Joseph John Rice

Joseph John Rice (December 6, 1871—April 1, 1938) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Burlington from 1910 until his death in 1938.

Biography

Joseph Rice was born in Leicester, Massachusetts, to Henry and Catherine (née Donnelly) Rice.^[1] After graduating from Leicester Academy in 1888, he then studied at Holy Cross College in Worcester (1888–1891) and at the Grand Seminary of Montreal in Canada (1891–1894).^[2] Returning to Massachusetts, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Thomas Beaven on September 29, 1894.^[3] He earned a Doctor of Divinity from the College of the Propaganda at Rome in 1896.^[2]

Following his return to the United States, Rice was assigned to Portland, Maine, where he did missionary work among the Native Americans.^[1] He then did pastoral work in Fitchburg, Pittsfield, and Oxford, Massachusetts.^[2] He served as professor of philosophy at St. John's Seminary in Brighton until 1903, when he was named pastor of St. Peter's Church in Northbridge.^[2]

On January 8, 1910, Rice was appointed Bishop of Burlington, Vermont, by Pope Pius X.^[3] He received his episcopal consecration on the following April 14 from Bishop Thomas Beaven, with Bishops Matthew Harkins and Louis Sebastian Walsh serving as co-consecrators, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.^[3] During his 28-year-long tenure, he placed De Goesbriand Memorial Hospital under the care of the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph, and opened three high schools and Trinity College.^[4] He was also confronted with a case of anti-Catholicism; in November 1925, the Ku Klux Klan burned a cross on the steps of St. Augustine's Church at Montpelier.^[4]

Rice later died at age 66. He is buried at Resurrection Park in South Burlington.^[1]

References

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