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Leo Aloysius Pursley (March 12, 1902 – November 15, 1998) was an American clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend from 1956 to 1976.
Biography
Leo Pursley was born in Hartford City, Indiana, to Alexander Nelson and Mary Jeanette (née Sloan) Pursley. His father was a local Democratic politician and delegate to the 1940 Democratic National Convention. He studied at Mount St. Mary's Seminary of the West in Cincinnati, and was ordained to the priesthood on June 11, 1927. He served as a curate at St. Mary Church in Lafayette, St. Lawrence Church in Muncie, and St. Patrick Church in Fort Wayne; and as pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Warsaw and of St. John the Baptist Church in Fort Wayne.
On July 22, 1950, Pursley was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Fort Wayne and Titular Bishop of Hadrianopolis in Pisidia by Pope Pius XII. He received his episcopal consecration on the following September 19 from Archbishop Amleto Giovanni Cicognani, with Bishops John F. Noll and Joseph M. Marling serving as co-consecrators. Following the death of Bishop Noll, Pursley was named the sixth Bishop of Fort Wayne on December 29, 1956. His installation took place at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on February 26, 1957. He attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965.
After 19 years as bishop, Pursley resigned on August 24, 1976. He died 22 years later, aged 96.