Matthew Harkins

Matthew A. Harkins was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Patrick Harkins, an Irish immigrant, and his wife, Margaret.[1] He received his early education at a primary school on Tremont Street and a grammar school in Quincy.[2]

He attended Boston Latin School from 1859–62, when he entered Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts.[2] After a year at Holy Cross, he went abroad to France and furthered his studies at the English College, Douai and at Église Saint-Sulpice, Paris.[3]

While in Paris, Harkins was ordained to the priesthood on May 22, 1869.[4] After studying theology and canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, he returned to Massachusetts in 1870 and was named curate at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Salem (now part of the parish of Mary, Queen of apostles).[5]

He served as pastor of St. Malachi Church, Arlington, Massachusetts[6] from 1876–84, and then as pastor of St. James Church in Boston (then the largest parish in New England) from 1884-87.[7] In 1884 he accompanied Archbishop John Joseph Williams to the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore as a theologian.[2]

On February 11, 1887, Harkins was appointed the second Bishop of Providence, Rhode Island, by Pope Leo XIII.[8] He received his episcopal consecration on the following April 14 from Archbishop Williams, with Bishops Patrick O'Reilly and Lawrence McMahon serving as co-consecrators, at the Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul.[8] During his tenure, the diocese grew to be among the largest in the country and to have one of the highest percentage of Catholics.[1]

In 1904 the Holy See formed the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts, out of Providence, which was then left 190,000 Catholics and which later increased to 275,180 by 1920. He increased the number of parishes from 39 to 95; most of these new parishes were erected in the cities and growing suburbs, and designated for various ethnic groups.[1] He established numerous charitable organizations and parochial schools as well.[1] He was responsible for creating the first Roman Catholic college in the diocese, Providence College, in 1917. Its main building, Bishop Harkins Hall, is named for him.

Due to his advancing age and declining health, Harkins received two auxiliary bishops between May 1914 and October 1917, and a coadjutor bishop in April 1919.[1] He later died at age 75.

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