Herbert Henry Charles Thurston (15 November 1856 – 3 November 1939) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, a member of the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

order, and a prolific scholar on

liturgical Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

, literary, historical, and spiritual matters. In his day, he was regarded as an expert on

spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase) ...

. Today he is remembered chiefly for his extensive contributions to the ''

Catholic Encyclopedia The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...

''.

Life

Herbert Thurston was born in London and educated at

Stonyhurst College Stonyhurst College is a co-educational Catholic Church, Roman Catholic independent school, adhering to the Society of Jesus, Jesuit tradition, on the Stonyhurst, Stonyhurst Estate, Lancashire, England. It occupies a Grade I listed building. Th ...

. He later received a bachelor's degree from

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree- ...

. Thurston entered the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

(the Jesuits) and worked as a master at

Beaumont College Beaumont College was between 1861 and 1967 a public school in Old Windsor in Berkshire. Founded and run by the Society of Jesus, it offered a Roman Catholic public school education in rural surroundings, while lying, like the neighbouring Eto ...

from 1880 to 1887. Ordained as a priest in 1890,Keating, Karl. ''Controversies: High-level Catholic Apologetics'', Ignatius Press, 2001
he served as headmaster of

Wimbledon College Wimbledon College is a government-maintained, voluntary-aided, Jesuit Roman Catholic secondary school and sixth form for boys aged 11 to 19 in Wimbledon, London. The college was founded in 1892 "for improvement in living and learning for the g ...

for a single term in 1893–94.

Writing

Thurston's writing career spanned over sixty years. As a liturgical scholar, he first became known for his writings on

rubrics A rubric is a word or section of text that is traditionally written or printed in red ink for emphasis. The word derives from the la, rubrica, meaning red ochre or red chalk, and originates in Medieval illuminated manuscripts from the 13th cen ...

. Thurston wrote more than 150 articles for the ''

'' (1907–1914), and published nearly 800 articles in magazines and scholarly journals, as well a dozen books. He also re-edited

Alban Butler Alban Butler (13 October 171015 May 1773) was an English Roman Catholic priest and hagiographer. Biography Alban Butler was born in 1710, at Appletree, Aston le Walls, Northamptonshire, the second son of Simon Butler, Esq. His father died when ...

's ''Lives of the Saints'' (1926–1938). Many of Thurston's articles show a skeptical attitude towards popular legends about the lives of the saints and

holy relics In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

. On the other hand, his treatment of

and the

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Nota ...

was regarded as "too sympathetic" by some within the Catholic community. Father Thurston joined the

Society for Psychical Research The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to condu ...

in 1919, and he was a friend of psychical researcher

Everard Feilding Francis Henry Everard Joseph Feilding (6 March 1867 – 8 February 1936) best known as Everard Feilding was an English barrister, naval intelligence officer and psychical researcher. Career As a teenager, Feilding worked as a midshipman for ...

. Thurston attributed the phenomena of

stigmata Stigmata ( grc, στίγματα, plural of , 'mark, spot, brand'), in Roman Catholicism, are bodily wounds, scars and pain which appear in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ: the hands, wrists, and feet. Stigm ...

to the effects of

suggestion Suggestion is the psychological process by which a person guides their own or another person's desired thoughts, feelings, and behaviors by presenting stimuli that may elicit them as reflexes instead of relying on conscious effort. Nineteenth-ce ...

. He criticized Spiritualism for its confidence that mediums communicate with the dead. He believed that "some ‘communications’ may originate in the medium's subconscious, while many alleged communications appear to be self-contradictory."Potts, Michael. "Herbert Thurston", PSI Encyclopedia
/ref> He was also a close friend of Father

George Tyrrell George Tyrrell (6 February 1861 – 15 July 1909) was an Anglo-Irish Catholic priest and a leading modernist theologian and scholar. A convert from Anglicanism, Tyrrell joined the Jesuit order in 1880. His attempts to adapt Catholic theology ...

, a fellow Jesuit priest who was sanctioned by the Catholic Church for his

Modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

theological opinions. Thurston died in London in 1939.

Selected publications

*''Madame Blavatsky and The Jubilee of Theosophy'' (''

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 was edited by its members. History ''The Month'', founded and edited by Frances ...

'', 1926) *''Modern Spiritualism'' (1928) *''The Church and Spiritualism'' (1933) *''The Physical Phenomena of Mysticism'' (1952) *''Ghosts And Poltergeists'' (1953) *''Surprising Mystics'' (1955)

Life

Writing

Selected publications

References

Further reading