WESTMINSTER, ARCHDIOCESE OF
Archdiocese with its seat in London, England, erected in 1850. It comprises the counties of London north of the Thames, Middlesex, and Hertfordshire.
It has an area of 221,284 square miles with a population of 4,500,000, of whom 345,000 are Catholics, distributed in 164 parishes served by 435 diocesan priests and 311 regular clergy; the Seminary of St. Edmund is at Old Hall Green near Ware. There are 60 male and 167 female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 453); in 1951 there were 1,235 conversions. It succeeded the Apostolic Vicariate of the London District. Since 1943 the archbishop has been Cardinal Bernard Griffin (created cardinal in 1946), whose predecessors were Nicholas Wiseman (1850–65), Henry Manning (1865–92), Herbert Vaughan (1892–1903), Francis Bourne (1903–35), and Arthur Hinsley (1935–43), all cardinals. The present archbishop is assisted by his coadjutor, Archbishop Edward Myers of Beroea, and by Auxiliary Bishop George Craven.
From 1850 until 1917 Westminster included the county of Essex, which then became the Diocese of Brentwood. Its suffragan dioceses are Brentwood, Northampton, Nottingham, Portsmouth, and Southwark.
Wiseman (v.) founded many churches and schools and introduced popular devotions; his distinguished successor, Cardinal H. E. Manning (v.), continued this progress. VAUGHAN, HERBERT (v.) built the magnificent cathedral of Westminster and founded the Crusade of Rescue against new proselytizing attacks. BOURNE, FRANCIS (v.) was able in 1910 to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the English hierarchy (1850–1910); Cardinal A. Hinsley strengthened the courage of the faithful and of the nation during the Second World War and became a typical figure of England. He promoted parochial and diocesan missions: St. Mary’s (Chelsea), St. Ignatius at Stamford Hill, The Holy Rood at Watford, the Brompton Road Oratory (Oratorians), and St. Joseph’s, Highgate (Passionists). The cathedral of Westminster (1895–1903) is an eminent architectural work.
Enrico E. G. Rope
WESTMINSTER ABBEY
Situated north of the Thames, the first mention of it appears in a document of King Offa dated 785, in which the monastery is so named to distinguish it from that of St. Paul’s situated to the east. A legend, probably arising in the 13th century, attributed its origin to the Saxon king Sebert, who is said to have dedicated it to St. Peter. After the primitive buildings were demolished, King Edward the Confessor began the reconstruction of the choir and transept in 1055; the consecration took place in 1065. The nave was executed between 1110 and 1163; the Lady Chapel was consecrated in 1220. In 1245 King Henry III began a new building; the choir and transept were completed in 1258, but a fire also devastated the monastery, which was partly rebuilt at the time of Abbot Litlyngton between 1362 and 1386, together with part of the nave. In 1502 King Henry VII began the Lady Chapel; the nave was completed in 1517; it is a model of English Gothic. In 1540 the abbey became the seat of the Protestant Church.
Inside are some tombs executed by Roman marble-workers, namely that of the daughter of Henry III between the chapels of St. Edmund and St. Benedict; in the ambulatory of the abbey is the monument of Henry III (d. 1273); in the chapel of St. Edward is the shrine of Edward the Confessor, a work of the marble-worker Peter, brought from Rome to England by Abbot Ware in 1258. Around it the pavement is in opus alexandrinum, executed by a magister Odericus. The abbots of Westminster Abbey belonged by right to the Lords; among them are remembered Crispin Gilbert (c. 1084–1117); Richard Ware (1258–84): of his time is the *Consuetudinarium* (ed. E. M. Thompson, London 1904); Simon of Langham (1349–62), later Bishop of Ely, then Archbishop of Canterbury, and finally Bishop of Palestrina (d. 1376). The monastery was suppressed in 1539 and the monks dispersed.