Basil Hume

His Eminence Basil Hume OSB, OM
Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster
Statue of Basil Hume in Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Archdiocese	Westminster
Province	Westminster
Appointed	9 February 1976
Installed	25 March 1976
Term ended	17 June 1999
Predecessor	John Carmel Heenan
Successor	Cormac Murphy-O'Connor
Other posts	Cardinal-Priest of San Silvestro in Capite
Orders
Ordination	23 July 1950
Consecration	26 March 1976 by Bruno Heim
Created Cardinal	24 May 1976
Rank	Cardinal-Priest
Personal details
Birth name	George Basil Hume
Born	(1923-03-02)2 March 1923 Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Died	17 June 1999(1999-06-17) (aged 76) London, England
Buried	Westminster Cathedral
Nationality	British
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Parents	Sir William Errington Hume and Maria Elizabeth Hume (née Tisserye)
Previous post	Abbot of Saint Lawrence's Abbey, Ampleforth (1963–1976)
Coat of arms

Basil Hume OSB, OM (2 March 1923 – 17 June 1999) was a monk of the English Benedictine monastery of Ampleforth Abbey and for 13 years its abbot until his appointment as Archbishop of Westminster in 1976. His elevation to a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church followed during the same year.^[1] From 1979 Hume served also as President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. He held these appointments until his death from cancer in 1999. His final resting place is at Westminster Cathedral in the Chapel of St Gregory and St Augustine.^[2]

During his lifetime Hume received wide respect from the general public which went beyond the Catholic community.^[3] Following his death, a statue of him in his monastic habit and wearing his abbatial cross was erected in his home town of Newcastle upon Tyne outside St Mary's Cathedral (opposite the Central railway Station), unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II.^[4]

Early life and ministry

He was born George Haliburton Hume born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1923 to Sir William Errington Hume and Marie Elizabeth (née Tisseyre) Hume (d. 1978). His father was a Protestant and a cardiac physician from Scotland and his mother the French Catholic daughter of an army officer. He had three sisters and one brother.

Hume was a pupil at the independent school Ampleforth College between the ages of 13 and 18. After finishing his studies there, he considered joining the Dominicans but entered the novitiate of the Benedictine monastery at Ampleforth Abbey in North Yorkshire in 1941, at the age of 18. He received the habit and the monastic name of 'Basil. He was solemnly professed in 1945.

After studying at Ampleforth, Hume went on to study at St Benet's Hall, Oxford, a Benedictine institution, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in modern history. As it was impossible to study Catholic theology at Oxford at the time, he went on to the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, to complete his theological studies, earning a License in Sacred Theology.

Hume was ordained a priest on 23 July 1950. He then returned to Ampleforth to teach religious education, history, French and German. He served as head of the school's Department of Modern Languages before becoming the abbot of Ampleforth in 1963.

Hume was a lifelong fan of jogging, squash and Newcastle United F.C.^[5] There is a story that Hume met "Wor" Jackie Milburn, the Newcastle United legend.^[6] Both unassuming men, they were in awe of each other. After a conversation, the talk moved on and one suggested an autograph would be a good idea. The other agreed. Both men stood back and expected to be the recipient of the autograph, without realising the other man wanted their autograph in return.

Archbishop

On 9 February 1976, Hume was appointed Archbishop of Westminster, the highest ranking prelate in the Catholic Church in England and Wales, by Pope Paul VI. He was not considered an obvious choice for the post of archbishop as he had lacked experience of running a diocese and, as the first monk to hold the post since the 1850 restoration of the English hierarchy, he was seen to be something of an outsider. Receiving news of the appointment during dinner, Hume later remarked, "I must confess I did not enjoy the rest of the meal."^[5]

Hume received his episcopal consecration on the following 25 March (the feast of the Annunciation) from Archbishop Bruno Heim, with Bishops Basil Butler OSB and John McClean serving as co-consecrators, in Westminster Cathedral.

