Henry James Coleridge
Henry James Coleridge (born 20 September 1822, in Devon, England; d. Roehampton, 13 April 1893) was a writer on religious affairs and preacher. He served as editor of The Month for over fifteen years.
Life
He was the son of Sir John Taylor Coleridge, a Judge of the King's Bench, and brother of John Coleridge, 1st Baron Coleridge, Chief Justice of England. His grandfather, Captain James Coleridge, was brother of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the poet and philosopher.[1]
He was sent to Eton at the age of thirteen and thence to Oxford, having obtained a scholarship at Trinity College. His university career was distinguished; in 1844 he took the highest honours in a fellowship at Oriel, then the blue ribbon of the university. In 1848 he received Anglican orders. The Tractarian movement being then at its height, Coleridge, with many of his tutors and friends, joined its ranks and was an ardent disciple of John Henry Newman till his conversion.[1]
Gradually various incidents, the secession of Newman, Renn Hampden's appointment as Regius Professor of Theology, the condemnation and suspension of Edward Bouverie Pusey, the condemnation and deprivation of William George Ward, and the decision in the Gorham case, seriously shook his confidence in the Church of England. In consequence Edward Hawkins, Provost of Oriel, declined to admit him as a college tutor, and he therefore accepted a curacy at Alphington, a parish recently separated from that of Ottery St Mary, the home of his family, where his father had built for him a house and school. His doubts as to his religious position continued, however, to grow and early in 1852 he determined that he could no longer remain in the Anglican Communion.[1]
Conversion to Catholicism
On Quinquagesima Sunday (22 February) he bade farewell to Alphington, and in April, after a retreat at Clapham under the Redemptorist Fathers, he was received into the Catholic Church. Determined to be a priest he proceeded in the following September to Rome and entered the Accademia dei Nobili, where he had for companions several of his Oxford friends, and others, including the future Cardinals Manning and Vaughan. He was ordained in 1856 and six months later took the degree of S.T.D. In the summer of 1857 he returned to England, and on 7 September entered the Jesuit Novitiate, which was then at Beaumont Lodge, Old Windsor, his novice master being Thomas Tracy Clarke, for whom to the end of his life he entertained the highest admiration and esteem.[1]
The Month
In 1859 he was sent to the Theological College of St. Beuno's, North Wales, as a professor of Scripture, and remained there until, in 1865, he was called to London to become the first Jesuit editor of The Month, a magazine started under Frances Margaret Taylor in the previous year and subsequently sold to the Jesuits. He continued as editor for more than fifteen years.[2]
After the death of William Maher, in 1877, he added the editorship of the Messenger of the Sacred Heart, for which he was one of the most prolific writers. He projected and carried on the Quarterly Series to which he himself largely contributed, both with his work The Public Life of Our Lord and others, such as The Life and Letters of St. Francis Xavier and The Life and Letters of St. Teresa. He also wrote a Harmony of the Gospels, Vita Vitae Nostrae, a favourite book for meditation, published also in an English version.[2] And he wrote studies based on the New Testament, an interest which seems to have been partly acquired from his old Oxford tutor, Isaac Williams.
For a time he was also superior of his religious brethren in Farm Street, London. In 1881 failing health obliged him to resign The Month to another Oxonian, Richard F. Clarke, but he continued to work on The Life of Our Lord. In 1890 a paralytic seizure compelled him to withdraw to the novitiate at Roehampton, where he finished the work before dying. The chief sources for his life are articles in The Month, June, 1893, by his friend James Patterson, Bishop of Emmaus, and the Jesuit Richard F. Clarke.[1]
Works of Henry J. Coleridge
Works available at archive.org
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Family tree of the Coleridge family - John Coleridge[3]
1718–1781 — Ann Bowden[3]
1727–1809 - Luke Herman Coleridge
1765–1790 — Frances Duke Taylor
1760–1838 — James Coleridge
1759–1836 — Samuel Taylor Coleridge
1772–1834 — Sara Fricker
1770–1845 - William Hart Coleridge
1789–1849 — Francis George Coleridge
1794–1854 — Edward Coleridge
1800–1883 — Henry Nelson Coleridge[4]
1798–1843 — Sara Coleridge[4]
1802–1852 — Hartley Coleridge
1796–1849 — Derwent Coleridge
1800–1883 - John Taylor Coleridge
1790–1876 - Henry James Coleridge
1822–1893 — Alethea Coleridge
1827–1909 — John Mackarness
1820–1889 — Charles Edward Coleridge
1827–1875 — Herbert Coleridge
1830–1861 - John Coleridge
1820–1894 — Francis James Coleridge
1825–1862 — Arthur Duke Coleridge
1830–1913 — Christabel Rose Coleridge
1843–1921 — Ernest Hartley Coleridge
1846–1920 - Stephen Coleridge
1854–1936 — Bernard Coleridge
1851–1927 — Mary Mackarness
1851–1940 — Percy Duke Coleridge
1850–1881 — Mary Elizabeth Coleridge
1861–1907 - Jessie Alethea Mackarness
1881–1957 — Geoffrey Coleridge
1877–1955 — John Coleridge
1878–1951 - Richard Coleridge
1905–1984 — Cecilia Fisher
