Researching Timothy Lyne

Lyne was born in Chicago, Illinois, on March 21, 1919. He attended Resurrection and Saint Mel grade schools, and then Quigley Preparatory Seminary. He then studied the requisite undergraduate Philosophy and graduate Theology coursework at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary, receiving a Master of Arts (M.A.) Degree in History, and an S.T.L. (Licentiate in Sacred Theology). Then, he was ordained a priest by the then-Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Samuel Alphonsus Stritch, in Chicago, Illinois, on May 1, 1943.

He was appointed to the Archdiocese of Chicago as an Auxiliary Bishop (having served as Rector of the Chicago Archdiocese's Holy Name Cathedral), as well as Titular Bishop of Vamalla on October 31, 1983, and ordained a bishop on December 13, 1983, by Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, then the Archbishop of Chicago, serving as Principal Consecrator. The Principal Co-Consecrators were then-Auxiliary Bishops of Chicago, Alfred Leo Abramowicz (Titular Bishop of Pesto), and Nevin William Hayes, O. Carm. (Titular Bishop of Nova Sinna). He selected as his episcopal motto: "Grace, mercy, and peace." (the first three words of Saint Paul's epistle to Saint Timothy, his patron saint. Lyne retired from his post as Episcopal Vicar for Vicariate II (1983-1995) and Auxiliary Bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago (1983-1995) on January 24, 1995, when his resignation was accepted by the then-Pope John Paul II, who had appointed him as a bishop.

He served all of the six Chicago cardinals in more than 70 years as a priest and almost 30 as a bishop, five of them in his capacity as an ordained cleric. He caddied for Cardinal George Mundelein as a seminarian. He was entrusted with sensitive tasks by Cardinal Stritch while doing parish work, continuing to serve in parish work under his successor, Cardinal Albert Gregory Meyer. He served as Parochial Vicar, or Associate Pastor, at Saint Mary's Parish, in Riverside, Illinois, from his priestly ordination in 1943 until 1962, then as Parochial Vicar at Saint Edmund Parish, in Oak Park, Illinois, from 1962 to 1966, and then at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, where he was named as Parochial Vicar by Cardinal Meyer's successor, the late Cardinal John Cody, serving from 1966 to 1967. Then Cardinal Cody named him Pastor there in 1967, a post he filled until 1990, even while serving as Auxiliary Bishop and Vicar for Vicariate II, after his consecration by Cardinal Bernardin.

Lyne died from natural causes on September 25, 2013, at the age of 94, at the rectory of Holy Name Cathedral where he was in residence. At the time of his death, he was one of the oldest living retired United States Catholic Bishops and had been serving, despite his retirement as Auxiliary Bishop, as Episcopal Vicar for Senior Priests, a post he had held since 1988. Visitation for Lyne took place on September 29 and 30, 2013 at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. He was interred at Mount Carmel Cemetery, in Hillside, Illinois.