View source for Arnold Mathew

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2014}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Bishop
| honorific-prefix = 
| name = Arnold Harris Mathew
| honorific-suffix = 
| title = 
| image = Arnold Mathew.jpg
| image_size = 
| alt = 
| caption = Mathew's episcopal consecration
| church = 
| archdiocese = 
| province = 
| metropolis = 
| diocese = 
| see = 
| term_start = 
| term_end = 
| predecessor = 
| opposed = 
| successor = [[Rudolph de Landas Berghes]], [[Bernard Mary Williams]]
| other_post = <!---------- Orders ---------->
| ordination = 24 June 1877
| consecration = 28 April 1908
| consecrated_by = [[Gerardus Gul]]
| rank = <!---------- Personal details ---------->
| birth_name = Arnold Harris Ochterlony Matthews{{Citation needed|date=February 2013}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1852|08|07}}
| birth_place = [[Montpellier]], [[Hérault]], [[French Second Empire]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1919|12|19|1852|08|07|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[South Mimms]], [[Hertfordshire]], [[England]]
| buried = South Mimms, Hertfordshire, England
| nationality = British
| religion = [[Old Catholic]], formerly [[Anglican]] and [[Roman Catholic]]
| residence = 
| parents = 
| spouse = Margaret Florence Duncan (1892–?, separated 1910)<ref name="Edmonds2013">{{Cite ODNB|year=2013|orig-year=2012|last=Edmonds|first=Stephen|title=Mathew, Arnold Harris (1852–1919)|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/103378}}</ref>
| children = Margherita Francesca (born 1895)<ref name="Edmonds2013" /><br />Francis Arnold Dominic Leo ('Viscount Mathew'; born 1900)<ref name="Edmonds2013" /><br />Mary Teresa Gertrude (born 1907)<ref name="Edmonds2013" /><ref name="Debrett's Peerage 1902, p. 487">Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage, 1902, Dean & Son, Ltd., p. 487</ref><ref name="England, John Kersey 2017, p. 41">Arnold Harris Mathew and the Old Catholic Movement in England, John Kersey, Lulu Enterprises, 2017, p. 41</ref>
| coat_of_arms = Arnold Harris Mathew CoatOfArms.gif
| coat_of_arms_alt = 
| module = {{Ordination
| denomination         = Old Catholic
| embed                = yes
| name                 = <!--Optional manual override for when the PAGENAME isn't the subject's name.-->
| surname              = <!--Option to replace the subject's full name with their surname in the 'bishops consecrated' blurb.-->}}
}}

'''Arnold Harris Mathew''', [[self-styled]] {{Not a typo|''[[de jure]]'' 4th [[Earl Landaff]]}} of [[Thomastown, County Kilkenny|Thomastown]]{{efn|The title became extinct in 1833.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|location=London|publisher=Harrison|encyclopedia=A genealogical history of the dormant, abeyant, forfeited, and extinct peerages of the British empire|edition=new|year=1866|oclc=4102769|editor1-last=Burke|editor1-first=Bernard|editor1-link=Bernard Burke|title=Mathew—Earl of {{Not a typo|Llandaff}}|page=361|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1ysWkXKSrpIC&pg=PA361}}</ref> Mathew claimed that his great-grandfather was Francis Mathew, 1st Earl Landaff.<ref name="Mathew1899" /> Mathew put forward his claim to [[Garter Principal King of Arms]] for the title of 4th Earl of Llandaff of Thomastown, Co. Tipperary in 1890.<ref name="Hill2004">{{Cite journal|publisher=Cambridge University Press|journal=Ecclesiastical Law Journal|issn=0956-618X|volume=7|issue=34|date=Jan 2004|last=Hill|first=Christopher|title=Episcopal Lineage: a theological reflection on Blake v Associated Newspapers Ltd|pages=334–338|doi=10.1017/S0956618X00005421|s2cid=143478448}} {{closed access}}</ref> Mathew just had a pedigree placed on official record at the College of Arms. He did not intend to "definitely determine in the customary method his right to the dignity he claim[ed]" by establishing his right to vote at the elections of [[List of Irish representative peers|Irish representative peer]]s.<ref name="Sketch1898" /> He has been advised that all he could hope to obtain would be the barren title.<ref name="Sketch1898" /> John H. Matthews, [[Cardiff]] archivist, said in 1898 that the number of claimants to the dormant earldom "is legion". In the archivist's opinion Mathew's published pedigree was "too extra-ordinary to commend itself to an impartial mind."<ref>{{Cite news|location=Cardiff, Wales|newspaper=Western mail|oclc=506485542|date=13 October 1898|issue=9169|page=6|title=Who is earl of Landaff?}}</ref> The next year Mathew changed his mind. In 1899, his petition to the [[House of Lords]], claiming a right to vote, was read and referred to the [[Lord Chancellor]].<ref>{{Cite hansard|title=Lords Sitting {{ndash}} Earl of Landaff|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1899/aug/04/earl-of-landaff|house=House of Lords|date=4 August 1899|column=1421}}</ref> In his petition, he wrote that Eliza Francesca Povoleri was a spinster and he did not claim she was the daughter of a Marchese and a Contessa.<ref name="Mathew1899">{{Cite journal|location=London|publisher=Stationery Office|journal=Journals of the House of Lords|lccn=sn94094788|volume=131|year=1899|page=376|last=Mathew|first=Arnold H.|title=[Petition of Arnold H. Mathew to vote at the election of Representative Peers for Ireland]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PQYyAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA376}}</ref> In 1902, the Lord Chancellor reported that Mathew's claim "is of such a nature that it ought to be referred to the [[Committee for Privileges]]; read, and ordered to lie on the Table."<ref>{{Cite hansard|title=Lords Sitting {{ndash}} Earl of Landaff|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1902/jul/10/earl-of-landaff|house=House of Lords|date=10 July 1902|column=1301}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|location=London|publisher=Stationery Office|journal=Journals of the House of Lords|lccn=sn94094788|volume=134|year=1902|page=282|last=Halsbury|first=Hardinge Stanley Giffard, earl of|author-link=Hardinge Giffard, 1st Earl of Halsbury|title=[Report upon the 'Petition of Arnold H. Mathew to vote at the election of Representative Peers for Ireland']|hdl=2027/mdp.39015086170399?urlappend=%3Bseq=812}}</ref>
}} (7 August 1852 – 19 December 1919), was the founder and first bishop of the [[Old Roman Catholic Church in Great Britain]] and a noted author on ecclesiastical subjects.

