WALSH, THOMAS. — Bishop, born in London in October 1777, died there on 18 February 1849. Having been left fatherless at an early age, his mother—which was Protestant—entrusted him to the Anglican College of St-Albans; but an uncle had him transferred to the Catholic one at St-Omer.
This measure made W. one of the champions of English Catholicism, because the young man embraced the ecclesiastical state and for half a century, from his ordination (1800), devoted himself entirely to the spread of Catholicism among his fellow countrymen. Secretary, beginning in 1801, of one of the apostolic vicariates into which England was then divided, specifically that of the Midland District, he carried out tireless missionary work for a full quarter of a century, with notable success. A true apostolic figure, he distinguished himself by his preaching and writings until he was consecrated titular bishop of Cambisopolis in 1825 and appointed coadjutor to the apostolic vicar, Mgr. Milner. The following year, upon Milner’s death, he in turn became vicar of the Midland, which he governed for fourteen years, associating his name with the construction of the cathedrals of Birmingham and Nottingham, St. Mary’s College, and numerous other churches and religious houses. In years when the progress of Catholicism was regarded as a threat to the national institutions, Mgr. W. allowed himself to be disheartened by none of the obstacles of every kind that opposed his activity, multiplying the number of conversions and preparing a numerous and learned clergy in the seminaries: to his glory belongs the fact that he foresaw the future greatness of Wiseman, whom he made his own
secretary and subsequently his most faithful coadjutor. In 1840, when his vicariate was divided into the two districts of the Centre and the East, he retained the former, from which he was transferred in 1848 to govern that of London. Meanwhile, the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in the United Kingdom was being prepared, and W.’s transfer to London foreshadowed his appointment as head of the reborn Church of England when death overtook him; but Pius IX, in making Wiseman archbishop of Westminster and a cardinal, expressly declared that in him he was also honoring his great teacher.