Arnold Mathew

Arnold Harris Mathew
Mathew's episcopal consecration
Successor	Rudolph de Landas Berghes, Bernard Mary Williams
Orders
Ordination	24 June 1877
Consecration	28 April 1908 by Gerardus Gul
Personal details
Birth name	Arnold Harris Ochterlony Matthews
Born	(1852-08-07)7 August 1852 Montpellier, Hérault, France
Died	19 December 1919(1919-12-19) (aged 67) South Mimms, Hertfordshire, England
Buried	South Mimms, Hertfordshire, England
Nationality	British
Denomination	Old Roman Catholic, Anglican and Roman Catholic
Spouse	Margaret Florence Duncan (1892–?, separated 1910)
Children	daughter (born 1895) son (born 1900) daughter (born 1907)
Coat of arms

Arnold Harris Mathew, self-styled de jure 4th Earl Landaff of Thomastown (7 August 1852 – 19 December 1919), was the founder and first bishop of the Old Catholic Church in the United Kingdom and a noted author on ecclesiastical subjects.

Mathew had been both a Roman Catholic and an Anglican before becoming a bishop in the Union of Utrecht (UU). His early life is the subject of some interest from researchers as a result of his aristocratic connections and his father's connection with colonial India.

Mathew was a relative of Theobald Mathew, the noted "Apostle of Temperance". Born in France in 1852 to British parents, Mathew was baptised in the Roman Catholic Church. At age two, due to his mother's scruples, he was rebaptised in the Church of England. Mathew "went on oscillating between Rome and Canterbury for the rest of his life." He studied for the ministry in the Scottish Episcopal Church, but sought reconciliation and confirmation in the Church of Rome.

As a Roman Catholic, Mathew was ordained a priest in 1877 in St Andrew's Cathedral, Glasgow, Scotland, by Archbishop Charles Eyre, apostolic administrator of the Vicariate Apostolic of the Western District. Mathew received a Doctor of Divinity degree from Pope Pius IX. He became a Dominican in 1878 but only persevered a year, moving around a number of dioceses: Newcastle, Plymouth, Nottingham and Clifton. He had met Hyacinthe Loyson in France, while Mathew was, c. 1888 – c. 1889, a missionary-rector in Bath where he apostatized in 1889 and sent an announcement to his congregation that having ceased to believe in the fundamental doctrines of the Christianity he could no longer act as a priest. He lost faith in the inspiration of Scripture and in the divinity of Christ. After leaving Bath, he went to Paris to consult with people there. Later in 1891 he was persuaded to "trial" the Anglican ministry and went to assist the rector of Holy Trinity, Sloane Street, London. He was never officially received into the Church of England, neither did he formally leave the Roman Catholic Church.