Mathew had been both a [[Roman Catholic]] and an [[Anglican]] before becoming a bishop in the [[Union of Utrecht (Old Catholic)|Union of Utrecht]] (UU).

== Biography ==

Mathew was born in the [[French Second Empire]] in 1852, son of Major Arnold Henry Ochterlony Mathew (originally Matthews, d. 1894; his son later claimed him to have been 3rd Earl Landaff).<ref>Who's Who, vol. 61, 1909, A. & C. Black, p. 1090</ref> Major Mathew was son of Major Arnold Nesbit Mathew (originally Matthews), of the Indian Army, and his Italian wife, Contessa Eliza Francesca, daughter of Domenico Povoleri di Nagarole, a Marquis of the Papal State; through this descent the Rev. Arnold Mathew claimed the title of Count Povoleri di Vicenza.<ref>Dutch Cemetery of Bengal archive URL= http://dutchcemeterybengal.com/dutch/node/138 Date accessed: 30 September 2018</ref> Major Arnold Nesbit Mathew was allegedly the son- born only five months after his parents' marriage- of the 1st Earl Landaff, sent to live with an uncle in light of the circumstances of his birth. This constituted the basis for the Rev. Arnold Mathew's claim to be 4th Earl Landaff, which would not come to be officially recognised.<ref>Dod's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 1904, ed. Charles Roger Dod et al., Sampson Low, Marston & Co., p. 555</ref> Research revealed the contemporary birth of an Arnold Nesbit Matthews to William Richard Matthews and his wife Anne at Down Ampney, Gloucestershire, which in conjunction with the Rev. Arnold Mathew's father and grandfather having originally been named 'Matthews' rather than 'Mathew', has been considered to cast sufficient doubt on the claim to descent from the Earls Landaff as to render it invalid.<ref>The Genealogical Magazine, vol. 4, 1901, p. 120</ref><ref>Land, Politics and Society in Eighteenth-century Tipperary, T. P. Power, Clarendon Press, 1993</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article3006497.ece |title = The Times & the Sunday Times}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

Mathew was educated at [[Sedbergh School]]. He was a relative of [[Theobald Mathew (temperance reformer)|Theobald Mathew]], the noted "Apostle of Temperance".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capuchinfranciscans.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/5.-Descriptive-List-Web-Fr.-Theobald-Mathew-Research-and-Commemorative-Papers.pdf|title=Fr. Theobald Mathew: Research and Commemorative Papers|website=capuchinfranciscans.ie|access-date=30 August 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://landedestates.nuigalway.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/estate-show.jsp?id=2768 | title=Estate Record: Mathew (Thomastown)}}</ref><ref>The History and Antiquities of Glamorganshire and Its Families, Thomas Nicholas, Longmans, Green & Co., 1874, p. 120</ref>

Mathew was baptised in the Roman Catholic Church. At age two, due to his mother's scruples, he was rebaptised in the [[Church of England]]. Mathew "went on oscillating between Rome and Canterbury for the rest of his life."<ref>Anson, pp. 156-157.</ref> He studied for the ministry in the [[Scottish Episcopal Church]], but sought reconciliation and confirmation in the Church of Rome.<ref name="Hill2004" />

As a Roman Catholic, Mathew was ordained a priest in 1877 in [[St Andrew's Cathedral, Glasgow]], Scotland, by Archbishop [[Charles Eyre (bishop)|Charles Eyre]], [[apostolic administrator]] of the [[Vicariate Apostolic of the Western District (Scotland)|Vicariate Apostolic of the Western District]]. Mathew received a [[Doctor of Divinity]] degree from Pope [[Pius IX]]. He became a Dominican in 1878 but only persevered a year, moving around a number of dioceses: Newcastle, Plymouth, Nottingham and Clifton. He had met [[Hyacinthe Loyson]] in France,<ref name="Anson2006" />{{rp|page=159}} while Mathew was, {{Circa|1888|1889}}, a missionary-rector in Bath where he [[apostatized]] in 1889 and sent an announcement to his congregation that having ceased to believe in the fundamental doctrines of Christianity he could no longer act as a priest.<ref name="Anson2006" />{{rp|page=159}}<ref name="Thurston1918a">{{Source-attribution|{{Cite journal|location=London|publisher=Longmans, Green|journal=The Month|issn=0027-0172|volume=132|issue=649|date=Jul 1918|last=Thurston|first=Herbert|title=The scandal of the theosophist bishops|pages=41|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qbo9AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA41}}}}</ref>{{rp|page=42}} He lost faith in the [[biblical inspiration]] and in the [[divinity of Christ]].<ref name="Times_1913-04-16" /> After leaving Bath, he went to Paris to consult with people there.<ref name="Times_1913-04-12" /> Later in 1891 he was persuaded to "trial" the Anglican ministry and went to assist the rector of [[Holy Trinity Sloane Street|Holy Trinity, Sloane Street, London]]. He was never officially received into the Church of England, neither did he formally leave the Roman Catholic Church.

In October 1890, he changed his name, by deed poll, from Arnold Jerome Matthews to Arnoldo Girolamo Povoleri.<ref name="Times_1890-10-10">{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{Cite news|location=London|newspaper=The Times|issn=0140-0460|issue=33139|date=10 October 1890|page=1|title=Personal, &c.}}}}</ref> Mathew, under the name Povoleri, married Margaret Florence, fifth daughter of Robert Duncan,<ref name="England, John Kersey 2017, p. 41" /> at [[St Marylebone Parish Church]], London, on 22 February 1892.<ref name="Times_1892-02-24">{{Cite news|location=London|newspaper=The Times|issn=0140-0460|issue=33569|date=24 February 1892|page=1|title=Marriages}}</ref> He was "described as a clerk in holy orders."<ref name="Edmonds2013" /> They had a son, Francis Arnold Dominic Leo (b. 1900), who in light of his father's claimed title of Earl Landaff used the title 'Viscount Mathew' and served as a second lieutenant in the Indian Cavalry, and two daughters (Margherita Francesca, b. 1895, and Mary Teresa Gertrude, b. 1907).<ref name="England, John Kersey 2017, p. 41" /><ref name="Debrett's Peerage 1902, p. 487" />

