George Birkhead or Birket, alias Hall, Lambton, and Salvin (1553–1614) was an English

Roman Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

who served as the

archpriest The ecclesiastical title of archpriest or archpresbyter belongs to certain priests with supervisory duties over a number of parishes. The term is most often used in Eastern Orthodoxy and the Eastern Catholic Churches and may be somewhat analogous ...

of England from 1608 until his death in 1614.

Life

He was a native of

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

. He entered the English College, Douai in 1575, and was ordained priest on 6 April 1577. In January 1578 he set out from

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...

, accompanied by Richard Haddock and four students, for the

English College at Rome The Venerable English College (), commonly referred to as the English College, is a Catholic seminary in Rome, Italy, for the training of priests for England and Wales. It was founded in 1579 by William Allen on the model of the English College, ...

, which had just been founded by

William Allen William Allen may refer to: Politicians United States *William Allen (congressman) (1827–1881), United States Representative from Ohio *William Allen (governor) (1803–1879), U.S. Representative, Senator, and 31st Governor of Ohio *William ...

under the auspices of Pope Gregory XIII. He left Rome for Reims in September 1580, passing by way of Milan where he and his companions enjoyed the hospitality of Archbishop charles Cardinal Borromeo He was sent in the same year on the English mission. Brady, William Maziere. ''Annals of the Catholic Hierarchy in England and Scotland: A.D. 1585-1876'', J. M. Stark, 1883, pp. 64-65
/ref> In 1583 he took relics of Edmund Campion to Reims. On 22 January 1608 Pope Paul V nominated him archpriest of England, when George Blackwell was deposed in consequence of his acceptance of the Oath of Allegiance to James I. The new archpriest was admonished to dissuade Catholics from taking the oath and frequenting Protestant worship. Birkhead retained the post until his death in 1614, and was succeeded as archpriest by William Harrison.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Birkhead, George 1540s births 1614 deaths 16th-century English Roman Catholic priests 17th-century English Roman Catholic priests People from County Durham