Hugh Charles Boyle

Hugh Boyle was born on October 8, 1873, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, one of nine children of Charles and Anna (née Keelan) Boyle.[1] His father was an Irish immigrant who worked as a coal miner.[2] He received his early education at local parochial schools, and enrolled at St. Vincent College in Latrobe at age 14.[3] During the 1889 Johnstown Flood, his father and most of his siblings drowned; only his mother and one brother survived.[4] He began his studies for the priesthood at St. Vincent Seminary, also in Latrobe, in 1891.[1]

Boyle was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Pittsburgh by Bishop Richard Phelan on July 2, 1898.[5] His first assignment was as a curate at St. Aloysius Parish in Wilmerding, Pennsylvania, where he remained for five years.[1] He then served at the Cathedral of St. Paul and secretary to Bishop Regis Canevin until 1909, when he became superintendent of diocesan schools.[2] From 1916 to 1921, he served as pastor of St. Mary Magdalene Parish in Homestead, Pennsylvania.[1]

On June 16, 1921, Boyle was appointed the sixth Bishop of Pittsburgh by Pope Benedict XV.[5] He received his episcopal consecration on June 29, 1921, from Bishop Canevin, with Bishops Philip R. McDevitt and John McCort serving as co-consecrators.[5]

During his 29-year tenure, he earned a reputation as one of the leading Catholic educators in the nation, and sponsored a comprehensive school-building program in the diocese,[2] most notably asking the Brothers of the Christian Schools to establish Central Catholic High School. He was a supporter of social justice movements, such as the Catholic Radical Alliance.[6] In 1941, he established the Catholic Workers' School in Pittsburgh.[2]

During World War II, Boyle served as chairman of the National Catholic Welfare Council's Committee for Polish Relief.[2] He defended the Allied bombing of Rome as a wartime necessity and praised the care that was taken in the air raids to protect the city's religious and cultural treasures.[2] Boyle also played a prominent role in the activities of the Legion of Decency and was a member of the Episcopal Committee on Motion Pictures.[2]

Hugh Boyle died on December 22, 1950, at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh, at age 77.[2] He is buried in St. Mary Cemetery in the city's Lawrenceville neighborhood.[7]