In 1892, when he had reconciled with the {{abbr|RCC|Roman Catholic Church}} as a layman, he at the same time participated in non-Catholic religious functions and officiated at marriages in a {{abbr|CoE|Church of England}} church without a licence from the {{abbr|CoE|Church of England}}.<ref name="Times_1913-04-15">{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{Cite news|location=London|newspaper=The Times|issn=0140-0460|issue=40186|date=15 April 1913|pages=3–4|title=King's bench division}}}}</ref> He stopped using the name Povoleri in 1894.<ref name="Sketch1898">{{Cite journal|location=London|publisher=Ingram Brothers|journal=The Sketch|lccn=09033130|volume=23|issue=298|date=12 October 1898|page=518|title=Another peerage romance|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kn84AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA518}}</ref><ref name="Ruvigny1909">{{Cite encyclopedia|location=London|publisher=Melville|encyclopedia=The nobilities of Europe|editor-last=Ruvigny and Raineval|editor-first=Melville A. de|editor-link=Melville Henry Massue|year=1909|lccn=11013712|page=120|title=Mathew|url=https://archive.org/details/nobilitiesofeuro01ruviuoft}}</ref> While his wife was listed in the 1897 ''Royal Blue Book'' as la Contessa Povoleri di Vicenza,<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|location=London|publisher=Kelly|encyclopedia=Royal blue book: fashionable directory and parliamentary guide|edition=75th|year=1897|oclc=669306270|title=Povoleri di Vicenza, la Contessa|page=1181|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w1AuAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA1181}}</ref>{{efn|By 1899 no Povoleri was listed in ''Royal Blue Book''.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|location=London|publisher=Kelly|encyclopedia=Royal blue book: fashionable directory and parliamentary guide|edition=77th|year=1899|oclc=669306270|page=1177|hdl=2027/nyp.33433075900419?urlappend=%3Bseq=1187 |title=Royal blue book. Fashionable directory and parliamentary guide. 1899. }}</ref>}}
he stopped using the title of Count in 1894.<ref name="Ruvigny1909" />

In 1897, Mathew had met Father [[Richard O'Halloran]]<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33652|date=14 October 1930|page=6280}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=August 2013}} and became curious about the suggestion of an [[Old Catholic Church]] in Great Britain. In 1897, O'Halloran was suspended in the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster]] for "reasons of canonical discipline".<ref name="Tablet1915-09-25">{{Cite news|location=London|newspaper=The Tablet|issn=0039-8837|date=25 September 1915|page=408|title=An excommunication by name|url=http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/25th-september-1915/19/rome|access-date=19 March 2014}}</ref> O'Halloran condemned the censure and created the "Ealing schism".<ref name="Tablet1915-09-25" /> O'Halloran was, according to ''The Tablet'', also suspected of heresy.<ref name="Tablet1915-09-25" />

=== Election ===

Bishops belonging to the [[International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference]] had corresponded with O'Halloran since 1902.<ref name="Guardian_1908-06-03" /><ref name="IKZ1915b">{{Cite journal|location=Bern|publisher=Stämpfli & Cie|journal=Internationale Kirchliche Zeitschrift|issn=0020-9252|language=de|volume=neue folge 5; ganzen folge 23|issue=3|date=Jul–Sep 1915|title=Internationale beziehungen|pages=342–349|url=https://archive.org/details/a635309805bernuoft}}</ref>{{rp|page=344}} O'Halloran believed that such a movement would interest a large number of disaffected Roman Catholics and [[Anglo-Catholicism|Anglo-Catholics]]. In June 1906 the Royal Commission appointed in 1904 to inquire into "ecclesiastical disorders", afterwards known as the Ritual Commission.<ref>{{Cite book|location=London|publisher=Printed for H.M. Stationery Office, by Wyman and Sons
|series=Parliament. Papers by command, Cd. 3040, 3069–3072
|author=Great Britain Royal Commission on Ecclesiastical Discipline
|title=Report of the Royal Commission on Ecclesiastical Discipline|year=1906
|url=http://anglicanhistory.org/pwra/rced9.html|access-date=20 August 2013
}}</ref> The king issued letters of business after the report. It was expected that the Catholic-minded Anglican clergy, with their congregations, might, by [[Act of Parliament]], be forced out of the [[Anglican Communion]].<ref>{{Cite book|location=London|publisher=The Faith Press|last=Embry|first=James
|title=The Catholic Movement and the Society of the Holy Cross|year=1931|oclc=12799438|url=http://anglicanhistory.org/ssc/embry/chapter15.htm
|access-date=20 August 2013
}}</ref> Persuaded by O'Halloran, Mathew joined the movement and was elected the first Regionary Old Catholic Bishop for Great Britain and in 1908 the [[Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands]] (OKKN) was petitioned to consecrate him to this charge.

Mathew's election was to some extent a precautionary endeavour by those{{Who|date=August 2013}} anticipating a precipitate action by the Government regarding the Ritual Commission's findings, there were only a small number of Old Catholics in England. However, the King's Letters of Business dealing with the Report of the Ritual Commission received no further attention and no action was taken. The result was that those who had taken part in Mathew's election were able to remain within the Anglican Communion.{{Clarify|reason=Was he elected by Old Catholic congregations or by Anglican congregations?|date=August 2013}} Added to the natural differences{{which|date=April 2014}} with their former brethren in the Roman Church was a campaign of persecution{{Examples|date=April 2014}} directed by certain elements{{Who|date=April 2014}} of the {{abbr|CoE|Church of England}}.{{clarify|date=April 2014}} In 1898 Willibald Beyschlag wrote, in ''The American Journal of Theology'', that Old Catholic churches sought "federation with other churches having an" [[episcopal polity]]. They sought "recognition that they all belong to the one ecumenical church which rests upon the dogmatic and episcopal foundation of the early church, and can, therefore, practice communion with each other." Those negotiations had "no tangible result" in 1898, according to Beyschlag, who did not "think that such a result would be of any great value," because some Anglicans "emphatically desire to be 'catholic', and are at the same time wholly out of sympathy with the Old Catholics." Beyschlag distinguished that the [[Ritualist]] [[Anglican Catholics]] "are on the way to Rome; the Old Catholics on the way from Rome."<ref>{{Cite journal|publisher=University of Chicago Press|journal=The American Journal of Theology|volume=2|issue=3|date=Jul 1898|page=523|last=Beyschlag|first=Willibald|title=The origin and development of the Old Catholic movement|jstor=3153434}}</ref>

