Oswald Baker

Oswald Baker (born May 1, 1915 in Clowne , Derbyshire , † July 2, 2004 in Downham Market , Norfolk ) was a Roman Catholic priest and a leading figure of Catholic sedevacantism in England .

Life

As a student, Oswald Baker attended the Jesuit-run Campion House , Isleworth , Middlesex (England). He had to stop studying theology in France in 1938 because of too brash criticism of the Versailles Peace Treaty . Jesuits and Dominicans declined his request to join their order . After completing his training at the Birmingham Archdiocese Seminary , Baker was ordained a priest in 1942 . After a few years as a chaplain , he was appointed pastor at St Dominic's in Downham Market, Norfolk, in 1949.

His refusal to attend Holy Mass according to the Roman Missal of Pope Paul VI. celebrating attracted public attention in 1975. Although elderly priests were usually allowed to continue to use the liturgical books from the time before the Second Vatican Council , the church authorities turned against it in this case because the Catholic population in a rural area had no opportunity to worship in the ordinary form of the celebrate roman rite . After Baker stuck to his refusal, he was relieved of his duties as a pastor, but retained right of residence in the pastorate. With the help of wealthy patrons, he bought a house in the city and set up the "St. Pius V Chapel" for his services.

Baker welcomed the activity of the Society of St. Pius X. in England, but fell out with it by calling Popes Paul VI. and accused John Paul II of heresy and therefore declared that they had lost their office. Over the years, the number of participants in his church services fell to around 20. Mel Gibson , the son of the American sedevacantist Hutton Gibson (* 1918), often joined them when he was in England .

Web links

• Baker obituary in the Daily Telegraph (English)