Edward Thaddeus Lawton
Most Reverend Edward T. Lawton, OP | |
|---|---|
Boston, Massachusetts, USA | |
| Died | December 19, 1966 (aged 53) Sokoto State, Nigeria |
Edward T. Lawton, from 1964 to 1966.
Early life and education
Born in
profession of vows on August 16, 1937. His philosophical and theological studies were taken at the Dominican House of Studies in River Forest, Illinois and he was ordained a priest there on June 6, 1943.[2]
Priesthood
Lawton's first assignment as a priest was teaching at
Prefect Apostolic. He was invested on November 13, 1954, at St. Pius V Church in Chicago. He initially established himself at Gusau. The prefecture had 1,200 Catholics among five million people, most of whom were Muslim.[1] He served there with one other priest until 1956 when fellow Dominicans from the St. Albert the Great Province in the United States arrived as well as Dominican Sisters from Great Bend, Kansas. He moved from Gusau to Sokoto in 1961. He suffered several health problems, including a heart attack. The prefecture grew to more than 10,000 people and it was elevated to a diocese on June 16, 1964.[1][2]
Bishop of Sokoto
On June 16, 1964 Pope Paul VI appointed Lawton as the first Bishop of Sokoto. He was consecrated a bishop by Archbishop John McCarthy, S.M.A. of Kaduna on August 15, 1964. The principal co-consecrators were Bishop John J. Reddington, S.M.A. of Jos and Auxiliary Bishop John Kwao Amuzu Aggey of Lagos.[3] He attended the last two sessions of the Second Vatican Council in 1964 and 1965.[1] While traveling in an automobile he suffered a coronary thrombosis and died on December 19, 1966. His funeral was held the following day at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Gusau and his body was laid to rest in the cemetery adjacent to the church.
References
- ^ a b c d e "Lawton, Edward Thaddeus". Dictionary of African Christian Biography. Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
- ^ a b "Diocese of Sokoto". Giga-Catholic. Retrieved 2014-02-03.
- ^ "Bishop Edward Thaddeus Lawton". Catholic-Hierarchy. Retrieved 2014-02-03.