906 until 1921, when he was advanced to president. The Vatican elevated McAuliffe to the rank of domestic prelate in 1924.

Following the death of Nilan, Pius XI named McAuliffe as the eighth bishop of Hartford on April 23, 1934.During his ten-year-long tenure, he established 25 parishes, nine parochial schools, and several junior high schools. In 1942, McAuliffe invited the Jesuits to found Fairfield College Preparatory School in Fairfield, Connecticut, now part of the Diocese of Bridgeport. He organized the campaign to raise $1 million for improvements to St. Francis Hospital in Hartford. McAuliffe was a supporter of the Legion of Decency.

McAuliffe was admitted to St. Francis Hospital on December 3, 1944, and placed in an oxygen tent. He later died at age 69.
McAuliffe Hall on the campus of Fairfield University is named in his honor. The Knight of Columbus Council 3181 – Bishop Maurice F. McAuliffe in Windsor, Connecticut is also named in his honor.