Born in London, 6 September, 1788; died at Oscott, 7 November, 1859. Both his parents died during his early childhood; his father was a doctor. He was educated at Sedgley Park (1794-1804), and at Oscott (1804-14), and was ordained priest at Wolverhampton, 6 April, 1814. He had been acting as a junior master at Oscott, and after his ordination he continued to teach classics, assisting also in the care of the Oscott mission. In the beginning of 1816 he became prefect of studies; and when Thomas Walsh (afterwards bishop of the district) became president (August, 1818), Weedall undertook the vice-presidency, taught Divinity, and had the spiritual care of lay-students and the familia. From the summer of 1821 he had been in effect the president of Oscott, and when Bishop Walsh left Oscott, on succeeding to the vicariate (April, 1826), Weedall was made president in name also. Bishop Walsh named him his vicar-general (14 June, 1828), and obtained for him the degree of Doctor of Divinity (27 January, 1829). He had been elected a member of the Old Chapter, 8 May, 1827. Under his rule Oscott made noteworthy progress, and the present college edifice, two miles from the old, was erected (1826-38). On the division of the vicariates in 1840, Weedall was appointed Vicar Apostolic of the Northern District, with the titular See of Abydos; Wiseman being at the same time made coadjutor to Bishop Walsh and president of Oscott. Weedall went to Rome and obtained leave to decline the vicariate. He was then "in the desert " (head of the preparatory school at Old Oscott, 1841-3, rector at Leamington, 1843-8), until Bishop Ullathorne came to the Central District (August, 1848). Weedall was at once appointed vicar-general, dean of the cathedral church, and temporal administrator of the district and the two colleges ; in 1852 he became the first provost of the newly erected Birmingham Chapter. (On 2 July, 1853, he returned to Oscott in its hour of difficulty, sent "to renew that peculiar spirit of ecclesiastical piety and discipline within its walls with which his character imbued it from the first", and, in spite of almost continuous ill health, he was entirely successful. He died at Oscott, and is buried beneath the college chapel. In 1854 he had been made a domestic prelate to Pius IX. Dr. Weedall had considerable reputation as a preacher, and was an occasional contributor to the reviews. The Weedall Chantry perpetuates his memory at Oscott.
The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes.
Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.
No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.
Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912
Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online