1909–1991 — Sylvia Coleridge
1909–1986 - William Coleridge
1937–2025
From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia
Henry James Coleridge — A writer and preacher, b. 20 September 1822, in Devonshire, England; d. at Roehampton, 13 April 1893. He was the son of Sir John Taylor Coleridge, a Judge of the King's Bench, and brother of John Duke, Lord Coleridge, Chief Justice of England. His grandfather, Captain James Coleridge, was brother to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the poet and philosopher. He was sent to Eton at the age of thirteen and thence to Oxford, having obtained a scholarship at Trinity College. His university career was distinguished; in 1844 he took the highest honours in a fellowship at Oriel, then the blue ribbon of the university. In 1848 he received Anglican orders. The Tractarian movement being then at its height, Coleridge, with many of his tutors and friends, joined its ranks and was an ardent disciple of Newman till his conversion. He was one of those who started "The Guardian" newspaper as the organ of the High Church partly being for a time its Oxford sub-editor. Gradually various incidents, the secession of Newman, Dr. Hampden's appointment as Regius Professor of Theology, the condemnation and suspension of Dr. Pusey, the condemnation and deprivation of W.G. Ward, and the decision in the celebrated Gorham case, seriously shook his confidence in the Church of England. In consequence Dr. Hawkins, Provost of Oriel, declined to admit him as a college tutor, and he therefore accepted a curacy at Alphinton, a parish recently separated from that od Ottery St. Mary, the home of his family, where his father had built for him a house and school. Here, with most congenial work, he was in close connection with those to whom he was already bound by a singular affection. His doubts as to his religious position continued, however, to grow and early in 1852 he determined that he could no longer remain in the Anglican Communion.
On Quinquagesima Sunday (February 22) he bade farewell to Alphington, and in April, after a retreat at Clapham under the Redemptorist Fathers he was received into the Catholic Church. Determined to be a priest he proceeded in the following September to Rome and entered Accademia dei Nobili, where he had for companions several of his Oxford friends, and others, including the future Cardinals Manning and Vaughan. He was ordained in 1856 and six months later took the degree of D.D. In the summer of 1857 he returned to England, and on the 7th of September entered the Jesuit Novitiate, which was then at Beaumont Lodge, Old Windsor, his novice master being Father Thomas Tracy Clarke, for whom to the end of his life he entertained the highest admiration and esteem. In 1859 he was sent to the Theological College of St. Bruno's, North Wales, as a professor of Scripture, and remained there until, in 1865, he was called to London to become the first Jesuit editor of "The Month", a magazine started under other management in the previous year. Then cornmenced a course of indefatigable literary labour by as which he is best known. Besides the editorship of "The Month", to which, after the death of Father William Maher, in 1877, he added that of "The Messenger", and for which he was one of the most prolific writers, Father Coleridge projected and carried on the well known Quarterly Series to which he himself largely contributed, both with his great work "The Public Life of Our Lord" and others, such as "The Life and Letters of St. Francis Xavier" and "The Life and Letters of St. Teresa". Worthy of mention also is his Harmony of the Gospels, "Vita Vitae Nostrae", a favourite book for meditation, published also in an English version. Studies based on the New Testament were his work of predilection, a taste which seems to have been acquired, at least in part from his old Oxford tutor, Isaac Williams. For a time he was also superior of his religious brethren in Farm Street, London. In 1881 failing health obliged him to resign "The Month" to another Oxonian, Father Richard F. Clarke, but he continued to labour on "The Life of Our Lord" which he earnestly desired to finish. In 1890 a paralytic seizure compelled him to withdraw to the novitiate at Roehampton, where, with indomitable spirit, he succeeded in completing his magnum opus before passing away. The chief sources for his life are articles in The Month, June, 1893, by his friend James Patterson, Bishop of Emmaus, and Father Richard F. Clarke, S.J.
References
- Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 Back to citation occurrence 1.2 Back to citation occurrence 1.3 Back to citation occurrence 1.4 Gerard 1913.
- Back to citation occurrence 2.0 Back to citation occurrence 2.1 "Father Coleridge", The Month, Vol. 78, Simpkin, Marshall, and Company, 1893
- Back to citation occurrence 3.0 Back to citation occurrence 3.1 Srinivasan, Archana (2004). Eminent English Writers. Sura Books. p. 12. ISBN 9788174785299.
- Back to citation occurrence 4.0 Back to citation occurrence 4.1 Barbeau, Jeffrey W. (2014). Sara Coleridge: Her Life and Thought. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781137430854.
Bibliography
- Cooper, Thompson (1901). "Coleridge, Henry James". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography (1st supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co.