DEATH OF BISHOP GRIMES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 237, 16 March 1915, Page 5

DEATH OF BISHOP GRIMES.

IN" A SYDNEY HOSPITAL. Wellington, last night. Archbishop O'Shea, of Wellington, today received iwlvjcc of the death in the , Lewisham Hospital, Sydney, of Bishop Grimes, of Ohristchurch. '.The Bishop left New Zealand .a fortnight ago for medical treatment, a'nd was to have undergone an operation for appendicitis, but his strength was unequal to the ordeal. Received 15, 9.55 p.m. Sydney, March 15. The death occurred to-day of Dr Grimes, Soman Catholic Bishop of Christchureh, who arrived in Sydney on March 2. On the following day he entered the Lewisham Private Hospital, and on Saturday was operated upon . for appendicitis, from the effects of | which ho failed to recover.

The Right Rev John Joseph Grimes, D.D.-, the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Christchureh, was an indefatigible worker, and an eloquent preacher, but it was as an organiser that he stood 'pre-eminent, a lasting monument to his energy and ability in this sphere being the magnificent Cathedral in Christ-' church, the thousands of pounds necessary for which were raised under his direction and supervision. He was born in 1842 at Bromley, Kent, England. He was. educated at Colleges of the Marist Fathers in England and France, and followed his theological studies in Ireland. 110 entered the Congregation of the Society of Mary, known as the Marist Fathers, a well-known missionary body of priests. After his ordination to the priesthood he was Professor of Belles Lettres and Rhetoric in St Mary's College, Ireland, and from 1573 to 1880 Professor, Director and President of Jefferson College, Louisiana, United States of America. From 1880 to 1887, lie was Rec-tor of St Mary's, Paignton, Devonshire, and President of the Missionary Training College at that place, jvliere he built the first Roman Catholic. Church erected there since tlie Reformation. He was appointed first Bishop M Christchureh in 1887 by Pope, Leo XITL, and consecrated. on July 20 of that year. Tile late Dr Grimes was one of the Board of Governors of Canterbury College, Christcliurch, and a vice-president of the Society for the ftevention of Cruelty to Animals. He published several pastorals on moral and dogmatic subjects, and panvphets on the re-union of Christendom.