William Placid Morris OSB (29 September 1794 – 18 February 1872) was a London-born
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 ...
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 ...
.
Morris was ordained a priest of the
Order of Saint Benedict
The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict ( la, Ordo Sancti Benedicti, abbreviated as OSB), are a Christian monasticism, monastic Religious order (Catholic), religious order of the Catholic Church following the Rule of Saint Benedic ...
on 29 June 1817 and was assigned to missionary work in London, first at the chapel of the Portuguese Embassy in Grosvenor Square, and then, after the closure of that chapel in 1829, in Chelsea. In 1831 he received notice of his appointment as bishop charged with the duty of conducting an Apostolic Visitation into the condition of the Catholic Church on the island of
Mauritius
Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...
where the local clergy had been in conflict with Bishop
Edward Bede Slater who, since 1818, had been resident bishop there exercising his duties as Vicar Apostolic of Mauritius and as the first Vicar Apostolic of the Cape of Good Hope. To that end, Morris was appointed Titular Bishop of
Troas Troas may refer to:
Places
* The Troad, historical name for a region in the northwestern part of Anatolia
* Alexandria Troas, a Hellenistic and Roman city in Anatolia
* Troaș, a village in Săvârșin Commune, Arad County, Romania
* Troaș, a r ...
in October 1831, receiving episcopal ordination on 5 February 1832. His principal consecrator was Bishop
James Yorke Bramston
James Yorke Bramston (15 March 1763 – 11 July 1836) was an English-born bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Vicar Apostolic of the London District from 1827 until his death in 1836.
Born in Oundle, Northamptonshire, Bramst ...
assisted by Bishop
Peter Augustine Baines
Peter Augustine Baines (1786/87–1843) was an English Benedictine, Titular Bishop of Siga and Vicar Apostolic of the Western District of England.
Life
For his early education he was sent to Lamspringe Abbey, near Hildesheim, in the Kingdom of ...
, O.S.B., and Bishop
Robert Gradwell
Robert Gradwell (26 January 1777 – 15 March 1833) was an English Catholic bishop, who served as rector of the English College in Rome. In 1828, he was appointed coadjutor to James Bramston, Vicar Apostolic of the London district.
Life
Gradwe ...
. The investigation, however, was rendered otiose by the impromptu flight of Slater from Port St. Louis in June 1832 and his death from exposure a few days later. Instead of investigating Slater, Morris was appointed to succeed him.
Episcopal ministry
Morris (who at all times during this period was resident in Mauritius) was
Vicar Apostolic
A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...
of
The Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa.
A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
from 1832 to 1837, and from 1832 until 1840
Vicar Apostolic
A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...
of
Mauritius
Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...
which, until 1834, included the emergent Australian colonies.
Morris sent his vicar-general
William Bernard Ullathorne
William Bernard Ullathorne (7 May 180621 March 1889) was an English prelate who held high offices in the Roman Catholic Church during the nineteenth century.
Early life
Ullathorne was born in Pocklington, East Riding of Yorkshire, the eldest of ...
to Australia in 1833, where Ullathorne quickly realised the necessity for severing all the Australian missions from the jurisdiction of a bishop resident in Mauritius. As a result of Ullathorne's representations,
Pope Gregory XVI
Pope Gregory XVI ( la, Gregorius XVI; it, Gregorio XVI; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in 1 June 1846. He h ...
detached Australia from the Vicariate of Mauritius and established the hierarchy in Australia in 1834. In 1837 the Vicariate of the Cape of Good Hope was likewise detached from the care of Bishop Morris and it, in turn, was confided to Bishop Patrick Griffith.
On Mauritius, Morris fell into a serious dispute with one of his priests which ended with that priest's expulsion from the colony. In reprisal, the expelled priest laid charges against Morris in Rome to which Morris was required to respond. This he did, entrusting various documents to a French bishop for him to lodge with the authorities in Rome. Unhappily for Morris, those documents were never lodged and in 1840 he was peremptorily recalled to Rome and relieved of his post as Vicar Apostolic of Mauritius. He retired to England and until his death in 1872 served in effect as an auxiliary bishop to the first two Cardinal Archbishops of Westminster,
Nicholas Wiseman
Nicholas Patrick Stephen Wiseman (3 August 1802 – 15 February 1865) was a Cardinal of the Catholic Church who became the first Archbishop of Westminster upon the re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales in 1850.
Born ...
and
Henry Edward Manning
Henry Edward Manning (15 July 1808 – 14 January 1892) was an English prelate of the Catholic church, and the second Archbishop of Westminster from 1865 until his death in 1892. He was ordained in the Church of England as a young man, but con ...
.
Resources
''Bishop William Placid Morris, O.S.B.'', Catholic-Hierarchyis defective in many respects. A correct account is to be found in chapters 3 and 7 of volume 1 of "Benedictine Pioneers in Australia" by Henry Norbert Birt, London, Herbert & Daniel (1911) re-issued by Polding Press (n.d.)
See also
*
Roman Catholicism in Australia
The Catholic Church in Australia is part of the worldwide Catholic Church under the spiritual and administrative leadership of the Holy See. From origins as a suppressed, mainly Irish minority in early colonial times, the church has grown ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, William Placid
1794 births
1872 deaths
19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Mauritius
English Benedictines
Benedictine bishops
19th-century English Roman Catholic priests
Roman Catholic clergy from London
Roman Catholic bishops of Cape Town