John Barrett (bishop)


John Patrick Barrett
Bishop of Plymouth
ChurchLatin Church
ProvinceSouthwark
DiocesePlymouth
Installed7 June 1929
Term ended2 November 1946
PredecessorJohn Keily
SuccessorFrancis Grimshaw
Orders
Ordination19 June 1906
Consecration22 February 1927
Personal details
Born31 October 1878
Died2 November 1946 (aged 68)
DenominationRoman Catholic

John Patrick Barrett (31 October 1878 – 2 November 1946) was a British clergyman who held high office in the Roman Catholic Church.[1][2]

He was born on 31 October 1878 in Liverpool, England. He was educated at St Edward's College, Everton, and at the University of London (he gained his Bachelor of Arts (BA) there, a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) later, and a Doctor of Divinity (DD) from the Pontifical Gregorian University). He was ordained a priest on 19 June 1906 at Upholland, Skelmersdale, for the Archdiocese of Liverpool.[2] After a period as a priest, he was elevated to the episcopacy as Auxiliary Bishop of Birmingham in 1927 and was appointed the fifth Bishop of Plymouth on 7 June 1929; he was enthroned on 31 July and continued in the post until his death.[1] When his house was destroyed in an air raid in 1941, during the Second World War, he moved into a nearby convent, where he died suddenly but peacefully on 2 November 1946.[3]

During Barrett's time as bishop, several new places of worship were established. At Ottery, two female converts set up a chapel at Raleigh House, which later became St Anthony's Church. The Marist Sisters set up a convent in the town in 1940, which continued until 2007.[4] The foundation stone of the Church of the Blessed Sacrament at Heavitree was laid by Barrett in 1931.[5] The Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Plympton was designed by Leonard Drysdale and built in memory of Barrett's predecessor, John Keily, and was consecrated in 1934.[6]

St Boniface's Catholic College in Plymouth has a house named for him.

  1. ^ a b "John Patrick Barrett". Catholic Hierarchy. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
  2. ^ a b "Past Bishops". Diocese of Plymouth. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  3. ^ "THE BISHOP OF PLYMOUTH". The Tablet. 9 November 1946. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  4. ^ "History". St. Anthony’s Church. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  5. ^ "History". Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  6. ^ "Catholic Church of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish History 1932-2002". www.rc.net. Archived from the original on 27 August 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2016.