One of the true clerical heroes of our times, Bishop Ricahrd Williamson, has died.
The deeply traditionalist Englishman, a passionate opponent of abortion, died last night at the age of 84 in a British hospital surrounded by close friends and clergy following an unexpected brain hemorrhage last Friday. His Excellency was administered Last Rites by an assistant priest at his residence in Broadstairs, England immediately after the incident.
According to an update given on social media by those close to him, Williamson died at 11:23 p.m. GMT, and his “final agony was only a matter of minutes.”
Williamson was one of four traditional Catholic priests consecrated by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (1905-1991) and Brazilian Bishop Antônio de Castro Mayer (1904-1991) in 1988. 48-years-old at the time, Williamson — who was Lefebvre’s initial choice to be consecrated alone — was one of four auxiliary bishops consecrated for the Society of St. Pius X. Spanish priest Alfonso de Galarreta, now 67, Swiss priest Bernard Fellay, now 66, and French priest Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, who passed away last year at the age of 79, were consecrated along with him.
Dubbed “Operation Survival” by Lefebvre, the undertaking prompted the Vatican to issue a decree stating that the parties involved had incurred an automatic excommunication. The SSPX contested the validity of that pronouncement and in 2009 Benedict XVI lifted the punishment.
Williamson was born to John and Helen Williamson in Hampstead, London in 1940. Raised Anglican, he received a classical education at Winchester College and Cambridge University, where he came to have a deep love for poetry, music, and literature, especially Shakespeare and Mozart. In his 20s, he taught language for two years at a boy’s school in Africa before returning to his homeland and converting to Catholicism at the age of 31 thanks to praying the rosary. He is survived by one remaining brother.
During the last 10 years of his life, Williamson consecrated at least six bishops and ordained more than a dozen priests, most of whom live in Europe, but some of whom reside in the United States and South America. More recently, he offered praise for Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò. Williamson had been publishing his weekly newsletter, appearing on Catholic podcasts, and posting sermons to his YouTube channel as recently as last Sunday. Scores of Traditional Catholics on social media prayed for and expressed gratitude for him in the days prior to his passing. RIP.