Christopher Edward Byrne

[1] After attending the village school where his father taught, he earned a Bachelor of Arts at St. Mary's College in Kansas in 1886.

[5] Years later, Byrne said that a doctor had told him when he was age 30 that his heart disease would kill him in a few months.

On July 18, 1918, Byrne was appointed the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Galveston by Pope Benedict XV.

[4][3] Byrne's expressed priority as bishop was vocations, saying, "If Catholicism has not taken that deep hold on the people which will make them dedicate their young to God's service, it cannot endure.

[1] In 1936, Byrne helped organize the centennial celebration of Texan independence from Mexico, holding an open-air mass at the San Jacinto Battlefield near Houston.