Luke Rivington

Luke Rivington (May 1838 in London – 30 May 1899 in London) was an English Anglican and later Roman Catholic priest and controversial writer.

Life

He was the fourth son of Francis Rivington, a London publisher. He was educated at Highgate Grammar School and Magdalen College, Oxford.

After his ordination as an Anglican clergyman in 1862, he became curate of St. Clement's, Oxford, leaving there in 1867 for All Saints, Margaret Street, London, where he attracted attention as a preacher. Failing in his efforts to found a religious community at Stoke, Staffordshire, he joined the Cowley Fathers and became superior of their house in Bombay.

Becoming unsettled in his religious convictions he visited Rome, where in 1888 he was received into the Catholic Church. His ordination to the Catholic priesthood took place on 21 September 1889. He returned to England and settled in Bayswater, not undertaking any parochial work, but devoting himself to preaching, hearing confessions, and writing controversial works.

In 1897, the Pope Leo XIII conferred on him an honorary doctorate in divinity. During his latter years he lived near St. James Church, Spanish Place.

Works

His works of controversy included:

• "Authority; or a plain reason for joining the Church of Rome" (1888);
• "Dust", a letter to the Rev. Charles Gore on his book "Roman Catholic Claims" (1888);
• "Dependence; or the insecurity of the Anglican Position" (1889);
• "The Primitive Church and the See of Peter" (1894);
• "Anglican Fallacies; or Lord Halifax on Reunion" (1895);
• "Rome and England or Ecclesiastical Continuity" (1897);
• "The Roman Primacy A.D. 430-51" (1899) which was practically a new edition of "The Primitive Church and the See of Peter".

He also wrote several pamphlets and brought out a new edition of John Milner's "End of Religious Controversy". This was for the Catholic Truth Society of which he was long a member of the committee.

His pamphlets include:

• "Primitive and Roman" (1894) a reply to the notice of his book "The Primitive Church" in the "Church Quarterly Review";
• "The Conversion of Cardinal Newman" (1896);
• "Tekel" (1897) in which he criticized the reply of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to Pope Leo XIII after the condemnation of Anglican Orders.

References

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Luke Rivington". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton.  The entry cites:
  • The Tablet (3 and 10 June 1899);
  • Catholic Book Notes (15 June 1899);
  • Joseph Gillow, Bibl. Dict. Cath.;
  • Annual Register (London, 1899)

External links

• Works by or about Luke Rivington in libraries (WorldCat catalog)