John Leyburn

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John Leyburn, an English Dominican, was Vicar Apostolic of the London District, and thus the senior Roman Catholic prelate in England, from 1685 to 1702.

Leyburn had been secretary to Philip Cardinal Howard, and was reputed to be a learned and cautious man. He had recently been consecrated titular bishop of Adrumetum by Federico Cardinal Baldeschi Colonna in 1685 and appointed Vicar Apostolic of England.

In 1688, England was divided into four parts, the Vicariate Apostolic of the London District, the Vicariate Apostolic of the Midland District, the Vicariate Apostolic of the Western District and the Vicariate Apostolic of the Northern District; Leyburne was named Vicar Apostolic of the London District, the senior position.

Ferdinando d'Adda, an Italian cardinal, was papal nuncio during the early part of Leyburne's tenure, and the two worked together in England. They were eagerly welcomed by James II. No Roman Catholic Bishop had exercised spiritual functions in the island in more than half a century. Leyburn was lodged in Whitehall Palace, and received a pension of one thousand pounds a year. Leyburn accompanied the king to Chester on his royal progress there in 1687.

Both the Papal emissaries did their best to diminish, as much as possible, the rash zeal of James and tried to promote a moderate, incremental approach to Catholic toleration in Britain. Leyburne's efforts were in vain, and, at the Revolution of 1688, he was arrested and sent to Newgate Prison, along with Bonaventure Giffard, another Catholic vicar. He was later released and lived in Douai at the English College there.