![Charles Walmesley](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Charles_Walmesley._Stipple_engraving_by_G._Keating._Wellcome_V0006137.jpg)
Charles Walmesley,
OSB (best known by the pseudonyms Signor Pastorino or Pastorini; 13 January 1722 – 25 November 1797) was the
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
Titular Bishop
A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese.
By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...
of
Rama
Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...
and
Vicar Apostolic of the Western District of England. He was known, especially in Ireland, for predicting the downfall of Protestantism in 1821–5 and the triumphant emergence of the Catholic Church.
Early life
He was the seventh son of John Walmesley of Westwood House,
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...
, Lancashire; was educated at the English
Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
College of St. Gregory at Douai (now
Downside School
Downside School is a co-educational Catholic independent boarding and day school in the English public school tradition for pupils aged 11 to 18. It is located between Bath, Frome, Wells and Bruton, and is attached to Downside Abbey.
Originall ...
, near
Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
); and made his profession as a Benedictine monk at the English Monastery of St. Edmund, Paris (now Douai Abbey, near Reading), in 1739. Later he took the degree of
DD at the
Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
.
[Huddleston, Gilbert. "Charles Walmesley." The Catholic Encyclopedia]
Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 12 January 2019
Walmesley's scientific attainments soon brought him into notice as an astronomer and mathematician. He was consulted by the British Government on the
reform of the calendar and introduction of the "New Style" in 1750–52, and was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of London
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
, and the kindred societies of Paris, Berlin, and Bologna.
[
]
Procurator General
From 1749 to 1753 Walmesley was Prior
Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...
of St. Edmund's Priory in Paris and in 1754 was sent to Rome as procurator general of the English Benedictine Congregation
The English Benedictine Congregation (EBC) unites autonomous Roman Catholic Benedictine communities of monks and nuns and is technically the oldest of the nineteen congregations that are affiliated in the Benedictine Confederation.
History and ...
. Two years later he was selected by Propaganda Fidei as coadjutor bishop
A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, "co ...
, with right of succession, to Lawrence William York, the Vicar Apostolic
A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...
of the Western District; and was consecrated Bishop of Rama on 21 December 1756. He administered the vicariate after York's retirement in 1763, and succeeded that prelate on his death in 1770.[
Walmesley's energy and ability attracted to him an amount of attention seldom given to Catholic bishops in England in the eighteenth century. So much was this the case that during the "No Popery" riots of June 1780, a post-chaise conveying four of the rioters, and bearing the insignia of the mob, drove the whole way from London to Bath, where Walmesley then resided. These men worked upon the people of Bath so much that the newly built Catholic chapel in St. James's Parade was burned to the ground, as well as the presbytery in Bell-Tree Lane; all the registers and diocesan archives, with Walmesley's private library and manuscripts, being destroyed.][Scott OSB, Geoffrey. "The Early Career of Bishop Charles Walmsley", English Benedictine Congregation History Commission, 1997]
/ref>
In 1789 when the action of the "Catholic Committee" threatened seriously to compromise the English Catholics, Walmesley called a synod of his colleagues, and a decree was issued that the bishops of England "unanimously condemned the new form of oath intended for the Catholics, and declared it unlawful to be taken". The issue was over the form of an oath of loyalty to George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
, necessary for Catholics to engage with the official world. The previous oath had been defined in the Roman Catholic Relief Act, 1778
The Papists Act 1778 is an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain (18 George III c. 60) and was the first Act for Roman Catholic relief. Later in 1778 it was also enacted by the Parliament of Ireland.
Before the Act, a number of "Penal laws ...
.
On 15 August 1790, Walmesley consecrated John Carroll John Carroll may refer to:
People Academia and science
*Sir John Carroll (astronomer) (1899–1974), British astronomer
*John Alexander Carroll (died 2000), American history professor
*John Bissell Carroll (1916–2003), American cognitive sci ...
as the first Catholic bishop in the United States,[ at ]Lulworth Castle
Lulworth Castle, in East Lulworth, Dorset, England, situated south of the village of Wool, is an early 17th-century hunting lodge erected in the style of a revival fortified castle, one of only five extant Elizabethan or Jacobean buildings of t ...
, Dorset in England.
