Francis Bourne

Infobox Cardinal
honorific-prefix =
name = Francis Alphonsus Cardinal Bourne
honorific-suffix =
title = Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster


caption =
province =
diocese =
see = Westminster
enthroned = September 11, 1903
ended = January 1, 1935
predecessor = Herbert Cardinal Vaughan
successor = Arthur Cardinal Hinsley
ordination =
consecration =
cardinal = November 27, 1911
rank =
other_post = Bishop of Southwark
birth_name =
birth_date = March 23, 1861
birthplace = Clapham, England
death_date = January 1, 1935
deathplace = London, England
buried =
nationality =
religion =
residence =
parents =
spouse =
children =
ocupation =
profession =
alma_mater =

infobox cardinalstyles
cardinal name=Francis Cardinal Bourne
dipstyle=His Eminence
offstyle=Your Eminence
relstyle=Cardinal
See=Westminster|

Francis Alphonsus Cardinal Bourne (March 23, 1861—January 1, 1935) was an English prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Westminster from 1903 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1911.

Biography

Born in Clapham to an English Civil Servant father and an Irish mother, Francis Bourne entered St. Cuthbert College in Ushaw in 1867 and then St. Edmund's College in Ware in 1877. He joined the Order of Friars Preachers, more commonly known as the Dominicans, in Woodchester but left in 1880. From 1880 to 1881 he attended St. Thomas' Seminary in Hammersmith, and then went to study in France at Saint-Sulpice Seminary in Paris and the University of Leuven. While in Paris, he met the Italian saint Don Bosco, and there are grounds for believing he at least considered joining Don Bosco's Salesian Order.

He was ordained to the priesthood on June 11, 1884, and then did pastoral work in Blackheath, Mortlake, and West Grinstead until 1889. Bourne was rector of the House of Studies at Henfield Place from 1889 to 1891, at which time he began teaching at St. John's Seminary in Wonersh, of which he became rector on March 14, 1896. He was raised to the rank of Domestic Prelate of His Holiness by Pope Leo XIII in 1895.

On March 27, 1896 Bourne was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Southwark and Titular Bishop of "Epiphania in Cilicia". He received his episcopal consecration on the following May 1 from Herbert Cardinal Vaughan, with Bishops John Baptist Butt and Thomas Whiteside, in St. George's Cathedral. Bourne later succeeded Butt as Bishop of Southwark on April 9, 1897, and was named Archbishop of Westminster on September 11, 1903. As Archbishop of Westminster, he became the spiritual head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

In defiance of the governmental law banning Eucharistic processions, Bourne gave the benediction from the loggia of Westminster Cathedral in 1908. He was created Cardinal Priest of "S. Pudenziana" by Pope Pius X in the consistory of November 27, 1911, and was a cardinal elector in the conclaves of 1914 and again in 1922, which selected Popes Benedict XV and Pius XI respectively.

Bourne responded to Ramsay MacDonald's call for an English Catholic prelate's interpretation of Pius XI's encyclical "Quadragesimo Anno", which forbade Catholics from being Socialists, by stating, "There is nothing in the encyclical which should deter Catholics from becoming members of the British Labour Party..." [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,741898,00.html Westminster's Word] June 29, 1931] However, the Cardinal continued to warn Catholics to be cautious of the "erroneous principles which sometimes affect parties."

Rather conservative, Bourne was opposed to Modernism, not overly supportive of interfaith dialogue [Diocese of Westminster. [http://www.rcdow.org.uk/cardinal/default.asp?library_ref=1&content_ref=10 Cardinal Francis Bourne] January 11, 2005] , and condemned granting greater freedom to divorce and birth control [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,732854,00.html Emancipation] September 23, 1929] . He also desired to see the United Kingdom adopt Roman Catholic faith as its official religion [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,717089,00.html "The Greatest Priest"] December 3, 1923] .

He died from a year's illness in his archiepiscopal residence in London, at age 73 [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,748297,00.html Milestones] January 7, 1935] . Bourne was buried at his "alma mater" of St. Edmund's College, Ware, Hertfordshire, in the chapel he established in memory of the College's members who died during World War I, and his heart was placed in the chapel of St. John's Seminary at Wonersh, Surrey, in June 1935 [Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. [http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios-b.htm#Bourne BOURNE, Francis] ] .

ee also

* Saint Monica's Church, Palmers Green

References

External links

* [http://www.rcdow.org.uk/cardinal/default.asp?library_ref=1&content_ref=10 Diocese of Westminster]
* [http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios-b.htm#Bourne Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church]
* [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bbourne.html Catholic-Hierarchy]