Most Rev. Robert Edward Mulvee
Deceased: 2018-12-28
Diocese: PROVIDENCE
CSM Graduation Year: 1964
Bishop Emeritus of Providence
“As One Who Serves”
February 15, 1930 – December 28, 2018
The Most Reverend Robert E. Mulvee was born February 15, 1930 in Boston, the son of the late John F. and Jennie T. Mulvee. He prepared for the priesthood at Saint Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield, Connecticut; Saint Paul Seminary at the University of Ottawa, Canada; and the American College at the University of Louvain in Belgium. He was ordained for the Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire on June 30, 1957 at Louvain.
He served at a number of parishes in New Hampshire for several years before returning to Europe to do graduate work. In 1964 he completed his doctorate in Canon Law at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome and also received a master’s degree in religious education from the University of Louvain. Later that year, he was named assistant chancellor of the New Hampshire Diocese and began a career in which he held numerous diocesan and parish positions.
Pope Paul VI named him a Papal Chamberlain with the title of Monsignor, in 1966. In 1977, he was named the first Auxiliary Bishop of Manchester. In 1985, Bishop Mulvee was appointed the seventh Bishop of Wilmington, Delaware.
Bishop Mulvee’s tenure in Providence began in 1995 when he was named Coadjutor Bishop of Providence. He became the seventh Bishop of Providence on June 11, 1997. Since 1997, Bishop Mulvee has served on many national and regional boards and committees.
February 15th, 2005, upon the occasion of his 75th birthday, Bishop Mulvee requested retirement from the Office of Bishop of Providence. Pope John Paul II accepted his retirement March 31st, 2005, and designated Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, then-Bishop of Youngstown, OH, to be installed as the 8th Bishop of Providence. Bishop Mulvee became Bishop Emeritus of Providence on May 31, 2005. He continues to be involved in ministry in the Diocese of Providence.
On May 18, 2017 Bishop Mulvee receives a Lumen Gentium Award for Administration and Stewardship – more here.
June 2017 Bishop Mulvee marked his 60th anniversary as a priest, 40th as a bishop. Read more.
January 2019 Providence Bishop Emeritus Robert E. Mulvee remembered as a ‘good and gentle shepherd’
January 2019 Bishop Thomas J. Tobin: Bishop Robert Mulvee, of Happy Memory
Click here to find videos of Bishop Mulvee as well as the celebration of his life.
As the Diocese of Providence celebrated its 150th anniversary September 8, 2021 through June 26, 2022, Rhode Island Catholic featured profiles of the men who have served as diocesan shepherds through its history – The Seventh Bishop of Providence: Bishop Robert E. Mulvee
