Born in
Maysville, Kentucky, John Joseph Collins was ordained a priest on August 29, 1891. He professed vows in the
Society of Jesus (Jesuits) on February 2, 1895. On June 12, 1907
Pope Pius X appointed Collins as the
Titular Bishop of
Antiphellus and Vicar Apostolic of Jamaica. He was consecrated a bishop by Archbishop
John Farley of
New York on October 28, 1907. The principal co-consecrators were Bishops
Thomas Beaven of
Springfield in Massachusetts and
Charles McDonnell of
Brooklyn. Collins served as the Vicar Apostolic until his resignation was accepted by
Pope Benedict XV on June 15, 1918. He died at the age of 78 on November 30, 1934. Prior to being consecrated a bishop in 1907, Collins served as the president of
Fordham University, a
Jesuit institution in
the Bronx, New York, from 1904 until 1906. His tenure as president saw the completion of the university's auditorium, which was dedicated to Collins by Cardinal John Murphy Farley in 1905. Collins also finalized the sale of four acres of the university campus to the city for a municipal hospital, named
Fordham Hospital. Under Collins' leadership, Fordham University formed football, basketball, and track teams, as well as opening the
Fordham University School of Law in 1905, and a school of medicine that would be dissolved 1921. American architect
Raymond F. Almirall designed
Holy Trinity Cathedral in
Kingston at Collins' bequest. ==References==