| Admin_History | Herbert Alfred Vaughan (1832-1903) was born on 15th April 1832 in Gloucester, the eldest son of Lieutenant-Colonel John Francis Vaughan and his wife, Eliza Rolls. The Vaughans were an old recusant family from Courtfield, Herefordshire, while Eliza Rolls, born in The Hendre, Monmouthshire, was a fervently devout convert to Catholicism. All five of the Vaughan daughters became nuns, while six of the eight sons received Holy Orders and became priests. Three were later called as bishops in addition to Herbert: Roger became Archbishop of Sydney, Australia; Francis became Bishop of Menevia, Wales; John became titular bishop of Sebastopolis and auxiliary bishop in Salford, England.
In 1841, Herbert Vaughan was sent to school at Stonyhurst College and later, in 1847, to Downside Abbey. He went on to study at the Jesuit school of Brugelette, Belgium, which subsequently relocated to Rue Vaugirard in Paris.
In 1851 Vaughan went to Rome, in the Papal States of Italy. He had two years of study at the Accademia dei nobili ecclesiastici, where he became a friend and disciple of Henry Edward Manning who was later to become the second Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster. Vaughan himself served as Archbishop of Westminster from 1892 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1893. He was the founder in 1866 of St Joseph's Foreign Missionary College, known as the Mill Hill Missionaries. He also founded the Catholic Truth Society. In 1871 Vaughan led a group of priests to the United States to form a mission society whose purpose was to minister to freedmen. In 1893 the society reorganized to form the US-based St. Joseph Society of the Sacred Heart, known as the Josephite Fathers. Vaughan also founded St. Bede's College, Manchester. As Archbishop of Westminster, he led the capital campaign and construction of Westminster CathedralVaughan was appointed Archbishop of Westminster on 29 March, 1892. In May he was enthroned, in August he received the sacred pallium, and in December he knew that he was to be made a cardinal. He received the red hat from the hands of Leo XIII on 9 January, 1893, with the presbyterial title of Sts. Andrew and Gregory on the Caelian. One of the first works to which the archbishop set his hand was to try to improve the education of the clergy by uniting all the resources in men and money of several dioceses for the support of a central seminary at Oscott. In the autumn of 1894 he took steps to reverse the policy which had sought to prevent Catholic parents from sending their sons to the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The bishop's prohibition was being disregarded and evaded, and he thought it better that it should be withdrawn, and steps taken to secure for the Catholic undergraduates such safeguards for their faith in the way of chaplains and special courses of lectures as the circumstances would allow. He lived long enough to be assured that the change for which he was responsible had been completely successful.
During the next few years a great deal of the cardinal's time and attention was taken up by a controversy which arose out of the movement in favour of corporate reunion associated with the name of Lord Halifax.
When the cardinal came to Westminster he came resolved to build a great cathedral. His predecessor had secured a site, but the site was mortgaged for 20,000, and there was no money for building. In July, 1894, he made his first public appeal for the cathedral. In June of the following year the foundation stone was laid and the cardinal had 75,000 in the bank. A little later the sale of a city church which the shifting of the population had made superfluous enabled the cardinal, after setting aside 20,000 for a new church, to add 48,000 to the credit of the cathedral building fund. In June, 1902, he made his last appeal. He asked for another 16,000, and it came. The cathedral was opened for public worship a year later, and Cardinal Vaughan was there before the high altar in his coffin. During he last years of his life the cardinal suffered from almost continuous ill-health. He laboured to the last, especially in the cause of the denominational schools. He had fought their fight for a quarter of a century and had the satisfaction of seeing the great Act of 1902 safely on the statute books. On 15 March, 1903, he left Archbishop's House for ever. St. Joseph's College, Mill Hill, had been his first love and it was his last; he went there to die and he chose it for his place of burial. He lingered on until 19 June, when the end came a few hours after he had made his public profession of faith in the presence of the Westminster Chapter. When the body was laid out for burial an iron circlet was found driven into the flesh of the left arm. |