Peter John Elliott (born 1 October 1943) is a retired Australian
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
of the
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 ...
who served as an
auxiliary bishop of the
Archdiocese of Melbourne
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne is a Latin Rite metropolitan archdiocese in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Erected initially in 1847 as the Diocese of Melbourne, a suffragan diocese of Archdiocese of Sydney, the diocese was elev ...
from 2007 to 2018. He is also an author, writing a number of published works that predominantly concern the celebration of Catholic liturgy.
Personal life and background
Elliot was born and grew up in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, where his father served as an
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 ...
priest. Elliott was received into the Catholic Church while a student at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
.
Elliot is of partial
Sorbian descent. His maternal grandmother came from a family of
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
Sorbs who immigrated to the
Wimmera
The Wimmera is a region of the Australian state of Victoria. The district is located within parts of the Loddon Mallee and the Grampians regions; and covers the dryland farming area south of the range of Mallee scrub, east of the South Austral ...
region of
Victoria, from what is now the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
state of
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
in the early 19th century.
Their emigration from Germany was motivated by their dissent from the
union of Lutheran and Calvinist churches that had recently taken place there.
Education
Elliott earned an honours degree in history from the
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...
, where he was a resident student at
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to:
Australia
* Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales
* Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
. He was then awarded the Marley Studentship to study at
Trinity College Theological School
Trinity College Theological School (TCTS) is an educational division of Australia's Trinity College, the oldest residential college of the University of Melbourne. It is also one of the constituent colleges of the University of Divinity. The Schoo ...
. He later read theology at the University of Oxford, then returned to Australia, studying for the Catholic priesthood at Corpus Christi College, Glen Waverley.
In addition, Elliott completed his doctorate in sacred theology (STD) from the
Pontifical Lateran University
The Pontifical Lateran University ( it, Pontificia Università Lateranense; la, Pontificia Universitas Lateranensis), also known as Lateranum, is a pontifical university based in Rome. The university also hosts the central session of the Ponti ...
's
Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Rome, writing a thesis on the sacramentality of marriage.
Ordained ministry
Priesthood
On 19 February 1973, Elliot was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Melbourne by Cardinal
Lawrence Joseph Shehan
Lawrence Joseph Shehan (March 18, 1898 – August 26, 1984) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Baltimore from 1961 to 1974 and was made a cardinal in 1965. Shehan was an advocate for civil rights an ...
, the Archbishop of Baltimore, during the 40th
International Eucharistic Congress which took place in Melbourne and to which Shehan served as papal legate. Elliott then served as an assistant priest in several appointments in the archdiocese as well as secretary to Bishop John A. Kelly from 1979 to 1984.
Ministry in the Roman Curia
Elliot returned to Rome as an official of the
Pontifical Council for the Family at the
Vatican, serving for 10 years beginning in 1987. His service to the council included the promotion of marriage and family life at high-profile United Nations conferences.
Elliott has also served in the Roman Curia as a consultator for the
Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments and as a member of ''Anglicanae Traditiones'', the inter-dicasterial commission charged with preparing the liturgical books to be used by the
Personal ordinariate
A personal ordinariate for former Anglicans, shortened as personal ordinariate or Anglican ordinariate,"...the liturgies approved for the Anglican ordinariates..." "Bishop Stephen Lopes of the Anglican Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter..." ...
s which Pope Benedict XVI established for Anglican converts to Catholicism.
Episcopacy
On 30 April 2007,
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
appointed him an
auxiliary bishop of
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
and the
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
Manaccenser The Diocese of Manaccenser ( la, Dioecesis Menaccenseritana, link=no) is a suppressed and titular see of the Roman Catholic Church.
The diocese of Manaccenser is ancient, and was originally founded on a Roman town of the Roman province of Mauretan ...
. He received his episcopal consecration from Archbishop
Denis Hart of Melbourne on 15 June 2007, with Cardinal
George Pell
George Pell (born 8 June 1941) is an Australian cardinal of the Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . I ...
of Sydney and Archbishop
Ambrose Battista De Paoli, the
Holy See
The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...
's
apostolic nuncio to Australia, serving as principal co-consecrators.
Following his ordination as a bishop, Elliot served on both the Bishops' Liturgy Commission and the National Liturgical Council of Australia.
Pope Francis announced in November 2018 that he had accepted Elliott's resignation, which was submitted on reaching the retirement age of 75.
Bibliography
* ''Prayers of Jubilee: A Personal Prayerbook for Catholics'' (1976,
Our Sunday Visitor
Our Sunday Visitor (OSV) is a Catholic publishing company in Huntington, Indiana, which prints the American national weekly newspaper of that name, as well as numerous Catholic periodicals, religious books, pamphlets, catechetical materials, i ...
)
* ''The Cross and the Ensign: A Naval History of Malta'' (1982,
HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...
)
* ''What God Has Joined'' (1990, Alba House)
* ''Ceremonies of the Modern Roman Rite'' (1995,
Ignatius Press
Ignatius Press is a Catholic publishing house based in San Francisco, California, US. It was founded in 1978 by Father Joseph Fessio, a Jesuit priest and former pupil of Pope Benedict XVI. Ignatius Press also produces ''Catholic World Report'', ' ...
)
** Published the following year in Spanish as ''Guía práctica de liturgia'' by Ediciones Universidad de Navarra.
* ''Ceremonies of the Liturgical Year'' (2002, Ignatius Press)
* ''Liturgical Question Box'' (2018, Ignatius Press)
* ''Ceremonies Explained for Servers: A Manual for Altar Servers, Acolytes, Sacristans, and Masters of Ceremonies'' (2020, Ignatius Press)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott, Peter John
Living people
1943 births
People educated at Trinity College (University of Melbourne)
21st-century Roman Catholic titular bishops
21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Australia
Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism
People of Sorbian descent
University of Melbourne alumni
Alumni of the University of Oxford
Pontifical Lateran University alumni
Roman Catholic bishops of Melbourne
Religious leaders from Melbourne