James, Bruno Scott.

Epithet: Monsignor . co-director of the Casa dello Scugnizzo Naples, canon of Santa Maria in Trastevere Rome

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000001186.0x0003dd

Bruno Scott James was born in Devonshire, England on Oct. 4, 1906 to Edward Scott and Katherine (Pryor) James. He received his early education at Scaitliffe Preparatory School and from tutors. Rather than attend university James entered a monastery run by the Anglican Benedictines at Pershore. Under the guidance of the abbot, the Rt. Rev. Denis Prideaux, O.S.B., he continued his study of the early Church Fathers. However, after a visit to the Slipper Chapel at the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, Fr. Bruno decided to take instruction from the Carthusians at Parkminster and was eventually received into the Roman Catholic Church. After a period of testing his monastic vocation at Downside Abbey and the Certosa of Florence, he entered Beda College, Rome, where he took instruction for the secular priesthood. After his ordination in 1935 he was appointed first administrator of Walsingham, with a mandate to establish a shrine at the Slipper Chapel. During a subsequent period of ill health and a series of operations, Fr. James pursued his interest in Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, his translation of the saint's letters appearing in 1953 and his 'Life of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux' in 1955. Inspired by the apostolate of Don Mario Borelli in the slums of Naples, he then went to Italy where he helped found John Henry Newman College, a residence for students at the University of Naples and, with the support of the Neapolitan Oratory, began an apostolate to the poor of Naples. After Newman College closed, Fr. Bruno was appointed by Pope Paul VI as canon of the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere with the title of monsignor. Failing health eventually compelled Msgr. James to relinquish his duties as canon and he returned to England where he died at Brighton on March 16, 1984. He was buried at Downside Abbey. In addition to the letters and life of Saint Bernard, books by Fr. Bruno include 'How to pray and other conferences' (1948); 'The one thing necessary' (1954); 'Seeking God' (1960); and an autobiography, 'Asking for Trouble' (1962).

William Gordon Wheeler was born on May 5, 1910. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School and University College, Oxford. After studying for the Anglican priesthood at St. Stephen's House, Oxford, he was ordained priest in Dec. 1934. He was received into the Roman Catholic Church in 1936, and following studies at Beda College, Rome, was ordained to the priesthood in 1940. In succeeding years he held a number of positions in the church, including that of administrator of Westminster Cathedral. He was appointed bishop coadjutor of Middlesborough in 1964 and consecrated bishop in March of that year. In 1966 he was appointed seventh bishop of Leeds and held that post until his retirement in 1985. Bishop Wheeler died on Feb. 20, 1998 at Leeds.

Patrick McLaughlin (1909-1988) was a professor at the Collegio Sant'Anselmo in Rome. He was the founder of the St. Anne Society at St. Anne's House, Soho, which numbered among its members Agatha Christie, T.S. Eliot, Rose Macaulay, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Charles Williams. He also fostered the development of theater at St. Thomas's Church in Regent Street, which produced new plays by Christopher Fry and Ronald Duncan, among others. McLaughlin was an Anglican priest until 1963 when he converted to Roman Catholicism.

From the description of The Bruno Scott James papers, 1957-1988 (bulk 1976-1984). (Georgetown University). WorldCat record id: 213813627