George Hamilton Pearce

Msgr. George Hamilton Pearce, SM, DD (b. January 9 1921, Boston, Massachusetts) was the first Bishop of Apia and is Archbishop Emeritus of Suva, Fiji.

His education included Saint Columbkille's Elementary School in Brighton, Massachusetts, Maryvale Preparatory Seminary in Bedford, Massachusetts and at Marist College and Seminary in Framingham, Massachusetts. He was ordained to the presbyterate on February 3 1947 by Richard Cardinal Cushing and was appointed Vicar Apostolic of the Navigators' Archipelago and Titular Bishop of Attalea in Pamphylia on February 29 1956. He was consecrated to the episcopate on June 29 1956 in Boston by Richard Cardinal Cushing.

On June 21 1966, the Holy See elevated the vicariate apostolic to the dignity of a diocese and Bishop Pearce became the first Bishop of Apia. He was appointed as the first Archbishop of Suva, Fiji on June 22 1967. He retired on April 10 1976 and lives in Providence, Rhode Island where he leads a Marian prayer group in the Providence Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul. Msgr. Pearce visited Medjugorje in 2002 with a group of American pilgrims.

ources

* [http://www.medjugorje.hr/Biskupi%202002%20ENG.htm Msgr. George Hamilton Pearce speaks on Medjugorge]
* [http://www.dioceseofprovidence.org/our_bishops/directory/#bishop_4 Biography of Msgr. George Hamilton Pearce at the Diocese of Providence Internet Site]
* "Galuega O Le Sinoti" ("Acts of the Snyod of the Archdiocese of Samoa-Apia"), December 7-14, 1990, promulgated, May 1, 1991, Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker. Apia, Samoa.