Career
He served as Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh, Ireland from 1937 to 1976. Born in Westport, Browne was ordained to the priesthood on June 20, 1920, for the Archdiocese of Tuam. He later served as professor of moral theology at Saint Patrick"s College in Maynooth.
On August 6, 1937, Browne was appointed Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh by Pope Pius XI, receiving his episcopal consecration from Archbishop Thomas P. Gilmartin on the following August 10.
He supported Prime Minister Éamon de Valera"s defense of arrests and police searches for cached Ireland Republican Army arms, declaring, "Any Irishman who assists any foreign power to attack the legitimate authority of his own land is guilty of the most terrible crime against God"s law, and there can be no excuse for that crime - not even the pretext of solving partition or of securing unity". (see South-Plan). In 1939, he was selected by Éamon de Valera to chair the Commission on Vocational Organisation.
Browne attended the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965, and retired his episcopal post in 1976, after thirty-nine years of service. He died four years later, at the age of 84.
Michael Browne is parodied in Breandán Ó hÉithir's novel Lig Sinn i gCathu.