=== Consecration ===

Mathew was consecrated in [[St. Gertrude's Cathedral]], [[Utrecht]], on 28 April 1908, by the {{abbr|OKKN|Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands (Oud-Katholieke Kerk van Nederland)}} Archbishop [[Gerardus Gul]] of Utrecht, assisted by two {{abbr|OKKN|Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands (Oud-Katholieke Kerk van Nederland)}} bishops, Jacobus Johannes van Thiel of Haarlem and Nicolaus Bartholomeus Petrus Spit of Deventer, and one [[Catholic Diocese of the Old Catholics in Germany]] bishop, Josef Demmel of Bonn.<ref name="Brandreth1987">{{Cite book|location=San Bernardino, CA|publisher=Borgo Press|last=Brandreth|first=Henry R. T.|title=Episcopi vagantes and the Anglican Church|year=1987|orig-year=First published in 1947|isbn=0-89370-558-6}}</ref>{{rp|page=12}}

Soon after the consecration, Mathew and O'Halloran were estranged and O'Halloran, under a pseudonym,<ref name="IKZ1915b" />{{rp|page=346}} questioned if the seventeen priests and the eight congregations did not exist in reality but were only a deception and if "the Old Catholic theology teaches that deception of any kind invalidates the consecration" then was Mathew "a validly consecrated Old Catholic bishop according to the teaching of Old Catholic theology?"<ref>{{Cite news|location=London|newspaper=The Guardian|oclc=21987594|date=13 May 1908|title=none|author=Incredulous (pseud. of Richard O'Halloran)}} Reprinted in {{Cite news|location=London|newspaper=The Tablet|issn=0039-8837|date=16 May 1908|page=28|title=A new 'Old Catholic' bishop?|url=http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/16th-may-1908/28/a-new-old-catholic-bishop|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140402153356/http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/16th-may-1908/28/a-new-old-catholic-bishop|archive-date=2 April 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> Unprepared for the position in which he then found himself,{{Clarify|reason=What position did he find himself in?|date=August 2013}} Mathew informed Gul that he was himself a deceived victim and "the information given him by O'Halloran was entirely false" and offered to resign but his resignation was not accepted.<ref name="Brandreth1987" />{{rp|pages=12–13}}<ref name="Anson2006" />{{rp|pages=174–175}}{{efn|{{Cite news|location=London|newspaper=The Guardian|oclc=21987594|date=20 May 1908|title=none}} cited by Herzog.<ref name="IKZ1915b" />{{rp|page=346}}}} Yet weeks earlier, Mathew and O'Halloran traveled to Utrecht where Mathew personally presented him to Gul.<ref name="IKZ1915b" />{{rp|page=346}} Within weeks, van Thiel wrote that the {{abbr|IBC|International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference}} "had no reason to suppose that we were mistaken in complying with" O'Halloran's request and stated that their "confidence in Bishop Mathew remains unshaken, after carefully perusing a large number of the documents bearing upon this matter," and they "earnestly hope that his ministrations will be abundantly blessed by Almighty God, and that he will receive the cordial support of the British people and Church in the trying circumstances in which he has been placed."<ref name="Guardian_1908-06-03">{{Cite news|location=London|newspaper=The Guardian|oclc=21987594|date=3 June 1908|title=An Old Catholic bishop for England|last=Thiel|first=Jacobus J. van}} Also reprinted in various works and online.</ref>{{efn|By 1920, the {{abbr|IBC|International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference}} believed "that Mathew himself was responsible for the false testimony submitted in 1908 and, rather than being a victim of O'Halloran, was in fact his confederate."<ref name="Brandreth1987" />{{rp|page=15}} However, in the same year,{{Clarify timeframe|date=April 2014}} the {{abbr|CoE|Church of England}} was eager to develop friendly relations with the {{abbr|UU|Union of Utrecht}} and perhaps it was convenient, after the death of Mathew to try to repair relations by "brushing under the carpet" the original "failed experiment?"<ref name="Niche" />{{speculation inline|date=April 2014}}}} Brandreth thought that the {{abbr|IBC|International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference}} "exonerated him from personal blame" in this letter.<ref name="Brandreth1987" />{{rp|page=13}} But Anson believed that it "was a polite way of stating that he had been consecrated under false pretenses, though not of his making."<ref name="Anson2006" />{{rp|page=176}}

The 1908 [[Lambeth Conference]] "deprecate[d] the setting up of a new organised body" and requested that [[Randall Davidson]], [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], notify the {{abbr|IBC|International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference}} bishops about the resolution.<ref>{{Cite conference|location=London|publisher=Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge|conference=5th Lambeth Conference, 6 July – 5 August 1908|author=Conference of bishops of the Anglican Communion|book-title=Encyclical letter from the bishops, with the resolutions and reports|year=1908
|page=63|title=Resolution 69|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wdu8Jz6i9rQC&pg=PA63}}</ref> This was a protest against the consecration and although it was not publicized at the time,<ref name="Month1920">{{Cite journal|location=London|publisher=Longmans, Green|journal=The Month|issn=0027-0172|volume=136|issue=675|date=Sep 1920|title=Miscellanea|pages=260–262|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ttwb7jkTsb8C&pg=PA260}}</ref> Gul replied with explanations and promised "that in future they 'would take care not to make trouble by encroaching on the order of a friendly Church'."<ref name="Lambeth1920">{{Cite conference|chapter=Reports of Committees {{ndash}} Reunion, Part III. Report of the Sub-Committee (''a'') on Relation to and Reunion with Episcopal Churches {{ndash}} The Latin Communion. IV. The Old Catholics |location=London|publisher=Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge|conference=6th Lambeth Conference, 5 July – 7 August 1920|title=Conference of bishops of the Anglican Communion: Encyclical letter from the bishops, with the resolutions and reports|year=1920|oclc=729498943|pages=34, 154–156|hdl=2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t39029m6v?urlappend=%3Bseq=170}}</ref>{{rp|pages=154–156}}

[[File:Arnold Harris Mathew Consecration Principal Gerardus Gul.jpg|thumb|300px|left|Arnold Harris Mathew being consecrated a bishop by [[Gerardus Gul]], the {{abbr|OKKN|Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands (Oud-Katholieke Kerk van Nederland)}}'s Archbishop of Utrecht]]

=== Mission in England 1908–1919 ===

Mathew published ''The Old Catholic Missal & Ritual'' in 1909, for Old Catholics using the English language.<ref name="Mathew1909">{{Cite book|location=London|publisher=Cope and Fenwick|editor-last=Mathew|editor-first=Arnold H|title=The Old Catholic missal and ritual: prepared for the use of English-speaking congregations of Old Catholic, in communion with the ancient Catholic archiepiscopal see of Utrecht|year=1909|oclc=635998436|url=https://archive.org/details/oldcatholicmiss00unknuoft}} Note that Mathew provided his own ''[[nihil obstat]]'' with Gul's ''[[imprimatur]]''.</ref>

