Moses E. Kiley

Moses Elias Kiley (November 13, 1876 – April 15, 1953) was a Canadian-born American Catholic prelate who served as archbishop of Milwaukee in Wisconsin from 1940 to 1953. He previously served as bishop of Trenton in New Jersey (1934–1940).

Biography

Early life Moses Kiley was born on November 13, 1876, in Margaree, on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, to John and Margaret (née McGarry) Kiley. He received his early education at a grade school in Baddeck, Nova Scotia. When Kiley was 16, the family immigrated to the United States, moving to Somerville, Massachusetts. He financed his higher education by working as an errand boy at a carriage shop in Somerville established by his older brothers.

In 1903, Kiley enrolled at the College of St. Laurent in Montreal, Quebec. While in Rome, he earned a doctorate in philosophy from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in 1909, and a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Urban University in 1911.

Following his return to the United States, the archdiocese assigned Kiley as a curate at St. Agnes Parish in Chicago, Illinois, where he remained for five years. He oversaw an extensive renovation of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee, which had suffered major fire damage in 1935.

Kiley rebuilt the St. Aemillian Orphanage in Milwaukee, also damaged by fire in the 1930s. Kiley also renovated St. Francis Seminary in St. Francis, Wisconsin, converted Pio Nono High School into a minor seminary, and created a Catholic Family Life Bureau in 1948.

Death Moses Kiley died on April 15, 1953, at St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee, at age 76.