Roger Vaughan (archbishop)

Roger William Bede Vaughan(9 January 1834 – 18 August 1883) was an EnglishBenedictinemonk ofDownside Abbeyand the secondRoman CatholicArchbishop of Sydney,Australia from 1877 to 1883.

The Most Reverend Roger Bede Vaughan O.S.B.
Archbishop of Sydney
Church	Catholic
Archdiocese	Sydney
Appointed	5 February 1873
Orders
Ordination	9 April 1859 byCostantino Patrizi Naro
Consecration	19 March 1873 byHenry Edward Manning
Personal details
Born	Roger William Vaughan 9 January 1834 Herefordshire,England
Died	18 August 1883 Liverpool,England
Buried	St. Mary's Cathedral, Sydney
Denomination	Catholic
Parents	John Francis Vaughan Elizabeth Louise Rolls

Biography

Early life

Vaughan was born nearRoss-on-Wye,Herefordshire,in 1834, one of 14 children. His father, lieutenant John Francis Vaughan, belonged to one of the oldestrecusantfamilies of Welsh descent in England. His mother wasLouisa Elizabeth Rolls,a convert. His brother was CardinalHerbert Vaughan.All his siblings, save three, entered church ministry.

Vaughan was probably afflicted with congenital heart disease. At the age of six he was sent to aboarding schoolin Monmouth for three years, but his health proved to be delicate and for some years he was privately tutored at home. At age seven he was sent briefly to a local school, but his mother worried over his health and he was educated at home in a religious atmosphere. In September 1851 he was sent to theBenedictineSt Gregory's College at Downside,Somerset. His mother's death in 1853 prompted serious thoughts of a religious vocation and on 12 September 1853 he took the Benedictine habit and thereligious nameBede.

In 1855, at his father's request and expense, Vaughan was sent toRomefor further study under the guidance of the Italian scholar and reformer Angelo Zelli-Jacobuzzi. When the futureEdward VIIvisited Rome, the young monk served as hiscicerone.He remained there for four years, living at the monastery ofSt. Paul Outside the Walls.He was ordained to the priesthood byCardinal Patriziin the basilica ofSt. John Lateranon 9 April 1859.

Priesthood

He returned to Downside in August of the same year and in 1861 was appointed professor of metaphysics and moral philosophy at St. Michael's,Belmont,Herefordshire. A year later he was elected prior of the diocesan chapter of Newport andMenevia,and superior of Belmont and held these roles for over a decade.

He contributed to leading reviews and published his most important literary work, hisLife of St Thomas of Aquin,in 1872. In 1865 he metArchbishop Polding,who several times asked Vaughan to becoadjutor bishop,and in 5 February 1873, Vaughan agreed and was appointed coadjutor of Sydney andtitular bishopofNazianzus.CardinalHenry Manningconsecrated Vaughan to the episcopate in March of that same year at Liverpool.

Coadjutor Bishop of Sydney

Vaughan arrived at Sydney on 16 December 1873 and immediately devoted himself to two important movements: the provision of education for Catholic children and the rebuilding ofSt Mary's Cathedralwhich had been damaged by a previous fire.

From 1874 onward, Vaughan also served as rector ofSt John's College.

In 1876, he came into conflict with theFreemasonsin connection with an address delivered on 9 October titledHidden Springswhich accused the Freemasons of a conspiracy to subvert religion and take over the education system.

Archbishop of Sydney

He becameArchbishop of Sydneyon the death of Archbishop Polding, on 16 March 1877. In 1880Henry Parkespassed an education act under which government aid to denominational education ceased at the end of 1882. Vaughan urged Catholics to work against this law.

He initiated moves towards the foundation ofSt. Patrick's Seminary, Manly,construction of which started soon after his death.

Vaughan experienced resistance from the largely Irish Catholic junior hierarchy and priesthood in Australia, who supported a church based on the devotional, penitential and authoritarian model envisioned by Irish CardinalPaul Cullen.Despite the stated policies of theCatholic EmancipationAct of 1829, the largely Irish formedMaynooth Seminaryclergy were educated to think of the refined English Catholic bishops insectarianandatavisticterms. They also felt strongly that the form of church advocated by the Benedictines was less suited to the majority of Irish Catholic adherents than the Cullenist form.

The harsh eighteenth century Penal Laws of the British and Anglo-Irish Ascendency era Irish Parliaments and the on and off sectarian religious struggles since theAct of Supremacyhad bred deep resentment between some of the Irish and English settlers. The consequences of thedissolution of monasteriesduring theReformationhad left Vaughan deeply committed to the primary vision of restoring monasticism in English-speaking lands such as this new church in Australia.

This was not a vision the authors of the revived authoritarian devotional form of Catholicism in Ireland foresaw for the Irish Catholic diaspora in Australia, New Zealand or North America. Ireland had managed to preserve a number of pre-Reformation monastic foundations as well as found theIrish Collegein Rome. This was an ideological battle Vaughan fought through his episcopate, the outcome of which would not be largely determined until his successor CardinalPatrick Francis Moran,a nephew of Paul Cullen and avid devotee of his vision, was appointed.

Death

Vaughan left Sydney for the last time on 19 April 1883, intending to return to Rome. He arrived at Liverpool and died nearby atInce Blundell Hall,the seat of hisWeld-Blundellrelations, on 18 August, where he was buried in the family vault.His remains were translated to Belmont in 1887 and reburied in the crypt of St Mary's Cathedral in August 1946. Vaughan left the residue of his estate, valued for probate at £61,828, to his successor.

External links

• Roger William Vaughan on the online Australian Dictionary of Biography
• Serle, Percival(1949)."Vaughan, Roger William Bede".Dictionary of Australian Biography.Sydney:Angus & Robertson.
• Roger William Bede Vaughan on Catholic Hierarchy.org