Born in the parish of Knock on Oct. 5, 1913, he was ordained a priest in June 1939. Postgraduate studies at the Dunboyne Institute, Maynooth, led to a doctorate of divinity in 1941. He was a professor of Irish at St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam, from 1941 to 1958.
On Jan. 21, 1969, the Holy See appointed him archbishop of Tuam. As archbishop, he was appointed chairman of the bishops´ commissions for liturgy, emigrants and the laity. He was to preside over the introduction and the implementation of the new rites in practically all of the sacraments and he ensured that all of the revised texts would be available in the Irish language.
Archbishop Cunnane had a great devotion to the Shrine of Our Lady at Knock. In the 1970s he built a new church there to accommodate the numerous pilgrims who visited the shrine in County Mayo. On Aug. 15, 1976, the new church was blessed. Three years later on Sept. 20, 1979, John Paul II came to Knock and declared the new church a basilica.
