This web site is a memorial to those individuals who were passionate about the reform of the
Roman Catholic liturgy as set forth in Sacrosanctum Concilium (the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy)
and who now, in eternal life, worship the God whom they served in this life.

John Joseph Wright

John Joseph Wright
July 18, 1909 – August 10, 1979

Birth: July 18, 1909, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America. Son of John Joseph Wright, a paper-factory clerk, and Harriet Louise Cokely.

Education: Boston College, Boston; Saint John's Seminary, Brighton; Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome.

Priesthood: Ordained, December 8, 1935, Rome, by Cardinal Francesco Marchetti Selvaggiani, vicar general of Rome. Further studies, 1935-1939. Faculty member of Saint John's Seminary, Brighton, 1939-1943. Secretary to the archbishop of Boston, November 8, 1944. Privy chamberlain of His Holiness, December 17, 1944.

Episcopate: Elected titular bishop of Egea and appointed auxiliary of Boston, May 10, 1947. Consecrated, June 30, 1947, cathedral of the Holy Cross, Boston, by Richard Cushing, archbishop of Boston, assisted by Ralph Leo Hayes, bishop of Davenport, and by James Louis Connelly, titular bishop of Milasa and coadjutor of Fall River. Transferred to the diocese of Worcester, January 28, 1950. Transferred to the diocese of Pittsburgh, January 23, 1959. Attended the Second Vatican Council, 1962-1965. Attended the First Ordinary Assembly of the World Synod of Bishops, Vatican City, September 29 to October 29, 1967. Prefect of the S.C. for Clergy, April 23, 1969.

Cardinalate: Created cardinal priest in the consistory of April 28, 1969; received the red biretta and the title of Gesù Divin Maestro alla Pineta Sacchetti, April 30, 1969. Attended the First Extraordinary Assembly of the World Synod of Bishops, Vatican City, October 11 to 28, 1969; the II Ordinary Assembly of the World Synod of Bishops, Vatican City, September 30 to November 6, 1971; president delegate, August 2, 1971. Attended the III Ordinary Assembly of the World Synod of Bishops, Vatican City, September 27 to October 26, 1974; the IV Ordinary Assembly of the World Synod of Bishops, Vatican City, September 30 to October 29, 1977. Did not participate in the conclave of August 25 to 26, 1978, which elected Pope John Paul I, because of illness. Participated in conclave of October 14 to 16, 1978, which elected Pope John Paul II. He was very knowledgeable about St. Joan of Arc.

Death: August 10, 1979, of polymyositis, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America. Buried in the family plot, in Holyhood Cemetery, Brookline.