William Pope | |
|---|---|
&sq=&lang=&file=File:Canon_William_Pope_(2e).jpg) Pope, in the 1850s | |
| Born | 16 March 1825 Whitby, North Riding of Yorkshire |
| Died | 5 November 1905 (aged 80) Presbytery of St Robert's Church, Harrogate, West Riding of Yorkshire |
| Burial place | Grove Road Cemetery, Harrogate |
| Alma mater | Christ's College, Cambridge |
| Years active | 1848–1905 |
| Relatives | |
| Church | Anglicanism, then Catholic Church |
| Ordained |
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Offices held | |
William Pope (16 March 1825 – 5 November 1905) was an English Anglican clergyman who as a young man seceded from Anglicanism to a priesthood in the Catholic Church as a follower of John Henry Newman, the Oxford Movement and Tractarianism.
After serving in two churches following his first ordination, Pope became troubled in his theological conscience, and went home to his father in York. Although he preached with success in that town, he remained severely disquieted about Anglicanism for about a year, until he suddenly made a decision to convert and was received into the Catholic Church. After studying for four years in Rome, he was ordained as a Catholic priest there, performing his first mass in the crypt of St. Peter's Basilica. He then served as a chaplain in Ilkley for twenty-two years, and as a rector in Harrogate for sixteen years. In both appointments, he worked with dedication, organising the building of a church in Ilkley, erecting schools in both towns, and serving the community and church in other ways.
When he died at the age of 80, he was remembered across the United Kingdom and Ireland as one of the last surviving Anglican clerical followers of Newman who converted to Roman Catholic priesthood. He was given an "impressive" funeral in Harrogate, and his hearse was followed by over fifty chanting priests and many townspeople.