Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/656

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

HUSSEY


590


BUTTON


successor of Bishop Milner as Vicar-Apostolic of the Midland District. In ltS41 he opened St. Wulstan's Chapel, for which he had been assiduous in col- lecting funds, and in 1S50 he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Rome. Shortly after the restoration of the English hierarchy by Pope Pius IX, Dr. Husenbeth was nominated provost of the Chapter of Northampton, and Vicar-General of the diocese. In the spring of 1872 he resigned his mission, and he died at St. Wulstan's Presbytery on the last day of October in the same year.

Dr. Husenbeth's personal character was attractive, for he possessed not only piety, learning, and culture, but also a singularly kind heart, agreeable manners, conversational powers of a high order, and a sense of humour which matle him a very pleasant companion. He was the survivor of a race of clergy belonging to a past era, and was not devoid of certain old-fash- ioned prejudices, common to the ecclesiastics of his time. These kept him .somewhat out of touch with the development of Cathohcism in England which had followed the Oxford movement and the re-establish- ment of the regular hierarchy. He had no particular liking for religious orders, and was quite opposed to the new forms of devotion which had grown up since his student days at Oscott. He was nevertheless a faithful and assiduous pastor, and full of zeal for the religious welfare of his flock. Among his accom- plishments were music and painting, and he executed a number of clever sketches in the course of an Alpine tour which he took in his student days.

During the fifty-two years which Dr. Husenbeth spent in his quiet couiitrj' presbytery, he found ample leisure time for study and literary labours, and l)e- tween the years 1S2:5 and 1S49 forty-nine works written or edited liy him appeared in London, Dublin, and Norwich. Many of these were controversial puljlications, written in refutation of George Stanley Faber and Blanco White, while others treated of historical, liturgical, or doctrinal matters. Perhaps his most important work is the "Life of Bishop Mil- ner", published in 1S62, which, while marred by many defects as a biography, is an important contribution to the history of Catholicism in England. In 1S52 he brought out, assisted by .Vrchbishop Polding, O.S.B., a new edition, with abridged notes, of Haydock's illustrated Bible; and he published also at different times admirable editions, for the use of the laity, of the Missal and the vesper-liook. The "Emblems of Saints " (18.50) was one of his liest original works, and the style of his pulpit elotnience is well shown by the various sermons which he printed from time to time.

Dr. Husenbeth contriljuted a large number of poems and fugitive verses to the periodicals of his time, and was urged in various quarters to collect and publish these, but he never seems to have done so. He also published articles on a grK-at variety of sul)- jects in different CathoHc journals, and was a life-long writer in the columns of "Notes and Queries", in which more than thirteen hundred contributions ap- peared over his initials. He was a voluminous letter- writer, and maintained a correspondence with various literary celebrities, and with many distinguished con- verts of his time. Dr. llusenbetli's valuable library, collection of crucifixes, reliquaries, and similar objects, and of letters chiefly on religious subjects, were .sold at Norwich a few months after his death. Most of the letters passed into the possession of the Bishop of Northampton.

Dalton, Funeral Sermon (with memoir prefixed) (London, 1S72); Oliver, Cotleclion lUMlrnllna Ihe Historu of Ihe Catholic Relimon (London. 1S.57). :«1: f!ii.i.ow. Bihl. Diet. Ena Calh. (London). Ill, 493 aqq.; T/if Osrorian, new series. IV. 2.53; V, 30: VI. 59: Tablet, XL. 593, 628: j\ole» and Queries. 4th series. X, 365, 388. 441. j) q Hunter-Bl.^IR.

Hussey, Thomas, Bishop of Watcrford and Lis- more, b. at Ballybogan, Co. Meath, in 1746; d. at


Tramore, Co. Waterford, 11 .July, 1803. At an early age he was sent to the Irish College of Salamanca, and after completing his studies joined the Trap- pists. His ability was such, however, that he was requested by the pope to take orders, was associated for a time with the court of the King of Spain, and soon became prominent in Madrid. In or about 1767 he was appointed chaplain to the Spanish embassy in London, and rector of the chapel attached to it. He made the acquaintance of Dr. Johnson, Edmund Burke, and other famous people, and was regarded by them as one of the ablest and best informed men of his time. In March, 1792, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society. When the war between England and America broke out, the Spanish ambassador was obliged to leave London, Spain as well as France having taken sides against England, and Dr. Hussey was entrusted with Spanish affairs, and was thus brought into direct contact with George III, as well as with Pitt and other ministers. He was sent to Madrid to endeavour to detach Spain from the Amer- ican cause, but without success. In Madrid he met Richard Cumberland, the dramatist, who, though jealous of him, speaks highly of his ability, incor- ruptibility, and courage, and declares that he would have headed a revolution to overthrow the English Church in Ireland. He took up the Catholic cause earnestly, and was deputed by the English Catholics to go to liome to lay their position before the pope, but the Spanish embassy would not grant him leave of absence. George III, Pitt, and the Duke of Port- land entrusted him with a mission to the Irish sol- diers and militia in Ireland who were disaffected, but, when he heard their story, he pleaded in their behalf, much to the distaste of the Irish executive. Portland iiiduced him to stay in Ireland to assist in the founda- tion of Maynooth College, and in 1795 he was ap- pointed its" first president. lie was shortly after matle Bishop of Waterford and Lismore. In 1797 he issued a pastoral to his clergy, strongly resenting Government interference in ecclesiastical discipline. This protest gave great offence to the ministers. He was received by the pope in March, 179S, and is said, but upon slight evidence, to have been a party to the Concordat between Pius VII and Napoleon. Lecky descrilx-s him as "the ablest English-speaking bishop of his time".

Maynooth Calendar (18S3-84): Heaut. Maynooth College (1895). 161-83; Memoirs of Rirhard Cumberland UHO'y.Vhow- DEN. Hisloriral Review (ISO:!); BcTl.En, Knglish Catholics (1S22); BosWEi.i.. Life of Johnson (1X35), VIII: Comual- lis Correspondence (l.'t.M): Hurke's Correspondence (1844); Brady. Episcopal Succession (1876): Leckt, Hitlorjl of Eng- land: Ryland, Historii of Watcrford (1S24); Casllereagh Cor- respondence, III. (The notice in Diet, Nat, Biog, is somewhat inaccumtc.)

D. J. O DONOGHUE.

Hutton, Peter, priest, b. at Holbeck, Leeds, Yorkshire, England, 29 .June, 1811; d. at Ratcliffe, Leicestershire, England, 2 Sept., 1880. He was bap- tized at Lady Lane Chapel, then the only Catholic church in Leeds. His grandfather was a convert, and wished Peter's father to be a Benedictine monk, but he found that he had no vocation, so returned to a secular life and married. In his will he requested that his son Peter should be educated in a Benedictine college, and Peter was accordingly sent to Ampleforth in 1824, and began his novitiate "in 1829. But owing to certain provisions of the Catholic Emancipation Act of that year, his superiors were, at least theoretically, debarred from professing novices, and, as they were unwill- ing to offend the authorities in any way. Peter was not professed. So in 1830 he went to Prior Park, where he taught clas.sics. In 18:?.5 the members of the Institute of Charity came to assist in the teaching, and Dr. Gent ili shortly afterwards succeeded to the presidency of the college. Hutton was at this time a deacon, having been so for over five years; and he disliked the