Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 2.djvu/649

 BIRNBATTM

579

BIRTH

(July, 1852). The cathedral and bishop's house had been erected in Bishop Walsh's vicariate (21 June, 1840) from designs drawTi by Augustus Welby Pugin, the foremost promoter of the revival of Gothic archi- tecture, who, through the mimificence of John, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, adorned the diocese with many ecclesiastical buildings. Over the high altar of St. Chad's Cathedral rest the relics of its patron which had been enshrined till the Reformation in Lichfield Cathedral. On 24 June, 1S52, the cathedral chapter, consisting of a provost i.nd ten canons, was duly erected, to which three honorary canons have since been added. The first and third provosts, respec- tively, were Mgr. Weedall, D.D., and Dr. Northcote, both presidents of Oscott. The first diocesan synod was held 9 and 10 November, 1853, since which time there have been thirteen other synods (1853-1906). In 1873, owing to refusal to renew the lease, Sedgley Park School was transferred to St. Wilfrid's, Cotton, Staffordshire, formerly the residence of Father Faber and the Oratorian.s. In the October of the same year St. Bernard's Diocesan Seminary was opened at Olton, Warwickshire, of which the first rector was the Rev. Edward Ilsley, successively canon and bishop-aiLxiliary (December 4, 1879).

In July, 1887, Bishop UUathorne resigned, becom- ing Titular Archbishop of Cabasa. He retired to Oscott, where he died 21 Marcli, 1889. Two persons stand forth conspicuous in the history of the Birming- ham diocese whose relations with Bishop UUathorne were exceptionally close, Cardinal Newman and Mother Margaret Hallahan. The former lived and died at the oratory, Edgbaston, Birmingham, and the new basilica opened 9 October, 1906, will perpetu- ate his memory. Tlie latter was the foundress of the English Congregation of Nuns of the Third Order of St. Dominic, who have convents and hospitals at Stoke on Trent and Stone. The latter is the burying place both of Archbishop UUathorne and Mother Margaret. The large number of communities of women who have found a home in this diocese at- tracted by the personality of Bishop UUf.thorne in- clude Benedictines (2 abbeys, 3 priories), Poor Clares, Little Sisters of the Poor, Sisters of Mercy and of St. Paul — the latter introduced from Chartres by Mother Genevieve Dupuis. Another religious force, specially characteristic of the diocese, has been the annual reunions in the Town Hall, Birmingham, which, begun in 1855, have been presided over by eminent Catholics, and have tended to keep the clergy and laity in touch with one another. Mention, too, must be made of John Hardman of Birmingham, whose firm has done so much in promoting ecclesias- tical art, notably stained-glass and metal work, and whose benefactions to the cathedral choir have enabled it to reach a standard of excellence in church music which places it first among Catholic choirs. On 17 February, 1888, Dr. Ilsley became the second Bishop of Birmingham, and at once took in hand the difficult task of protecting and rescuing the destitute Catholic children of the diocese. St. Edward's Home for homeless boys was opened at Coleshill (Warwick- shire), 6 November, 1906, with branch houses for boys and girls, similarly situated, in various centres, besides a Home for Working Boys and a Night Refuge, both in Birmingham. In July, 1889, Oscott College was closed to lay students and reopened as a Central Seminary for ecclesiastics only. The progress of Catholicism since 18.50 is gauged by a comparison of a few statistics for the years 1851 and 1906, respec- tively: clergy, 124 and 297; churches, 82 and 189; religious communities, 19 and 97.

The Catholic Directory (1800-1907): Birminnham Catholic Calendar and Direciory (1900-07); .-Vmherst, lluitori/ of Catho- lic Emancipation (London. 1S86); Ui.lathohnk. Restoration of Hieiarchy (London. 1881 ); The Oacotian (.3d smen); Husen- aETH, Life o1 Milner (Dublin, 1862); Idem, Life of Mgr. Weedall ilMndon, 1860); Deane, Letters of Ahp. Ullathome (London.

