Michael Russell (bishop of Waterford and Lismore)

Styles of Michael Russell
Reference style	The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Grace
Religious style	Bishop
Posthumous style	none

Michael Russell (10 December 1920 – 12 January 2009) was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Waterford and Lismore in Ireland from 1965 to 1993.

Born in Loughmore, Thurles, Co Tipperary, in 1920, he was educated at the Christian Brothers School in Thurles, and played minor hurling for Tipperary.^[1]

He studied for the priesthood and was ordained in St Patrick’s College in Maynooth. After ordination 17 June 1945, he began postgraduate studies and awarded a doctorate in Canon Law in 1948.

He was appointed to the staff of St. Patrick's College, Thurles where he lectured where he lectured in moral theology. He became vice-president in 1959.^[2]

His appointment as Bishop of Waterford and Lismore was announced by Pope Paul VI on 8 November 1965. He was ordained in the Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity, Waterford, on 19 December 1965 and took as his episcopal motto 'Humilitate et Lenitate' (humility and gentleness.)

In 1984 the highlight of the trip to Ireland by President Ronald Reagan was a visit to his ancestral home village of Ballyporeen in Russell's Waterford diocese. He, along with every other Catholic bishop invited to similar events, refused to attend and gave no explanation.^[3]

At his death he was reported to have been the last surviving Irish bishop who had taken part in the Second Vatican Council. The same obituary recalled his episcopal ministry in Waterford "He oversaw the building of many new churches in the expanding suburbs of Waterford city particularly.....he was very committed to the active, social care of his flock, particularly where new community centres and the elderly were concerned. He was also a great supporter the credit unions." ^[4]

References