Rockville Centre, N.Y.

The "humility, sense of humor and, above all, spirituality" of retired Auxiliary Bishop James J. Daly of Rockville Centre, who died Oct. 14, "touched thousands and thousands of the faithful in a very deep and personal way," said the head of the diocese.

Bishop William Murphy said the late auxiliary bishop, who was 92 years old, was "truly a trailblazer and visionary during the early formative years of this diocese."

A funeral Mass was celebrated for Daly on Friday at the Cathedral of St. Agnes, followed by burial at St. Boniface Cemetery in Elmont, N.Y.

Murphy was the main celebrant, and concelebrants included Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and several priests. The homilist was Msgr. James McNamara, episcopal vicar of the diocese's central vicariate and pastor Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Parish in Point Lookout.

In an Oct. 15 statement, Murphy noted that "so many of the people of God of this great diocese" experienced the late bishop's "witness as humble priest and later as auxiliary bishop."

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Daly "was always a calm, peaceful and reassuring presence," he added.

Born Aug. 14, 1921, in the Bronx and raised in Queens, Daly was ordained a priest of the diocese of Brooklyn in 1948. He served in the Brooklyn diocese and then Rockville Centre as an assistant pastor, as a teacher and as procurator at the diocesan seminary, Immaculate Conception in Huntington.

Originally posted here:

Late bishop a 'humble priest' whose spirituality touched thousands