Burial
In the latter part of his life, Walmesley suffered from deafness.[ He died in Bath, and was buried at St. Joseph's Chapel, Trenchard Street, Bristol. In 1906 the bodies there interred were removed, and the bishop's remains were translated to ]Downside Abbey
Downside Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in England and the senior community of the English Benedictine Congregation. Until 2019, the community had close links with Downside School, for the education of children aged eleven to eighteen. Both t ...
and placed in a vault beneath the choir of the abbey church. Thus, more than a century after his death, his body came into the charge of that community by which he was educated nearly two hundred years ago.
The suggestion was put forward that the bishops of the two hierarchies of America and England, of whom the large majority trace their spiritual descent to Walmesley, should erect a fitting monument over his grave. The proposal met with generous support, and a beautiful altar tomb with recumbent effigy in alabaster from the designs of F. A. Walters, F.S.A., has now been erected on the Gospel side of the sanctuary.
Works
Walmesley's published works consist chiefly of treatises on astronomy and mathematics.
Walmesley is most famous for his ''General History of the Christian Church from her birth to her Final Triumphant States in Heaven chiefly deduced from the Apocalypse of St. John the Apostle, by Signor Pastorini'' (a pseudonym). This was first published in 1771 and went through ten editions in Great Britain and five more were produced in America. Translations of the work also appeared in Latin, French, German, and Italian, and were also reprinted. The book prophesied
In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or pret ...
the end of Protestantism and particularly the destruction by God of the Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
churches by 1825. It was popular with Irish Catholics in the years before the Act of Catholic Emancipation
Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...
in 1829.
An 1823 refutation by "Pastor Fido" (also a pseudonym) was titled: "Pastorini proved to be a bad prophet, and a worse divine".
William Carleton
William Carleton (4 March 1794, Prolusk (often spelt as Prillisk as on his gravestone), Clogher, County Tyrone – 30 January 1869, Sandford Road, Ranelagh, Dublin) was an Irish writer and novelist. He is best known for his ''Traits and Sto ...
's popular short story, ''The Poor Scholar'', quotes an Irish supporter of Pastorini speaking in Hiberno-English
Hiberno-English (from Latin ''Hibernia'': "Ireland"), and in ga, Béarla na hÉireann. or Irish English, also formerly Anglo-Irish, is the set of English dialects native to the island of Ireland (including both the Republic of Ireland a ...
: "An', doesn't Pastorini say it? Sure, when Twenty-five comes, we'll have our own agin, the right will overcome the might – the bottomless pit will be locked – ay, double bolted, if St. Pether gets the kays, for he's the very boy that will accommodate the heretics wid a warm corner; an' yit, faith, ther's many o' them that myself 'ud put in a good word for, after all."[Carleton W., "The Poor Scholar"]
text at Project Gutenberg
/ref>
A number of his letters are in the archives of the Diocese of Clifton
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Clifton is a Roman Catholic diocese centred at the Cathedral Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Clifton, England.
The diocese covers the City and County of Bristol and the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire, ...
. Portraits exist at Downside, Douai Abbey, Clifton, and Lulworth.
See also
* Catholic Church hierarchy
The hierarchy of the Catholic Church consists of its bishops, priests, and deacons. In the ecclesiological sense of the term, "hierarchy" strictly means the "holy ordering" of the Church, the Body of Christ, so to respect the diversity of gif ...
* Catholic Church in England and Wales
The Catholic Church in England and Wales ( la, Ecclesia Catholica in Anglia et Cambria; cy, Yr Eglwys Gatholig yng Nghymru a Lloegr) is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See. Its origins date from the 6th ce ...
* Lists of patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops
This is a directory of patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops across various Christian denominations. To find an individual who was a bishop, see the most relevant article linked below or :Bishops.
Lists
Catholic
* Bishop in the Catholic Chur ...
* Roman Catholicism in England and Wales
The Catholic Church in England and Wales ( la, Ecclesia Catholica in Anglia et Cambria; cy, Yr Eglwys Gatholig yng Nghymru a Lloegr) is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See. Its origins date from the 6th ce ...
Notes
Sources
External links
Editions of Walmesley's Christian Church History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walmesley, Charles
1722 births
1797 deaths
People from Wigan
People educated at Downside School
English Benedictines
Fellows of the Royal Society
Benedictine bishops
18th-century Roman Catholic titular bishops
Apostolic vicars of England and Wales
18th-century Roman Catholic bishops in England
Burials at Downside Abbey