Richard Rutt | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Leicester | |
.jpg) Richard Rutt, 1980s | |
| Diocese | Diocese of Leicester |
| In office | 1979–1990 (ret.) |
| Predecessor | Ronald Williams |
| Successor | Tom Butler |
| Other posts |
|
| Orders | |
| Ordination | CofE: 1951 (deacon); 1952 (priest) RC: ? (deacon); 1995 (priest) by Edward Wynn (CofE Ely) Christopher Budd (RC Plymouth) |
| Consecration | CofE: 1966 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1925-08-27)27 August 1925 |
| Died | 27 July 2011(2011-07-27) (aged 85) |
| Nationality | British |
| Denomination |
|
| Alma mater | Pembroke College, Cambridge |
Cecil Richard RuttCBE (27 August 1925 – 27 July 2011) was an EnglishRoman Catholic priest and a formerAnglican bishop.
Rutt spent almost 20 years of his life serving as an Anglican missionary in South Korea, a country for which he developed a deep affection. He, like other scholar-missionaries such asJames Scarth Gale,Homer B. Hulbert,George Heber Jones, and Anglican bishopMark Napier Trollope, made significant contributions toKorean studies. Some years after he retired as an Anglican bishop, Rutt was one of several Anglicans received into theRoman Catholic Church in 1994. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest the following year and spent the closing years of his life in Cornwall.
Rutt was the son of Cecil Rutt and Mary Hare (née Turner).[1] He was educated at Huntingdon Grammar School,Kelham Theological College inNottinghamshire andPembroke College, Cambridge, from which he received hisMaster of Arts degree.[2]
Rutt was made deacon atMichaelmas (29 September) 1951[3] andordained priest onSt Matthew's Day (21 September) 1952 — both times byEdward Wynn,Bishop of Ely, atEly Cathedral.[4][5] After acuracy at St George's Cambridge[6] he went toSouth Korea as a missionary in 1954 together withRoger Tennant.[7] In 1965 he was appointedArchdeacon of WestSeoul. In June 1966 he was appointed an assistant bishop of theDiocese of Daejeon byMichael Ramsey,Archbishop of Canterbury;[8] he was consecrated a bishop on 28 October 1966 (the Feast of SSSimon andJude).[9] In February 1968, his appointment as diocesan Bishop of Daejeon was announced.[10][11] He was named a Commander of theOrder of the British Empire in 1973.[1]
Feeling that the time had come for Koreans to take charge of their portion of the Anglican Communion, in 1973 Rutt offered his resignation as Bishop of Daejeon, intending to continue serving as a simple parish priest in the country he had come to love so much. That proved to be impossible and in January 1974 he was appointedsuffragan bishop of theChurch of England'sDiocese of Truro with the titleBishop of St Germans;[12] He took up that post onAscension Day (23 May) 1974;[13] while in Cornwall he learned theCornish language to celebrate weddings in Cornish. In October 1978 he was namedBishop of Leicester:[14] he took up the See between his predecessor's retirement at the end of 1978 and his own enthronement on 24 March 1979.[15]
In 1982 Rutt, who was always strongly inclined toAnglo-Catholicism, voted against the unity covenant with the Methodist, Moravian and United Reformed churches.[16] In July 1985 he was introduced into theHouse of Lords.[17] He retired on 1 October 1990[18] and went to live in Falmouth, in the Cornwall he had come to love. He died in his 87th year at Treliske Hospital, Truro.[19]
In September 1994, Rutt became a Roman Catholic[20] and in June 1995 he was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest[21][22] byChristopher Budd,Roman Catholic Bishop of Plymouth, atBuckfast Abbey.[23] He spent his last years in residence at St Mary Immaculate Parish inFalmouth.[24] In 2009 he was made aPrelate of Honour, with the title ofMonsignor, by PopeBenedict XVI.[25] He was an honorary canon ofPlymouth Cathedral.[25]
While in Korea, from 1954 to 1974, Rutt studied in great depth the language, culture and history of Korea, as well as Classical Chinese. He was an active member of theRoyal Asiatic Society Korea Branch, serving on the council, overseeing its publications and serving as its president in 1974. He published six scholarly papers in the RASKB's journal,Transactions,[26] most of which reveal his deep knowledge of the Classical Chinese used in pre-modern Korea.[27] His deep affection for the traditional culture of Korea, which had in fact almost ceased to exist by the time he arrived, was particularly expressed in his very popular volume,Korean Works and Days: Notes from the Diary of a Country Priest. One of his notable works of scholarship, apart from his translations, was his annotated edition (RASKB, 1972 / 1983) of theHistory of the Korean People byJames Scarth Gale (first published in 1927) which includes a researched biography of the author. Like Gale, Rutt was fascinated by Classical Chinese and, after his retirement, he published a new translation of a challenging ancient Chinese classic,The Book of Changes, in 1996. He later assisted the historical research of the Anglican priestRoger Tennant[28] as well as co-authoring the encyclopaediaKorea: A Historical and Cultural Dictionary with Keith Pratt. He was a member of both the Association of Korean Studies in Europe (AKSE) founded byWilliam E. Skillend ofSOAS and the British Association for Korean Studies (BAKS). In particular, Rutt was fascinated by traditional and formalsijo and older forms of Korean poetry in general.[29][30] He owned a large collection of books related to Korea, including some rare Korean volumes, which he donated to theBodleian Library atOxford University.[31]
Rutt developed a passionate interest in knitting and authored a history of the craft inA History of Hand Knitting (Batsford, 1987). His collection of books about knitting is now housed at theWinchester School of Art (University of Southampton).[32] Rutt was involved with the Knitting & Crochet Guild since its inception in 1978 and was its president at the time of his death.[33]
Rutt married Joan Ford (3 April 1919 – 17 September 2007) in Hong Kong in May 1969.[34] He was a bard of theCornish Gorseth. His Korean name wasTae-yŏng No.
In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Rutt,OCLC/WorldCat encompasses roughly 30+ works in 70+ publications in three languages and 3,000+ library holdings[35][36]
| Church of England titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Bishop of Taejon 1968–1974 | Succeeded by |
| In abeyance Title last held by John Cornish | Bishop of St Germans 1974–1979 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Bishop of Leicester 1979–1990 | Succeeded by |
