OSBALDESTON
335
OSCOTT
king's justiciary. In 793 the deacon Alcuin addressed
an affectionate but forcible letter to King Ethelred,
Osbald, and Osberct, whom he calls most dear friends
and children, urging them to flee from vices which lead
to destruction and practise virtues by which we ascend
to heaven. He points out the terrible lesson to be
learnt from the iniquities and consequent destruction
of former rulers. When King Ethelbert., who had
been liberated from exile and reigned seven years, was
murdered on 19 April, 796, at Corbe or (Jorebrygge
(Corbridge), Osbald the "patrician" was chosen by
some of the nobles of his nation as king, but, after a
reign of only twenty-seven days, deserted by all the
royal following and the nobles, he fled and took refuge
with a few others on the island of Lindisfarne. Ear-
dulf was then recalled from exile and crowned in May
at St. Peter's, York, and reigned for the next ten
years. Probably, when at Lindisfarne, Osbald re-
ceived the letter sent to him in 796 by Alcuin. In
this the latter states that for more than two years he
had endeavoured to persuade Osbald to assume the
monastic habit and fulfil the vow he had taken; but
now he had gained a still worse reputation and more
unhappy events had befallen him. He suspects him
further of the murder of Ethelred, besides shedding
the blood of nobles and people alike. He urges him
not to add sin to sin by attempting his restoration to
power. It would be more to his shame to lose his soul
than to desert his impious comrades. Rather he
should endeavour to the utmost to gain the reward not
only of his own conversion, but that of others who
are in exile with him. Finally he begs him frequently
to have his letter read to him. Alcuin's advice bore
fruit and Osbald with some brethren sailed from Lind-
isfarne to the land and king of the Picts. He became
an abbot and, on his death, was buried in the church
at York.
Symeon of Durham^ s Historia Regum. Surteea Soc, LI (1868), pp. 25, 37, 211. 219 (also in the Rolls Series); Alcuin's Letters in P. L.. C-CI, nn. xi and Ixi and notes: Monumenta Alcuin, ed. jAFrf (BerUn, 1864), 184-195. 305.
S. Anselm Parkek.
Osbaldeston, Edw.\rd, Venerable, English mar- tyr, b. about 1560; hanged, drawn, and quartered at York, 16 November, 1.594. Son of Thomas Osbaldes- ton, and nephew of Edward Osbaldeston, of Osbaldes- ton Hall, Blackburn, Lancashire, he went to the English College of Douai, then at Reims, where he was ordained deacon in December, 1583, and priest 21 Sep- tember, 1.585. He was sent on the mission 27 April, 1589, and was apprehended at night through the in- strumentality of an apostate priest named Thomas Clark at an inn at Tollerton, Yorkshire, upon St. Jerome's day, 30 September, 1594. He had said his first Mass on the feast day of St. Jerome, and in con- sequence had a great devotion to the saint. The day following his arrest he was taken to York, where he was tried at the next assizes and attainted of high treason for being a priest. Bishop Challoner prints the greater part of a letter addressed by the martyr to his fellow-prisoners in York Castle, the full text of which is still extant, and which reveals the great humility and serene trust in God with which he anticipated his death.
Challoner. Memoirs of Missionary Priests, I, no. 106; Knox, First and Second Douay Diaries (London. 1878) ; Catholic Record Society's Publications, IV (London, 1907) ; Bibl. Diet. Eng. Cath.,V.
John B. Wainewright.
Osbem, hagiographer, sometimes confused with Osbert de Clare alias Osbern de Westminister, b. at Canterbury and brought up by Godric, who was dean from 1058-80. He became a monk, and later, prior of Christ Church, and was ordained by Archbishop Lanfranc. He died probably between 1088 and 1093. He was very skilful in music and is said to have written two treatises "De re musica" and "De vocum con- sonantiis" (F6tis, "Biog. Music", Paris, 1870, VI,
383). But he is known best as a translator of saints'
lives from the Anglo-Saxon and as an original writer.
