Background
Dowling, Austin was born on April 6, 1868 in New York, United States. Son of Daniel and Mary (Santry) Dowling.
Dowling, Austin was born on April 6, 1868 in New York, United States. Son of Daniel and Mary (Santry) Dowling.
Bachelor of Arts, Manhattan College, New York, 1887. St. John’s Seminary, Brighton, Boston. Catholic U., Washington, 1890-1892.
Dowling was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood on June 24, 1891 for the Diocese of Providence. Afterwards, he worked on his graduate studies in theology and church history at the Catholic University.
After serving as a pastor in Warren, Rhode Island for a year, Dowling went to the Brighton Seminary where, for two and a half years he taught Church History. History was always a passion of Dowling. Marvin O'Connell stated that he was "a man who was by taste, habit and profession an historian; he could not set about finding solutions to problems facing him until he examined those problems in the light of the past." Even his sermons as Bishop of Des Moines and as Archbishop of St. Paul were mainly of an historical character. He was one of the first to welcome the creation of the Catholic Historical Review, and one of the first life members of the American Catholic Historical Association.
Later, in 1896, Dowling spent two years as editor of the Providence Visitor, and became one of the better known Catholic editors in the United States. Afterwards, he was assistant at St. Joseph's, Providence, then pastor of St. Mary's, Warren and then rector of the Providence Cathedral.
In 1912, the Holy See appointed Dowling as the bishop of the Diocese of Des Moines, Iowa. His peers saw the action as recognition of his talents, while Dowling felt as if he were being sent into "exile" in the West.
Dowling had a fine intellect and excellent organizational skills. As Bishop of Des Moines, Dowling was appreciated for his courage, simplicity, kindness, and especially his commitment to education. In 1918, Des Moines Catholic College was founded by Dowling; it later became Dowling Catholic High School.
On January 31, 1919, Dowling was appointed to be Archbishop of Saint Paul, Minnesota. In his address at his installation on March 25, 1919, Dowling described himself as "the unknown, the unexpected, the undistinguished successor of the great Archbishop Ireland."
In the decade that followed, Dowling had many accomplishments, including: The establishment of the Archbishop Ireland's Education Fund; the improvement of St. Paul Seminary; and being on the board of Education of the Catholic National Welfare Conference (now known as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops or USCCB). He was known for his contributions to education and love of Church history.
During the last years of his life Archbishop Dowling's health was seriously impaired because his heart was not functioning normally, and the resultant circulatory disorders gave rise to complications that were life-threatening on several occasions. During the summer of 1929 he collapsed while on a confirmation tour and a critical illness resulted. For a time he recovered to the point that he was able to walk on his own, but pneumonia developed. Dowling lapsed into unconsciousness four hours before his peaceful death in the late morning of Saturday, November 29, 1930, at his residence on Summit Avenue, directly across from the St. Paul Cathedral.