Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District
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The Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District was the title given to the Bishop who headed an ecclesiastical jurisdiction, of the Catholic Church in England, the Vicariate Apostolic of the Midland District, from 1688 to 1850.
Within a short space of time after the accession of Elizabeth I those Catholic Bishops who had not died were deposed and replaced in their sees by Protestant appointees. Most of the deposed Bishops were imprisoned in various locations and died in captivity over a period of years. The last to die was Thomas Goldwell, Bishop of St Asaph, in Rome on April 3, 1585. In 1623 after 65 years the Pope, Urban VIII decided once again to appoint a Catholic Bishop with actual jurisdiction in England.
So it was that Dr William Bishop, was given the title of Vicar Apostolic of England. He died shortly afterwards and was succeeded by Dr Richard Smith, who in August 1631 forced to resign and flee to France. The office was revived 54 years later with the appointment in 1685 of another bishop in the person of Dr John Leyburn.
The first Vicar Apostolic, Dr Bishop had in 1623 divided the country into six areas, at the head of each of which he placed a superior with the title of vicar general and this had remained the system thereafter. Dr Leyburn then reduced these to four. It was on the basis of these four areas that in the heady days of early 1688 the number of bishops in England was multiplied by the Pope on January 20 to a total of four Vicars Apostolic and the territory of the former single Vicariate Apostolic was restricted, being centred still on London, with the title Vicariate Apostolic of the London District. So it was that a Vicariate Apostolic of the Midland District was created. The first Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District from January 30, 1688 was Bishop Bonaventure Giffard, who in 1703 became Vicar Apostolic of the London District.
Notwithstanding intermittent persecution, a Vicariate Apostolic of the Midland District continued in existence until in 1840 the existing Vicariates were further divided. With this it was renamed and its head took the title Vicar Apostolic of the Central District. This new jurisdiction was to last only ten years, until on 29 September 1850 Pope Pius IX issued the Bull Universalis Ecclesiae, by which thirteen new dioceses were created, among them the diocese of Birmingham, which replaced formally the previous Vicariate.
The last Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District was Bishop Thomas Walsh, who from 1840 till 1847 had the title Vicar Apostolic of the Central District. In this latter office he was succeeded by the Benedictine William Bernard Ullathorne. It was as such that on September 29 1850 Ullathorne received the title of Bishop of Birmingham. On 28 October 1911 a new ecclesiastical province was created dependent on Birmingham and the title became that of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Birmingham.
List of the Vicars Apostolic of the Midland District
| Tenure | Incumbent | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 25 November 1687 to 14 March 1703 | Bishop Bonaventure Giffard, Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District | Confirmed 28 January 1688; appointed Vicar Apostolic of London District |
| 12 August 1702 to 6 April 1716 | Bishop George Witham, Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District | Appointed Vicar Apostolic of Northern District |
| 18 September 1715 to 29 March 1756 | Bishop John Talbot Stonor, Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District | Priest; died in office |
| 29 March 1756 to 26 December 1778 | Bishop John Joseph Hornyold, Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District | Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of Midland District; died in office |
| 26 December 1778 to 24 April 1795 | Bishop Thomas Joseph Talbot, Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District | Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of Midland District; died in office |
| 24 April 1795 to 8 June 1798 | Bishop Charles Berington, Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District | Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of Midland District; died in office |
| 7 November 1800 to 23 May 1802 | Bishop Gregory Stapleton, Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District | Died in office |
| 6 March 1803 to 19 April 1826 | Bishop John Milner, Vicar Apostolic of Midland District | Priest; died in office |
| 19 April 1826 to 29 August 1847 | Bishop Thomas Walsh, Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District | Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of Midland District; appointed Vicar Apostolic of Central District |
| 22 May 1840 to 29 August 1847 | Bishop Nicholas Patrick Stephen Wiseman, Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District | priest; appointed Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of Central District |
List of the Vicars Apostolic of the Central District
| Tenure | Incumbent | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 29 August 1847 to 17 July 1848 | Bishop Thomas Walsh, Vicar Apostolic of the Central District | Vicar Apostolic of Midland District; appointed Vicar Apostolic of London District |
| 29 August 1847 to 17 July 1848 | Bishop Nicholas Patrick Stephen Wiseman, Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of the Central District | Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of Midland District; appointed Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of London District |
| 28 July 1848 to 29 September 1850 | Bishop William Bernard Ullathorne, OSB, Vicar Apostolic of the Central District | Vicar Apostolic of the Western District; becoming Bishop of Birmingham |
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