20 Facts About Francis Bourne

Francis Alphonsus Bourne was an English prelate of the Catholic Church.

Francis Bourne served as the fourth Archbishop of Westminster from 1903 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1911.

Francis Bourne was born in Clapham to Henry and Ellen Byrne Bourne on 23 March 1861.

Francis Bourne's father, a civil servant was a convert and his mother, an Irish Catholic.

Bourne entered St Cuthbert College at Ushaw Moor, County Durham in 1867 and then upon the death of his older brother in 1877, it was decided that Francis should move to St Edmund's College in Ware, which was considered a better location for someone of his delicate health.

Francis Bourne joined the Order of Friars Preachers, more commonly known as the Dominicans, in Woodchester but left in 1880.

Francis Bourne was ordained to the priesthood on 11 June 1884 at St Mary's in Clapham, by Bishop Robert Coffin, the same priest who had baptized him at St Mary's years before.

Francis Bourne was rector of the House of Studies at Henfield Place from 1889 to 1891, at which time he began teaching at St John's Seminary in Wonersh, of which he became rector on 14 March 1896.

Francis Bourne was raised to the rank of Domestic Prelate of His Holiness by Pope Leo XIII in 1895.

On 27 March 1896 Francis Bourne was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Southwark and Titular Bishop of Epiphania in Cilicia.

Francis Bourne later succeeded Butt as Bishop of Southwark on 9 April 1897.

Francis Bourne was named Archbishop of Westminster on 11 September 1903.

In defiance of the governmental law banning Eucharistic processions, Francis Bourne gave the benediction from the loggia of Westminster Cathedral in 1908.

Francis Bourne was created Cardinal-Priest of S Pudenziana by Pope Pius X in the consistory of 27 November 1911, and was a cardinal elector in the conclaves of 1914 and again in 1922, which selected Popes Benedict XV and Pius XI respectively.

Rather conservative, Francis Bourne was opposed to Modernism, but he was prudent in his handling of the Modernist crisis in England.

Francis Bourne was not overly supportive of interfaith dialogue nor of ecumenism.

Francis Bourne condemned granting greater freedom to divorce and the use of birth control.

Francis Bourne desired to see the United Kingdom adopt Roman Catholic faith as its official religion.

Francis Bourne died after a year's illness in his archepiscopal residence in London, at age 73.

Francis Bourne was buried at his alma mater of St Edmund's College, Ware, Hertfordshire, in the chapel he established in memory of the college's members who died during World War I, and his heart was placed in the chapel of St John's Seminary at Wonersh, Surrey, in June 1935.