In September 1909, he attended the [[Old Catholic Congress]] in Vienna, where he sympathized with the Dutch Old Catholics conservative position which opposed the innovations being introduced among the German and Swiss Old Catholics to renounce the [[Sacrament of Penance]] (auricular confession), the [[intercession of saints]] and alterations to the [[liturgy]], including the omission of the Pope's name from the [[Canon of the Mass]]. He proposed the acceptance of the 1673 [[Synod of Jerusalem (1672)|Synod of Jerusalem]]'s doctrines.<ref name="Moss2005" />{{rp|page=303}} Mathew expressed fears that the trend of Continental Old Catholicism was towards [[Modernism (Roman Catholicism)|Modernism]], perhaps because of the growing association with Anglicans and [[Lutherans]], and hoped for a return to the traditional principles of the Church of Utrecht. Moss wrote that Mathew thought they were becoming "steadily more Protestant".<ref name="Moss2005" />{{rp|page=302}} The {{abbr|IBC|International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference}} rejected Herford's request to join. "the {{abbr|IBC|International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference}} was uncertain about Herford's credentials" and, only one bishop, i.e. Mathew, was needed for England.<ref name="Smit2011" />{{rp|page=196}} Mathew also rejected Herford's applications several times.<ref name="Times_1913-04-15" />

Brandreth wrote that for two years Mathew, "with the status of a missionary bishop", remained in full communion with the {{abbr|UU|Union of Utrecht}}. In October 1909, Mathew assisted Gul at the consecration of [[Jan Maria Michał Kowalski]] as archbishop of the [[Old Catholic Mariavite Church]].<ref name="Brandreth1987" />{{rp|page=13}}

A claimant successor to the [[Order of Corporate Reunion]] alleged that Mathew was conditionally consecrated in November 1909 by [[Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Kersey |first=John |date=2017 |title=Arnold Harris Mathew and the Old Catholic Movement in England: 1908-52 |url=https://occna.org/pluginAppObj/pluginAppObj_85_01/arnold-harris-mathew-and-the-old-catholic-movement-in-england-1908-52-3rd-ed-01-17.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240815175159/https://occna.org/pluginAppObj/pluginAppObj_85_01/arnold-harris-mathew-and-the-old-catholic-movement-in-england-1908-52-3rd-ed-01-17.pdf |archive-date=2024-08-15 |access-date=2024-08-15 |website=Old Catholic Church of North America |page=81}}</ref>

In June 1910, he secretly consecrated, without agreement of the {{abbr|IBC|International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference}},<ref name="Smit2011" />{{rp|page=193}} Beale and Howarth, both of whom did not accept or sign the Convention of Utrecht,<ref name="Moss2005" />{{rp|page=302}}<ref name="TheTablet_1910-12-17">{{Cite journal|title=none|location=Rotterdam|journal=De Oud-Katholiek: Godsdienstig Maandblad|issn=0167-3963|language=nl|date=1 December 1910}} Translated in {{Cite news|location=London|newspaper=The Guardian|oclc=21987594|date=9 December 1910|title=none}} Translation reprinted in {{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{Cite news|location=London|newspaper=The Tablet|issn=0039-8837|date=17 December 1910|page=39|title=The "Old Catholics" in England|url=http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/17th-december-1910/39/the-old-catholics-in-england|access-date=5 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140405194248/http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/17th-december-1910/39/the-old-catholics-in-england|archive-date=5 April 2014|url-status=dead}}}}</ref> and Mathew informed the Holy See of these consecrations.<ref name="Times_1913-04-12">{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{Cite news|location=London|newspaper=The Times|issn=0140-0460|issue=40184|date=12 April 1913|page=3|title=Alleged libel in 'The Times.'}}}}</ref> Beale and Howarth were suspended.<ref name="Times_1910-08-30">{{Cite news|location=London|newspaper=The Times|issn=0140-0460|issue=39364|date=30 August 1910|page=5|title=Ecclesiastical intelligence}}</ref>

In August, van Thiel declared that Old Catholics "could not be considered responsible for [...] Mathew's eventual particular attitude or opinions, because he only represents his own clergy and himself in England." Mathew was "in no sense a representative of the Church of Holland in England."{{efn|See {{Cite news|location=London|newspaper=The Guardian|oclc=21987594|date=1910-08-05|title=none}} cited by Herzog and reprinted in Brandreth.<ref name="Brandreth1987" />{{rp|page=14}}<ref name="IKZ1915b" />{{rp|page=347}}}} In October, Mathew defended the consecrations in ''[[The Church Times]]'' against a critical article in ''{{lang|de|Katholik}}''.{{efn|{{Cite news|title=none|location=Bern|newspaper=Der Katholik|oclc=8739103|language=de}} and {{Cite news|location=London|newspaper=The Church Times|issn=0009-658X|date=28 October 1910|title=none}} cited by ''{{lang|nl|De Oud-Katholiek}}''.<ref name="TheTablet_1910-12-17" />}} In December 1910, ''{{lang|nl|De Oud-Katholiek}}'' concluded that Mathew had "given up communion with the other Old Catholics" when he acted against the Convention of Utrecht. He ignored "his duty to inform" the {{abbr|IBC|International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference}} prior to "any consecration", so "that the case may be duly examined and all precautions taken that no unworthy person be consecrated;" he consecrated men who belonged to another Church "knowing that they were Roman Catholics and would probably remain so"; he consecrated alone without need and in secret.<ref name="Moss2005" />{{rp|page=302}}<ref name="TheTablet_1910-12-17" />

=== Autonomy and Independence ===

{{More citations needed section|date=February 2013}}

Within weeks of the ''De Oud-Katholiek'' article, on 29 December 1910, Mathew issued ''A Declaration of Autonomy And Independence'' from the {{abbr|UU|Union of Utrecht}}.<ref name="Mathew1915">{{Cite book|location=Kingsdown|last=Mathew|first=Arnold H.|title=An episcopal odyssey: an open letter to ... the ... Archbishop of Canterbury, etc.|year=1915|type=pamphlet|oclc=563119992|url=http://www.catholic-canc.us/autonomy.html|access-date=20 August 2013}}</ref>

