DICCONSON, EDWARD

Professor of theology, vicar apostolic of the (English) Northern district (1740–52); b. Wrightington Hall, Lancastershire, 1670; d. Finch Mill, Wrightington, 1752. The third son of Hugh Dicconson of Wrightington, he was educated at Douay College, ordained there in 1700, and the following year became procurator, and later vice president. He was largely instrumental in getting Douay cleared of charges of jansenism. After 20 years as professor and official at Douay he was sent to the English mission (1720) and, though his name was frequently put forward for a bishopric, it was not until he was past 70 that he was appointed to the Northern district. Meanwhile, he had been chaplain to Peter Giffard at Chillington and grand vicar to his close friend, Bishop John Stoner of the Midland district. In 1736 the vicar apostolic sent him to Rome to urge the Franciscan observance of the decree of Innocent XII concerning the relations between the regular orders and the bishops, and also to remove the Jesuits from their charge over the English College in Rome. In the latter he was successful.

On March 19, 1740, he was consecrated at Ghent as titular bishop of Malla for the Northern district, and as such was instrumental (with Bishops John Stoner and Francis Petre) in obtaining from Benedict XIV the Apostolicum Ministerium laying down the rules for the government of the English mission. He was afflicted with a stammer that prevented him from preaching. In his last years he wrote a detailed account of his agency in Rome in four volumes.

Bibliography: j. gillow, A Literary and Biographical History or Bibliographical Dictionary of the English Catholics from 1534 to the Present Time (London-New York 1885–1902; repr. New York 1961) 2:56–59. w. m. brady, The Episcopal Succession in England, Scotland, and Ireland, a.d. 1400 to 1875 (Rome 1876–77) v.3 passim. j. kirk, Biographies of English Catholics in the Eighteenth Century, ed. j. pollen and e. burton (New York 1909). The Dictionary of National Biography from the Earliest Times to 1900 (London 1885–1900; repr. with corrections, 1908–09, 1921–22, 1938) 5:916–917. b. hemphill, (pseud. for b. whelan) The Early Vicars Apostolic of England, 1685–1750 (London 1954).

[b. whelan]