Former Bishop of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, Monsignor James Aloysius Griffin was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Thomas Griffin and his wife Catherine Woulfe. He attended St. Gabriel High School and St. Ignatius College in Chicago before furthering his studies in Rome at the Propaganda College, from where he obtained a Ph.D., in 1906, and doctor of divinity in 1910. While in Rome, he served as secretary to Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val.
Griffin was ordained to the priesthood at 26 years of age on July 4, 1909. Upon his return to the United States in 1910, he served as a curate at St. James Church in Chicago until 1915, when he was transferred to St. Brendan church. He served as pastor of Assumption church in Coal City between 1917 and 1921, and of St. Mary church in Joliet from 1921 till 1924.
On November 10, 1923, at 40 years of age, Griffin was appointed the Fourth Bishop of the Diocese of Springfield in Illionois by Pope Pius XI, receiving his episcopal consecration on February 25, 1924, from Archbishop George William Mundelein, assisted by Bishops Samuel Stritch and Edward Francis Hoban. Dedicating the new cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in 1928, Griffin erected 51 new churches, schools, convents and charitable institutions. The total cost spent in his first ten years was close to $6.5 million. He established the Marquette Catholic High School in Alton, and Springfield College. New Churches were constructed in Alton, Carrollton, Decatur, Effingham, Glen Carbon, Granite City, Kincaid, Litchfield, Madison, Mattoon, Niantic, Pana, Quincy, Wilsonvile, Batchtown, and other cities and towns.
In 1930, Griffin formed the Catholic Boys High School in Springfield. The school met in the new Cathedral School but was moved for the second year to the old Immaculate Conception church that had been remodeled to accommodate the boys. A new class was added each year until all four classes were formed in 1934. That same year, Griffin purchased land at the corner of Amos and Washington St. with an eye toward building a permanent home for the school in the future, later becoming the Sacred Heart - Griffin High School's west campus. The year before his death, Griffin oversaw the formation of two more Springfield parishes, St. Francis Xavier Cabrini at Milton and Elliott and the church of the Little Flower on the city's south side.
In 1939, he joined Bishop John Mark Gannon and Monsignor Michael Joseph Ready in a visit to Mexico to confer with Archbishop Luis Martínez on a seminary founded in Las Vegas, New Mexico, to supply priests for the Mexican Church, since seminaries were at that time illegal in that country.
Griffin died aged 65, at 7:55 o'clock in the evening at St. John's Hospital, on August 5, 1948, after protracting illness in mid-July. Funeral services were held on Wednesday, August 11, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, with Cardinal Samuel Stritch, Archbishop of Chicago, officiating. Special radio broadcasts by Springfield stations memorialized Bishop Griffin with live coverage of the funeral Mass carried locally by WTAX. Stations from other cities including ones from Bloomington, Peoria, Tuscola and Decatur also carried the funeral service. Loudspeakers were set up outside the church for those who could not get into the cathedral.
Bishop Griffin was laid to rest in one of five crypts of the cathedral.
Griffin was ordained to the priesthood at 26 years of age on July 4, 1909. Upon his return to the United States in 1910, he served as a curate at St. James Church in Chicago until 1915, when he was transferred to St. Brendan church. He served as pastor of Assumption church in Coal City between 1917 and 1921, and of St. Mary church in Joliet from 1921 till 1924.
On November 10, 1923, at 40 years of age, Griffin was appointed the Fourth Bishop of the Diocese of Springfield in Illionois by Pope Pius XI, receiving his episcopal consecration on February 25, 1924, from Archbishop George William Mundelein, assisted by Bishops Samuel Stritch and Edward Francis Hoban. Dedicating the new cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in 1928, Griffin erected 51 new churches, schools, convents and charitable institutions. The total cost spent in his first ten years was close to $6.5 million. He established the Marquette Catholic High School in Alton, and Springfield College. New Churches were constructed in Alton, Carrollton, Decatur, Effingham, Glen Carbon, Granite City, Kincaid, Litchfield, Madison, Mattoon, Niantic, Pana, Quincy, Wilsonvile, Batchtown, and other cities and towns.
In 1930, Griffin formed the Catholic Boys High School in Springfield. The school met in the new Cathedral School but was moved for the second year to the old Immaculate Conception church that had been remodeled to accommodate the boys. A new class was added each year until all four classes were formed in 1934. That same year, Griffin purchased land at the corner of Amos and Washington St. with an eye toward building a permanent home for the school in the future, later becoming the Sacred Heart - Griffin High School's west campus. The year before his death, Griffin oversaw the formation of two more Springfield parishes, St. Francis Xavier Cabrini at Milton and Elliott and the church of the Little Flower on the city's south side.
In 1939, he joined Bishop John Mark Gannon and Monsignor Michael Joseph Ready in a visit to Mexico to confer with Archbishop Luis Martínez on a seminary founded in Las Vegas, New Mexico, to supply priests for the Mexican Church, since seminaries were at that time illegal in that country.
Griffin died aged 65, at 7:55 o'clock in the evening at St. John's Hospital, on August 5, 1948, after protracting illness in mid-July. Funeral services were held on Wednesday, August 11, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, with Cardinal Samuel Stritch, Archbishop of Chicago, officiating. Special radio broadcasts by Springfield stations memorialized Bishop Griffin with live coverage of the funeral Mass carried locally by WTAX. Stations from other cities including ones from Bloomington, Peoria, Tuscola and Decatur also carried the funeral service. Loudspeakers were set up outside the church for those who could not get into the cathedral.
Bishop Griffin was laid to rest in one of five crypts of the cathedral.
