(Vol. vi., pp. 125. 297. 400.)
I send the following as some answer to the inquiries made by your
correspondent A. S. A. For the more ample account of Bishop Ellis, I am
indebted to an article in the _Rambler_, vol. vii. p. 313., entitled
"Collections illustrating the History of the English Benedictine
Congregation."
Richard Smith, appointed Bishop of Chalcis, Feb. 4, 1625, and
Vicar-Apostolic of England; he withdrew to France four years afterwards,
and died in Paris in 1655, aged eighty-eight, in a house belonging to the
English convent upon the Fossé St. Victor. He was probably buried in the
convent chapel, where a monument to his memory was erected. See the Rev.
Joseph Berington's _Memoirs of Panzani_, p. 109.
John Leyburn, consecrated Bishop of Adrumetum, and appointed
Vicar-Apostolic of England, 1685: on the country being divided into four
vicariats in 1688, he was appointed to the London, or southern district. On
the breaking out of the revolution in the same year, he was committed to
the Tower; but his peaceable and inoffensive conduct soon caused him to be
discharged, and he was suffered to remain unmolested until his death, which
occurred in 1703. He was greatly beloved and respected by his flock.
Bonaventure Giffard, of the ancient Roman Catholic family of the Giffards
of Chillington, Staffordshire, appointed Vicar-Apostolic of the Midland
District, 1688. Like Bishop Leyburn, on the breaking out of the revolution,
he was committed to the Tower, but was soon released, and on the condition
of always making the place of his abode known to the government, he passed
the remainder of his days unmolested. On the death of Bishop Leyburn in
1703, he was removed to the London, or southern district, where he died
March 12, 1734, aged ninety. There is a good portrait of Bishop Giffard at
the Roman Catholic College of Old Hall Green in Hertfordshire.
Philip Ellis, third son of Rev. John Ellis, Rector of Waddesden, Bucks, by
his wife Susanna Welbore, whilst a pupil in Westminster School, was called
to the Catholic faith, and to the grace of religion, in St. Gregory's
Convent, Douay, where he made his profession, 30th November, 1670, æt.
eighteen. After duly qualifying himself for the ministry, he was sent to
labour in the English vineyard. His great abilities recommended him to the
notice of King James II., who appointed him one of his chaplains and
preachers; and when Innocent XI., on 30th January, 1688, signified his wish
that his majesty would nominate three fit subjects to fill the newly
constituted vicariats, midland, northern, and western (for Dr. John
Leyburn, Bishop of Adrumetum, during the last three years had governed the
whole of England), Father Ellis, then thirty-six years of age, was selected
for the western vicariat, and was consecrated bishop on Sunday, 6th May,
1688, at St. James's, where the king had established a convent of fourteen
Benedictine monks, by the title of Aureliopolis. In the second week of
July, the new prelate confirmed a considerable number of youths, some of
them recent converts, in the new chapel of the Savoy. (_Ellis
Correspondence_, vol. ii. p. 62.) In his letter (ibid. p. 145.) to his
brother John, dated from St. James's, 26th August, 1688, he describes the
uneasiness of the court at the preparations making in Holland by the Prince
of {243} Orange. We doubt if this vicar-apostolic attempted to visit his
diocese; for, on the breaking out of the revolution at London in the
ensuing November, he was apprehended and committed to Newgate (Macaulay's
_History_, vol. ii. p. 563.), yet he was soon restored to liberty.
Foreseeing but faint hope of serving the cause of religion in such
turbulent times, he left England for the court of his exiled sovereign at
St. Germains, and, after staying some time, obtained permission to visit
the Eternal City. In 1693 Pope Innocent XII. made him an assistant prelate;
and on the feast of St. Louis, six years later, he sung the high mass at
Rome, in the French church, before many cardinals, invited and received by
the Cardinal de Bouillon. The Prince of Monacho, ambassador of France,
being then incognito, assisted in a tribune. Resigning his western
vicariat, he was promoted by Pope Clement XI. to the vacant see of Segni,
in the Campagna di Roma. There he originated a seminary, over which he
watched with parental zeal and solicitude. In November 1710, he held a
synod in the choir of his cathedral; about seventy of his clergy attended,
all of whom he entertained with generous hospitality. In addition to his
many meritorious works, he substantially repaired and embellished his
palace, and to his cathedral he left a splendid mitre and some costly
vestments; but the bulk of his property he bequeathed to his seminary. A
dropsy of the chest carried him off on the 16th November, 1726, æt.
seventy-four, and his remains were interred in the centre of the seminary
church.
Seven sermons of this prelate, preached before James II. at Windsor and St.
James's, were printed.
A beautiful portrait of the Bishop, engraved by Meyer, is prefixed to the
_Ellis Correspondence_, published by the late Lord Dover, in two volumes
8vo., 1829.
James Smith was consecrated Bishop of Calliopolis, and appointed
Vicar-Apostolic of the Northern District, 1688: he died May 20, 1711.
The following Vicars-Apostolic were nominated after the above four till the
year 1750.
_Midland District._--George Witham, of the ancient Roman Catholic family of
the Withams of Cliffe, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, was educated at
Douay College, consecrated Bishop of Marcopolis, and appointed
Vicar-Apostolic of the Midland District in 1703. He was removed to the
Northern District in 1716, and died in 1725, at Cliffe Hall, the seat of
his family.
_Western District._--Matthew Pritchard, a Franciscan Friar, Bishop of
Myrinen: I have not been able to ascertain the date either of his
consecration or death; the latter took place at Perthyre, Monmouthshire.[4]
_Northern District._--Thomas Williams, a Dominican friar, Bishop of
Tiberiopolis, died at Huddlestone, Yorkshire, April 14, 1740.