Roger Vaughan

Roger William Bede Vaughan O.S.B. (9 January 1834 – 18 August 1883) was an English Benedictine monk of Downside Abbey and the second Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Australia, from 1877 to 1883.

Life and career

Early life Vaughan was born near Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, in 1834, one of 14 children. His father, lieutenant John Francis Vaughan, belonged to one of the oldest recusant families of Welsh descent in England. His mother was Louisa Elizabeth Rolls, a convert to Roman Catholicism. His brother was Cardinal Herbert Vaughan. Most of his siblings entered church ministry.

Vaughan was probably afflicted with congenital heart disease. At age seven he was sent briefly to a local school, but his mother worried over his health and he was educated at home in a religious atmosphere. In September 1851 he was sent to the Benedictine order's St Gregory's College at Downside, Somerset. His mother's death in 1853 prompted serious thoughts of a religious vocation and on 12 September 1853 he took the Benedictine habit and the religious name "Bede".

In 1855, at his father's request and expense, Vaughan was sent to Rome for further study under the guidance of the Italian scholar and reformer Angelo Zelli-Jacobuzzi. When the future Edward VII visited Rome, the young monk served as his cicerone.

In 1876, he came into conflict with the Freemasons in connection with an address delivered on 9 October titled "Hidden Springs" which accused the Freemasons of a conspiracy to subvert religion and take over the education system.

Archbishop of Sydney Vaughan urged Catholics to work against a 1880 education law passed by Henry Parkes. His remains were translated to Belmont in 1887 and reburied in the crypt of St Mary's Cathedral in August 1946. Vaughan left the residue of his estate, valued for probate at £61,828, to his successor.