Denis Hurley (bishop)

The Most Reverend Servant of God Denis Eugene Hurley O.M.I.
Archdiocese of Durban
Diocese	Durban
Term ended	29 May 1992
Predecessor	Henri Delalle OMI
Successor	Wilfrid Napier OFM
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	Catholic Church

Denis Eugene Hurley O.M.I. (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.

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, he 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.

Denis Hurley was born in Cape Town to Irish parents, spending his early years on Robben Island, where his father was the lighthouse keeper. Educated at St Charles College in Pietermaritzburg, Natal, he joined the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) in 1931 and in the following year was sent to Ireland for his novitiate.

In 1933, he was sent to the Angelicum University (now known as Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas) in Rome to study philosophy and theology. He received the degree Licentiate of Philosophy from the Angelicum in 1936 and started studying at the Gregorian University.

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