Francis Aidan Gasquet
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Cardinal Francis Aidan Gasquet, OSB |
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|---|---|
| Vatican Librarian and Archivist of the Holy Roman Church | |
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| Orders | |
| Ordination | 19 December 1874 (Priest) |
| Created Cardinal | Cardinal deacon 25 May 1914; elevated to Cardinal priest 18 December 1924 |
| Rank | Cardinal deacon of San Giorgio in Velabro (1914–1915); Cardinal deacon, later Cardinal priest, of Santa Maria in Portico (1915–1929) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 October 1846 Somers Town, London, England |
| Died | 5 April 1929 (aged 82) Palazzo San Callisto, Rome, Italy |
| Buried | Downside Abbey, Stratton-on-the-Fosse, Somerset, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic Church |
| Parents | Raymon Gasquet and Mary Apollonia Gasquet (née Kay) |
Francis Aidan Gasquet, O.S.B. (5 October 1846 – 5 April 1929 in Rome) was an English Benedictine monk and historical scholar. He was created Cardinal in 1914.
Educated at Downside School, he entered the Benedictines in 1865 at Belmont Priory. He moved to Downside Abbey where he was professed and, on 19 December 1871, ordained a priest. From 1878 to 1885 he was prior of Downside Abbey, resigning because of ill health.
Upon his recovery he became a member of the Pontifical Commission to study the validity of the Anglican ordinations (1896) leading to Apostolicae curae, to which his historical contribution was major. In 1900, he became abbot president of the English Benedictines. He was President of the Pontifical Commission for Revision of the Vulgate, 1907. He also authored the major history of the Venerable English College at Rome.
He was created Cardinal-deacon in 1914 with the titular see of San Giorgio in Velabro. He was conferred with the titular see of Santa Maria in Portico in 1915.
In 1917, he was appointed Archivist of the Vatican Secret Archives. In 1924, he was appointed Librarian of the Vatican Library and elevated to Cardinal Priest of Santa Maria in Portico.
His historical work has been attacked by later writers. Geoffrey Elton wrote of "the falsehoods purveyed by Cardinal Gasquet and Hilaire Belloc." His collaboration with Edmund Bishop has been described as "an alliance between scholarship exquisite and deplorable." A polemical campaign by G. G. Coulton against Gasquet was largely successful in discrediting his works in academic eyes. One of his books contained an appendix "A Rough List of Misstatements and Blunders in Cardinal Gasquet's Writings.
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