1892); Autobiography of Abp. Ullathome (London. 1891;, Ullathorne. Paslorah (1850-88); Hdsenbeth, History of Sedgley Park School (London. 1856); Ward. Life and Times of Card. Wiseman (London. 1897): Barry, Newman (London, 1904); Idem, Sermon Preached at Requiem of Provost Northcote (1907); Devine, Life of Fr. Ignatius Spencer (London, 1866): Life of M. Margaret Hallahan (London, 1869); Life of M Fran- cis Raphael Deane. O.S.D. (London, 1895); History of St. Chad's Cathedral (Birmingham, 1904); Stapleton, History of Post-Reformation Missions in Oxfordshire (London, 1906); GiLLOw, History of St. Austin's, Stafford (London, s. d.); Idem, Bibl. Diet. Eng. Cath.; Memorials of Bp. Amherst (London. 1903); WlLLlNGTON. Catholicism in Leamington (1906); Norris, Baddesley Clinton (London, 1897); Chattawat. Salford Priors (1895); Ferrey. Memoirs of Augustus Welby Pugiv (London, 1861); lL.SLEy, Pastorals (1888-1907).

John Caswell.

Bimbaum, Heinrich (al-so known as De Piro. the latinized form of his German name), a pious and leamed Carthusian monk. b. in 1403; d. 19 February, 1473. Little is loiown of him before his entrance into the Carthusian monastery- at Cologne on 14 March, 1435, at the age of 32 years. On account of his edifying example in the observance of the rule and his extensive scriptural and theological learning he was highly esteemed by his confreres, and as early as 1438, only three years after his en- trance into the order, he became prior of the monas- tery of Mont Saint Andre at Tournai (Doomik) in Belgium. The desire for a reform of the religious orders, which animated many great men of the fil- teenth century, had also penetrated the soul of Bimbaum. Beinga true reformer, he .soon succeeilLvl. by the irresistible force of his own pious examiile, in abolishing the few abuses that had found admittance into the various monasteries over which he became prior, and in restoring the austere monastic discipline estabhslied by the founder St. Bruno. After holding the position of prior at Mont Saint Andr^ for eleven years, he was active in the same office successively at Wesel in Rhenish Prussia, until 1457; at Rettel iii Lorraine, until 1459; at Trier, until 1461; and at Diest in Belgium, until 1463. In 1463 he was appointed prior at Li^ge, but ill health forced him to resign this position and retire to the Carthusian monastery at Cologne, where he had spent the first days of his monastic life. The remaining ten years of his life Birnbaimi spent in writing several ascetic works and in preparing for a happy death. There were with him at that time in the Carthusian monastery of Cologne some of the most learned and saintly men of Germany, such as Hermann Appeldorn (d. 1472), Hermann Grefken (d. 1480), Heinrich von Dissen (d. 1484), and Wenier Rolewink (d. 1502). Birnbaum wrote for the instruction and direction of the members of his order a number of works, many of which, how- ever, have not yet been put in print, also: "Defensio pro Immaculato Conceptu B. M. V.", and "Excerpta ex nialo granato cum nonnullis conjunctis". He has often been confounded with his uncle of the same name, one of the most learned jurists of the fifteenth century, who was for some time provost of St. Kunibert's at Cologne, and who died in 1439. See "Le Grand Dictionnaire Historique" (Amsterdam, 1698), III, 138; also Jocher, "Gelehrten Lexicon", III, 1589.

Kessel in Kirchenlexikon, II, 862; Marx, Geschichte dec Erzatiftca Trier, II, ii, 331.

Michael Ott.

Birth, The Defect OF (Illegitimacy), a canonical impediment to ordination. When used in this con- nexion, the word illegilimale has, in canon law, a well-defined meaning, which is: " born out of lawful w^edlock". Illegitimate birth is an impediment to the reception of orders, and inhibits the exercise of the functions of orders already received. It is a canonical impediment, because established and laid down in the canon law as a hindrance to entering the clerical state. This prohibition does not touch the validity of orders, but makes the reception of them