John Gregory Murray

Born on February 26, 1877, John Gregory Murray was appointed on May 29, 1925, and was consecrated as the fifth Bishop of the Diocese of Portland on October 12, 1925.  Bishop Murray attended the University of Louvain in Belgium. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1900. Bishop Murray was the first Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Hartford (1920-1925). During his tenure in Maine, Bishop Murray founded a new diocesan weekly newspaper and oversaw a building boom of parish churches and schools, but faced a precarious financial landscape at the onset of the Great Depression. Bishop Murray organized relief committees to raise money for those in need and was much beloved for his kindness and compassion towards people of all walks of life. In 1931, Bishop Murray was appointed the Archbishop of Saint Paul, Minnesota, where he served until his death on October 11, 1956.