William of Malmesbury (Gesta Regum, II, 166)
praises the elegance of his style. Works: 1. "Vita
S. Alphegi et de translatione S. Alphegi", written at
Lanfranc's command, about 1080 when there arose
some dispute concerning Alphege's sanctity; it is
printed in "Acta SS.", April, II, 631; in Mabillon,
" ActaSS. O.S.B.", sac. vi, 104; in P. L., CXLIX, 375;
in Wharton, "Anglia Sacra", II, 122; see "Gesta Pon-
tificum", in Rolls Series, 1870, p. 33. 2. "Vita S.
Dun.stani" and "Liber Miraculorura Sancti Dun-
stani", written in 1070; printed in Mabillon op. cit.,
sa-c. V, 644-84; in "Acta SS.", May, IV, 359; in P. L.,
CXXXVII, 407; and in Stubbs, "Memorials of St.
Dunstan". The life given in Mabillon, op. cit. (p.
684), is probably the work of Eadmer. 3. "Vita S.
Odonis archiepiscopi Cantuariensis". From William
of Malmesbury's "Gesta Pontif.", in Rolls Series
1870, p. 24, we learn that Osbern wrote Odo's life,
butthe work has perished; the life in P. L., CXXXIII,
831 and Mabillon, op. cit., ssec. v, 287 is not his.
Wharton, in his "Angha Sacra" (London, 1691),
75-87 published a life of St. Bregwin which waa
wrongly attributed to Osbern.
Stubbs, Memorials of S, Dunstan in Rolls Series: introduc- tion and life; Hardy, Descrip. Catal. of British History (1865); Wright. Biog. Brit. Lit. Anglo-Norman (London, 1846), 26; KlNGSFO^D in Diet. Nat. Biog. (London, 1909), e. v.; Ceillier, Auteurs sacres (Paris, 1858), a. v.
S. Anselm Parker.
Oacott (St. Mary's College). — In 1793, a num- ber of the Catholic nobility and gentry of England formed a committee for the establishment of a school for the education of their sons and the clergy in an English atmosphere. The buildings at Oscott, in- tended for the bishop's residence, were accepted for the projected institution by agreement with Bishop Thomas Talbot, Vicar Apostolic of the Midland Dis- trict. Oscott (anciently Auscot) is a hamlet in the Perry Barr township, in the parish of Handsworth, about four miles north of Birmingham, and at the ex- treme .south of Staffordshire. A mission had been founded there at the close of the seventeenth century by Andrew Bromwich, a confessor of the faith.
Dr. John Bew, sometime president of St. Gregory's College, Paris, was nominated president in February, 1794. The first three boys entered in May, and the establishment was formally opened in November as a college for boys and ecclesiastics under the joint management of a committee of laymen and the bishop of the district. Structural additions were made, and the total number of boys rose to thirty-five. The out- look was gloomy, and when in 1808, the college with its liabilities was offered to Bishop Milner, he accepted it not without reluctance. Thus ended the "Old Gov- ernment". The "New Government ", under Milner's strenuous guidance, with Thomas Potts as president (1808-15) and Thomas Walsh (afterwards bishop of the district) as spiritual director, speedily changed the aspect of affairs. Milner invigorated the discipline, and improved the studies and liturgical observances. Important additions were made to the building, and the chapel of the Sacred Heart, the first on English soil, was opened in 1820. Francis Quick, a convert, held the office of president from 1816 to 1818. On the death of Bishop Milner in 1826, the president, Thomas Walsh (1818-1826) became Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District, and Henry Weedall became presi- dent (182.5-40). Under the direction of the pious and courteous Weedall, the man who more than any other created the spirit of Oscott, the institution progressed till the buildings were no longer able to accommodate the number of pupils. Plans of a new college, on the lines of Wadham College, Oxford, were prepared by Joseph Potter, the cathedral architect of Lichfield. A rich and providential bequest, together with the gifts
