Purcell, Harold
PURCELL, HAROLD
Missionary, editor; b. Gerardville, Pennsylvania, Jan. 3, 1881; d. Montgomery Alabama, Oct. 22, 1952. He attended Catholic schools in Philadelphia and entered the Passionist Congregation in 1897. Purcell was ordained in Union City, New Jersey, Dec. 17, 1904, and served as a home missionary for 15 years. Preaching throughout the East and Middle West, he conducted more than 300 missions and retreats. In 1921 he founded the Sign, a Passionist monthly magazine. Within three years he raised subscriptions to 60,000 and attracted excellent writing talent in the United States and England. The success of the Sign (circulation 420,000 in 1961) was due in large measure to the policies and principles Purcell established during his 13-year editorship. In 1934 he left his order to devote himself exclusively to the African American apostolate in the Mobile, Alabama diocese. Here he planned, financed, built, and directed "The City of St. Jude," a $5 million complex of schools, recreation units, church, rectory, convent, hospital, and nurses' home, for the service of African Americans.
[c. j. yuhaus]