Hugh Pope

Henry Vincent Pope, better known as Fr. Hugh Pope (1869—1946), was an English Dominican biblical scholar, Professor of New Testament Exegesis at the Pontificium Collegium Internationale Angelicum, the future Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in Rome.

Early biography

Henry Vincent Pope was born at Kenilworth on 6 August 1869, the first son of Richard Vercoe Pope by his second wife, Elizabeth A. Phillips. His father was a convert to Roman Catholicism who taught at the Oratory School in Birmingham.

Formation

Queen's College, Birmingham, a predecessor college of Birmingham University

Pope was educated at the Oratory School, Birmingham, and at Queen's College, Birmingham (a predecessor college of Birmingham University), where he studied medicine.

Pope entered the Dominican Order at Woodchester 29 September 1891. He studied philosophy at Woodchester until 1894. In 1894 he was transferred to Hawkesyard as a member of the first community there. He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Ilsley of Birmingham in September 1896. Pope was sent to Louvain to complete his theological studies becoming a lector in sacred theology there in 1898.^[1]

Career

Pope was assigned to Hawkesyard as professor of sacred Scripture in 1898 also serving as librarian. From 1904-7 he was subprior of Hawkesyard. In 1909 he passed the examination and examination in Sacred Scripture before the Biblical Commission in Rome and received a doctorate in sacred theology.

In 1908 Hyacinthe-Marie Cormier, O.P., the 76th Master General of the Order of Preachers appointed Pope professor of New Testament Exegesis at the Pontificium Collegium Internationale Angelicum, the future Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in Rome. Cormier created Pope a Master of Sacred Theology in 1911.^[2] However, in 1913 Pope was accused of modernism and had to leave Rome.^[3] He returned to England. In 1914 he became prior of Woodchester.

Pope died in Edinburgh on 23 November 1946. A memorial volume was published as Kieran Mulvey, Hugh Pope of the Order of Preachers (London: Blackfriars Publications, 1954).

Publications

Articles and published lectures

• ‘What Are We to Think of Modern Spiritualism?’, American Ecclesiastical Review 27(1902), pp. 284–300.
• ‘The Influence of the Cuneiform Inscriptions upon Biblical Criticism’, American Ecclesiastical Review 29 (1903), pp. 352–363.
• ‘The Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God and the Teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas’, American Ecclesiastical Review 31 (1904), pp. 566–581.
• ‘The Formation of a Great Preacher’, American Ecclesiastical Review 39 (1908), pp. 140–148; 257-269. (On St Augustine of Hippo.)
• ‘The Scholastic View of Biblical Inspiration’, Irish Theological Quarterly (1911).
• 'Why Divorce our Teaching of Theology from our Teaching of the Bible?', in: Irish Theological Quarterly 8 (1913), pp. 47–64.
• ‘St. Thomas Aquinas as an Interpreter of Holy Scripture’. Oxford : Basil Blackwell, 1924. (Lecture)
• ‘A Brief History of the English Version of the New Testament first published at Rheims in 1582, continued down to the present day’, The Library, Transactions of the Bibliographical Society (March 1940), pp. 351–376.

Pamphlets

• Can I stay where I am? An inquiry addressed to "Anglo-Catholics" in doubt. London: Catholic Truth Society, 1911.
• The Godhead of Christ as Portrayed in the Gospels. London : Catholic Truth Society, 1924.
• Why Believe the Bible? London: Catholic Truth Society, 1924.
• The Catholic Doctrine of Indulgences. London: Catholic Truth Society, 1932 (several times reprinted).

Books

• The Catholic Church and the Bible. New York: The Macmillan company, 1928 (several times reprinted).
• The Date of the Composition of Deuteronomy: A Critical Study. Rome: F. Pustet, 1910.
• The Catholic Student's “Aids” to the Bible. 3 vols. London: R. & T. Washbourne, 1913-23.
• English Versions of the Bible, revised and amplified by Sebastian Bullough. St. Louis: Herder, 1952.
• Saint Augustine of Hippo: Essays Dealing with his Life and Times and some features of his Work. London: Sands, 1937 (several further editions).

Translations and editions

• Psalm CXVIII: A Meditation on the Law of God, edited by the Rev. Hugh Pope, O.P. London: Catholic Truth Society, 1901.
• Fifty-two Psalms, Selected from the Psalter, edited with notes by Father Hugh Pope, O.P. London: Catholic Truth Society, 1902.
• On Prayer and the Contemplative Life, by S. Thomas Aquinas; tr. by Hugh Pope, with a preface by Vincent McNabb. London: Washbourne, 1914.
• The Friar Preacher: Yesterday and To-day, translated from the French of Père Jacquin by Hugh Pope. London: Washbourne, 1915.
• A Manual for Dominican Lay-Brothers. Ditchling, Sussex: St. Dominic's Press, 1926.
• The Layman's New Testament, eing the Rheims text as first revised by Bishop Challoner, edited with introduction & notes by Hugh Pope. London: Sheed & Ward, 1927 (several times reprinted).
• The Teaching of St. Augustine on Prayer & the Contemplative Life, a translation of various passages from the Saint's sermons and other writings by Father Hugh Pope. London: Burns, Oates & Washbourne ltd, 1935.

Bibliography

• Elias H. Füllenbach: Die Dominikaner zwischen Thomismus und Modernismusverdacht. Die Studienhäuser des Ordens in Europa und ihre Verbindungen, in: Claus Arnold / Johannes Wischmeyer (ed.), Transnationale Dimensionen wissenschaftlicher Theologie, Göttingen 2013 (Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Europäische Geschichte Mainz, Abteilung für Abendländische Religionsgeschichte, vol. 101), p. 169-193.
• Kieran Mulvey: Hugh Pope of the Order of Preachers, London 1954.

References

External links

• Works by Hugh Pope at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Hugh Pope at Internet Archive