Michael J. Browne (20 December 1895 – 24 February 1980) was an Irish prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh, Ireland, for almost forty years from 1937 to 1976. Browne was an important and outspoken member of the Irish hierarchy. His time as Bishop has been described by the historian James S. Donnelly Jr. as "far-reaching and ... controversial", while the historian of Irish Catholicism John Henry Whyte claimed that Browne’s "readiness to put forward his views bluntly is welcome at least to the historian". Biography Born in Westport in 1895, Browne was ordained to the priesthood on June 20, 1920, for the Archdiocese of Tuam. He later served as professor of moral theology at St. Patrick's College in Maynooth. On 6 August 1937, at the relatively young age of 41, Browne was appointed Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh by Pope Pius XI, receiving his episcopal consecration from Archbishop Thomas Gilmartin on the following 10 August. He supported Taoiseach Éamon de Valera's defence of arrests and police searches for cached IRA arms, declaring, "Any Irishman who assists any foreign power to attack the legitimate authority of his own land is guilty of the most terrible crime against God's law, and there can be no excuse for that crime - not even the pretext of solving partition or of securing unity". (see S-Plan).

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Michael J. Browne (20 December 1895 – 24 February 1980) was an Irish prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh, Ireland, for almost forty years from 1937 to 1976.