MANNING, TIMOTHY

Cardinal, archbishop of Los Angeles; b. Nov. 14, 1909, Ballingeary, County Cork, Ireland; d. June 23, 1989, Los Angeles, California. One of four children of Cornelius and Margaret (Cronin) Manning. He studied at the local National School and under the Christian Brothers at nearby Cork. His preparation for the priesthood began in 1923 at Mungret College, a secondary school staffed by the Society of Jesus for the foreign missions. Attracted to California by an appeal on behalf of the Diocese of Los Angeles–San Diego, Manning left Ireland in October of 1928 for Menlo Park, where he joined the student body of Saint Patrick's Seminary. He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop John J. Cantwell on June 16, 1934, in Saint Vibiana's Cathedral. The following year, Fr. Manning was sent to Rome for post-graduate studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University, where he received a doctorate in canon law in 1938. Upon his return to southern California, Manning was named secretary to Archbishop Cantwell, a post he occupied for eight years. On Aug. 17, 1946, he was appointed auxiliary of Los Angeles, with the titular see of Lesvi. With the appointment of Archbishop J. Francis A. McIntyre to Los Angeles in 1948, Manning was named chancellor, and on Nov. 29, 1955 he became vicar general for the archdiocese.

Upon realignment of ecclesial boundaries in central California, Bishop Manning was named to the newly erected Diocese of Fresno, Oct. 24, 1967. In 18 brief but intensely fruitful months, he created a diocesan housing commission, established four new parishes and five missions, approved the formation of a priest's senate, authorized a task force to marshal resources for inner city and minority groups, shared the bitter anguish of the Delano labor dispute, and visited each of the 80 parishes scattered through the 35,239 square mile jurisdiction. He was recalled to the scene of his earlier priestly labors on May 26, 1969, as coadjutor to Cardinal McIntyre, whom he succeeded on Jan. 21, 1970. He received the gallium, symbolic of the metropolitan office, on June 17, 1970. Paul VI named him a cardinal in 1973.

In addition to pursuing administrative and expansionary policies, Archbishop Manning energetically supported a host of ecumenical involvements and warmly endorsed the Cursillo movement. He personally chaired the commission for liturgy, established a spirituality house and erected an archival center. He made a solemn pilgrimage to Mexico City's National Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe where it all began for California, where he thanked the Hispanic people for their role in bedrocking the faith along the Pacific Slope. In his concern for and identification with the archdiocesan founded and sponsored Lay Mission Helpers, Manning visited missionaries in South Africa, Rhodesia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Uganda. Though the Catholics of Orange County were given their own diocese in 1976, Los Angeles continued to expand and, by 1984, was acknowledged as the largest ecclesial jurisdiction in the United States. In 1985, with the acceptance of his retirement by Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Manning turned the reins of leadership over to his successor, Archbishop Roger M. Mahony.

A popular speaker and writer, Bishop Manning published a chapter of his doctoral thesis dealing with Clerical Education in Major Seminaries, a 50-page treatise on The Grey Ox (a biography of Fray Junipero Serra) and the entry for the "Archdiocese of Los Angeles" in the New Catholic Encyclopedia. A number of his sermons and addresses appeared in various ecclesiastical journals over the years; his collected homilies, addresses, and talks appeared in two volumes, Days of Change, Years of Challenge and Times of Tension, Moments of Grace. In l990, Manning's invocations, blessings, and dedications were published under the title Hours of Consecration, Minutes of Prayer.

Manning remained active in his retirement years. In addition to working a day each week in the archdiocesan archives and spending another visiting infirm priests and religious, he traveled widely and gave numerous retreats throughout the West. He died on June 23, 1989, of a cerebrovascular accident due to marantic endocarditis, and was buried at Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles.

Bibliography: f. j. weber, comp., Days of Charge, Years of Challenge: The Homilies, Addresses and Talks of Timothy Cardinal Manning (Los Angeles 1987); Times of Tension, Moments of Grace: The Homilies, Addresses and Talks of Timothy Cardinal Manning (Los Angeles 1990); Hours of Consecration, Minutes of Prayer: The Invocations, Blessings and Dedications of Timothy Cardinal Manning (Los Angeles 1990); Magnificat: The Life and Times of Timothy Cardinal Manning (Mission Hills 1999).

[f. j. weber]