William Francis Barry | |
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| Born | (1849-04-21)21 April 1849 London, England, UK |
| Died | 15 December 1930(1930-12-15) (aged 81) Oxford, England, UK |
| Occupation | Catholic priest, theologian, educator, writer,lecturer |
| Nationality | British |
| Genre | Fiction,religious fiction,romance fiction,non-fiction,satire,essay,philosophical literature,social commentary |
William Francis Barry (21 April 1849 – 15 December 1930) was a British Catholic priest, theologian, educator and writer. He served as vice president and professor of philosophy at Birmingham Theological College from 1873 to 1877 and then professor of divinity atOscott College from 1877 to 1880. A distinguishedecclesiastic, Barry gavelectures in both Great Britain and the United States during the 1890s. He was also a popular author and novelist at the start of the 20th century, whose books usually dealt with then controversial religious and social questions,[1] and is credited as the creator of themodern English Catholic novel.[2]
William Francis Barry was born inLondon, England, toIrish Catholic parents (from Liscarroll, Co. Cork)[3] on 21 April 1849. He was educated at Hammersmith Training School,Sedgeley Park School andOscott College prior to attending theEnglish College and theGregorian University inRome in 1868. Barry was seventh in honors at hismatriculation atLondon University, and ascholar of the English College de Urbe. He also became exceptionally knowledgeable in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Gaelic, Greek, and Latin languages and literature.[1][2]
He studied under CardinalsJohann Baptist Franzelin,Camillo Tarquini, and Perrone while at the university, received a BC and DD and was present during theFirst Vatican Council andtaking of Rome in 1870. In 1873, he wasordained as a Catholic priest atSt. John Lateran and returned to England to teach philosophy and religious history at Birmingham (or Olton) Theological College. He also served as its vice president from 1873 to 1877 before moving on to his oldalma mater as a professor of divinity at Oscott College until 1880. Three years later, Barry moved toDorchester-on-Thames inOxfordshire where he remained a longtime resident for over 20 years. A year or two after arriving in England, Bary also became a regular contributor to theDublin Review and later theContemporary Review, theEdinburgh Review, and theNineteenth Century;[2] he published around 70 essays in various periodicals during his lifetime.[1] In the 1890s he was a friend of Count Stenbock, Lionel Johnson and Robert Ross. (see W.B. Yeats letters, vol.2).
Barry began traveling the country, first going on mission inWolverhampton in 1883, delivered addresses in the United States in 1893, and lectured at theRoyal Institution as well as in many parts of England. In 1897, he delivered a centenary address on Burke in both London and Dublin. By the start of the 20th century, he had also published a number of popularreligious andromance novels. In many of these, the themes of these books often touched upon controversial religious and social questions of the period.[4] His first novel,The New Antigone (1887),[5] included concepts involvingsocialism,atheism,freethought,sexual openness, andrights for women.[6] In later novels, such asArden Massiter (1900), a youthfulEnglish socialist becomes entangled in Italian revolutionary politics, whileThe Wizard's Knot (1901) criticised theCeltic Revivalism. His last novel,The Dayspring (1903),[1] depicts a young Irishman who journeys to France to live in theParis Commune but eventually chooses to leave for America considering it to hold a truer prospect of freedom than life in the Commune.[2]
Barry then turned to non-fiction and published a series of books on religion. These included biographies on religious figures such asCardinal Newman andErnest Renan, and onCatholicism in general, with his most notable works beingThe Papal Monarchy (1902) andHeralds of Revolt (1904).[1][5] His writings about the medieval papacy were censored by his superiors.[6] Barry also wrote a number of articles for theCatholic Encyclopedia.[7] In 1923, he was created aNotary Apostolic by PopePius XI.[4] Barry wrote hisautobiography,Memories and Opinions (1926), three years later.
After living atLeamington for a time asrector of St. Peter's, he moved back to Oxford in 1928;[2] he died there on 15 December 1930, at the age of 81.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Cousin, John William (1910).A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons – viaWikisource.
Works by or aboutWilliam Francis Barry atWikisource