Joseph C. Plagens

Joseph Casimir Plagens (January 29, 1880 – March 31, 1943) was a Polish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church.

Plagens had ordered the transfer of Father Simon Borkowski, pastor of St. Barbara's Parish in Vulcan, Michigan, to a seminary in Wisconsin.

One day, a group of sixty men arrived at St. Barbara's, pushed past the picketers, and brought Borkowski out of the building.

[6] Pope Pius XII named Plagens as bishop of the Diocese of Grand Rapids on December 16, 1940.

[4][3] Joseph Plagens died at St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Rapids on March 31, 1943, at age 63 of coronary thrombosis.