- Philip Michael Ellis
Philip Michael Ellis (b. in 1652; d.
16 November 1726 was an EnglishBenedictine , the firstVicar Apostolic of the Western District, England, and subsequentlyBishop of Segni , Italy. [CathEncy|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05392b.htm|title=Philip Michael Ellis]He was the son of the Rev. John Ellis, Rector of
Waddesdon ,Buckinghamshire , a descendant of the Ellis family ofKiddall Hall , Yorkshire, and Susannah Welbore. Of six brothers, John, the eldest, became Under-Secretary of State toWilliam III of England ; William, a Jacobite Protestant, was Secretary of State ofJames II of England in exile; Philip became a Benedictine monk and Catholic bishop; Welbore becameProtestant bishop of Kildare and afterwards ofBishop of Meath , Ireland; Samuel wasMarshal of King's Bench ; and Charles an Anglican clergyman.Philip, while still a Westminster schoolboy, was converted to the Catholic faith, and when eighteen years old went to
St. Gregory's, Douai , where he was professed, taking the name of Michael in religion (30 November, 1670). After ordination he returned in 1685 to the English mission where he became one of the royal chaplains. In 1688 he was appointed vicar Apostolic of the newly created Western District and was consecrated by Mgr. d'Adda, thepapal nuncio (6 May).At the revolution in 1688 he was imprisoned, but being soon liberated he retired to
Saint-Germain and afterwards to Rome. In 1696 he was named assistant prelate at the pontifical throne; and in Rome his knowledge of English affairs made him so useful that his repeated petitions for leave to return to his vicariate were refused.In 1704 he resigned the vicariate, and in 1708 was made Bishop of Segni, being enthroned on 28 October. His first care was to rebuild the ruined monastery of S. Chiara and open it as a diocesan seminary. This he enriched with many gifts and a large legacy. A curious survival of his English title is an inscription at Segni to "Ph. M. Mylord Ellis".
Eleven sermons preached in 1685 and 1686 before James II, Queen
Mary of Modena , and QueenHenrietta Maria , were published in pamphlet form, some of which have been reprinted (London, 1741; 1772). The Acts of hissynod at Segni in 1710 were also published by order ofPope Clement XI .References
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