Vicar Apostolic of the Northern District

The Vicar Apostolic of the Northern 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 Northern 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 Northern District was created, along with the Vicariate Apostolic of the Midland District and the Vicariate Apostolic of the Western District.

Vicar Apostolic of the Northern District

The first Vicar Apostolic of the Northern District from January 30 1688 was Bishop James Smith, who died in 1711. He was succeeded only in 1716 by Bishop George Witham, hitherto Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District.

Notwithstanding intermittent persecution, a Vicariate Apostolic of the Northern District continued in existence until 1850.

Bishop of Hexham

The last Vicar Apostolic of the Northern District was Bishop William Hogarth, who on September 30 1850 was assigned the title of bishop of Hexham in consequence of the fact that on the previous day, September 29 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 Hexham, a new jurisdiction to replace formally the old Vicariate. The diocese of Hexham in 1861 was renamed diocese of Hexham and Newcastle and its head took the title Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, which has remained until the present day.