James Ingall Wedgwood

James Ingall Wedgwood (born May 24, 1883 in London , England - † March 13, 1951 in Farnham , Surrey , England) was an English priest of the Old Catholic Church of England, founder and first Archbishop of the Liberal Catholic Church , Freemason , and Rosicrucian theosophist .

Life

Childhood and youth

Wedgwood was born on May 24, 1883 in London as the second of four children of Alfred Allen Wedgwood (1842-1892) and Margaret Rosena Ingall (1854 / 55-1922). As the owners of the Wedgwood Porcelain Manufactory , the family was very wealthy and respected. Through his mother and grandfather, who had esoteric interests, he came into contact with spiritualism and theosophy at an early age . From 1888 he attended a boarding school. During the regular church visits that took place in this context, he discovered his interest in church rites and felt the psychological effects of music , especially organ music , on his own body . As a result, the idea of ​​embarking on a church career matured in him, but the negative attitude of his family brought him back again. Instead, he took music courses at the boarding school and learned to play the organ, including building organs. After completing boarding school, he studied analytical chemistry at Nottingham University , graduating with a Bachelor of Science in the early 1900s , but then turned to the clerical field. The Sorbonne later awarded him an honorary doctorate for a work in musicology . Wedgwood never married.

Freemasons

As early as 1899, Wedgwood was 16 years old, he was admitted to a Masonic lodge according to the Memphis Misraïm rite , in 1915 he introduced Charles Webster Leadbeater to this order. At the end of the 1920s he co-founded an "independent, non-Masonic organization" in Adyar called the Sovereign Sanctuary of the Egyptian Rite of the Ancient Mysteries . In this were u. a. the Theosophists Leadbeater, Besant, George Arundale , Rukmini Devi Arundale and Curuppumullage Jinarajadasa members. For Le Droit Humain and the Ordre Martiniste ( Martinism ) at least he had a close relationship.

Theosophist and Rosicrucian

After a lecture by Annie Besant in 1904, he was so impressed by theosophy that 3 days later he became a member of the Adyar Theosophical Society . This resulted in his expulsion from the Church of England for which he had recently worked. So he devoted himself all the more eagerly to theosophy and from 1911 to 1913 he was the general secretary of the English section. In 1912, together with Marie Russak and Annie Besant , he founded the theosophical Order of the Temple of the Rosy Cross in London . A Rosicrucian order that leaned heavily on the teachings of theosophy, but wanted to go its own way.

Priest and Bishop of the Old Catholic Church

In the early 1900s, after finishing his chemistry studies, Wedgwood went to York and joined the Church of England there, in order to later become a priest of the same. Even before that happened, he was expelled from the church in 1904 because of his membership in a Theosophical Society (TG), so his church career was over for the time being. In 1913 he read an article in a London newspaper signed by Arnold Harris Mathew , bishop of the Old Catholic Church in England. Curious, Wedgwood contacted the bishop by letter, the correspondence developed extremely positively and finally Wedgwood's wish to pursue a church career was also discussed. Bishop Mathew signaled his approval, membership in a TG also played no role for him or the Old Catholic Church, and shortly afterwards his promise was realized. Only a few months after the first meeting, Wedgwood was baptized again by Bishop Mathew Sub conditione , then confirmed again , then given minor ordinations , ordained a subdeacon and deacon, and on July 22, 1913 a priest . In the following years, however, he did not devote himself to the old Catholic church affairs, but was still mainly occupied with theosophy and Freemasonry.

When he sought to become a bishop himself around 1915/16, this initially ran into difficulties, as Bishop Mathew had meanwhile declared the Old Catholic Church in England to be dissolved because he viewed the theosophical influence in it as undesirable. A way out was found in Bishop Frederick Samuel Willoughby , who had already been consecrated bishop by Mathew on October 28, 1914 , but was excluded from the Old Catholic Church on August 6, 1915. After Willoughby first made Robert King and Rupert Gauntlett bishops to support him, the three consecrated Wedgwood on February 13, 1916. He stood in the Apostolic Succession as the 257th Bishop after the Apostles . It was precisely at this time that Mathew reestablished his Old Catholic Church, but some theosophical priests and lay people stayed away and now joined Bishop Wedgwood, and the Liberal Catholic Church emerged . Shortly afterwards he left for Australia to consecrate Charles Webster Leadbeater as Bishop of Australasia on July 22, 1916 .

Bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church

As early as 1915, after Wedgwood's ordination, he and Leadbeater had philosophized about the power of church rites and now, at another meeting in Sydney in July 1916 , they began to put their ideas into practice. For the time being, Wedgwood, in his capacity as bishop, thought of bringing about a reorganized form of the Old Catholic Church in which theosophists were also welcome, because Bishop Arnold Harris Mathew had temporarily dissolved his church because of their affiliation. Together with Leadbeater he developed a completely new form of the liturgy which was published by Leadbeater on April 6, 1917. In the meantime, Wedgwood had embarked on a promotional trip around the world for its reorganized form of the Old Catholic Church since the end of 1916. In the USA, however, the first difficulties arose in 1917, since only a few years earlier other bishops, also consecrated by Arnold Harris Mathew, had founded several Old Catholic Churches. Wedgwood tried to persuade them to act together, but the talks failed. At a synod on September 6, 1918 in London, the present priests and bishops, including Wedgwood agreed as Presiding Bishop, to a new name for their reorganized old catholic church and finally called this The Liberal Catholic Church = Liberal Catholic Church (LKK). In the years that followed, Wedgwood traveled extensively, consecrating numerous priests and bishops, and opening many centers for the fast-growing LCC.

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In 1922 he was suspected by TH Martyn , a member of the TG in Australia, of having a relationship with his wife. The story got in the press, got blown, and all of it shattered Wedgwood's health. He then resigned as Senior Bishop of the LCC and Leadbeater was his successor. In mid-1924 he had recovered enough to be able to return to work for the LKK, he moved to Huizen in the Netherlands, where a LKK chapel was inaugurated on September 29, 1924, where he set up a training camp for LKK clergy . In 1926 he was appointed bishop representative for Europe. Around 1929 he moved to Camberley in Surrey , England , from March 1931 he became seriously ill, so that he practically only worked as an author from home and wrote letters for the LKK.

Works

• A comprehensive dictionary of organ stops, English and foreign, ancient and modern, practical, theoretical, historical, aesthetic, etymological, phonetic. The Vincent music company, London 1905, online as PDF (24 MB) .

Web links

• Biography (English)
• The beginnings of the Liberal Catholic Church, from the perspective of Wedgwood (English)
• History of the Liberal Catholic Church with a picture Wedgwood (English)