VICARS-APOSTOLIC IN ENGLAND.
(Vol. vi., pp. 125. 297. 400.)
I send the following as some answer to the inquiries made by your correspondent A. S. A. For the more ample account of Bishop Ellis, I am indebted to an article in the Rambler, vol. vii. p. 313., entitled "Collections illustrating the History of the English Benedictine Congregation."
Richard Smith, appointed Bishop of Chalcis, Feb. 4, 1625, and Vicar-Apostolic of England; he withdrew to France four years afterwards, and died in Paris in 1655, aged eighty-eight, in a house belonging to the English convent upon the Fossé St. Victor. He was probably buried in the convent chapel, where a monument to his memory was erected. See the Rev. Joseph Berington's Memoirs of Panzani, p. 109.
John Leyburn, consecrated Bishop of Adrumetum, and appointed Vicar-Apostolic of England, 1685: on the country being divided into four vicariats in 1688, he was appointed to the London, or southern district. On the breaking out of the revolution in the same year, he was committed to the Tower; but his peaceable and inoffensive conduct soon caused him to be discharged, and he was suffered to remain unmolested until his death, which occurred in 1703. He was greatly beloved and respected by his flock.
Bonaventure Giffard, of the ancient Roman Catholic family of the Giffards of Chillington, Staffordshire, appointed Vicar-Apostolic of the Midland District, 1688. Like Bishop Leyburn, on the breaking out of the revolution, he was committed to the Tower, but was soon released, and on the condition of always making the place of his abode known to the government, he passed the remainder of his days unmolested. On the death of Bishop Leyburn in 1703, he was removed to the London, or southern district, where he died March 12, 1734, aged ninety. There is a good portrait of Bishop Giffard at the Roman Catholic College of Old Hall Green in Hertfordshire.
Philip Ellis, third son of Rev. John Ellis, Rector of Waddesden, Bucks, by his wife Susanna Welbore, whilst a pupil in Westminster School, was called to the Catholic faith, and to the grace of religion, in St. Gregory's Convent, Douay, where he made his profession, 30th November, 1670, æt. eighteen. After duly qualifying himself for the ministry, he was sent to labour in the English vineyard. His great abilities recommended him to the notice of King James II., who appointed him one of his chaplains and preachers; and when Innocent XI., on 30th January, 1688, signified his wish that his majesty would nominate three fit subjects to fill the newly constituted vicariats, midland, northern, and western (for Dr. John Leyburn, Bishop of Adrumetum, during the last three years had governed the whole of England), Father Ellis, then thirty-six years of age, was selected for the western vicariat, and was consecrated bishop on Sunday, 6th May, 1688, at St. James's, where the king had established a convent of fourteen Benedictine monks, by the title of Aureliopolis. In the second week of July, the new prelate confirmed a considerable number of youths, some of them recent converts, in the new chapel of the Savoy. (Ellis Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 62.) In his letter (ibid. p. 145.) to his brother John, dated from St. James's, 26th August, 1688, he describes the uneasiness of the court at the preparations making in Holland by the Prince of
Orange. We doubt if this vicar-apostolic attempted to visit his diocese; for, on the breaking out of the revolution at London in the ensuing November, he was apprehended and committed to Newgate (Macaulay's History, vol. ii. p. 563.), yet he was soon restored to liberty. Foreseeing but faint hope of serving the cause of religion in such turbulent times, he left England for the court of his exiled sovereign at St. Germains, and, after staying some time, obtained permission to visit the Eternal City. In 1693 Pope Innocent XII. made him an assistant prelate; and on the feast of St. Louis, six years later, he sung the high mass at Rome, in the French church, before many cardinals, invited and received by the Cardinal de Bouillon. The Prince of Monacho, ambassador of France, being then incognito, assisted in a tribune. Resigning his western vicariat, he was promoted by Pope Clement XI. to the vacant see of Segni, in the Campagna di Roma. There he originated a seminary, over which he watched with parental zeal and solicitude. In November 1710, he held a synod in the choir of his cathedral; about seventy of his clergy attended, all of whom he entertained with generous hospitality. In addition to his many meritorious works, he substantially repaired and embellished his palace, and to his cathedral he left a splendid mitre and some costly vestments; but the bulk of his property he bequeathed to his seminary. A dropsy of the chest carried him off on the 16th November, 1726, æt. seventy-four, and his remains were interred in the centre of the seminary church.
Seven sermons of this prelate, preached before James II. at Windsor and St. James's, were printed.
A beautiful portrait of the Bishop, engraved by Meyer, is prefixed to the Ellis Correspondence, published by the late Lord Dover, in two volumes 8vo., 1829.
James Smith was consecrated Bishop of Calliopolis, and appointed Vicar-Apostolic of the Northern District, 1688: he died May 20, 1711.
The following Vicars-Apostolic were nominated after the above four till the year 1750.
Midland District.—George Witham, of the ancient Roman Catholic family of the Withams of Cliffe, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, was educated at Douay College, consecrated Bishop of Marcopolis, and appointed Vicar-Apostolic of the Midland District in 1703. He was removed to the Northern District in 1716, and died in 1725, at Cliffe Hall, the seat of his family.
Western District.—Matthew Pritchard, a Franciscan Friar, Bishop of Myrinen: I have not been able to ascertain the date either of his consecration or death; the latter took place at Perthyre, Monmouthshire.[[4]]
Northern District.—Thomas Williams, a Dominican friar, Bishop of Tiberiopolis, died at Huddlestone, Yorkshire, April 14, 1740.
J. F. W.
Footnote 4:[(return)]
I have since learned Bishop Pritchard was consecrated in 1715.
The reply of E. H. A. to my Query about these Vicars-Apostolic is rather unsatisfactory. I admit his correction of Chalcedon for Chalcis, but wish that he had been more explicit in his notices of both those Vicars-Apostolic appointed in 1685-88, as well as of those since nominated. When did Smith and Ellis die? and what was the see in Italy to which the latter was nominated? Who were the consecrators of Giffard, Ellis, and Smith? Bishop Leyburn was, I think, one, and is said to have been "assisted by two Irish prelates." Who were they? E. H. A. also refers, as his authority, to a tract by the Rev. L. Darwall, in Christian's Miscellany: but he does not give the date of that publication, nor did I ever hear of it. Surely some ecclesiastical reader of "N. & Q." will answer some, at least, of these inquiries of mine. I know many of your subscribers can do so if they choose. I am desirous of possessing the names and dates of consecration and death of every Roman Catholic Vicar-Apostolic appointed for England since 1689, and also of those for Scotland, if possible.
A. S. A.
Wuzzeerabad.