John Maguire

Who was John Maguire?

John Aloysius Maguire was a Roman Catholic clergyman who served as the Archbishop of Glasgow from 1902 to 1920.

Born in Glasgow on 8 September 1851, he was ordained to the priesthood on 27 March 1875. He was appointed an Auxiliary Bishop of Glasgow and Titular Bishop of Trocmades by the Holy See on 6 April 1894, and consecrated to the Episcopate on 11 June 1894. The principal consecrator was Archbishop Angus MacDonald of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, and the principal co-consecrators were Bishop James August Smith of Dunkeld and Bishop William Turner of Galloway.

Following the death of Archbishop Charles Petre Eyre on 27 March 1902, Maguire was appointed the Archbishop of the Metropolitan see of Glasgow on 4 August 1902.

His power of swaying a large multitude by oratory was demonstrated at the London Eucharistic Congress in 1908, when he quieted the thousands of assembled Roman Catholics who were infuriated at the government's interference with the proposed procession of the Blessed Sacrament in the streets of Westminster.

He died in Glasgow on 14 October 1920, aged 69.