Robert Browne (bishop)

Robert Browne (6 November 1844 – 23 March 1935) was the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Cloyne in Ireland from 1894 to 1935.

Robert Browne was born in Charleville (subsequently Rath Luirc),County Cork, the third son of Robert Browne and Margaret Mullins. He was one of the first students of St. Colman's, Fermoy. He entered Maynooth and was ordained on 18 May 1869 for Cloyne Diocese, and took a position on the staff of his old school, St. Colman’s Fermoy, in 1870 before returning to Maynooth in 1874 becoming Dean in 1875, vice-President in 1883 and President in 1885. [http://www.cobhcathedral.com/images/Browne.jpg]

His presidency of Maynooth is remembered for his completion of the College Chapel, the adorning of the Cloisters with portraits of the various bishops who passed through Maynooth, and the building of the exhibition hall. The bishops at the meeting of the College Trustees in October 1894 put on record their appreciation: "his great ability and consummate prudence with which for several years he presided over the college...for the indefatigable zeal and perfect taste by which he contributed so largely to the completion of the college chapel: the important additions to the college buildings of the Aula Maxima, and the general embellishment of the college and grounds... the standard of intellectual work, and much more of the traditional piety on the part of the students, has been so maintained as to make his administration fruitful in the best results of the Irish Church."

He was appointed Bishop of Cloyne on 26 June 1894 (SCPF Decree 19 June 1894) and was ordained Bishop on 19 August 1894. He was Bishop of Cloyne for 41 years, from 1894 to 1935. The building programme of St. Colman’s Cathedral initiated by his predecessors was continued by Bishop Browne and concentrated on the outside of the edifice which was commenced in 1899 and completed in 1909. He also added the flooring, ceiling, side altars and stained glass windows, which covered the period 1895 to 1919. The Sacristy was begun in 1906 and completed in 1909. Work on the massive and impressive spire started in 1911 and ended in 1915. The Cathedral (free of debt) was solemnly consecrated on 12 April 1919 by Bishop Browne.

In 1912 Bishop Browne and six of his priests successfully brought a case of libel against the Dundee Courier for "having falsely and calumniously charged them with abusing their religious influence over the Catholic laity to procure the indiscriminate dismissal of all Protestant shop assistants in the employment of Catholics in Cobh." He was awarded £200 and each of the priests £50. He donated his award to the fund for the Cathedral. [http://www.cobhcathedral.com/images/BishBrowne.jpg]

He was among the 18 Catholic and 3 Protestant bishops to sign the Manifesto of May 17th 1917, protesting against the proposed partition of Ireland.

Bishop Browne died on March 23rd 1935 and he is buried in St. Colman's Cemetery, Cobh. His motto was the Latin phrase, "Deus Adjutor Meus", God will Judge Me.

Family

Bishop Browne's nephew, Father Francis Browne, was an important member of the Jesuit Order in Ireland as well as a noted photographer. He is best known for having taken the last known photographs of RMS "Titanic".