Basil Hume

**George Basil Cardinal Hume** OSB, OM, MA, STL (2 March 1923 – 17 June 1999) was a British prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Westminster from 1976 and President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales from 1979 until his death. Hume was elevated to the cardinalate in 1976.

## Early life and ministry

**George Haliburton Hume** was born in Newcastle upon Tyne to Sir William Errington Hume and Marie Elizabeth Tisseyre. His father was a Protestant heart doctor from Scotland, and his mother the French Catholic daughter of an army officer. He had three sisters and one brother.

Hume joined the Benedictine monastery at Ampleforth Abbey in North Yorkshire at the age of 18.  He took the name **Basil** when he made his final promise to be a monk 1945. He became a priest on July 23, 1950.

## Bishop

On 9 February 1976, Pope Paul VI made Hume the Archbishop of Westminster, the highest ranking Catholic priest in England and Wales. He was the first monk to be archbishop since 1850 when Roman Catholic bishops returned to England.

Hume was told he was being appointed at dinner

Cardinal Hume's time in office saw Catholicism become more accepted in Britain than it had been for 400 years. 1995 saw the first visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Westminster Cathedral. He also read from the Bible at the installation ceremony of Archbishop Robert Runcie as of Canterbury in 1980. It was also during his term in Westminster that Pope John Paul II made first ever visit of a pope to England.

In 1998, Hume asked John Paul II for permission to retire, so that he could go back to his monastery at Ampleforth and spend some time fly fishing and watching Newcastle United Football Club. The request was refused.

He was diagnosed with inoperable abdominal cancer in April 1999. On 2 June of that same year, Queen Elizabeth awarded him the Order of Merit. He died just over two weeks later in London, at age 76. His funeral was broadcast live on British national television and he was buried in Westminster Cathedral. John Paul II said he was a "shepherd of great spiritual and moral character".

## Legacy

- A statue of Cardinal Hume was erected in his home town of Newcastle and unveiled by the Queen in 2002.
- The Cardinal Hume Centre based in Westminster works to improve the lives of homeless young people, families, and other vulnerable and socially excluded members of society.
- The Cardinal Hume Rose is named after him.
- The **Cardinal Hume Catholic School**  has been recently opened in Wrekenton, part of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.

## Other websites

- Cardinal Hume Secondary School
- BBC Coverage of the Cardinal's death
- Cardinal Hume Centre
- Archdiocese of Westminster's biography
- Statue of Cardinal Hume, Newcastle upon Tyne

## Infobox (christian leader)

- **type**: cardinal
- **honorific-prefix**: <small>His Eminence</small>
Cardinal (Catholicism), Cardinal
- **name**: Basil Hume
- **honorific-suffix**:
<small>Order of Saint Benedict, OSB, Order of Merit, OM</small>
- **title**: Archbishop of Westminster
- **image**: Newcastle, Cardinal Hume.jpg
- **coat of arms**: Het correcte wapen van Basil Hume.jpg
- **caption**: Statue of Basil Hume in Newcastle upon Tyne
- **province**: Province of Westminster, Westminster
- **archdiocese**: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster, Westminster
- **appointed**: 9 February 1976
- **enthroned**: 25 March 1976
- **ended**: 17 June 1999
- **predecessor**: John Carmel Heenan
- **successor**: Cormac Murphy-O'Connor
- **other post**: Cardinal-Priest of San Silvestro in Capite _(1976 - 1999)_
- **previous post**: Abbot of Ampleforth Abbey, Saint Lawrence's Abbey, Ampleforth _(1963 - 1976)_
- **ordination**: 23 July 1950
- **consecration**: 26 March 1976
- **consecrated by**: Bruno Heim
- **cardinal**: 24 May 1976
- **birth name**: George Basil Hume
- **birth place**: Newcastle upon Tyne, England
- **death place**: London, England
- **buried**: Westminster Cathedral
- **nationality**: United Kingdom, British
- **religion**: Roman Catholic Church
- **parents**: Sir William Errington Hume and Maria Elizabeth Hume (née Tisserye)