Joseph Edward Rudderham (17 June 1899 – 24 February 1979) was an English

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. He served as

Bishop of Clifton The Bishop of Clifton is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Clifton in the Province of Birmingham, England. The see is in the suburb of Clifton in the city of Bristol where the bishop's seat is located at the Cathedral Church of SS ...

from 1949 to 1974. Born in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

on 17 June 1899, one of seven children of William Rudderham, a Norwich wine merchant, and his wife Agnes Mary Ann Coan. He received his early education at Norwich Convent, then was sent to attend Junior Seminary at

St Bede's College, Manchester St Bede's College is an Independent Roman Catholic co-educational day school for pupils between 3 and 18 years located on Alexandra Road South in Whalley Range, Manchester, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Confe ...

in September 1910. He was forced to leave St Bede's in July 1917 when he was conscripted into the army, but returned to the College after the war. In 1919, he went on to

St Edmund's College, Ware St Edmund's College is a coeducational private day and boarding school in the British public school tradition, set in in Ware, Hertfordshire. Founded in 1568 as a seminary, then a boys' school, it is the oldest continuously operatinga claim ...

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 250 graduate students. The c ...

and the

Venerable English College, Rome The Venerable English College (), commonly referred to as the English College, is a Catholic seminary in Rome, Italy, for the training of priests for England and Wales. It was founded in 1579 by William Allen on the model of the English College ...

. Rudderham was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

for the

Diocese of Northampton The Diocese of Northampton () is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic church in England and Wales and suffragan of Westminster. Its see is in Northampton. The Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate and St Thomas of Canterbury is the mother church ...

on 31 October 1926. He was appointed the

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of the

Diocese of Clifton The Diocese of Clifton is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church centred at the Cathedral Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Clifton, England. The diocese covers the City and County of Bristol and the ceremonial counties of Gloucester ...

by the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

on 14 May 1949. His

consecration Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...

to the

Episcopate A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...

took place on 26 July 1949, the principal

consecrator A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches ...

was Archbishop Joseph Masterson of Birmingham, and the principal co-consecrators were Bishop Thomas Leo Parker of Northampton and Bishop

Francis Joseph Grimshaw Francis Edward Joseph Grimshaw (6 October 1901 – 22 March 1965) was a British Catholic Church, Roman Catholic bishop, who served as Archbishop of Birmingham from 1954 until his death. Early life Born in Bridgwater, Somerset on 6 October 1901, ...

of Plymouth. He participated in all the four sessions of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

, held between in 1962 and 1965. Between 1965 and its opening in 1973 Rudderham (as

) oversaw the design and construction of a new

Clifton Cathedral The Cathedral Church of SS. Peter and Paul is the Roman Catholic cathedral of the city of Bristol (not to be confused with the Church of England Bristol Cathedral). Located in the Clifton area of the city, it is the seat and mother church of the ...

, the first to be built to the new requirements of the

. He retired on 31 August 1974 and assumed the title Bishop

Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

of Clifton; his successor was Bishop Mervyn Alexander, who had been his auxiliary since 1972. He died on 24 February 1979, aged 79.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rudderham, Joseph Edward 1899 births 1979 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in England Participants in the Second Vatican Council Clergy from Norwich People educated at St Bede's College, Manchester Roman Catholic bishops of Clifton English College, Rome alumni