Richard Downey (5 May 1881 – 16 June 1953) 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 ...

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pref ...

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 ...

. He served as

Archbishop of Liverpool The Archbishop of Liverpool is the ordinary of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool and metropolitan of the Province of Liverpool (also known as the Northern Province) in England. The archdiocese covers an area of of the west of the C ...

from 1928 until his death.

Life

Born in

Kilkenny Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilken ...

, he was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

to the priesthood on 25 May 1907. He was Professor of Philosophy at Sacred Heart College, Hammersmith, and then Professor of Dogmatic Theology at

Upholland College St Joseph's College is a former Roman Catholic seminary and boarding school in Up Holland, Lancashire, England. The foundation of the original building was laid in April 1880 and the college opened in 1883. The buildings have since been deconsecr ...

, where he was also Vice-Rector. On 3 August 1928, Downey was appointed

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fro ...

, succeeding the late

Frederick William Keating Frederick William Keating (13 June 1859 – 7 February 1928) was an English prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served first as Bishop of Northampton from 1908 to 1921, then Archbishop of Liverpool from 1921 to 1928. Biography Born in Birm ...

. He received his Episcopal consecration on the following 21 September from Cardinal Francis Bourne, with Bishops Robert Dobson and Francis Vaughan serving as

co-consecrators A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches, ...

. Downey's tenure saw the construction and dedication of the crypt of Liverpool Cathedral, built to a design by Sir

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...

, although the Cathedral itself was never completed as he had envisaged. A picture of Lutyens proposed cathedral was printed on postcards sold to raise funds. In 1929, before the actual construction began, he stated, "Hitherto all

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

s have been dedicated to

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

s. I hope this one will be dedicated to

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...

himself with a great figure surmounted on the cathedral, visible for many a mile out at sea".TIME Magazine
"To Christ Himself"
12 August 1929 The Archbishop also declared that while the cathedral would not be

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

and

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

, neither would it be as modern as the works of Jacob Epstein, a statement somewhat at odds with the design that was finally realised after his death. In 1933, after the

urn An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape or ...

containing the bones of

King Edward V Edward V (2 November 1470 – mid-1483)R. F. Walker, "Princes in the Tower", in S. H. Steinberg et al, ''A New Dictionary of British History'', St. Martin's Press, New York, 1963, p. 286. was ''de jure'' King of England and Lord of Ireland f ...

and Richard, Duke of York was removed from

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

for examination and then returned with 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 ...

burial service A burial service is part of the rites performed at many funerals. Burial Service may also refer to: * ''Burial Service'', music published by William Croft in 1724 * “Burial Service”, a 1936 episode of the American radio show ''Lights Out'' * ...

, Archbishop Downey said, "It is difficult to see what moral justification there can be for reading a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

service Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a pu ...

over the remains of these Roman Catholic

prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

s, even though it were done on the plea of legal continuity of the present Anglican Church with the pre-

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

Church of Britain". He died at age 72,Larsen, Chris. ''Catholic Bishops of Great Britain'', Sacristy Press, 2016, p. 122
/ref> having served as

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

's archbishop for twenty-four years.

Publications

*
Some Errors of H. G. Wells: A Catholic's Criticism of the "Outline of History"
' (1921) * ''Divine Providence'' (1928) * ''The Blessed Trinity'' (1930) * ''Pulpit and Platform Addresses'' (1933) * ''Critical and Constructive Essays'' (1934)

References

External links

Davies, John. "Catholic–Anglican Relations: Archbishop Downey, Bishop David and the Decree Ne Temere, 1930–1931"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Downey, Richard 1881 births 1953 deaths People from County Kilkenny Roman Catholic archbishops of Liverpool 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United Kingdom Irish emigrants to the United Kingdom People educated at St Edward's College