Remembering Monsignor Hugh Benson: the Catholic priest son of the Archbishop of Canterbury

CoenobiumNov 20

Catholic priest - son of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Monsignor Hugh Benson’s birthday (18 November 1871) inspires a reflection on his life, shaped this year by the publication of the long-awaited Benson Diary (Volumes I–II, 2025), the vast journals of his brother Arthur Christopher (AC) Benson. Edited by Eamon Duffy and Ronald Hyam, these volumes present around one-twelfth of AC’s enormous 180-volume diary (nearly five million words), widely praised as a major contribution to English diaristic literature.
AC Benson — Eton housemaster, Master of Magdalen College, prolific writer, and author of the lyrics to “Land of Hope and Glory” — recorded an extraordinary picture of late-Victorian and Edwardian intellectual life. The new edition has been lauded by reviewers, though with one dissent from Sir Vernon Bogdanor, who considers the diaries excessive in their scholarly treatment and little more than refined gossip.
The Benson family itself was remarkable. Hugh was the youngest child …

thecatholicherald.com
Remembering Monsignor Hugh Benson: the Catholic priest son of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Monsignor Hugh Benson’s birthday on 18 November 1871 prompts a reflection on his life. This year, that reflection is shaped especially by the June publication of the extraordinary diary of his eldest surviving and closest brother, Arthur Christopher (AC), released to mark the centenary of Arthur’s death.
First and briefly, the diary:
The Bensons were, even by Victorian standards, an astonishing family. With some justification, Simon Goldhill wrote a group biography with the title
Minnie produced Martin in August 1860, Arthur in April 1862, Nellie (Mary Eleanor) in October 1863, Maggie (Margaret) in June 1865, Fred (Edward Frederic) in July 1867 and, finally, Hugh in November 1871. As the youngest, Hugh was, as his biographer, the celebrated C. C. Martindale SJ, put it, “hopelessly spoiled and indulged as a child.”
When Hugh was born, EW was headmaster of Wellington College — its first. The following year he was appointed chancellor of Lincoln Cathedral and, five years later, became …

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Carlus shares this

Nov 20

Eine wunderbare Schilderung über das Leben von diesem Priester.

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