{{Short description|New Zealand archbishop}} {{EngvarB|date=September 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox Christian leader | type = Archbishop | name = James Liston | birth_name = James Michael Liston | honorific_prefix = The Most Reverend | honorific_suffix = CMG | title = 7th Bishop of Auckland | image = Bishop James Liston (cropped).jpg | caption = Liston in 1935 | church = Catholic Church | diocese = Diocese of Auckland | term = 9 December 1929 – 7 March 1970 | predecessor = Henry Cleary | successor = Reginald Delargey | previous_post = Titular Bishop of Olympus (1920–1929)<br />Coadjutor Bishop of Auckland (1920–1929) | other_post = Titular Archbishop of Domnach Sechnaill (1970–1976) | ordination = 31 January 1904 | consecration = 12 December 1920 | consecrated_by = Francis Redwood | ordained_by = Michael Verdon | birth_date = {{birth date|1881|6|9|df=y}} | birth_place = Dunedin, New Zealand | death_date = {{death date and age|1976|7|8|1881|6|9|df=y}} | death_place = Dunedin, New Zealand }}
'''James Michael Liston''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|CMG}} (9 June 1881 – 8 July 1976) was the 7th Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland, New Zealand.
==Early life== {{more citations needed|section|date=January 2022}} James Michael Liston (registered at birth as Michael James Liston) was born in Dunedin on 9 June 1881, one of a family of five children of James Liston, a hotel-keeper, and his wife, Mary (née Sullivan), both emigrants from County Clare, Ireland. He was educated at Christian Brothers' School, Dunedin. At the age of 12 in 1893 he began his training for the priesthood at St Patrick's Seminary, Manly, Sydney. He later attended Holy Cross College, Clonliffe, Dublin (1897–1900), and then went on to the Irish College in Rome from which he graduated in 1903 with a doctorate of divinity.{{cn|date=January 2022}}
He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Verdon in St Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin on 31 January 1904. Bishop Verdon placed a strong emphasis on Roman models and on devotion to the Holy See. Liston was deeply influenced by Verdon, who encouraged his vocation, sponsored his studies and was Liston's bishop for the first 14 years of his priesthood. He regarded Verdon as his ultimate role model and throughout his career kept a photograph of Verdon on his desk "for guidance through reflection on his way, and for seeking his heavenly intercession".<ref name="reid1">Nicholas Evan Reid, ''The bishop's paper: a history of the Catholic press of the Diocese of Auckland'', Catholic Publications Centre, Orewa, 2000, pp. 35, 183.</ref>
He was Rector of the college from 1910. On 12 December 1920, Liston was consecrated as coadjutor Bishop of Auckland under Bishop Cleary, the sixth Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland, in St Joseph's Cathedral.<ref name="Sweetman">{{DNZB|Sweetman|Rory|4l11|Liston, James Michael 1881 – 1976|4 April 2011}}</ref>
==Sedition trial== In 1922, during a St Patrick's Day address at Auckland Town Hall he questioned the Anglo-Irish Treaty and described the Irish rebels of 1916 as having been "murdered" by "foreign" (meaning British) troops. He was acquitted at trial in May 1922 of sedition.<ref>Rory Sweetman, ''Bishop in the Dock: the sedition trial of James Liston'', Auckland University Press, Auckland, 1997.<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --></ref>
==Bishop of Auckland== In December 1929, Liston became Auckland's seventh Roman Catholic bishop and remained so for the next 41 years. Liston's decisive support of Bishop Lyons of Christchurch enabled the establishment of Holy Name Seminary as a minor seminary in that city in 1947.<ref name="reid1"/>
==Rugby league involvement== He was the president of the Marist Rugby League Club in 1933.<ref>{{cite news |title = Marist Old Boys' Club |page = 15 |publisher = Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 71 |date = 1933-03-25 |url = https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19330325.2.140 |access-date = 2019-11-17 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191116141630/https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19330325.2.140 |archive-date = 16 November 2019 |url-status = live }}</ref>
==Honours and awards== In 1935, Liston was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal,<ref name="EP">{{cite news | url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19350506.2.12 | title=Official jubilee medals | date=6 May 1935 | work=The Evening Post | access-date=17 November 2019 | page=4 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306224001/http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=ep19350506.2.12 | archive-date=6 March 2016 | url-status=live }}</ref> and in 1953 he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Alister |last2=Coddington |first2=Deborah |authorlink1=Alister Taylor |authorlink2=Deborah Coddington |title=Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand |year=1994 |publisher=New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa |location=Auckland |isbn=0-908578-34-2 |page=416}}</ref>
Liston was appointed Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur as a foreigner, by a French decree of 15 September 1938, in recognition of his service as Bishop of Auckland.<ref name="Sweetman"/><ref name="reid1"/> In 1953, he was given the honorary title of ''archbishop''.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=44486 |date=1 January 1968 |page=41 |supp=3}}</ref> Two years later, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) from the University of Auckland.<ref name="Sweetman"/><ref name="reid1"/>
In the 1968 New Year Honours, Liston was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=44486 |date=1 January 1968 |page=41 |supp=3}}</ref>
Liston College in Henderson is named in his honour.
==Last years and death== In 1970, aged 88, he retired. He died, aged 95, at the Mater Hospital on 8 July 1976.<ref name="Sweetman"/>
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== {{refbegin}} * E.R. Simmons, ''In Cruce Salus, A History of the Diocese of Auckland 1848 – 1980'', Catholic Publication Centre, Auckland 1982. * Rory Sweetman, ''Bishop in the Dock: the sedition trial of James Liston'', Auckland University Press, Auckland, 1997 *{{cite book|author=Reid, Nicholas|title=James Michael Liston: a life|location=Wellington, NZ|publisher=Victoria University Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0864735362}} * Nicholas Reid, ''The Life and Work of Reginald John Delargey Cardinal'', Catholic Diocese of Auckland/Pindar, Auckland, 2008. * [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bliston.html ''Archbishop James Michael Liston'' Catholic Hierarchy website]; retrieved 12 February 2011. {{refend}}
==External links== {{wikisource|New Zealand Truth/Bishop Liston seditious utterance|Bishop Liston seditious utterance}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070912030512/http://www.ak.catholic.org.nz/ Catholic Diocese of Auckland] * [http://www.catholic.org.nz/ Catholic Church in New Zealand]
{{s-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{succession box | title= Coadjutor Bishop of Auckland|before= – |after= -| years=1920–1929}} {{succession box | title= 7th Bishop of Auckland|before= Henry Cleary |after= Reginald Delargey | years=1929–1970}} {{s-end}}
{{New Zealand Catholic Bishops}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Liston, James}} Category:1881 births Category:1976 deaths Category:New Zealand Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:Religious leaders from Dunedin Category:People educated at Trinity Catholic College, Dunedin Category:New Zealand people of Irish descent Category:Alumni of Clonliffe College Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour Category:20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in New Zealand Category:New Zealand recipients of the Legion of Honour Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Auckland Category:New Zealand Roman Catholic archbishops Category:St Peter's College, Auckland faculty