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Dubious election as bishop

[edit]

In 1947, Henry Brandreth wrote, in Episcopi vagantes and the Anglican Church, that Ferrette claimed to have been consecrated by "Bedros, Bishop of Emesa (Homs) of the Syrian Antiochene Church and later Patriarch of Antioch under the title of Ignatius Peter III." Yet, Brandreth explained that, "Ferrete produced no evidence of this consecration beyond a printed document which purported to be a translation of his certificate of consecration, at the bottom of which the name of the British Consul at Damascus is printed in testimony."[1] The attestation only certified that Ferrette's consecrator Julius was "resident in Homs" and had "entirely written by his hand and sealed by himself with his episcopal seal" the certificate of consecration.[2] Edward Bouverie Pusey, a leader of the Oxford Movement, believed that it was "a prima facie improbability that he was consecrated."[1] At least one ritualist claimed in 1866 that Ferrette was recognized as a bishop by the Catholic Church.[3] In 1866, some High Church clergy who appeared at first to be favourable to Ferrette's claims had, by January 1867, indicated that they viewed him with at least considerable suspicion and an angry correspondence had taken place about the validity of his consecration.[4] Peter Anson noted, in Bishops at large, that the version Anson wrote about in 1964 was "[a]ccording to a fascinating story, which was told nearly eighty years later, for which no documentary evidence has been produced so far as is known."[5] Anson cited The man from Antioch by Hugh George de Willmott Newman as his source for that story.[6] "No proof of his consecration has ever emerged, the only evidence being a printed document which he claimed was a translation of his certificate of consecration," according to Joanne Pearson, in Wicca and the Christian Heritage.[7]

According to the Pall Mall Gazette in 1866, George Williams, who had been in Syria, stated that "Julius who is Peter the Humble is not Peter the Humble, nor anybody else, nor anybody at all, for he has no existence in Homs."[8] Other readers questioned the details about Ferrette's consecration.[9] Ferrette responded to the Pall Mall Gazette article with a letter to its editor. The Pall Mall Gazette commented that Ferrette's response letter was "utterly frivolous and vexatious" and that it was

without the slightest reference to the details of the criticism of which he complains, or [...] whether he quotes them correctly [...] The only translation of the consecratory letter [... was] communicated by [...] Ferrette [...] to the Guardian, which is [...] identical with the one [...] sent us, [...] The remarks appended to it by the Museum Orientalists, [...] relate to typography alone, [...] The account [...] of the attestation [...] is [...] the same as [...] we gave ourselves. [...] Ferrette, [...] with a reference to the original, never vouchsafed [...] to see what we really did say. [...] we shall not reproduce this absurd document, [...] which [...] Ferrette says a British consul is [...] witness without being licensed to read.[10]

According to The Christian Remembrancer, "We cannot deal more fairly [...] than by taking [...] his own estimate [...] given [...] in a letter [...] published in the Church Times.[11][12]

The Christian Remembrancer reported in 1867 that Ferrette

[...] has received, under unexplained and obviously irregular, if not clandestine, circumstances, the single imposition of hands of an ill-identified Bishop in Syria, who, by a process of reduction, must, [...] be a bishop of [...] the Jacobites. [...] Ferrette [...] acknowledges as much in his letter, clouded [...] by [...] incomprehensible words and unproven assertions. [...] Syrians tell us in the newspapers, one of their regulations is that a 'Syrian' or Jacobite bishop must be elected by three-fourths of the male inhabitants of his diocese, and then consecrated by the patriarch and two bishops. It is certain that three-fourths of the male inhabitants of [...] the county of Argyll, Iona, did not elect [...] Ferrette to be their bishop, never having heard of him; and it is nearly as certain that Iona is equally unknown to the 'Syrian' episcopate; while in the third place, there is an absence of proof, and even of assertion amounting to proof [...] that 'Peter the Humble' was not the Jacobite patriarch whose residence is Mardin in the province of Diarbeker, [...] while, as [...] Ferrette [...] proclaims, his was a single-handed consecration. Finally, it is indisputable that at Homs [...] there is no resident Jacobite bishop at all, [...] the nearest see of that sect being that of the village of Kuryetein, [...] about [...] sixty miles, from Homs,—of which, by the way, the diocesan is credibly reported to have been in Rome some few years since, and to have engaged for a consideration to conform with his flock to the Papal Supremacy.[11]