Although the Holy See usually did not respond to notifications about episcopal consecrations,<ref name="Times_1913-04-12" /> in this case, on 11 February 1911, [[Pope Pius X]] [[excommunicated]] Beale, Howarth, and Mathew. ''The Times'' reported on their excommunication and included an English language translation of the Latin language document which described Mathew as a "pseudo-bishop".<ref name="Times_1911-02-28">{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{Cite news|location=London|newspaper=The Times|issn=0140-0460|issue=39520|date=28 February 1911|page=6|title=The excommunication of Englishmen}}}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news
 |location=London
 |newspaper=The Tablet
 |issn=0039-8837
 |date=4 March 1911
 |page=25
 |author=Pope Pius X
 |author-link=Pope Pius X
 |title=Motu Proprio
 |url=http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/4th-march-1911/25/motu-proprio
 |access-date=22 August 2013
 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/6J3us2g3d?url=http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/4th-march-1911/25/motu-proprio
 |archive-date=22 August 2013
 |url-status=dead
 |df=dmy
 }} English translation of {{Cite journal
 |location=Rome
 |publisher=Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis
 |journal=[[Acta Apostolicae Sedis]]
 |volume=3
 |issue=2
 |date=11 February 1911
 |publication-date=1911-02-15
 |author=Pope Pius X
 |title=Sacerdotes Arnoldus Harris Mathew, Herbertus Ignatius Beale et Arthurus Guilelmus Howarth nominatim excommunicantur
 |type=[[motu proprio]] type [[Ecclesiastical letter#Letters_of_the_popes_in_modern_times|apostolic letter]]
 |language=la
 |pages=53–54
 |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS%2003%20&#91;1911&#93;%20-%20ocr.pdf
 |access-date=11 May 2013
 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/6GXqyZ3A2?url=http://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS%2003%20%5B1911%5D%20-%20ocr.pdf
 |archive-date=11 May 2013
 |url-status=live
 |df=dmy
 }}</ref>{{efn|name=UtrechtChapter|In 1145, Pope Eugene III granted the cathedral chapter in Utrecht the right to elect bishops after such had been requested by the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Conrad III of Germany|Conrad III]] and [[Bishop Heribert of Utrecht]]. The [[Fourth Lateran Council]] confirmed this in 1215. In 1517, [[Pope Leo X]] prohibited, in ''{{lang|la|Debitum pastoralis officii nobis}}'', the [[Archbishop-Elector of Cologne]], [[Hermann of Wied]], as ''{{lang|la|[[legatus natus]]}}'',{{efn|"As papal power increased after the middle of the eleventh century these legates came to have less and less real authority and eventually the ''{{lang|la|legatus natus}}'' was hardly more than a title."<ref>{{Cite book|location=New York|publisher=Appleton-Century-Crofts|last=La Monte|first=John L|title=The world of the Middle Ages: a reorientation of medieval history|page=393|year=1949|hdl=2027/mdp.39015024887880?urlappend=%3Bseq=419|oclc=568161011}}</ref>}} to summon, to a court of first instance in Cologne, [[Philip of Burgundy (bishop)|Philip of Burgundy]], his treasurer, and his ecclesiastical and secular subjects.<ref name="JoostingMuller1912">{{Source-attribution|{{Cite book|author=Pope Leo X|title=Debitum pastoralis officii nobis|language=la}} From {{Cite book|location='s-Gravenhage|publisher=Martinus Nijhoff|series=Oude vaderlandsche rechtsbronnen|title=Bronnen voor de geschiedenis der kerkelijke rechtspraak in het bisdom Utrecht in di middeleeuwen|year=1912|pages=59–62|last1=Joosting|first1=Jan G. C.|last2=Muller|first2=Samuel|chapter=Verbod van Paus Leo X aan den aartsbisschop van Keulen als legatus natus, Philips bisschop van Utrecht, diens fiscus en diens kerkelijke en wereldlijke onderdanen in eerste instantie naar keulen te doen dagvaarden|hdl=2027/mdp.35112103682300?urlappend=%3Bseq=79|language=nl}} This book contains documents relating to the limit of the jurisdiction of the bishop of Utrecht. This book was published in {{List journal|journal=Werken der Vereeniging tot Uitgaaf der Bronnen van het Oud-Vaderlandsche Recht|location='s-Gravenhage|publisher=Martinus Nijhoff|oclc=765196601|volume=2|issue=14|year=1912}}}}</ref>{{efn|Joosting and Muller noted that Leo X also promulgated another bull, in which he commissioned that the Bishop of Utrecht, his treasurer and his subjects informed that they were empowered to disregard privileges formerly granted to others and to prosecute offenders while setting aside formerly specified legal process.<ref name="JoostingMuller1912" />}} [[John Mason Neale]] explained that Leo X only confirmed a right of the Church but Leo X's confirmation "was providential" in respect to the future schism.<ref name="Neale1858">{{Source-attribution|{{Cite book|location=Oxford; London|publisher=John Henry and James Parker|last=Neale|first=John M|title=History of the so-called Jansenist church of Holland; with a sketch of its earlier annals, and some account of the Brothers of the common life|year=1858|oclc=600855086|hdl=2027/mdp.39015067974389}}}}</ref>{{rp|page=72}}}} Mathew sued The Times for libel, on the grounds that the newspaper was apparently endorsing the Pope's characterization of him as a "pseudo-Bishop" who had given aid to a "wicked crime".<ref name="mathew-v-times"/> Father David Fleming testified during the trial at the [[King's Bench Division]] in April 1913 that the three were excommunicated on the strength of their own communication to the Holy See.<ref name="Times_1913-04-17">{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{Cite news|location=London|newspaper=The Times|issn=0140-0460|issue=40188|date=17 April 1913|page=4|title=King's bench division}}}}</ref>

