Denis Hurley (bishop)

His Excellency, The Most Reverend

Denis Eugene Hurley

Archbishop emeritus of Durban
ArchdioceseDurban
SeeDurban
Appointed11 January 1951
Term ended29 May 1992
PredecessorHenri Delalle OMI
SuccessorWilfrid Napier OFM
Other post(s)
Previous post(s)
Orders
Ordination9 July 1939
Consecration19 March 1947
by Martin Lucas
Personal details
Born9 November 1915
Died13 February 2004 (age 89)
Durban, South Africa
BuriedLady Chapel, Emmanuel Cathedral, Durban
NationalitySouth African
DenominationRoman Catholic Church
Alma materPontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas
Pontifical Gregorian University
MottoUbi Spiritus, ibi libertas
("Where the Spirit is, there is liberty")
Ordination history of
Denis Hurley
History
Priestly ordination
Ordained byThéodore Labouré
Date9 July 1939
PlaceRome,Italy
Episcopal consecration
Principal consecratorMartin Lucas S.V.D.
Co-consecratorsMichael Adalbero Fleischer David O'Leary
Date19 March 1947
PlaceDurban, South Africa
Episcopal succession
Bishops consecrated by Denis Hurley as principal consecrator
Dominic Joseph Chwane Khumalo O.M.I.4 May 1978
Wilfrid Napier O.F.M.28 February 1981
Kevin Dowling C.SS.R.27 January 1991
Buti Joseph Tlhagale O.M.I.10 April 1999
Styles of
Denis Eugene Hurley O.M.I.
Reference styleHis Excellency
Spoken styleYour Excellency

Denis Eugene Hurley, OMI OMSG (9 November 1915 – 13 February 2004) was a South African Catholic prelate who served as Vicar Apostolic of Natal from 1946 to 1951 and as Archbishop of Durban from 1951 to 1992. He was a member of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

He was born in Cape Town and spent his early years on Robben Island, where his father was the lighthouse keeper. In 1951, Hurley was appointed Archbishop of Durban, becoming the youngest archbishop in the world at the time.

Hurley was an active participant in the Second Vatican Council, which he described as "the greatest project of adult education ever held in the world".

An outspoken opponent of apartheid, as chairman of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, Hurley drafted the first of the ground-breaking pastoral letters in which the bishops denounced apartheid as "blasphemy" and "intrinsically evil." Upon his retirement as archbishop, he served as the chancellor of the University of Natal.