Herbert Henry Charles Thurston (15 November 1856 – 3 November 1939) 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 ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

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 ...

, a member of the Jesuit order, and a prolific scholar on liturgical, literary, historical, and spiritual matters. In his day, he was regarded as an expert on

spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase ...

. Today he is remembered chiefly for his extensive contributions to the ''

Catholic Encyclopedia The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...

''.

Life

Herbert Thurston was born in London and educated at

Stonyhurst College Stonyhurst College is a co-educational Roman Catholic independent school, adhering to the Jesuit tradition, on the Stonyhurst Estate, Lancashire, England. It occupies a Grade I listed building. The school has been fully co-educational sinc ...

. He later received a bachelor's degree from

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degre ...

. Thurston entered the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

(the Jesuits) and worked as a master at Beaumont College from 1880 to 1887. Ordained as a priest in 1890,Keating, Karl. ''Controversies: High-level Catholic Apologetics'', Ignatius Press, 2001
he served as headmaster of Wimbledon College for a single term in 1893–94.

Writing

Thurston's writing career spanned over sixty years. As a liturgical scholar, he first became known for his writings on rubrics. Thurston wrote more than 150 articles for the ''

'' (1907–1914), and published nearly 800 articles in magazines and scholarly journals, as well a dozen books. He also re-edited Alban Butler's ''Lives of the Saints'' (1926–1938). Many of Thurston's articles show a skeptical attitude towards popular legends about the lives of the saints and holy relics. On the other hand, his treatment of

and the paranormal was regarded as "too sympathetic" by some within the Catholic community. Father Thurston joined the Society for Psychical Research in 1919, and he was a friend of psychical researcher

Everard Feilding Francis Henry Everard Joseph Feilding (6 March 1867 – 8 February 1936) best known as Everard Feilding was an English barrister, naval intelligence officer and psychical researcher. Career As a teenager, Feilding worked as a midshipman for ...

. Thurston attributed the phenomena of stigmata to the effects of suggestion. He criticized Spiritualism for its confidence that mediums communicate with the dead. He believed that "some ‘communications’ may originate in the medium's subconscious, while many alleged communications appear to be self-contradictory."Potts, Michael. "Herbert Thurston", PSI Encyclopedia
/ref> He was also a close friend of Father George Tyrrell, a fellow Jesuit priest who was sanctioned by the Catholic Church for his Modernist theological opinions. Thurston died in London in 1939.

Selected publications

*''Madame Blavatsky and The Jubilee of Theosophy'' ('' The Month'', 1926) *''Modern Spiritualism'' (1928) *''The Church and Spiritualism'' (1933) *''The Physical Phenomena of Mysticism'' (1952) *''Ghosts And Poltergeists'' (1953) *''Surprising Mystics'' (1955)

Life

Writing

Selected publications

References

Further reading