Michael Verdon

Michael Verdon (19 December 1838 – 23 November 1918) was the 2nd Catholic Bishop of Dunedin from (1896–1918).

Early life Verdon was born in Liverpool, England on 19 December 1838 His father came from County Louth, Ireland and his mother came from County Kildare. He was a nephew of Cardinal Cullen, Archbishop of Dublin, and a first cousin of Cardinal Moran, Archbishop of Sydney. he also made improvements and was raised to the dignity of a domestic prelate.

In 1888 he was recruited by Cardinal Moran to go to Sydney to take charge of the newly erected St Patrick's College, Manly. Under his rule, the number of students rose to 65. 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 when he had reached Melbourne on his way there, Verdon received news of his appointment to the see of Dunedin. One of Verdon's first concerns was the establishment of a national seminary in Dunedin and, with the support of the other New Zealand bishops, Holy Cross College, Mosgiel was opened on 3 May 1900, exactly four years after Verdon's consecration and Verdon was himself its first rector.

It was a significant step forward for the Church in New Zealand ensuring an adequate supply of clergy trained in New Zealand and also creating "a very real bond between the secular priests of the country".

Character and influence In an editorial The Otago Daily Times compared Verdon with his predecessor Patrick Moran. Moran was physically slight but vibrant with "mental activity, nervous energy and fiery eloquence". Verdon was a large man with a massive frame, but he shunned publicity and was not widely known outside the Catholic community. Verdon's delight was in building new churches, expanding Catholic education and in philanthropy. He had "simple tastes, a singularly winning manner, deep sympathies, and profound wisdom".

Verdon's uncle and mentor, Cardinal Cullen had insisted on complete loyalty to Rome, the pope and the magisterium. He encouraged his priests to wear Roman clerical garb and to decorate their churches "in the fashion of contemporaneous Roman basilicas". This attitude was inherited by Verdon. He had great reverence for the Italian Catholic Reformation Sants, Philip Neri and Charles Borromeo. He also preferred to send talented seminarians to Rome for further training and he decorated Holy Cross College in a very Roman way. These attitudes were also transferred to those whom Verdon mentored, including James Liston, the seventh Bishop of Auckland.