A request that this article title be changed to Anglican Diocese of Westminster is under discussion . Please do not move this article until the discussion is closed. |
Diocese of Westminster | |
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Location | |
Ecclesiastical province | Canterbury |
Archdeaconries | Middlesex |
Information | |
Cathedral | Westminster Abbey |
The Diocese of Westminster was a short-lived diocese of the Church of England, extant from 1540 to 1550. Westminster Abbey served as its cathedral.
The diocese was one of six founded by Henry VIII in 1539–40, with the churches of dissolved abbeys serving as their cathedrals. The others were Bristol, Chester, Gloucester, Oxford and Peterborough. [1]
It was created from part of the Diocese of London, and comprised Westminster (which was raised to the dignity of a city), and the county of Middlesex, with the exception of Fulham. Fulham was excluded as it was the site of Fulham Palace, residence of the Bishop of London. [2]
Henry established the new diocese by letters patent of 17 December 1540, which reconstituted the former monastery of St Peter, Westminster (today generally known simply as "Westminster Abbey") as a cathedral, with a bishop, dean and twelve canons. Thomas Thirlby was appointed as the bishop and William Benson or Boston, who had been abbot of Westminster before the Dissolution, became dean; the Middlesex archdeaconry moved into the jurisdiction of the new diocese and bishop. [3]
In 1550 the diocese of Westminster was reunited with that of London. Thirlby surrendered the diocese on 30 March and was made Bishop of Norwich, while Nicholas Ridley became Bishop of London and Westminster. [3] In 1552 an act of parliament of confirmed the status of Westminster as a "cathedral church and episcopal see to the bishop of London". Westminster Abbey finally lost its cathedral status in 1556, during the reign of Queen Mary, when the chapter was abolished and the monastery restored. [3]
A Catholic Diocese of Westminster was formed in 1850. [2]
The ordinary of the diocese throughout its existence was the Bishop of Westminster; the only incumbent was Thomas Thirlby, whose sole seat was at Westminster Abbey. When the diocese was merged back into London diocese, the Bishop of London Ridley was called "Bishop of London and Westminster."
Peterborough Cathedral, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew – also known as Saint Peter's Cathedral in the United Kingdom – is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Peterborough, dedicated to Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Andrew, whose statues look down from the three high gables of the famous West Front. Although it was founded in the Anglo-Saxon period, its architecture is mainly Norman, following a rebuilding in the 12th century. With Durham and Ely cathedrals, it is one of the most important 12th-century buildings in England to have remained largely intact, despite extensions and restoration.
Nicholas Ridley was an English Bishop of London. Ridley was one of the Oxford Martyrs burned at the stake during the Marian Persecutions, for his teachings and his support of Lady Jane Grey. He is remembered with a commemoration in the calendar of saints in some parts of the Anglican Communion on 16 October.
Thomas Thirlby, was the first and only bishop of Westminster (1540–50), and afterwards successively bishop of Norwich (1550–54) and bishop of Ely (1554–59). While he acquiesced in the Henrician schism, with its rejection in principle of the Roman papacy, he remained otherwise loyal to the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church during the English Reformation.
This article traces the historical development of the dioceses and cathedrals of the Church of England. It is customary in England to name each diocese after the city where its cathedral is located. Occasionally, when the bishop's seat has been moved from one city to another, the diocese may retain both names, for example Bath and Wells. More recently, where a cathedral is in a small or little-known town or city, the diocesan name has been changed to include the name of a nearby larger city: thus the cathedral in Southwell now serves the diocese of Southwell and Nottingham, and Ripon Cathedral was in Ripon and Leeds from 1999 until 2014. Cathedrals, like other churches, are dedicated to a particular saint or holy object, or Christ himself, but are commonly referred to by the name of the city where they stand. A cathedral is, simply, the church where the bishop has his chair or "cathedra".
The Bishop of Norwich is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers most of the county of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. The bishop of Norwich is Graham Usher.
The Diocese of London forms part of the Church of England's Province of Canterbury in England.
The Dean of the Chapel Royal, in any kingdom, can be the title of an official charged with oversight of that kingdom's chapel royal, the ecclesiastical establishment which is part of the royal household and ministers to it.
A dean, in an ecclesiastical context, is a cleric holding certain positions of authority within a religious hierarchy. The title is used mainly in the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, and many Lutheran denominations. A dean's assistant is called a sub-dean.
The Diocese of Bath and Wells is a diocese in the Church of England Province of Canterbury in England.
Henry Holbeach was an English clergyman who served as the last Prior and first Dean of Worcester, a suffragan bishop, and diocesan bishop of two Church of England dioceses.
William Alnwick was an English Catholic clergyman. He was Bishop of Norwich (1426–1436) and Bishop of Lincoln (1436–1449).
John Scory was an English Dominican friar who later became a bishop in the Church of England.
Hilary was a medieval bishop of Chichester in England. English by birth, he studied canon law and worked in Rome as a papal clerk. During his time there, he became acquainted with a number of ecclesiastics, including the future Pope Adrian IV, and the writer John of Salisbury. In England, he served as a clerk for Henry of Blois, who was the bishop of Winchester and brother of King Stephen of England. After Hilary's unsuccessful nomination to become Archbishop of York, Pope Eugene III compensated him by promoting him to the bishopric of Chichester in 1147.
Henry Cole was a senior English Roman Catholic churchman and academic.
Dr Richard Gwent was a senior ecclesiastical jurist, pluralist cleric and administrator through the period of the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII. Of south Welsh origins, as a Doctor of both laws in the University of Oxford he rose swiftly to become Dean of the Arches and Archdeacon of London and of Brecon, and later of Huntingdon. He became an important figure in the operations of Thomas Cromwell, was a witness to Thomas Cranmer's private protestation on becoming Archbishop of Canterbury, and was Cranmer's Commissary and legal draftsman. He was an advocate on behalf of Katherine of Aragon in the proceedings against her, and helped to deliver the decree of annulment against Anne of Cleves.
The Bishop of Bristol heads the Church of England Diocese of Bristol in the Province of Canterbury, in England.
John Fuller was the master of Jesus College, Cambridge. As bishop's chancellor in Ely, Cambridgeshire, he was charged with suppressing Christian heresy, condemning several heretics to be burnt at the stake.
The Bishop of Chester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chester in the Province of York.
John London, DCL was Warden of New College, Oxford, and a prominent figure in the Dissolution of the Monasteries during the reign of Henry VIII of England.
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