John Dobree Dalgairns (21 October 18186 April 1876), English

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest, was born in

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

Life

Dalgairns attended Elizabeth College, Guernsey. Awarded an Open Scholarship to

Exeter College, Oxford Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and the fourth-oldest college of the university. The college was founde ...

, he entered it aged about 17. Under the influence of the Italian missionary Dominic Barberi, he became a Roman Catholic in 1845, and was ordained priest in the following year. He joined his friend

John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English Catholic theologian, academic, philosopher, historian, writer, and poet. He was previously an Anglican priest and after his conversion became a cardinal. He was an ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, and, together with him, entered the Congregation of the Oratory. On his return to England in 1848, he was attached to the

London Oratory The London Oratory, officially the Congregation of the Oratory of St Philip Neri in London, is a Catholic community of priests living under the rule of life established by Philip Neri (1515–1595). It is located in an Oratory House, next to th ...

, where he laboured successfully as a priest, with the exception of three years spent in Birmingham. Dalgairns was a member of the

Metaphysical Society The Metaphysical Society was a famous British debating society, founded in 1869 by James Knowles, who acted as Secretary. Membership was by invitation only, and was exclusively male. Many of its members were prominent clergymen, philosophers, an ...

. He died at

Burgess Hill Burgess Hill () is a town and civil parish in West Sussex, England, close to the border with East Sussex, on the edge of the South Downs National Park, south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town, Chichester. ...

, near Brighton, on 6 April 1876.

Works

Soon after taking his degree, Dalgairns contributed a letter to Louis Veuillot's

ultramontane Ultramontanism is a clerical political conception within the Catholic Church that places strong emphasis on the prerogatives and powers of the Pope. It contrasts with Gallicanism, the belief that popular civil authority—often represented by ...

organ

L'Univers ''L'Univers'' was a French daily newspaper with a Catholicism, Catholic orientation, founded in 1833 by Abbé Jacques-Paul Migne. It ceased publication in 1919. The newspaper was acquired by Charles de Montalembert in 1838 and, starting in 1840 ...

, on "Anglican Church Parties," which made him a reputation. Together with Mark Pattison and others, he translated the ''Catena aurea'' of

St Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...

, a commentary on the Gospels, taken from the works of the Fathers. He was a contributor to Newman's ''Lives of the English Saints'', for which he wrote the studies on the ''

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

Saints''. The ''Life of St

Stephen Harding Stephen Harding () (28 March 1134) was an English-born monk and abbot, who was one of the founders of the Cistercian Order. He is honored as a saint in the Catholic Church. Early life Stephen was born in south-west England and, as a youth, ...

'' was translated into several languages. During the Catholic period of his life, Dalgairns wrote ''The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with an Introduction on the History of Jansenism'' (London 1853); ''The German Mystics of the Fourteenth Century'' (London, 1858) (See German mysticism); ''The Holy Communion, its Philosophy, Theology and Practice'' (Dublin, 1861). A list of his contributions on religious and philosophical subjects, to the reviews and periodicals, is given in

Joseph Gillow Joseph Gillow (5 October 1850, Preston, Lancashire – 17 March 1921, Westholme, Hale, Cheshire) was an English Roman Catholic antiquary, historian and bio-bibliographer, "the Plutarch of the English Catholics". Biography Born in Frenchwood Ho ...

's ''Bibliographical Dictionary of English Catholics'', volume ii.

Notes

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External links

* 1818 births 1876 deaths Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford People educated at Elizabeth College, Guernsey 19th-century English Roman Catholic priests Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism Guernsey Roman Catholics Oratorians {{Guernsey-bio-stub