| Monsignor Graham Leonard |
|
|---|---|
| Bishop of London | |
| Church | Church of England |
| Diocese | Diocese of London |
| Elected | 1981 |
| Reign ended | 1991 |
| Predecessor | Gerald Ellison |
| Successor | David Hope, Baron Hope of Thornes |
| Other posts | Bishop of Truro 1973–1981 Bishop of Willesden 1964–1973 |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1947 (deacon); 1948 (priest); 1994 (Roman Catholic priest) |
| Consecration | c. 1973 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 8 May 1921 |
| Died | 6 January 2010 (aged 88) |
| Nationality | British |
| Denomination | Anglican (later Roman Catholic) |
| Parents | Douglas Leonard |
| Spouse | Priscilla Swann (m. 1943) |
| Children | Two sons |
| Alma mater | Balliol College, Oxford |
Graham Douglas Leonard KCVO[1] (8 May 1921 – 6 January 2010) was a British priest. His principal ministry was as a bishop of the Church of England but, after his retirement as the Bishop of London, he became a Roman Catholic, becoming the most senior Anglican cleric to do so since the English Reformation. He was conditionally ordained to the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church and was later appointed a monsignor by Pope John Paul II.[2]
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The son of the Reverend Douglas Leonard, an Anglican cleric, Leonard was educated at Monkton Combe School near Bath and at Balliol College, Oxford. During the Second World War he was commissioned into the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, rising to the rank of captain. He spent the latter part of the war attached to the Army Operational Research Group for the Ministry of Supply. He then attended Westcott House theological college in Cambridge. He was ordained as a deacon in 1947 and as a priest the following year.[3]
Leonard was a curate in St Ives, Huntingdonshire and at Stansted, Essex. He then spent three years as vicar of Ardleigh, Essex. In 1957 he became a residentiary canon of St Albans Cathedral and the diocesan director of religious education. His long association with the Diocese of London began in 1962 when, before becoming Bishop of Willesden, he was appointed as Archdeacon of Hampstead and as Rector of St Andrew Undershaft with St Mary Axe in the City of London. In 1964 he was appointed as suffragan Bishop of Willesden.[4]
Leonard had three episcopal positions in the Church of England, firstly as the suffragan Bishop of Willesden in the Diocese of London and later as the diocesan Bishop of Truro (1973 to 1981) and the Bishop of London (1981 to 1991).[5][6][7][8] During this last period he was Dean of the Chapel Royal,[9] a Royal Household office, for which he was appointed Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO).[10] He was also Prelate of the Order of the British Empire.[11]
As the Bishop of London, Leonard had been admired for his pastoral concern for female staff at Church House and had a considerable number of female workers in parishes in his diocese. He was notable for ordaining 71 women as deacons at St Paul's Cathedral on 22 March 1987,[12] but he remained an outspoken critic of moves to ordain women to the priesthood within the Anglican Communion. After his retirement Leonard eventually left the Church of England to become a Roman Catholic. On 23 April 1994 he was conditionally ordained as a priest (but not as a bishop) in the Roman Catholic Church. Although the Roman Catholic Church does not recognise the validity of Anglican ordinations, Leonard's ordination was conditional due to there being "prudent doubt" about his previous ordination in the Church of England,[13] because at Leonard's own consecration in 1964 a bishop of the Old Catholic Church had been among the bishops who consecrated him. Bishops of the Old Catholic churches, the original members of which had separated from the Roman Catholic Church in 1870 after the First Vatican Council and are in full communion with the Church of England, are considered by the Roman Catholic Church to be "in the line of apostolic succession". This eased his reception into the Roman Catholic Church, although his claim that he was legitimately a bishop and his request for a personal prelature were rejected.[14]
Leonard stated that he was not first ordained a deacon in the Roman Catholic Church and that Pope John Paul II's personal instruction was that he should be ordained immediately to the priesthood sub conditione. He was later appointed a papal chaplain with the title Monsignor and then a prelate of honour by the Pope on 3 August 2000.
Leonard was the brother-in-law to the late academic Michael Swann (Lord Swann of Coln St Denys) and Hugh Swann, cabinet maker to Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, having married their sister, Priscilla Swann, in 1943. He and his wife had two sons.
Nine portraits of Leonard (1962 by Elliott & Fry and 1979 by Bassano and Vandyk) are owned by the National Portrait Gallery.[15]
| Church of England titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by George Ingle |
Bishop of Willesden 1964–1973 |
Succeeded by Hewlett Thompson |
| Preceded by John Key |
Bishop of Truro 1973–1981 |
Succeeded by Peter Mumford |
| Preceded by Gerald Ellison |
Bishop of London 1981–1991 |
Succeeded by David Hope |
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