Denis Hurley (bishop)
Denis Eugene Hurley OMSG (9 November 1915 – 13 February 2004) was the South African Roman Catholic Vicar Apostolic of Natal and Bishop, and later Archbishop of Durban, from 1946 until 1992. He was born in Cape Town and spent his early years on Robben Island, where his father was the lighthouse keeper. In 1951, Hurley was appointed Archbishop of Durban and the youngest archbishop in the world at that time.
Servant of God Denis Eugene Hurley O.M.I. | |
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| Archbishop emeritus of Durban | |
| Archdiocese | Durban |
| See | Durban |
| Appointed | 11 January 1951 |
| Term ended | 29 May 1992 |
| Predecessor | Henri Delalle OMI |
| Successor | Wilfrid Napier OFM |
| Other post(s) |
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| Orders | |
| Ordination | 9 July 1939 |
| Consecration | 19 March 1947 by Martin Lucas |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 November 1915 Cape Town, South Africa |
| Died | 13 February 2004 (age 89) Durban, South Africa |
| Buried | Lady Chapel, Emmanuel Cathedral, Durban |
| Nationality | South African |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic Church |
| Previous post(s) |
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| Alma mater | Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas Pontifical Gregorian University |
| Motto | Ubi Spiritus, ibi libertas ("Where the Spirit is, there is liberty") |
Ordination history of Denis Hurley | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Styles of Denis Eugene Hurley O.M.I. | |
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| Reference style | His Excellency |
| Spoken style | Your Excellency |
| Posthumous style | Servant of God |
Hurley was an active participant in the Second Vatican Council, which he described as "the greatest project of adult education ever held in the world".
An outspoken opponent of apartheid, as chairman of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, Hurley drafted the first of the ground-breaking pastoral letters in which the bishops denounced apartheid as "blasphemy" and "intrinsically evil." Upon his retirement as archbishop, he served as the Chancellor of the University of Natal.