Joseph Lennox Federal

Who is Joseph Lennox Federal?

Joseph Lennox Federal was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Salt Lake City from 1960 to 1980.

Joseph Federal was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, to Charles and Margaret Federal. He studied at Belmont Abbey College, Niagara University, University of Fribourg, and Pontifical North American College. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Raleigh on December 8, 1934. He then served as a curate at St. Peter's Church in Greenville, and was the first pastor of St. Margaret's Church in Swannanoa. He was rector of Sacred Heart Cathedral, and became a Papal Chamberlain in 1942.

On February 5, 1951, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Salt Lake City and Titular Bishop of Appiaria by Pope Pius XII. He received his episcopal consecration on the following April 11 from Cardinal Amleto Giovanni Cicognani, with Bishops Eugene J. McGuinness and Vincent Stanislaus Waters serving as co-consecrators. He was named Coadjutor Bishop of Salt Lake City on May 1, 1958, and later succeeded Duane Garrison Hunt as the sixth Bishop upon the latter's death on March 31, 1960.

He attended the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965. During Federal's tenure, crews replaced the slate roof of the Cathedral of the Madeleine with copper along with some sandstone blocks and gargoyles. In 1970 he had the cathedral bells toll as the hearse carrying the body of LDS President David O. McKay passed by.