Henry James Coleridge
Encyclopedia
Henry James Coleridge was a writer on religious affairs and preacher. He was the son of Sir John Taylor Coleridge
, a Judge of the King's Bench, and brother of John Coleridge, 1st Baron Coleridge
, Chief Justice
of England. His grandfather, Captain James Coleridge, was brother of Samuel Taylor Coleridge
, the poet and philosopher.
He was sent to Eton
at the age of thirteen and thence to Oxford, having obtained a scholarship at Trinity College
. His university career was distinguished; in 1844 he took the highest honours in a fellowship at Oriel, then the blue ribbon of the university. In 1848 he received Anglican orders. The Tractarian movement being then at its height, Coleridge, with many of his tutors and friends, joined its ranks and was an ardent disciple of John Henry Newman till his conversion.
Gradually various incidents, the secession of Newman, Dr. Renn Hampden's appointment as Regius Professor
of Theology, the condemnation and suspension of Edward Bouverie Pusey
, the condemnation and deprivation of William George Ward
, and the decision in the Gorham case
, seriously shook his confidence in the Church of England
. In consequence Edward Hawkins
, Provost of Oriel, declined to admit him as a college tutor, and he therefore accepted a curacy at Alphington
, a parish recently separated from that of Ottery St Mary
, the home of his family, where his father had built for him a house and school. His doubts as to his religious position continued, however, to grow and early in 1852 he determined that he could no longer remain in the Anglican Communion
.
Sunday (February 22) he bade farewell to Alphington, and in April, after a retreat at Clapham
under the Redemptorist Fathers, he was received into the Catholic Church. Determined to be a priest he proceeded in the following September to Rome and entered the Accademia dei Nobili
, where he had for companions several of his Oxford friends, and others, including the future Cardinals Manning and Vaughan. He was ordained in 1856 and six months later took the degree of S.T.D. In the summer of 1857 he returned to England, and on the 7th of September entered the Jesuit Novitiate
, which was then at Beaumont Lodge, Old Windsor
, his novice master being Father Thomas Tracy Clarke, for whom to the end of his life he entertained the highest admiration and esteem.
In 1859 he was sent to the Theological College of St. Bruno's, North Wales, as a professor of Scripture, and remained there until, in 1865, he was called to London to become the first Jesuit editor of The Month
, a magazine started under other management in the previous year. After the death of Father William Maher, in 1877, he added the editorship of The Messenger, for which he was one of the most prolific writers. He projected and carried on the Quarterly Series to which he himself largely contributed, both with his work The Public Life of Our Lord and others, such as The Life and Letters of St. Francis Xavier
and The Life and Letters of St. Teresa
. He also wrote a Harmony of the Gospels, Vita Vitae Nostrae, a favourite book for meditation, published also in an English version. And he wrote studies based on the New Testament
, an interest which seems to have been partly acquired from his old Oxford tutor, Isaac Williams
. For a time he was also superior of his religious brethren in Farm Street, London. In 1881 failing health obliged him to resign The Month to another Oxonian, Father Richard F. Clarke, but he continued to work on The Life of Our Lord. In 1890 a paralytic seizure compelled him to withdraw to the novitiate at Roehampton
, where he finished the work before passing away. The chief sources for his life are articles in The Month, June, 1893, by his friend James Patterson, Bishop of Emmaus
, and the Jesuit Father Richard F. Clarke.
John Taylor Coleridge
Sir John Taylor Coleridge was an English judge, the second son of Captain James Coleridge and nephew of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge.-Life:...
, a Judge of the King's Bench, and brother of John Coleridge, 1st Baron Coleridge
John Coleridge, 1st Baron Coleridge
John Duke Coleridge, 1st Baron Coleridge PC was a British lawyer, judge and Liberal politician. He held the posts, in turn, of Solicitor General for England and Wales, Attorney General for England and Wales, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and Lord Chief Justice of England.-Background and...
, Chief Justice
Chief Justice
The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...
of England. His grandfather, Captain James Coleridge, was brother of Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...
, the poet and philosopher.
He was sent to Eton
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
at the age of thirteen and thence to Oxford, having obtained a scholarship at Trinity College
Trinity College, Oxford
The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It stands on Broad Street, next door to Balliol College and Blackwells bookshop,...
. His university career was distinguished; in 1844 he took the highest honours in a fellowship at Oriel, then the blue ribbon of the university. In 1848 he received Anglican orders. The Tractarian movement being then at its height, Coleridge, with many of his tutors and friends, joined its ranks and was an ardent disciple of John Henry Newman till his conversion.
Gradually various incidents, the secession of Newman, Dr. Renn Hampden's appointment as Regius Professor
Regius Professor
Regius Professorships are "royal" professorships at the ancient universities of the United Kingdom and Ireland - namely Oxford, Cambridge, St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Dublin. Each of the chairs was created by a monarch, and each appointment, save those at Dublin, is approved by the...
of Theology, the condemnation and suspension of Edward Bouverie Pusey
Edward Bouverie Pusey
Edward Bouverie Pusey was an English churchman and Regius Professor of Hebrew at Christ Church, Oxford. He was one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement.-Early years:...
, the condemnation and deprivation of William George Ward
William George Ward
William George Ward was an English Roman Catholic theologian and mathematician whose career illustrates the development of religious opinion at a time of crisis in the history of English religious thought....
