[1] After graduating from Roman Catholic High School for Boys in Philadelphia in 1908, he studied at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Overbrook.
[2] He then served as a curate at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Philadelphia until 1917, when he became a chaplain in the United States Navy during World War I.
[1] On June 23, 1925, Byrne was appointed the first Bishop of the Diocese of Ponce in Puerto Rico by Pope Pius XI.
[2] After Archbishop Jorge José Caruana was made Apostolic Nuncio to Mexico, Byrne was named Bishop of San Juan on March 8, 1929.
[3] In 1958, his decree that no Catholic girl should appear in a bathing suit in the Miss New Mexico pageant received national attention and stirred controversy; he never rescinded the ban.