Richard Hugh Connolly (1873 – 16 March 1948) was a monk of

Downside Abbey Downside Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in England and the senior community of the English Benedictine Congregation. Until 2019, the community had close links with Downside School, for the education of children aged 11 to 18. Both the abbey ...

in Somerset, England, and a patristic scholar who was a major contributor to Syriac scholarship. He was born at

Carcoar Carcoar is a small town in the Central West (New South Wales), Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, in Blayney Shire. In 2021, the town had a population of 271 people. It is situated just off the Mid-Western Highway 258 km west ...

in New South Wales, Australia, and attended St Stanislaus' College, Bathurst, in 1889. He continued his education in England at Downside and at

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 ...

. He made his solemn profession at Downside Abbey in 1896, was ordained priest in 1899, and became Head of Benet House, Cambridge (1904–16), where he was closely associated with some outstanding patristic scholars in the university (J. A. Robinson, F. C. Burkitt, J. F. Bethune-Baker). His main work lay in the field of early Syrian Christianity. Barred for reasons of health from administrative or public roles he was trained by Edmund Bishop and belonged to a notable group of Cambridge Orientalists. He was a major contributor to the

Journal of Theological Studies ''The Journal of Theological Studies'' is an academic journal established in 1899 and now published by Oxford University Press in April and October each year. It publishes theological research, scholarship, and interpretation, and hitherto unpubli ...

, the Downside Review and an early editor in the Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium.M.D. Knowles, Obituary notice of Dom R.H.Connolly 1873-1948. Journal of Theological Studies, Vol. XLIX, 1948

Major works

*''Life of St. Rita of Cascia'' (1903) *'' Anonymi Auctoris Expositio Officiorum Ecclesiae Georgio Arbelensi Adscripta, I, T. CSCO 64(Scriptores Syri 25),1911; V. CSCO 71 (Scriptores Syri 28),1913;II Accedit Abrahae bar Lipheh Interpretatio Officiorum (Scriptores Syri 29 &32)'', 1913 and 1953 *''Didascalia Apostolorum: Syriac Version'', Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1929 (Oxford Reprints, 1970) *''The Liturgical Homilies of Narsai, translated into English with an Introduction. With an Appendix by Edmund Bishop'' (Texts and Studies, Vol. VIII, No.I, 1967)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Connolly, Richard 1873 births 1948 deaths English Christian monks 19th-century Christian monks 20th-century Christian monks People from the Central West (New South Wales) People educated at St Stanislaus' College (Bathurst)