, and the decision in the Gorham case
George Cornelius Gorham
George Cornelius Gorham born in St Neots, Cambridgeshire was a priest in the Church of England. His legal recourse to being denied a certain post, subsequently taken to a secular court, caused great controversy....
, seriously shook his confidence in the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
. In consequence Edward Hawkins
Edward Hawkins
Edward Hawkins was an English churchman and academic, a long-serving Provost of Oriel College, Oxford known as a committed opponent of the Oxford Movement from its beginnings in his college.-Life:...
, Provost of Oriel, declined to admit him as a college tutor, and he therefore accepted a curacy at Alphington
Alphington
Places called Alphington include:* Alphington, Devon, England* Alphington, Victoria, Australia...
, a parish recently separated from that of Ottery St Mary
Ottery St Mary
Ottery St Mary, known as "Ottery" , is a town in the East Devon district of Devon, England, on the River Otter, about ten miles east of Exeter on the B3174. It is part of a large civil parish of the same name, which also covers the villages of West Hill, Metcombe, Fairmile, Alfington, Tipton St...
, the home of his family, where his father had built for him a house and school. His doubts as to his religious position continued, however, to grow and early in 1852 he determined that he could no longer remain in the Anglican Communion
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
.
Conversion to Catholicism
On QuinquagesimaQuinquagesima
Quinquagesima is the name used in the Western Church for the Sunday before Ash Wednesday. It was also called Quinquagesima Sunday, Quinquagesimae, Estomihi, or Shrove Sunday...
Sunday (February 22) he bade farewell to Alphington, and in April, after a retreat at Clapham
Clapham
Clapham is a district in south London, England, within the London Borough of Lambeth.Clapham covers the postcodes of SW4 and parts of SW9, SW8 and SW12. Clapham Common is shared with the London Borough of Wandsworth, although Lambeth has responsibility for running the common as a whole. According...
under the Redemptorist Fathers, he was received into the Catholic Church. Determined to be a priest he proceeded in the following September to Rome and entered the Accademia dei Nobili
Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy
The Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy is one of the Roman Colleges of the Roman Catholic Church. The academy is dedicated to training priests to serve in the diplomatic corps and the Secretariat of State of the Holy See....
, where he had for companions several of his Oxford friends, and others, including the future Cardinals Manning and Vaughan. He was ordained in 1856 and six months later took the degree of S.T.D. In the summer of 1857 he returned to England, and on the 7th of September entered the Jesuit Novitiate
Novitiate
Novitiate, alt. noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a novice monastic or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether they are called to the religious life....
, which was then at Beaumont Lodge, Old Windsor
Old Windsor
Old Windsor is a large village and civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the English county of Berkshire.-Location:...
, his novice master being Father Thomas Tracy Clarke, for whom to the end of his life he entertained the highest admiration and esteem.
In 1859 he was sent to the Theological College of St. Bruno's, North Wales, as a professor of Scripture, and remained there until, in 1865, he was called to London to become the first Jesuit editor of The Month
The Month
The Month was a monthly review, published from 1864 to 2001, which for almost all of its history was owned by the English Province of the Society of Jesus and edited by its members.-History:...
, a magazine started under other management in the previous year. After the death of Father William Maher, in 1877, he added the editorship of The Messenger, for which he was one of the most prolific writers. He projected and carried on the Quarterly Series to which he himself largely contributed, both with his work The Public Life of Our Lord and others, such as The Life and Letters of St. Francis Xavier
Francis Xavier
Francis Xavier, born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta was a pioneering Roman Catholic missionary born in the Kingdom of Navarre and co-founder of the Society of Jesus. He was a student of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and one of the first seven Jesuits, dedicated at Montmartre in 1534...
and The Life and Letters of St. Teresa
Teresa of Ávila
Saint Teresa of Ávila, also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, baptized as Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada, was a prominent Spanish mystic, Roman Catholic saint, Carmelite nun, and writer of the Counter Reformation, and theologian of contemplative life through mental prayer...
. He also wrote a Harmony of the Gospels, Vita Vitae Nostrae, a favourite book for meditation, published also in an English version. And he wrote studies based on the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
, an interest which seems to have been partly acquired from his old Oxford tutor, Isaac Williams
Isaac Williams
The Reverend Isaac Williams was a prominent member of the Oxford Movement, a student and disciple of John Keble and, like the other members of the movement, associated with Oxford University...
. For a time he was also superior of his religious brethren in Farm Street, London. In 1881 failing health obliged him to resign The Month to another Oxonian, Father Richard F. Clarke, but he continued to work on The Life of Our Lord. In 1890 a paralytic seizure compelled him to withdraw to the novitiate at Roehampton
Roehampton
Roehampton is a district in south-west London, forming the western end of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It lies between the town of Barnes to the north, Putney to the east and Wimbledon Common to the south. The Richmond Park golf courses are west of the neighbourhood, and just south of these is...
, where he finished the work before passing away. The chief sources for his life are articles in The Month, June, 1893, by his friend James Patterson, Bishop of Emmaus
Emmaus
Emmaus was an ancient town located approximately northwest of present day Jerusalem...
, and the Jesuit Father Richard F. Clarke.