The Christian Remembrancer also commented that

Ferrette's statement, [...] is nothing materially impossible, [...] and we assume that some Jacobite prelate, [...] was induced to go to Homs, and [...] to violate the canons of his church by a consecration, single-handed and clandestine, of [...] Ferrette to a see in the remote Hebrides, [...] prompted and enlightened [...] by the urgency and instructions of [... Ferrette]. Such—to take the touchstone of what he is, and not what he was, either as Romanist, Presbyterian, or assistant in London to Mr. Marchmont, the dissenting sham clergyman—is the Bishop of Iona, who is thrust upon us by the creme de la creme of ritualists, as a chosen instrument in the restoration of Western Christendom to the purity of catholic faith and practice.[11]

By January of 1867, Ferrette was staying at a Church of England vicarage and he openly criticized for his activities in letters to newspapers.[13] There were claims that Ferrette and Ferrette's consecrator were each single member churches, in other words, they had no congregations.[13] His "pretensions" and offers to consecrate others were discussed in Anglican newspapers.[14] Some questioned whether some details about his consecration may have violated the Ecclesiastical Titles Act 1851.[15] In 1867, his mission was considered a failure and he left Great Britain for the United States.[16] Ferrette was ephemeral, and by 1869, it seemed that "the Bishop of Iona" no longer existed.[17]

  • Was Ferrette elected?
  • Who elected Ferrette?
  • Was there a "resident Jacobite bishop" in Homs?
  • Is there a different translation of "'Julius, Metropolitan of the World, who is Peter the Humble'"?
  • Was Ferrette's consecrator an impostor who pretended to be somebody else?
  • Who was "Mr. Marchmont, the dissenting sham clergyman" that Ferrette assisted?
  • When was the time frame? What did Ferrette and Marchmont collaborate in?
  • What was Ferrette's relationship to the "ritualists"? Who were these "ritualists"?
  • Did Ferrette travel to the United States because of a potential violation of the Ecclesiastical Titles Act 1851?
  • Did Ferrette return to Great Britain because the Ecclesiastical Titles Act 1851 was repealed by the Ecclesiastical Titles Act 1871?

I think a scholarly source about the who was at Homs in 1866 is a start to verify some of the claims above. Unfortunately, I think that kind of source will not be in English.

