Richard Downey

Richard Downey (5 May 1881 – 16 June 1953) was an English prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Liverpool from 1928 until his death.

Life Born in Kilkenny, he was ordained to the priesthood on 25 May 1907. He was Professor of Philosophy at Sacred Heart College, Hammersmith, and then Professor of Dogmatic Theology at Upholland College, where he was also Vice-Rector. On 3 August 1928, Downey was appointed Archbishop of Liverpool by Pope Pius XI, succeeding the late Frederick William Keating. He received his Episcopal consecration on the following 21 September from Cardinal Francis Bourne, with Bishops Robert Dobson and Francis Vaughan serving as co-consecrators.

Downey's tenure saw the construction and dedication of the crypt of Liverpool Cathedral, built to a design by Sir Edwin Lutyens, although the Cathedral itself was never completed as he had envisaged. A picture of Lutyens proposed cathedral was printed on postcards sold to raise funds.

In 1929, before the actual construction began, he stated, "Hitherto all cathedrals have been dedicated to saints. I hope this one will be dedicated to Christ himself with a great figure surmounted on the cathedral, visible for many a mile out at sea". The Archbishop also declared that while the cathedral would not be medieval and Gothic, neither would it be as modern as the works of Jacob Epstein, a statement somewhat at odds with the design that was finally realised after his death.

He died at age 72, having served as Liverpool's archbishop for twenty-four years.

Publications Some Errors of H. G. Wells: A Catholic's Criticism of the "Outline of History" (1921) Divine Providence (1928) The Blessed Trinity (1930) Pulpit and Platform Addresses (1933) Critical and Constructive Essays (1934)