Former Bishop of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, Monsignor James Aloysius Griffin was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Thomas Griffin and his wife Catherine Woulfe. He attended St. Gabriel High School and St. Ignatius College in Chicago before furthering his studies in Rome at the Propaganda College, from where he obtained a Ph.D., in 1906, and doctor of divinity in 1910. While in Rome, he served as secretary to Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val.
Griffin was ordained to the priesthood at 26 years of age on July 4, 1909. Upon his return to the United States in 1910, he served as a curate at St. James Church in Chicago until 1915, when he was transferred to St. Brendan church. He served as pastor of Assumption church in Coal City between 1917 and 1921, and of St. Mary church in Joliet from 1921 till 1924.
On November 10, 1923, at 40 years of age, Griffin was appointed the Fourth Bishop of the Diocese of Springfield in Illionois by Pope Pius XI, receiving his episcopal consecration on February 25, 1924, from Archbishop George William Mundelein, assisted by Bishops Samuel Stritch and Edward Francis Hoban. Dedicating the new cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in 1928, Griffin erected 51 new churches, schools, convents and charitable institutions. The total cost spent in his first ten years was close to $6.5 million. He established the Marquette Catholic High School in Alton, and Springfield College. New Churches were constructed in Alton, Carrollton, Decatur, Effingham, Glen Carbon, Granite City, Kincaid, Litchfield, Madison, Mattoon, Niantic, Pana, Quincy, Wilsonvile, Batchtown, and other cities and towns.
In 1930, Griffin formed the Catholic Boys High School in Springfield. The school met in the new Cathedral School but was moved for the second year to the old Immaculate Conception church that had been remodeled to accommodate the boys. A new class was added each year until all four classes were formed in 1934. That same year, Griffin purchased land at the corner of Amos and Washington St. with an eye toward building a permanent home for the school in the future, later becoming the Sacred Heart - Griffin High School's west campus. The year before his death, Griffin oversaw the formation of two more Springfield parishes, St. Francis Xavier Cabrini at Milton and Elliott and the church of the Little Flower on the city's south side.
In 1939, he joined Bishop John Mark Gannon and Monsignor Michael Joseph Ready in a visit to Mexico to confer with Archbishop Luis Martínez on a seminary founded in Las Vegas, New Mexico, to supply priests for the Mexican Church, since seminaries were at that time illegal in that country.
Griffin died aged 65, at 7:55 o'clock in the evening at St. John's Hospital, on August 5, 1948, after protracting illness in mid-July. Funeral services were held on Wednesday, August 11, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, with Cardinal Samuel Stritch, Archbishop of Chicago, officiating. Special radio broadcasts by Springfield stations memorialized Bishop Griffin with live coverage of the funeral Mass carried locally by WTAX. Stations from other cities including ones from Bloomington, Peoria, Tuscola and Decatur also carried the funeral service. Loudspeakers were set up outside the church for those who could not get into the cathedral.
Bishop Griffin was laid to rest in one of five crypts of the cathedral.
Griffin was ordained to the priesthood at 26 years of age on July 4, 1909. Upon his return to the United States in 1910, he served as a curate at St. James Church in Chicago until 1915, when he was transferred to St. Brendan church. He served as pastor of Assumption church in Coal City between 1917 and 1921, and of St. Mary church in Joliet from 1921 till 1924.
On November 10, 1923, at 40 years of age, Griffin was appointed the Fourth Bishop of the Diocese of Springfield in Illionois by Pope Pius XI, receiving his episcopal consecration on February 25, 1924, from Archbishop George William Mundelein, assisted by Bishops Samuel Stritch and Edward Francis Hoban. Dedicating the new cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in 1928, Griffin erected 51 new churches, schools, convents and charitable institutions. The total cost spent in his first ten years was close to $6.5 million. He established the Marquette Catholic High School in Alton, and Springfield College. New Churches were constructed in Alton, Carrollton, Decatur, Effingham, Glen Carbon, Granite City, Kincaid, Litchfield, Madison, Mattoon, Niantic, Pana, Quincy, Wilsonvile, Batchtown, and other cities and towns.
In 1930, Griffin formed the Catholic Boys High School in Springfield. The school met in the new Cathedral School but was moved for the second year to the old Immaculate Conception church that had been remodeled to accommodate the boys. A new class was added each year until all four classes were formed in 1934. That same year, Griffin purchased land at the corner of Amos and Washington St. with an eye toward building a permanent home for the school in the future, later becoming the Sacred Heart - Griffin High School's west campus. The year before his death, Griffin oversaw the formation of two more Springfield parishes, St. Francis Xavier Cabrini at Milton and Elliott and the church of the Little Flower on the city's south side.
In 1939, he joined Bishop John Mark Gannon and Monsignor Michael Joseph Ready in a visit to Mexico to confer with Archbishop Luis Martínez on a seminary founded in Las Vegas, New Mexico, to supply priests for the Mexican Church, since seminaries were at that time illegal in that country.
Griffin died aged 65, at 7:55 o'clock in the evening at St. John's Hospital, on August 5, 1948, after protracting illness in mid-July. Funeral services were held on Wednesday, August 11, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, with Cardinal Samuel Stritch, Archbishop of Chicago, officiating. Special radio broadcasts by Springfield stations memorialized Bishop Griffin with live coverage of the funeral Mass carried locally by WTAX. Stations from other cities including ones from Bloomington, Peoria, Tuscola and Decatur also carried the funeral service. Loudspeakers were set up outside the church for those who could not get into the cathedral.
Bishop Griffin was laid to rest in one of five crypts of the cathedral.
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