{{Infobox Christian leader | type = Bishop | honorific_prefix = The Most Reverend | name = Joseph A. Murphy, S.J. | title = Vicar Apostolic of Belize | image = Bishop Joseph A. Murphy.jpg | alt = | caption = | church = Catholic Church | see = Titular Bishop of ''Birtha'' | appointed = December 23, 1923 | term = May 4, 1924 – July 16, 1938 | predecessor = Frederick C. Hopkins, S.J. | successor = William A. Rice, S.J. <!-- Orders --> | ordination = August 26, 1888 | ordained_by = | consecration = March 19, 1924 | consecrated_by = Archbishop John J. Glennon | rank = <!-- Personal details --> | birth_date = December 24, 1857 | birth_place = Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland | death_date = {{death date and age|1939|11|25|1857|12|24}} | death_place = Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States<ref name=Murph/> | previous_post = Dean of College of Arts and Science, Marquette University }} '''Joseph Anthony Murphy''' was born in Ireland but raised in Chicago. He became a Jesuit priest and served, inter alia, as dean of the liberal arts college at Marquette University for eleven years and as Vicar Apostolic for the Catholic mission in British Honduras (Belize), Central America, being ordained bishop on March 19, 1924.<ref name="Murph">{{cite journal|date=1940|title=William A. Murphy|url=http://jesuitarchives.org/wp-content/plugins/pdf-viewer-for-wordpress/web/viewer-shortcode.php?file=http://jesuitarchives.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/woodstock-069.pdf&download=true&print=true&fullscreen=true&share=true&zoom=true&open=true&logo=true&pagenav=true&find=true#locale=en-US&page=&zoom=auto|journal=Woodstock Letters|volume=69|pages=205–208|access-date=June 19, 2015}}</ref>
==Early life and work== Joseph Anthony Murphy was born in Dundalk County Louth, Ireland, December 24, 1857. He lost his mother at a young age and his father moved the family of three boys and seven girls to Chicago, where Joseph attended St. Ignatius College Prep and then entered the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) at St. Stanislaus Novitiate in Florissant, Missouri. His priestly studies were at Woodstock College, Maryland, where he was ordained a priest on August 26, 1888. He then served at Detroit College as Prefect of Studies (1895–1905) and on the mission in British Honduras from 1905 until 1910 when he suffered a severe attack of tropical fever.
==College dean and bishop== He returned to the States to become dean of the liberal arts college of Marquette University (1910–1921) and then for two years professor of philosophy at St. Louis University. He had been requesting reassignment to the Jesuit mission and it came in the form of his appointment, at age 66, as Vicar Apostolic for British Honduras. He was consecrated bishop by Archbishop Glennon in St. Louis, Missouri, on March 19, 1924.<ref>{{cite web| title =Hierarchy| url =http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/country/ba03.html|access-date=June 19, 2015}}</ref> He would preside from Holy Redeemer, the mother church in Belize with its cathedral dating back to 1858. His episcopacy would be marked by construction projects like that of Holy Redeemer Hall, the largest in Belize at the time,<ref name=Woods>*Woods, Charles M. Sr., et al. ''Years of Grace: The History of Roman Catholic Evangelization in Belize: 1524–2014''. (Belize: Roman Catholic Diocese of Belize City-Belmopan, 2015), 207-211.</ref> as well as by reconstruction after the 1931 Belize hurricane, a category 4 that killed approximately 2500 people.
==Irish Catholic== thumb|250px|left|Murphy carried into Maya village thumb|Murphy Jubilee parade in Belize Born just at the edge of Catholic Ireland, Murphy's zeal for Catholicism was deeply rooted in Irish Catholicism and Irish-English relations. He refused to stand for the British National Anthem at public ceremonies, or to receive the Anglican bishop for a visit.<ref name=Woods/> Murphy seemed to relish the ceremonial of his office. He made a regal entry into Keckchi villages, carried on a chair on the shoulders of the Maya with palm leaves and banners waving around him.<ref>"Bishop Murphy, SJ, welcomed in state by Keckchi Indians, British Honduras." ''Jesuit Missions'', July–Aug. 1931, cover.</ref> For his fiftieth jubilee as a priest Belize Town gave him a regal parade.<ref name=Woods/> Cardiac asthma brought on his resignation at the age of 80. He died in his sleep on November 25, 1939, in Milwaukee.<ref name=Murph/>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Joseph Anthony}} Category:1857 births Category:1939 deaths Category:Marquette University faculty Category:Jesuit bishops Category:Roman Catholic missionaries in Belize Category:20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Belize Category:19th-century American Jesuits Category:20th-century American Jesuits Category:American Roman Catholic missionaries Category:20th-century American Roman Catholic titular bishops Category:Belizean Jesuits Category:Jesuit missionaries Category:American expatriates in Belize Category:Irish expatriate Roman Catholic bishops Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Belize City–Belmopan Category:Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Milwaukee)