Donald Attwater by Eric Gill, 1929, private collection. Donald Attwater (24 December 1892 – 30 January 1977) was a British Catholic author, editor and translator, and a visiting lecturer at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

Life

Attwater was born in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, on 24 December 1892. His parents were Methodists who became Anglicans while Attwater was a child. He himself became a Catholic at the age of 18. He studied Law but did not earn a degree. He served in the Sinai and Palestine campaign during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, developing an interest in

Eastern Christianity Eastern Christianity comprises Christianity, Christian traditions and Christian denomination, church families that originally developed during Classical antiquity, classical and late antiquity in the Eastern Mediterranean region or locations fu ...

while in the Middle East. After the war, he lived for a time on

Caldey Island Caldey Island (Welsh language, Welsh:''Ynys Bŷr'') is a small island near Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales, less than off the coast. With a recorded history going back over 1,500 years, it is one of the holy islands of Britain. A number of trad ...

, undergoing the influence of the monks of Caldey Abbey. He also became a friend and admirer of

Eric Gill Arthur Eric Rowton Gill (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as "the greatest artist-craftsma ...

. Throughout the 1930s, 40s and 50s he was a frequent contributor to the Catholic press in both Britain and America, and a prolific author of books on Christian themes. In 1936, he was one of the founders of the Catholic peace movement Pax, which opposed the invasion of

Abyssinia Abyssinia (; also known as Abyssinie, Abissinia, Habessinien, or Al-Habash) was an ancient region in the Horn of Africa situated in the northern highlands of modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea.Sven Rubenson, The survival of Ethiopian independence, ...

Fascist Italy Fascist Italy () is a term which is used in historiography to describe the Kingdom of Italy between 1922 and 1943, when Benito Mussolini and the National Fascist Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship. Th ...

. Attwater was married to Rachel Attwater of South Wales, a fellow historian and published author on Catholic saints in the Orient. He died in Storrington,

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

, in February 1977.Obituary in '' The Catholic Historical Review'', 63:3 (1977), p. 497.

Writings

;As author * ''Father Ignatius of Llanthony: A Victorian'' (1931) * ''The Catholic Church in Modern Wales'' (1935) * ''The Dissident Eastern Churches'' (1937) * ''The White Fathers in Africa'' (1937) * ''The Golden Book of Eastern Saints'' (1938) * ''Life of St. John Chrysostom'' (1939) * ''Names and Name Days'' (1939) * ''Eastern Catholic Worship'' (1945) * ''The Christian Church of the East'' (1947) * ''The Black Friars in Wales'' (1949) * ''Saints Westward'' (1953) * ''A Dictionary of Mary'' (1956) * ''Martyrs, from St. Stephen to John Tung'' (1957) * ''Saints of the East'' (1963) * ''Dictionary of the Popes'' (1965) * ''The Cell of Good Living'' (1969) ;As translator * Vladimir Solovyov, ''God, Man, and the Church'' *

Nikolai Berdyaev Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev (; ; – 24 March 1948) was a Russian Empire, Russian philosopher, theologian, and Christian existentialism, Christian existentialist who emphasized the existentialism, existential spiritual significance of Pe ...

, ''The End of Our Time'' (1933) * Nikolai Berdyaev, ''Christianity and Class War'' (1933) * Nikolai Berdyaev, ''Dostoievsky: An Interpretation'' (1934) * Charles de Foucauld, ''Memories of Charles de Foucauld: Explorer and Hermit, Seen in His Letters'', edited by Georges Gorrée (1938) *

Hippolyte Delehaye Hippolyte Delehaye, S.J., (19 August 1859 – 1 April 1941) was a Belgian Jesuit who was a hagiographical scholar and an outstanding member of the Society of Bollandists. Biography Born in 1859 in Antwerp, Delehaye joined the Society of Jesu ...

, ''The Legends of the Saints'' (1962) * Yves Congar, ''Lay People in the Church'' (1963) * Jean Daniélou, ''Primitive Christian Symbols'' (1964) *

Brother Lawrence Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, OCD (born Nicolas Herman; c. 1614 – 12 February 1691) was a French Catholic religious brother who served at a Discalced Carmelite monastery, what is now Saint-Joseph-des-Carmes in Paris. He is best reme ...

, ''The Practice of the Presence of God'' (1974) * ''An Anthology of Mysticism'', edited by Paul de Jaegher (1977) ;As editor * ''A Catholic Encyclopedic Dictionary'' (1931) * ''Dictionary of Saints'' (1938); later ''Penguin Dictionary of Saints'' * ''Butler's Lives of the Saints'' (4 vols., 1956), a revision of Herbert Thurston's edition. * ''Modern Christian Revolutionaries'' (1971)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Attwater, Donald 1892 births 1977 deaths People from Essex Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism 20th-century English writers 20th-century English male writers Translators to English 20th-century British translators People from Storrington Military personnel from Essex British military personnel of World War I