A man of advanced views

Charles A. Coulombe recalls that indefatigable propagandist for Anglo-Catholicism, Doctor Lee of Lambeth

Born to a Church of England cleric and his wife, at Thame, Oxfordshire, Frederick George Lee (1832-1902) went up to Oxford in 1851, matriculating at St Edmund’s Hall in 1851. He did not graduate, however, but transferred to Cuddesdon College and was ordained priest by the Bishop of Oxford in 1856. The newly minted cleric was assigned to Berkeley Chapel in London’s Mayfair. He was a man of advanced views and in the following year he joined the noted Catholic layman, Ambrose Phillipps de Lisle in forming the Association for the Promotion of the Union of Christendom (APUC). The aim of the Union was to pray and work for the reunion of Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Anglicanism, as well as prayer for Kaiser Franz Josef, Tsar Alexander II, and Queen Victoria, as the leading layfolk of their respective Communions.

The young Reverend was not afraid of more controversial efforts. In London’s East End the church of St George’s in the East was presided over by a High Church-minded rector, the Rev. Bryan King. He brought in a number of similarly-minded clerics. These began doing then unheard-of things – such as wearing chasubles. This earned the ire of the Vestry, and the results were the Ritualist Riots of 1859; mobs whipped up by the vestrymen attempted to disrupt the services. To show his support, Lee would take services there at the height of the controversy.

Lee accepted a call to the newly built church of St John’s, Aberdeen – the Scottish Episcopal Church with its Nonjuring tradition being friendlier as a rule to Anglo-Catholics. But he fell foul of a large segment of his new parish, and he and his supporters founded a new church, St Mary’s, Carden Place in 1863. Lee bankrupted himself constructing the church. But the Anglican Bishop of Aberdeen refused to consecrate it so long as Lee was at the helm. On a happier note, he had been made Secretary of APUC; that doubtless played a part in his decision to return to London, where he would remain for almost the rest of his life as Rector of another slum parish, All Saints, Lambeth. In the meantime, his friend Squire de Lisle had been appointed High Sheriff of Leicestershire, and in 1868 appointed Lee his chaplain. But the following year Cardinal Wiseman – who had always taken a dim view of the APUC – was able to have it condemned by the authorities in Rome. The Catholic members withdrew, and some of the Anglicans went on to form the Catholic League.

The Rev. Lee continued to minister to his Lambeth flock and continued to write; from then until his last few years an avalanche of historical, theological, and liturgical works came from his pen, but as he continued his researches, he came to doubt his position. That led to his involvement in one of the most peculiar ecclesiastical adventures Britain has seen.

Frederick George Lee: ‘indefatigable’

Bl. Pius IX was possibly the most eirenically minded Pontiff the Church had had since Eugene IV. He had invited the Orthodox Patriarchs as full participants to Vatican I, in hopes of ending the Eastern Schism. The Pope had also made it clear when reviving the hierarchy in England that he would be willing to have our bishops resign in favour of theirs, should the Church of England re-enter the Church as a body. Although the details are foggy, we do know a few things for sure. In 1877, Lee and another similarly-minded cleric travelled to Italy. There, they were consecrated as bishops. The Rev. Brandreth, in his book Episcopi Vagantes and the Anglican Church, (p. 124) declares: “Certain facts are beyond dispute, namely that a consecration did take place in the summer of 1877; that it took place in Italy; that the bishops consecrated were Lee and Mossman; that the consecrating prelates held Orders accepted as valid at Rome. It is probable that the prelates were in communion with Rome. The remainder of the story is open to question. ..... The whole business was so shrouded in secrecy that it is probably impossible today to arrive at any certainty as to the facts of the case.” Supposedly, the consecrators were one Latin, one Greek, and one Armenian – one particularly Romantic account places the site at sea, so as to avoid being within anyone’s jurisdiction. Whether or not Bl. Pius IX was aware of the scheme is something we are unlikely to ever know.

Lee, Mossman, and a few collaborators formed the “Order of Corporate Reunion,” and began “validating” the ordinations of whichever Anglican clerics came to them – thus anticipating the “Dutch Touch”. The idea was that eventually there would be enough of these to bring about the longed-for reunion with Rome. But in the end, Lee lost faith in the scheme. His parish sold for demolition to a railroad, he retired in 1899, and came into the Church at last with his wife.