Cardinal

Styles of Basil Hume, OSB, OM
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal

Hume was created Cardinal-Priest of San Silvestro in Capite by Paul VI in the consistory of 24 May 1976. He was one of the cardinal electors in the conclaves of August and October 1978. He was considered by many the most "Papabile" Englishman since Cardinal Pole in 1548–1550.

Hume's time in office saw Catholicism become more accepted in British society than it had been for 400 years, culminating in the first visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Westminster Cathedral in 1995. He had previously read the Epistle at the installation ceremony of Robert Runcie as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1980. It was also during his tenure in Westminster that Pope John Paul II made an historic visit to England in 1982.

In 1998, Hume asked John Paul II for permission to retire, expressing the wish to return to Ampleforth and devote his last years to peace and solitude, fly fishing and following his beloved Newcastle United Football Club. The request was refused.

Hume was diagnosed with inoperable abdominal cancer in April 1999. On 2 June of that year, Queen Elizabeth awarded him the Order of Merit.^[7] He died just over two weeks later in Westminster, London, at age 76.^[8] After a funeral service broadcast live on national television, he was buried in Westminster Cathedral. John Paul II, in his message of condolence to the Church in England and Wales, praised Hume as a "shepherd of great spiritual and moral character".^[9]

Hume was the last Archbishop of Westminster to employ a Gentiluomo. The Gentiluomo were a form of ceremonial bodyguard who accompanied the archbishops on formal occasions. As the role had become archaic, no new Gentiluomo were appointed after the death of Hume's Gentiluomo, Anthony Bartlett OBE, in 2001.

Views

Even after becoming an archbishop, Hume never ceased to see himself as a Benedictine monk first and to interpret his duties in the light of those of a Benedictine abbot: "He must hate faults but love the brothers." (Rule of St Benedict, ch. 64:11).^[10]

Hume was seen as moderate in his theological positions, trying to please both liberals and conservatives.^[11] While condemning homosexual acts, for instance, he accepted the validity of love between gay people.^[12] Moreover, he was opposed to women priests^[13] but described most detractors of Humanae Vitae as "good, conscientious and faithful".^[14] Despite that comment, Hume supported Humanae Vitae and regretted that the British government would rely on using condoms to address AIDS.^[15]

Controversies

Hume was accused in 'hushing up' a suspected sexual abuse scandal at Ampleforth College by not calling in the police when he received a complaint from parents in 1975 about Father Piers Grant-Ferris, the son of a Tory peer at Gilling Castle, formerly a prep school for Ampleforth. In 2005, Grant-Ferris admitted 20 incidents of child abuse. This was not an isolated incident and involved other monks and lay members. The Yorkshire Post reported in 2005; "Pupils at a leading Roman Catholic school suffered decades of abuse from at least six paedophiles following a decision by former Abbot Basil Hume not to call in police at the beginning of the scandal."^[16]

Legacy

Hume's success as Archbishop of Westminster—he was regularly named Britain's most popular religious figure in opinion polls—was attributed by some to the great humility and warmth with which he treated everyone he met, regardless of their religion or background.

• A statue of Hume was erected in his home town of Newcastle and unveiled by the Queen in 2002.^[4]
• The Cardinal Hume Centre based in Westminster works to improve the lives of homeless young people, families and other vulnerable and socially excluded members of society.^[17]
• The Cardinal Hume Rose is named after him.
• The Cardinal Hume Catholic School has been opened in Wrekenton, part of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear. It replaces the ageing St Edmund Campion School and accommodates over 1000 students.^[18]
• The Hume Theatre of St Mary's Catholic School in Bishop's Stortford is named after him. He opened it a few years before he died.
• The Hume building of St. Mary's Catholic High School, Menston, opened in 2001 is named after him.^[19]

See also

• Anthony Howard, author of "Basil Hume, the monk cardinal", Headline, 2005 (ISBN 0-7553-1247-3).
• Westminster Cathedral

References