Bishop Devine served as Bishop of Motherwell for 30 years and died on Thursday at Wishaw General Hospital, North Lanarkshire, after a period of illness.
In 1960 he was ordained as a priest in Glasgow and became a bishop in 1977 when he was ordained by Thomas Joseph Winning – whose funeral sermon was conducted by Bishop Devine in 2003.
He served there for six years before moving to Motherwell in 1983, where he remained until retiring in 2013 on his 75th birthday, as is expected of bishops.
Bishop Joseph Toal, his successor as Bishop of Motherwell, said: “All in the Diocese of Motherwell feel the sadness of the death of our Bishop Eremitus, Rt Rev Joseph Devine, yesterday evening. We acknowledge and give thanks to God for his faithful and very full ministry as a bishop and priest.
“I heard of the news of his death in Wishaw General Hospital as I was about to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation, something which Bishop Devine celebrated hundreds of times, and it is for this that many in the Diocese remember him best.
“Through his years, Bishop Devine served the Catholic Church in Scotland through his full participation and valued contribution to the work of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, particularly in regard to Catholic Education.
“Although he was very ill through the last days of his life, he was still very alert and very much himself. I suspect he would…
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