Robert Edward Mulvee


Robert Edward Mulvee was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Wilmington, Delaware and Bishop of Providence, Rhode Island.

Life and career

Robert Mulvee was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to John F. and Jennie T. Mulvee. He studied at St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield, Connecticut; St. Paul University in Ottawa, Ontario; and American College at Louvain in Belgium. While at Louvain, he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire, on June 30, 1957.
Mulvee did pastoral work for several years before furthering his studies in Europe, earning a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome and a Master's degree in religious education from the University of Louvain. Following his return to the United States, he was named assistant chancellor of the Manchester Diocese and in 1966 a Papal Chamberlain.
On February 15, 1977, Mulvee was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Manchester and Titular Bishop of Summa by Pope Paul VI. The position of auxiliary bishop was new in the Manchester diocese at the time, with Mulvee the first to attain this position. While in Manchester, Mulvee stayed as a guest at Saint Anselm Abbey. He received his episcopal consecration on April 14, 1977, from Bishop Odore Joseph Gendron, with Bishops Ernest John Primeau and John Francis Hackett serving as co-consecrators. After the death of Bishop Thomas Joseph Mardaga, Mulvee was named the seventh Bishop of Wilmington, Delaware, on February 19, 1985. He was replaced as auxiliary of Manchester by his friend Bishop Joseph John Gerry, O.S.B. of Saint Anselm Abbey.
During his tenure as Bishop of Wilmington, he emphasized collegiality in his administration of the diocese, helped restructure the Delmarva Ecumenical Agency into the Christian Council of Delaware and Maryland's Eastern Shore, and founded three new missions and raised a fourth to parish status.
Mulvee was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Providence, Rhode Island, on February 9, 1995, and later succeeded Louis Edward Gelineau as the seventh Bishop of Providence upon the latter's resignation on June 11, 1997.
In September 2002, Mulvee ended a 10-year-long legal battle over clerical sexual abuse cases.
Upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75, Mulvee submitted his letter of resignation to Pope John Paul II on February 15, 2005. His resignation was accepted on March 31, 2005, and Bishop Thomas Joseph Tobin was appointed his successor. He served as apostolic administrator of the Providence diocese until Bishop Tobin's installation on May 31, 2006.
On December 28, 2018, Mulvee died at St. Antoine Residence, an assisted-living community in North Smithfield, Rhode Island. He was 88.

Episcopal succession