Laurence Higgins (September 3, 1928 – August 24, 2016) was the founder and Pastor Emeritus of the St. Lawrence Catholic
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
of
Tampa, Florida
Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...
in the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Petersburg.
Higgins served as pastor from 1958 to 2007. A celebrated member of the
Tampa Bay community, Higgins received the 1994 Outstanding Citizen of the Year award from the Tampa branch of the
Civitan Club. Upon his retirement, Tampa Mayor
Pam Iorio
Pamela Dorothy Iorio (born April 27, 1959) is an American politician and author, who served as mayor of Tampa, Florida from 2003 to 2011.
Early life, education, and family
Iorio moved with her family to Temple Terrace as an infant and attended Hi ...
proclaimed the week of June 21 to June 30, 2007, as "Higgins Days".
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Biography
Higgins was born September 3, 1928, in Magherafelt
Magherafelt (, mˠaxəɾʲəˈfʲiːlt̪ˠə is a small town and civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 8,805 at the 2011 Census. It is the biggest town in the south of the county and is the social, econo ...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
. He was ordained a Catholic priest on June 21, 1953, at All Hallows Seminary in Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, Ireland. He was transferred to the Florida Diocese of St. Augustine where he worked in Miami, and then in Tampa where he founded St. Lawrence Catholic Church in 1958. As a priest he served as the Vicar General
A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ...
of the Diocese of St. Petersburg under the late Bishop Thomas Larkin. In 1983, Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
gave him the title of Monsignor
Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ca ...
Prelate of Honor and subsequently in 1988 Protonotary Apostolic
In the Roman Catholic Church, protonotary apostolic (PA; Latin: ''protonotarius apostolicus'') is the title for a member of the highest non-episcopal college of prelates in the Roman Curia or, outside Rome, an honorary prelate on whom the pop ...
, the highest rank of Monsignor.
As pastor, Higgins oversaw the development of the St. Lawrence Parish and the St. Lawrence Catholic School. He led fund-raising efforts for local high school communities as well, including a donation from his friend George Steinbrenner for the building of a new football field at Tampa Catholic High School. The parish's convention center, Higgins Hall, was named in his honor.
Higgins was a chaplain for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...
and served on planning and executive boards for the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) and the Bay Area Legal Services.
References
External links
biography
at St Lawrence Catholic Church
1928 births
2016 deaths
20th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests
Alumni of All Hallows College, Dublin
Apostolic pronotaries
Clergy from Tampa, Florida
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