Joseph McCabe
| Joseph McCabe | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 12 November 1867 Macclesfield |
| Died | 10 January 1955 (aged 87) |
| Occupation | Writer, lecturer, priest |
| Alma mater | Catholic University of Louvain |
Joseph Martin McCabe (12 November 1867 – 10 January 1955) was an English writer and speaker on freethought, after having been a Roman Catholic priest earlier in his life. A staunch critic of the Catholic Church, McCabe joined groups such as the Rationalist Association and the National Secular Society. Although he criticised Christianity from a rationalist perspective, he was involved in the South Place Ethical Society which grew out of dissenting Protestantism and was a precursor of modern secular humanism.
McCabe was born in Macclesfield in Cheshire to a family of Irish Catholic background, but his family moved to Manchester while he was still a child. He entered the Franciscan order at the age of 15, and spent a year of preliminary study at Gorton Monastery. His novitiate year took place in Killarney, after which he was transferred to Forest Gate in London (to the school which is now St Bonaventure's Catholic School) for the remainder of his priestly education. In 1890 he was ordained into the priesthood with the name Father Antony.
He was recognised as an outstanding scholar of philosophy, and was sent for a year (1893–1894) to study at the Catholic University of Louvain. Here he was successfully taught Hebrew by Albin van Hoonacker, and, less successfully, Syriac by T. J. Lamy. He also studied under, and befriended, Mercier. He returned to London and resumed priestly and educational duties, until in October 1895 when he was put in charge of the newly founded Franciscan college in Buckingham, (which is now St Bernardine's Catholic Church, Buckingham). He had gradually been losing his faith and eventually left that post and the priesthood in February 1896.
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