Ullathorne, William Bernard
ULLATHORNE, WILLIAM BERNARD (1806-1889), English Roman Catholic bishop, was born at Pocklington, Yorkshire, on the 7th of May 1806, of an old Roman Catholic family. At fifteen he went to sea, and made several voyages to the Baltic and Mediterranean. In 1823 he entered the Benedictine monastery of Downside, near Bath, taking the vows in 1825. He was ordained priest in 1831, and in 1833 went to New South Wales, as vicar-general to Bishop William Morris (1794-1872), whose jurisdiction extended over the Australian missions. It was mainly Ullathorne who caused Gregory XVI. to establish the hierarchy in Australia. He returned to England in 1836, and, after another visit to Australia, settled in England in 1841, taking charge of the Roman Catholic mission at Coventry. He was consecrated bishop in 1847 as vicar-apostolic of the western district, in succession to Bishop C. M. Baggs (1806- 1845), but was transferred to the central district in the following year. On the re-establishment of the hierarchy, in England Ullathorne became the first Roman Catholic bishop of Birmingham. During his thirty-eight years tenure of the see 67 new churches, 32 convents and nearly 200 mission schools were built. In 1888 he retired and received from Leo XIII. the honorary title of archbishop of Cabasa. He died at Oscott College on the 21st of March 1889.
Of his theological and philosophical works the best known are: The Endowments of Man (1882); The Groundwork of the Christian Virtues (1883); Christian Patience (1886). For an account of his life see his Autobiography, edited by A. T. Drane (London, 1891).
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
