Hugh Boyle was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, one of nine children of Charles and Anna Boyle. His father was an Irish immigrant who worked as a coal miner. He received his early education at local parochial schools, and enrolled at St. Vincent College in Latrobe at age 14. During the 1889 Johnstown Flood, his father and most of his siblings drowned; only his mother and one brother survived. He began his studies for the priesthood at St. Vincent Seminary, also in Latrobe, in 1891. Boyle was ordained a priest by Bishop Richard Phelan on July 2, 1898. His first assignment was as a curate at in Wilmerding, where he remained for five years. He then served at the Cathedral of St. Paul and secretary to Bishop Regis Canevin until 1909, when he became superintendent of diocesan schools. From 1916 to 1921, he served as pastor of in Homestead. On June 16, 1921, Boyle was appointed the sixth Bishop of Pittsburgh by Pope Benedict XV. He received his episcopal consecration on the following June 29 from Bishop Canevin, with Bishops Philip R. McDevitt and John Joseph McCort serving as co-consecrators. During his 29-year tenure, he earned a reputation as one of the leading Catholic educators in the nation, and sponsored a comprehensive school-building program in the diocese, most notably asking the Brothers of the Christian Schools to establish Central Catholic High School. He was a strong supporter of social justice movements, such as the Catholic Radical Alliance. In 1941, he established the Catholic Workers' School in Pittsburgh. During World War II, Boyle served as chairman of the National Catholic Welfare Council's Committee for Polish Relief. He defended the Alliedbombing of Rome as a wartime necessity and praised the care that was taken in the air raids to protect the city's religious and cultural treasures. Boyle also played a prominent role in the activities of the Legion of Decency and was a member of the Episcopal Committee on Motion Pictures. Boyle died at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh, at age 77. He is buried in St. Mary Cemetery in the city's Lawrenceville neighborhood.
