Joseph Masterson (29 January 1899 – 30 November 1953) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Roman Catholic Clergyman and sometime

Archbishop of Birmingham The Archbishop of Birmingham heads the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham in England. As such he is the metropolitan archbishop of the Province of Birmingham. The archdiocese covers an area of and spans of the counties of Oxfordshire, S ...

. Masterson was born in

Ardwick Ardwick is a district of Manchester in North West England, one mile south east of the city centre. The population of the Ardwick Ward at the 2011 census was 19,250. Historically in Lancashire, by the mid-nineteenth century Ardwick had grown from ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England, the son of William Masterson, an Irish immigrant shopkeeper and his wife Celia. From 1910, he was educated at the

Xaverian College Xaverian College is a Roman Catholic college in Manchester, England, south of the city centre in Rusholme. Established in 1862, Xaverian College has become one of the most oversubscribed Sixth form college in Greater Manchester, along with Lore ...

, Rusholme until January 1915 when he was accepted as a student of the Diocese of Salford and continued his studies for a term at

St Bede's College, Manchester ("He never relaxed in idleness") , established = 1876 , closed = , type = Independent day school Public School , religious_affiliation = Roman Catholic , president = , head_label = Headteacher , head ...

, then at

Douai School Douai School was a public (independent) school run by the Douai Abbey Benedictine community at Woolhampton, England, until it closed in 1999. History 1615–1818 The monastic community was founded in Paris in 1615 and moved to Douai aft ...

where he was captain of

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

. He was ordained a priest on 27 July 1924 at the Cenacle Convent, Manchester. Following ordination he studied for two years at the English College, Rome. Returning to England in 1926 Fr Masterson served nine years as curate at St Mary's, Mulberry Street, Manchester, then five years as curate at The English Martyrs, Whalley Range. In 1940 he was appointed Parish Priest at St. Mary's of The Angels and St. Clare,

Levenshulme Levenshulme () is an area of Manchester, England, bordering Fallowfield, Longsight, Gorton, Burnage, Heaton Chapel and Reddish; it is approximately halfway between Stockport and Manchester city centre on the A6. Levenshulme is predominantly re ...

. He was elevated Archbishop of Birmingham on 8 February 1947 and was installed on 19 March 1947. His principal consecrator was

Cardinal Bernard Griffin Bernard William Griffin (21 February 1899 – 19 August 1956) was an English cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Westminster from 1943 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1946 by Pope Pius ...

, co-consecrators

Bishop of Salford The Bishop of Salford is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford in the Province of Liverpool, England. With the gradual abolition of the legal restrictions on the activities of Catholics in England and Wales in the early 19th cent ...

Henry Vincent Marshall Henry Vincent Marshall (19 July 1884 – 14 April 1955) was the sixth Bishop of Salford, a Roman Catholic diocese in the north-west of England. Born in 1884 in Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland he was educated there at St Michael's College and ...

and Bishop of Soli Humphrey Bright. He remained in that post until his death on 30 November 1953.

Notes

1899 births 1953 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United Kingdom People from Ardwick People educated at St Bede's College, Manchester People educated at Douai School Clergy from Manchester Roman Catholic archbishops of Birmingham English College, Rome alumni {{UK-RC-bishop-stub