Bourne, Francis
BOURNE, FRANCIS
Cardinal, fourth archbishop of Westminster, England; b. Clapham, London, England, March 23, 1861;d. Westminster, Jan. 1, 1935. Bourne was the son of Henry, a convert and post office clerk, and Ellen (Byrne) Bourne. He was educated in England at Ushaw College, Durham; St. Edmund's, Ware; and Hammersmith. After completing his theological studies at Saint-Sulpice, Paris, he was ordained (June 11, 1884). He held several brief curacies before becoming rector of a house of studies at Henfield Place, Sussex (1889), and of the diocesan seminary at Wonersh (1891). In 1896 he was consecrated as coadjutor to the bishop of Southwark, whom he succeeded in the same year. In 1903, he was transferred to the Archdiocese of Westminster where he was elevated to the cardinalate (1910). His achievements as archbishop included a successful defense of Catholic voluntary schools against government restriction, organization of the International Eucharistic Congress in London (1908), and progress in the construction of Westminster Cathedral, consecrated in 1910.
Bibliography: e. oldmeadow, Francis Cardinal Bourne, 2v. (London 1940–44). w. j. wood, The Dictionary of National Biogrpahy From the Earliest Times to 1900 (1931–40) 92–93.
[d. milburn]