The trial was described as "tense with laughter over the elaborate and convoluted ecclesiastical definitions."<ref name="Edmonds2013" /> Mathew lost the case.<ref name="Times_1913-04-18">{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{Cite news|location=London|newspaper=The Times|issn=0140-0460|issue=40189|date=18 April 1913|page=3|title=King's bench division}}}}</ref> A "material part of the case" about whether Mathew was truthful was the 1889 printed announcement sent to his congregation in Bath. The trial revealed that in 1897 Mathew restated that he had apostatized in 1889 and had circulated the printed announcement but by 1897 had concluded that his change in belief was a mistake; he therefore recanted the 1889 document, in 1897, which during the trial he said that he never wrote. He testified that he was [[hypnotized]] in Bath and so the announcement was written without his knowledge.<ref name="Times_1913-04-16" /> Mathew's attorney argued that publication of the excommunication by ''The Times'' in English was [[High treason in the United Kingdom|high treason]] under a 1571 law re-enacted in 1846.{{efn|Mathew's attorney cited {{Cite act|title=[[An Act against the bringing in and putting in execution of bulls writings or instruments and other superstitious things from the See of Rome]]|number=13 Eliz. 1, c. 2|date=1571}} and {{Cite act|title=An Act to relieve Her Majesty's subjects from certain penalties and disabilities in regard to religious opinions|number=9 and 10 Vict., c. 59|date=1846}}}} The judge, [[Charles Darling, 1st Baron Darling]], "held that it was not unlawful to publish a Papal Bull in a newspaper simply for the information of the public", and according to a 1932 article in ''The Tablet'', this was the last time the 1571 act was invoked.<ref>{{Cite news|location=London|newspaper=The Tablet|issn=0039-8837|date=1932-05-07|page=6|title=Catholic authority and English law|last=Cowper|first=Francis H.|url=http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/7th-may-1932/6/catholic-authority-and-english-law|access-date=2014-03-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140426232206/http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/7th-may-1932/6/catholic-authority-and-english-law|archive-date=26 April 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="mathew-v-times">{{Cite court|litigants=Mathew v. "The Times" Publishing Co., Ltd.|vol=29|reporter=T.L.R.|opinion=471|court=KB|date=1913|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3eZCAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22mathew+v+the+times+publishing%22&pg=PA798}}</ref> The jury found that ''The Times'' had not been actuated by malice and the words of the report were true in substance and in fact.<ref name="mathew-v-times"/>

Now an archbishop, Mathew was in contact with people{{Who|date=June 2014}} interested in expanding the Eastern Orthodox Church's presence in Western Europe. [[Olga Novikov]],{{efn|Novikov, "a well-known figure on the European diplomatic scene" whom Stephen Graham, quoted by Basil, described: "She stood for Russia, she was Russia."<ref name="Basil1991">{{Cite journal|location=Paris|publisher=École des hautes études en sciences sociales|journal=Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique|issn=1777-5388|volume=32|issue=3|date=Jul–Sep 1991|pages=337–347|last=Basil|first=John D|title=Alexander Kireev: Turn-of-the-century Slavophile and the Russian Orthodox Church, 1890–1910|doi=10.3406/cmr.1991.2285|url=http://www.persee.fr/articleAsPDF/cmr_0008-0160_1991_num_32_3_2285/article_cmr_0008-0160_1991_num_32_3_2285.pdf|access-date=21 September 2013}} Also {{Cite journal|last1=Dumont|first1=M|last2=Négrel|first2=Dominique|title=Résumés/Abstracts|journal=Cahiers du Monde Russe|volume=32|issue=3|pages=431–432|url=http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/cmr_0008-0160_1991_num_32_3_2728|access-date=21 September 2013|year=1991}}</ref>{{rp|page=338}} She was a close friend of Gladstone and rumored to be a Russian agent exerting a "foreign female influence" on him.<ref name="Mellon2010">{{Cite thesis|location=Chapel Hill|publisher=[[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]]|type=MA|last=Mellon|first=Mary|title=Friend or femme fatale?: Olga Novikova in the British press, 1877–1925|year=2010|url=http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/etd/id/3150|access-date=14 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019115152/http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/etd/id/3150|archive-date=19 October 2013|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all |doi=10.17615/m0b3-9g93}}</ref>{{rp|pages=2, 18–22, 59–60}} She was his source for "information about Russian affairs, particularly in respect of the union of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Old Catholics of the West."<ref name="Isba2006">{{Cite book|location=London|publisher=Hambledon Continuum|last=Isba|first=Anne|title=Gladstone and women|year=2006|isbn=1-85285-471-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gaxDs8_oz_QC&q=Olga%20Novikov&pg=PA171}}</ref>{{rp|page=171}} [[Benjamin Disraeli]] scoffed her as "the MP for Russia" in England.<ref name="Mellon2010" />{{rp|page=8}}}} along with Baroness Natalie Uxkull-Gyllenband, encouraged and financially assisted Mathew and according to Anson, one of them also introduced Mathew to [[Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch]] Archbishop [[Gerassimos Messara]], [[Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Beirut|Metropolitan of Beirut]].<ref name="Anson2006">{{Cite book|location=Berkeley|publisher=Apocryphile Press|series=Independent Catholic Heritage series|last=Anson|first=Peter F|author-link=Peter Anson|title=Bishops at large|year=2006|orig-year=1964|edition=1st Apocryphile|isbn=0-9771461-8-9}}</ref>{{rp|page=186}}

Moss wrote that Messara "had no power to do this without the consent of" [[Gregory IV of Antioch|Gregory IV]], in Damascus, "which was never given".<ref name="Moss2005">{{Cite book|location=Berkeley|publisher=Apocryphile Press|series=Independent Catholic heritage series|last=Moss|first=Claude B|title=The Old Catholic Movement: its origins and history|year=2005|orig-year=1977|edition=reissue, with additions and corrections, of 2nd|isbn=0-9764025-9-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fhKKv850nTMC}}</ref>{{rp|page=306}} According to Herzog, Gregory IV retracted Messara's statement.{{efn|{{Cite news|location=London|newspaper=The Guardian|oclc=21987594|date=12 April 1912|title=none}}{{Page needed|date=April 2014}} and {{Cite news|location=London|newspaper=The Guardian|oclc=21987594|date=19 April 1912|title=none}}{{Page needed|date=April 2014}} cited by Herzog.<ref name="IKZ1915b" />{{rp|page=347}}}} "It is hard to believe that an Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch would have been prepared to accept a married prelate into communion with his Church," Anson wrote. Mathew's wife "did not take part in the conference, and it is probable that her existence behind the scenes was again kept dark, as at the time of her husband's consecration in 1908."<ref name="Anson2006" />{{rp|page=186}} On 26 February 1912, [[Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria]] [[Patriarch Photius of Alexandria]], allegedly  also accepted this union.<ref>{{Cite book|location=[s.l.]|publisher=[s.n.]|last=Williams|first=Bernard Mary|title=A summary of the history, faith, discipline and aims of the Old Roman Catholic Church in Great Britain|year=c. 1924|oclc=315302080|page=23}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=Bernard Mary Williams was consecrated by Mathew. He had a personal interest; opinionated source.|date=August 2013}} The ''Mathew v. "The Times" Publishing Co., Ltd.'' trial revealed that although Mathew "was originally informed that all were welcome, he was not ultimately admitted" as a cleric into the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch.<ref name="Times_1913-04-16">{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{Cite news|location=London|newspaper=The Times|issn=0140-0460|issue=40187|date=16 April 1913|pages=3–4|title=Alleged libel in 'The Times'}}}}</ref>

