Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District

The Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District was the title given to the Bishop who, between 1688 and 1850, headed the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in England known as the Vicariate Apostolic of the Midland District.

Background: Removal of English Catholic Bishops

Within a short space of time after the accession of Elizabeth I those Catholic Bishops who had not died were deposed and replaced in their episcopal sees by Protestant appointees. Most of the deposed Bishops were imprisoned in various locations and died in captivity over a period of years. The last to die was Thomas Goldwell, Bishop of St Asaph, in Rome on April 3 1585.

Restoration: The Vicar Apostolic of England

In 1623 Pope Urban VIII decided once again to appoint a Catholic Bishop with jurisdiction in England. So it was that Dr William Bishop was appointed with the title of Vicar Apostolic of England. He died shortly afterwards and was succeeded by Dr Richard Smith, who in August 1631 was forced to resign and fled to France. The office then remained vacant until its revival in 1685 with the appointment of Dr John Leyburn as Bishop.

Geographical Organisation

In 1623 the first Vicar Apostolic, Dr Bishop, divided England into six areas and placed a superior at the head of each with the title of vicar general. This structure remained in place until Dr Leyburn reduced the number from six to four. It was on the basis of these four areas that on January 20 1688 Pope Innocent XI increased the number of bishops in England to a total of four. The territory of the former single Vicariate Apostolic was restricted, becoming the Vicariate Apostolic of the London District. So it was that the Vicariate Apostolic of the Midland District was created, along with the Vicariate Apostolic of the Northern District and the Vicariate Apostolic of the Western District.

Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District

The first Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District from January 30 1688 was Bishop Bonaventure Giffard, who in 1703 became Vicar Apostolic of the London District.

Notwithstanding intermittent persecution, a Vicariate Apostolic of the Midland District continued in existence until in 1840 the existing Vicariates were further divided. With this it was renamed and its head took the title Vicar Apostolic of the Central District. This new jurisdiction was to last only ten years, until on 29 September 1850 Pope Pius IX issued the Bull "Universalis Ecclesiae", by which thirteen new dioceses were created, commonly known as the restoration of the English hierarchy, among them the diocese of Birmingham, which replaced formally the previous Vicariate.

The last Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District was Bishop Thomas Walsh, who from 1840 till 1847 had the title Vicar Apostolic of the Central District.

Bishop and Archbishop of Birmingham

Walsh was succeeded by the Benedictine William Bernard Ullathorne as Vicar Apostolic of the Central District, who on September 29 1850 received the title of Bishop of Birmingham. On 28 October 1911 a new ecclesiastical province was created dependent on Birmingham and the title became that of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Birmingham.

List of the Vicars Apostolic of the Midland District

List of the Vicars Apostolic of the Central District