John Brande Morris, known to friends as Jack Morris (born at
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...
,
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...
, 4 September 1812; died at
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.
...
, London, 9 April 1880) was an English
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 ...
theologian, later a
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 ...
priest. He was a noted academic eccentric, but an important scholar of
Syriac Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
.
Life
He studied at
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...
, graduating in 1834 (B.A. honours) and 1837 (M.A.), He was at once elected Petrean Fellow of
Exeter College, Oxford
Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth-oldest college of the un ...
, lecturing on
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
and Syriac.
Having joined the
Tractarian Movement
The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...
, in 1839 Morris was briefly left to deputize for
John Henry Newman
John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican ministry, Anglican priest and later as a Catholi ...
at
St Mary's, Oxford, the university church: he alarmed his audience with a sermon on angels and fasting, "declaring ''inter alia'' that the brute creation should be made to fast on fast days". His next sermon, which preached the doctrine of
transubstantiation
Transubstantiation (Latin: ''transubstantiatio''; Greek: μετουσίωσις ''metousiosis'') is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of th ...
, and "added in energetic terms that everyone was an unbeliever, carnal, and so forth, who did not hold it", earned him an admonition from the university vice-chancellor. His views on fasting and celibacy, explained in a letter of 1840 to his close friend
F. W. Faber
Frederick William Faber (1814–1863) was a noted English hymnwriter and theologian, who converted from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism in 1845. He was ordained to the Catholic priesthood subsequently in 1847. His best-known work is the hymn ...
, earned him the nickname '
Simeon Stylites
Simeon Stylites or Symeon the Stylite syc, ܫܡܥܘܢ ܕܐܣܛܘܢܐ ', Koine Greek ', ar, سمعان العمودي ' (c. 390 – 2 September 459) was a Syrian Christian ascetic, who achieved notability by living 37 years on a smal ...
'.
[G. Martin Murphy]
‘Morris, John Brande (1812–1880)’
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 4 Aug 2008.
It was little surprise when Morris was received into the Catholic Church, 16 January 1846, resigning his Oxford fellowship a few days later. He was ordained at
Oscott
Oscott is a ward in the northwest of Birmingham, England, within the formal district of Perry Barr.
The Ward is centred on the area known as Old Oscott, originally just "Oscott", and should not be confused with nearby New Oscott. It includes th ...
in 1851 and in the same year was appointed professor at
Prior Park
Prior Park is a Neo-Palladian house that was designed by John Wood, the Elder, and built in the 1730s and 1740s for Ralph Allen on a hill overlooking Bath, Somerset, England. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building.
The house was bu ...
, near Bath. He soon began parish work and for the next nineteen years ministered in
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
,
Shortwood (
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
), and other parts of England.
From 1855 to 1861, he served as chaplain to
Sir John Acton, but offended Acton by his preaching, too explicit on the topic of the
breasts
The breast is one of two prominences located on the upper ventral region of a primate's torso. Both females and males develop breasts from the same embryological tissues.
In females, it serves as the mammary gland, which produces and secret ...
of the
Blessed Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...
.
The Daily Telegraph
/ref>
Though from 1868 to 1870, he managed to secure work as chaplain to Coventry Patmore
Coventry Kersey Dighton Patmore (23 July 1823 – 26 November 1896) was an English poet and literary critic. He is best known for his book of poetry ''The Angel in the House'', a narrative poem about the Victorian ideal of a happy marriage.
A ...
, friends had to organize a fund for his relief in 1871.
Works
His favourite field of study was Eastern and patristic
Patristics or patrology is the study of the early Christian writers who are designated Church Fathers. The names derive from the combined forms of Latin ''pater'' and Greek ''patḗr'' (father). The period is generally considered to run from ...
theology. While at Oxford he wrote an "Essay towards the Conversion of Learned and Philosophical Hindus" (1843); a poem entitled "Nature: a Parable" (1842); and translated "Select Homilies from St. Ephraem" from the Syriac (1846), likewise John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom (; gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος; 14 September 407) was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his homilies, preaching and public speaking, his denunciat ...
's "Homilies on the Romans" (1841) for the ''Library of the Fathers
The ''Library of the Fathers'', more properly ''A library of fathers of the holy Catholic church: anterior to the division of the East and West'', was a series of around 50 volumes of the Church Fathers, annotated in English translation, publishe ...
''.
After his conversion he contributed to the '' Dublin Review'', '' The Lamp'' , ''Irish Monthly
The ''Irish Monthly'' was an Irish Catholic magazine founded in Dublin, Ireland in July 1873. Until 1920 it had the sub-title ''A Magazine of General Literature''.
History
The magazine was founded by Matthew Russell, who was its editor for al ...
'', and other Catholic periodicals, and wrote:
''An Essay Towards the Conversion of Learned and Philosophical Hindus''
1843
''Selected works of S. Ephrem the Syrian''
1847
* ''Jesus the Son of Mary''
*
''Volume I''
1851
*
''Volume II''
1851
''Talectha Koomee''
1858
*"Eucharist on Calvary", an essay on the first Mass and the Passion.
Notes
References
*
;Attribution
* The entry cites:
**''The Tablet
''The Tablet'' is a Catholic international weekly review published in London. Brendan Walsh, previously literary editor and then acting editor, was appointed editor in July 2017.
History
''The Tablet'' was launched in 1840 by a Quaker convert ...
'' (17 April 1880);
**''The Times'' (12 April 1880);
**Joseph Gillow
Joseph Gillow (5 October 1850, Preston, Lancashire – 17 March 1921, Westholme, Hale, Cheshire) was an English Roman Catholic antiquary, historian and bio-bibliographer, "the Plutarch of the English Catholics".
Biography
Born in Frenchwood Hous ...
, ''Dict. Biog, of Eng. Cath.'', s. v.
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, John Brande
1812 births
1880 deaths
English theologians
English orientalists
19th-century English Roman Catholic priests
Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism
English male non-fiction writers