Edward Joseph Dunne


Edward Joseph Dunne was an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Dallas from 1894 until his death in 1910.

Biography

Edward Dunne was born in Gortnahoe, County Tipperary, to Richard and Judith Dunne. At a young age, he and his parents came to the United States, where he was raised in Chicago, Illinois. He studied at St. Francis Seminary in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and then at St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, Maryland. He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Thomas Andrew Becker on June 29, 1871.
Upon his return to Chicago, Dunne was named a curate under Rev. Patrick William Riordan at St. John's Church. He served at St. Mary's Church from 1873 until 1875, when he became pastor of . He there erected a church and an illustrious parochial school, which even received recognition from the Chicago Public Board of Education. He also served as financial overseer for the Archdiocese of Chicago.
At some point in the early part of 1884, Dunne traveled to St. Anthony of Padua Parish in the rural Catholic colony of San Antonio, Florida for health reasons. During his very brief time there, he was credited by The Catholic Review with a great number of advancements on behalf of the three-year-old faith-community. Most notable among them, during Lent of 1884 he greatly advanced the development of a Catholic school. To that point, classes had been conducted in the home of Cecilia Morse, a Catholic education pioneer herself. Two weeks after Easter on April 29, 1884, largely due to Fr. Dunne's efforts, St. Anthony Catholic School was officially established and began holding formal classes in the parish church until a suitable schoolhouse was constructed several months later. He returned to All Saints Church in Chicago shortly thereafter.
On September 24, 1893, Dunne was appointed the second Bishop of Dallas, Texas, by Pope Leo XIII. He received his episcopal consecration on the following November 30 from Archbishop Patrick Feehan, with Bishops James Ryan and John Samuel Foley serving as co-consecrators, at All Saints. He was installed in Dallas in January. During his tenure, Dunne opened several educational institutions, including Holy Trinity College. He established St. Paul Sanitarium in Dallas, and St. Anthony's Sanitarium, which was the first hospital in Amarillo. He also erected Sacred Heart Cathedral. During his sixteen years as bishop, the number of churches increased from twenty-eight to ninety, and the Catholic population tripled in size.
Dunne died from a heart attack while visiting a friend in Green Bay, Wisconsin, aged 62. Upon the request of his brother, he was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Evanston, IL.