Bishop William Wareing (14 February 1791 – 26 December 1865) was the first Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Northampton. Born at

Lincoln's Inn Fields Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in develo ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, and after studying at

Oscott College St Mary's College in New Oscott, Birmingham, often called Oscott College, is the Roman Catholic seminary of the Archdiocese of Birmingham in England and one of the three seminaries of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. Purpose Oscott Coll ...

, William Wareing was ordained as a Catholic priest on 28 September 1815, aged 24, by Bishops Thomas Walsh,

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 ...

(later Cardinal Wiseman) and

George Hilary Brown George Hilary Brown (1784 – 1856) was an English prelate who served as the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Liverpool from 1850 to 1856. Early life George Hilary Brown was born in Clifton, Lancashire on 15 January 1784, the son of William Bro ...

. He worked first on the mission at

Moseley Moseley is a suburb of south Birmingham, England, south of the city centre. The area is a popular cosmopolitan residential location and leisure destination, with a number of bars and restaurants. The area also has a number of boutiques and ot ...

, then at Creswell, Staffordshire, until in 1831 when he moved to

Grantham Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

. In 1833 he moved on to Stamford where he was the town's first properly resident parish priest (or "missionary rector", as they were then called) since the

English Reformation The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...

. There, he was at least in part responsible for the erection of the new Catholic chapel, a small Gothic building, in 1834, when it was one of only seven Catholic chapels across the whole of Lincolnshire. In 1838, Wareing was appointed one of three "Grand Vicars" for the Midland District and was consecrated as 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 ...

in partibus A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbis ...

'' of Areopolis (an ancient diocese in Palestine long since lost to the Church). More significantly, in 1840, he was appointed as

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 newly established Eastern District, which comprised the nine counties of

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest len ...

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popul ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

and

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

. He selected

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

as the seat of the Vicars Apostolic, and subsequently the Roman Catholic Bishops of Northampton. On 29 September 1850, aged 59, he was appointed the first

Bishop of Northampton The Bishop of Northampton is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Northampton in the Province of Westminster, England. The see is in the town of Northampton where the bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of Our Lady and Sai ...

following the re-establishment of the Catholic Hierarchy. On 21 December 1858, aged 67, he resigned as Bishop of Northampton, and was appointed Titular Bishop of

Rhithymna Rhithymna or Rithymna ( grc, Ῥίθυμνα) or Rhithymnia (Ῥιθυμνία), was a town of ancient Crete, Greece, which is mentioned by Ptolemy and Pliny the Elder as the first town on the north coast to the east of Amphimalla, and is spoken o ...

. He retired to Old Hall,

East Bergholt East Bergholt is a village in the Babergh District of Suffolk, England, just north of the Essex border. The nearest town and railway station is Manningtree, Essex. East Bergholt is north of Colchester and south of Ipswich. Schools include Eas ...

. He died, aged 74, as Bishop Emeritus of Northampton and Titular Bishop of

. He was buried in

Cemetery, near

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

."Former Bishops of the Diocese" Diocese of Northampton
/ref> He had been a priest for 50 years and a bishop for 25 years. William Wareing grave

In 1845 he received into the Catholic Church the former

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 ...

Vicar of

Elton, Cambridgeshire Elton is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Elton lies approximately south-west of Peterborough. Elton is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as well as being a ...

Frederick William 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 ...

, whose hymns and writings went round the English-speaking world.

References

External links

Catholic Hierarchy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wareing, William 1791 births 1865 deaths 19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in England Roman Catholic clergy from London Roman Catholic bishops of Northampton Apostolic vicars of England and Wales Burials in Suffolk