References

  1. ^ a b Brandreth, Henry R. T (1987) [First published in 1947]. Episcopi vagantes and the Anglican Church. San Bernardino, CA: Borgo Press. p. 45. ISBN 0893705586. OCLC 17258289. Ferrette here is spelled Ferrete.
  2. ^ " 'Bishop Julius of Iona' and his 'great swelling words' ". Belfast News-Letter. No. 33, 540. Belfast. 1866-11-27. p. 4. Retrieved 2014-12-27 – via British Newspaper Archive. I [...] certify that the Most Rev. Julius, Archbishop Oecumenic of the Orthodox Syrians and Metropolitan of Syria, resident in Homs (Emesa), has appeared before me and declared to me that the above document, dated on the 2nd day of June, 1866 (old style), was entirely written by his hand and sealed by himself with his episcopal seal. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "Miscellaneous". Leeds Mercury. Vol. 109, no. 8941. Leeds. The Times. 1866-12-08. p. 9. Retrieved 2014-12-27 – via British Newspaper Archive. They have added to the list the name of that extraordinary specimen of Episcopacy, the Bishop of Iona, as Bishop of the Orthodox Western Church. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Public Domain One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: "A soi disant Bishop of Iona". Evangelical Christendom. n.s. 8 (1). London: Evangelical Alliance: 40. Jan 1867. {{cite journal}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
  5. ^ Anson, Peter F (2006) [©1964]. Bishops at large. Independent Catholic Heritage series (1st Apocryphile ed.). Berkeley: Apocryphile Press. ISBN 0-9771461-8-9.
  6. ^ Mar Georgius (religious name of Hugh G. de Willmott Newman) (1958). The man from Antioch : being an account of Mar Julius, bishop of Iona, and of his successors, the British patriarchs, from 1866 to 1944. Glastonbury: [n.p.]
  7. ^ Pearson, Joanne (2007). Wicca and the Christian heritage: ritual, sex and magic. London; New York: Routledge. p. 34. ISBN 0-203-96198-6.
  8. ^ "Bishop Julius of Iona". Pall Mall Gazette. Vol. 4, no. 575. London. 1866-12-12. pp. 9–10. Retrieved 2014-12-27 – via British Newspaper Archive. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ A. (anonymous) (1866-12-15). "[letter]". Pall Mall Gazette. Vol. 4, no. 581. London (published 1866-12-19). p. 3. Retrieved 2014-12-27 – via British Newspaper Archive. Have the people of Iona, being members of the Jacobite Church, sent there names to the patriarch (not to a bishop) of the Jacobites, asking him to consecrate M. Ferrette a bishop over them? For that is, after all, the question with us, the people of Syria. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ Julius, Bishop of Iona (religious name of Jules Ferrette) (1866-12-14). "[letter]". Pall Mall Gazette. Vol. 4, no. 580. London (published 1866-12-18). p. 3. Retrieved 2014-12-27 – via British Newspaper Archive. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ a b c Public Domain One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: "The York congress and the church in 1866". The Christian Remembrancer. 53 (135). London: John and Charles Mozley: 249–250. 1867. OCLC 608691184.
  12. ^ Julius, Bishop of Iona (religious name of Jules Ferrette) (1866-12-17). "[letter]". Church Times. London (published 1866-12-22).
  13. ^ a b MacColl, Malcolm (1867-01-05). "The last of 'Julius, bishop of Iona' ". Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle. Vol. 67, no. 3588. Portsmouth. Guardian. p. 4. Retrieved 2014-12-27 – via British Newspaper Archive. Now for the 'Metropolitan of the World, who is Peter the Humble'. He held office—that of Bishop, I believe—in the Syrian Jacobite Church. He ceased to belong to that Church some years ago, and made a journey to Paris, where, and also among the Europeans in Syria, he collected a good deal of money for the 'United Syrian Church' of which he is 'Metropolitan'. His labour, however, cannot be very arduous, for the 'United Syrian Church' consists precisely one member, and that member is 'Peter the Humble'; just as the 'Orthodox Western Church', which is presided over by the 'Bishop of Iona', consists also of a single member—M. Ferrette. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ Public Domain One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: "Summary of news". South Australian Register. Vol. 31, no. 6325. Adelaide, SA. 1867-02-11. p. 2. The pretensions of M. Ferette to be Bishop of Iona, and his offer to consecrate other Bishops are warmly discussed in some of the Church papers.
  15. ^ Public Domain One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: "The latest novelty in episcopal matters". Empire. No. 4776. Sydney, NSW. Watchman. 1867-02-25. pp. 2–3. [...] we see it disputed whether there exists at that city such a person as 'Julius, Archbishop Oecumenie of the Orthodox Syrians', and 'Metropolitan of tho World', who is also 'Peter the Humble'. But then it is distinctly alleged that we are to have immediately a photograph of him, certified to be genuine by her Majesty's Consul at Damascus, who, it is likewise said, guarantees the consecration of this now episcopal phenomenon, tho Bishop of Iona. Should that prove true, it will go near to be thought that Mr. Consul Rogers has violated tho spirit and intent of the Ecclesiastical Titles Act, if indeed that measure has not become a dead letter long ago.
  16. ^ Public Domain One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: "Summary of news". South Australian Register. Vol. 31, no. 6400. Adelaide, SA. 1867-05-10. p. 2. The so-called Bishop of Iona is going to America, his mission in England having failed.
  17. ^ "Latest Old Bailey trials". Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper. No. 1, 381. London. 1869-05-09. p. 7. OCLC 266997134. Retrieved 2014-12-27 – via British Newspaper Archive. He said that he had been admitted into Holy Orders by the Bishop of Iona, but no such bishop existed; and undoubtably he [Henry Brook] had deceived a number of clergymen, and had induced them to give him possession of their pulpits. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)

—BoBoMisiu (talk) 23:55, 28 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

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