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 ''
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 ...
'' (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 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) ...
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)
References
Further reading
*Eric Dingwall
Eric John Dingwall (1890–1986) was a British anthropologist, psychical researcher and librarian.
Biography
Born in British Ceylon, Dingwall moved to England where he was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge (M.A., 1912), and the Univer ...
. (1951)
''Reviews''
Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 36: 718–723.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thurston, Herbert
1856 births
1939 deaths
19th-century English Roman Catholic priests
20th-century English Roman Catholic priests
20th-century English Jesuits
19th-century English Jesuits
Jesuits from London
Contributors to the Catholic Encyclopedia
Parapsychologists