George Hamilton Pearce

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Msgr. George Hamilton Pearce, S.M., D.D., Archbishop Emeritus of Suva, Fiji, was born on January 9, 1921, in Boston, Massachusetts.

His education included Saint Columcille's Elementary School in Brighton, Massachusetts, Maryvale Preparatory Seminary in Bedford, Massachusetts and at Marist College and Seminary in Framingham, Massachusetts. He was ordained to the presbyterate on February 3, 1947 by Richard Cardinal Cushing and was appointed Vicar Apostolic of the Navigators' Archipelago and Titular Bishop of Attalea in Pamphylia on February 29, 1956. He was consecrated to the episcopate on June 29, 1956 in Boston by Richard Cardinal Cushing.

On June 21, 1966, the Holy See elevated the vicariate apostolic to the dignity of a diocese and Bishop Pearce became the first Bishop of Apia. He was appointed as the first Archbishop of Suva, Fiji on June 22, 1967. He retired on April 10, 1976 and lives in Providence, Rhode Island where he leads a Marian prayer group in the Providence Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul. Msgr. Pearce visited Medjugorje in 2002 with a group of American pilgrims.