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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]

The Right Rev. Michael Verdon

The Right Rev. Michael Verdon , D.D., Bishop of Dunedin, was born in Liverpool, England in 1838, of Irish parents. His father came from County Louth, Ireland, and his mother was sister of Cardinal Cullen. Archbishop of Dublin. He received his early education in St. Vincent's College, Castle-knock, Dublin, conducted by the Vincentian Fathers. In 1855 he proceeded to Rome, where he continued his studies in the Irish College. He was ordained priest in 1861, and appointed a professor in the Holy Cross College, Clonliffe, Dublin, of which nine years later, he became President, in succession to the Very Rev. Canon Power, who had been appointed Bishop of St. John's, Newfoundland. In 1879 he was appointed a canon of the Cathedral Chapter, Dublin, by Cardinal McCabe, Archbishop of Dublin. Owing to the failing health of the Right Rev. Monsignor Kirby, the aged rector of the Irish College at Rome. Dr. Verdon was invited to assist in the government of the College, and remained there until he went to Sydney, in 1888, to take charge of the newly-erected St. Patrick's College at Manley. At the Provincial Council, held in Sydney, in 1895, he was elected by the Bishops of Australia to represent them, and act as their agent in Rome; and, in February, 1896 he had reached Melbourne on his way thither, when he received news of his appointment to the see of Dunedin. He was consecrated Bishop of Dunedin in St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin, on Sunday, the 3rd of May, 1896, by his Eminence Cardinal Moran, assisted by the Archbishops of Wellington and Melbourne, and the Bishops of Maitland and Christchurch.