John Tuigg

He served as the third bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania from 1876 to 1889.

His Excellency, The Most Reverend John Tuigg
Bishop of Pittsburgh Administrator of Allegheny
Church	Roman Catholic Church
See	Diocese of Pittsburgh
In office	January 11, 1876 – December 7, 1889
Predecessor	Michael Domenec
Successor	Richard Phelan
Orders
Ordination	May 14, 1850
Consecration	March 19, 1876 by James Frederick Bryan Wood
Personal details
Born	February 19, 1820 Donoughmore, Ireland
Died	December 7, 1889(1889-12-07) (aged 69) Altoona, Pennsylvania
Motto	Sit nomen Domini benedictum (Blessed be the name of the Lord)

Early life

 

John Tuigg was born in on February 19, 1820, in Donoughmore, Ireland. He was educated at All Hallows College in Drumcondra.

In 1849, when Bishop Michael O'Connor traveled to Dublin, to recruit volunteers for missionary work in America, Tuigg was the first to respond. He reached Pittsburgh in December 1849, and finished his studies at St. Michael's Seminary, where he was appointed professor for a brief time.

Priesthood

Tuigg was ordained a priest by Bishop Michael O’Connor on May 14, 1850, and was soon after appointed secretary to Bishop Michael Domenec. He also served as an assistant priest in Saint Paul Cathedral. Tuigg was then transferred to St. Bridget's Parish, and began to erect a new church. Soon, however, he was transferred to mission work in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where he remained until 1876.

Tuigg had been appointed vicar general for the eastern part of the diocese of Pittsburgh, but the Diocese of Allegheny was split from the Diocese of Pittsburgh and Domenec was selected to lead the new diocese. Pope Pius IX decided to make Tuigg the new bishop of Pittsburgh and would not accept any declination of the honor.

Bishop of Pittsburgh

Tuigg was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh on January 11, 1876. On March 19, 1876, he was consecrated bishop of Pittsburgh by Archbishop James Frederick Bryan Wood. Upon his accession he found that the Panic of 1873 had left the diocese's property and finances in disarray. Yet Tuigg extricated the diocese from its difficulties.

Upon Domenec's retirement as bishop of the Diocese of Allegheny in 1877, the former diocese was left sede vacante, without a bishop. Tuigg was appointed apostolic administrator of the territory, but this new and increased burden was more than he could bear, and Tuigg's health began to give way. After having suffered a paralytic stroke, he took a sabbatical. Though he had begun to recover, Tuigg returned, and suffered another stroke. His bad health forced the Vatican to appoint Richard Phelan as coadjutor bishop to run the diocese. At the time, the combined Pittsburgh and Allegheny dioceses contained 133 churches and 191 chapels, convents, and educational institutions.

John Tuigg died in Altoona on December 7, 1889, at age 69. He is buried in the cemetery of St. John Church in that city.

It may be said of him that he combined the qualities of firmness and gentleness to a degree rarely found in the same individual; strong and unyielding when confident of the justice and propriety of any position he took, he was at the same time kind and courteous to those from whom he differed. Proofs of his executive ability, his piety, and his self-sacrificing zeal abound throughout the diocese over which God called him to rule, and which he left in better condition than it had known for some years.

— Regis Canevin, Bishop of Pittsburgh (1904–1920)