Archbishop Henry Mansell was remembered for his contributions as leader of the Hartford Archdiocese during a funeral mass at the ornate St. Joseph’s Cathedral.
Mansell, who died Feb. 21 at 88 years old, was Archbishop from 2003 through his retirement in 2013.
Current Archbishop Christophe Coyne presided. He says Mansell was “somebody who really focused on education and our schools and keeping them open. He did a lot of good work in terms of just working with the hospital systems that we had at the time.”
Mansell founded the Malta House of Care clinics in Hartford and Waterbury, serving adults without health insurance.
Rev. John Melnick says that Mansell would emphasize the Church’s focus on charity by saying, “We as Catholics make a difference.”
Mansell grew up in The Bronx, New York, with Melnick adding, “He was so proud of his New York roots… He would come alive as he spoke about his early years, attending Babe Ruth’s wake, playing baseball and football in the neighborhood.”
“But in the midst of all of this was a call… a call that would take him on a journey he could never imagine.”
Mansell earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, NY in 1959 and was ordained in Rome in 1962.
Before arriving in Hartford, Mansell was the Bishop of Buffalo, founding the Catholic Health System in 1996.
“He would become very impatient when things were cancelled due to weather,” said Melnick. “He would tell me, ‘This is ludicrous.’ And he would remind me that in Buffalo, a foot of snow would be considered ‘partly cloudy.’”
