Edmund Colledge (14 August 1910 – 16 November 1999) was an English

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

, military officer, and

Roman Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' re ...

. He is chiefly known for his scholarly publications on European

medieval literature Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages (that is, the one thousand years from the fall of the Western Roman Empire ca. AD 500 to the beginning of t ...

, in particular spiritual writers from that era. His 1962 anthology, ''The Medieval Mystics of England'', is still widely used in university courses to this day. Chief among his works is his edition of ''A book of showings to the anchoress Julian of Norwich'' (published by the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto, 1978) which he co-edited with James Walsh.

Life and career

Born John Eric Colledge in

Tynemouth Tynemouth () is a coastal town in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in Tyne and Wear, England. It is located on the north side of the mouth of the River Tyne, England, River Tyne, hence its name. It is east-northeast of Newcastle up ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, Colledge graduated with first class honours in English from Liverpool University (LU) in 1932. He later earned an MA from LU in 1935, and also served as an Assistant Lecturer in LU's Department of English Language and Philology from 1937 to 1939. One of his influential professors at LU was John Henry Grafton Grattan (15 September 1878 – 22 October 1951). In 1932-1933 he pursued further studies in Munich. As a student in Munich, he personally witnessed the rants of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

. Colledge was an excellent linguist with mastery of the French, German and Dutch languages. He was recruited by British Intelligence shortly after the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and spent the war working on military intelligence for Great Britain. Between 1945 and 1946, he served on the

Allied Control Council The Allied Control Council (ACC) or Allied Control Authority (), also referred to as the Four Powers (), was the governing body of the Allies of World War II, Allied Allied-occupied Germany, occupation zones in Germany (1945–1949/1991) and Al ...

's committee, which oversaw the restoration of German universities in Berlin. He returned to LU in 1946 as a full Lecturer, and was subsequently appointed Senior Lecturer (1952–1961) and Reader (1961–1963). He lectured on medieval literature and the

history of the English language English language, English is a West Germanic language that originated from North Sea Germanic, Ingvaeonic languages brought to Great Britain, Britain in the mid-5th to 7th centuries AD by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo-Saxon migrants ...

. Many of his students have gone on to chair English departments at universities in the United Kingdom and the United States. In addition to teaching, he also directed and acted in productions with the university's Dramatic Society. Through this interest, he became friends with the actress Patricia Routledge while she was a Liverpool student. She credits Colledge for persuading her to pursue a professional acting career. In 1963, Colledge resigned from his post at LU in order to join the

Order of Saint Augustine The Order of Saint Augustine (), abbreviated OSA, is a mendicant order, mendicant catholic religious order, religious order of the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1244 by bringing together several eremitical groups in the Tuscany region who ...

at Clare Priory in Suffolk. At this time he assumed the religious name of Brother Edmund. He pursued further religious studies in Rome, after which he was ordained a priest in 1967. In 1968, he became an assistant professor at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada. He was soon after promoted to full Professor at that institution, remaining there through 1977. He then returned to England to join the teaching staff at Austin Friars St Monica's School in

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...

. He lived his latter years in Kent and died in Deal in 1999 at the age of 89.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colledge, Edmund 1910 births 1999 deaths Academics of the University of Liverpool Alumni of the University of Liverpool 20th-century English Roman Catholic priests