Biography
Cletus Benjamin was born in Old Forge, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Old Forge, Pennsylvania, to Evan Thomas and Mary (née Corcoran) Benjamin. He attended grade school in Forest City, Pennsylvania, Forest City and high school in Scranton. He studied at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Overbrook, Philadelphia, Overbrook for two years before entering the Pontifical North American College in Rome. He also studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University, where he earned a Doctor of Sacred Theology, doctorate in theology. Benjamin was Holy Orders, ordained to the Priesthood (Catholic Church), priesthood by Cardinal Francesco Marchetti Selvaggiani on December 8, 1935. Following his return to Pennsylvania, he served as secretary to Cardinal Dennis Joseph Dougherty from 1938 to 1943. He then served as vice-Chancellor (ecclesiastical), chancellor of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Archdiocese of Philadelphia until 1945, when he became full chancellor. He was named a Monsignor, domestic prelate by Pope Pius XII in 1947, and became pastor of the Church of the Incarnation in Philadelphia in 1954. On August 17, 1960, Benjamin was appointed auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia and titular bishop of Binda (titular see), Binda by Pope John XXIII. He received his Bishop (Catholic Church), episcopal consecration on the following December 22 from Archbishop Egidio Vagnozzi, with Bishops Joseph Mark McShea and Joseph Carroll McCormick serving as Consecrator, co-consecrators, at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, Philadelphia, Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul. Less than a year after his elevation to the episcopacy, Benjamin died from a Myocardial infarction, heart attack at the Church of the Incarnation, at age 52.References
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