Either Novikov or Uxkull-Gyllenband, according to Anson, introduced Mathew to [[Rudolph de Landas Berghes]].<ref name="Anson2006" />{{rp|page=189}}

=== Death ===

Like five of his bishops and several of his priests, in December 1915, Mathew sought to reconcile with the {{abbr|RCC|Roman Catholic Church}}.<ref name="Times_1915-12-31">{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{Cite news|location=London|newspaper=The Times|issn=0140-0460|issue=41051|date=31 December 1915|page=5|title=Old Catholics in Britain}}}}</ref> Mathew wrote to ''[[The Tablet]]'' within a month:{{blockquote|Although the Orders of the Dutch schismatical clergy were, down to 1910, undisputed in Rome, I make no claim to be recognized as a bishop, or to exercise episcopal functions, or to use any episcopal insignia. I desire to conform in everything to whatever may be the commands or wishes of the Holy See. Neither do I intend or claim even to exercise priestly functions, unless and until, as I earnestly hope, this privilege may be permitted to me. It is my firm resolve, which nothing will ever alter, to obey the commands of the Holy Father, whose word I am perfectly willing to await, and I shall do nothing whatever, whether publicly or privately, in any ecclesiastical matters without the permission of Superiors.<ref>{{Cite news|location=London |newspaper=The Tablet |issn=0039-8837 |date=8 January 1916 |page=7 |last=Mathew |first=Arnold H |title=Notes |url=http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/8th-january-1916/7/notes |access-date=22 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140322090611/http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/8th-january-1916/7/notes |archive-date=22 March 2014 |url-status=live |df=dmy }}</ref>}}

But because the Holy See insisted that he would only be reconciled as a layman and would be obliged to accept the doctrine of papal infallibility and primacy of the Roman Pontiff, Mathew then sought union with the {{abbr|CoE|Church of England}} but the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] [[Randall Davidson]] refused to give him any position in the {{abbr|CoE|Church of England}}. Mathew retired to [[South Mimms]], a village in the English countryside in Hertfordshire, and contented himself with assisting at services in a {{abbr|CoE|Church of England}} parish church. He died suddenly, on 20 December 1919, at South Mimms and was buried in the churchyard at South Mimms.<ref name="Times_1919-12-23">{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{Cite news|location=London|newspaper=The Times|issn=0140-0460|issue=42290|date=23 December 1919|page=13|title=Death Of 'Archbishop' Mathew}}}}</ref>

== Contemporary significance ==
[[File:Old Catholic Missal and Ritual.png|thumb|Mathew's 1909 translation of the ''Old Catholic Missal & Ritual'']]
=== Groups descending from Mathew ===

In 1964, Anson identified several independent sects which derived their apostolic succession through Mathew: the "Old Roman Catholic Church (Western Catholic Uniate Church)",{{efn|name=NameOfSect1|This did not have a stable name. Berghes used the label "Old Roman Catholic Western Orthodox Church" for Mathew's group.<ref name="sn83030214_1915-07-13">{{Cite news|location=New York|newspaper=New-York tribune|lccn=sn83030214|date=1915-07-13|page=4|title=Regionary Bishop of Scotland sues chronicler of nobility|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1915-07-13/ed-1/seq-4/|access-date=2013-12-14}}</ref> But Mathew identified the group with a variety of labels which included: "English Catholic Church", "Western Orthodox Catholic Church in Great Britain and Ireland", "Catholic Church in England, Latin Uniate Branch", "The Catholic Church in England", "The Catholic Church of England", "The Catholic Church in England, Latin and Orthodox United", "Western Orthodox Church", "The 'Old' Catholic Church of England", and "The Ancient Catholic Church of England".<ref name="Anson2006" />{{rp|pages=187, 192, 194, 198–200, 203}} Anson did not identify which label was the actual legal name of the group.}} "Old Catholic Church of Ireland", [[Liberal Catholic Church]], "The Church Catholic", "Old Catholic Church in America",{{efn|name=NameOfSect2|Berghes used the label "Old Roman Catholic Church of America" in 1915 for his group yet "Old Roman Catholic Church" was already incorporated by [[Joseph René Vilatte]] in [[Illinois]] in 1904 and located in Chicago.<ref>{{Cite journal|location=Springfield, IL|journal=Biennial Report of the Secretary of State of the State of Illinois|oclc=557554812|author=Illinois. Office of Secretary of State|year=1906|edition=Fiscal years beginning October 1, 1904, and ending September 30, 1906|title=Corporations not for pecuniary profit|page=53|hdl=2027/mdp.39015067964307?urlappend=%3Bseq=59}}</ref><ref name="YBoC1923">{{Cite encyclopedia|location=New York|publisher=The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America|issn=0084-3644|encyclopedia=Year book of the churches|year=1923|title=Old Roman Catholic Church|pages=13–14|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oz7YAAAAMAAJ}}</ref> In 1917, "Old Roman Catholic Church of America" was still identified as Vilatte's sect in Chicago.<ref name="YBoC1918">{{Cite encyclopedia|location=New York|publisher=The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America|issn=0084-3644|encyclopedia=Year book of the churches|edition=covering the year 1917|year=1918|title=Old Roman Catholic Church of America|page=76|hdl=2027/mdp.39015011954883?urlappend=%3Bseq=90}}</ref> While the "Catholic Church of North America (The)", associated with Francis, and the "North American Old Roman Catholic Diocese", associated with Berghes and Carfora, were both incorporated in Illinois in 1917 and located in and near Chicago.<ref>{{Cite journal|location=Springfield, IL|journal=Biennial Report of the Secretary of State of the State of Illinois|oclc=557554812|author=Illinois. Office of Secretary of State|year=1919|edition=Fiscal years beginning October 1, 1916, and ending September 30, 1918|title=Domestic corporations not for profit|pages=41, 52|hdl=2027/mdp.39015068036840?urlappend=%3Bseq=45}}</ref>}} and the "North American Old Roman Catholic Church".{{efn|name=NameOfSect2}} He noted that, except for the Liberal Catholic Church, the "sects hardly counted numerically at all."<ref name="Anson2006" />{{rp|page=324}} Moss characterized, in 1948, that "there are several sects which claim to derive their episcopal succession from him, which are often confused with the Old Catholics, and which in some cases make use of the name 'Old Catholic'." But, Moss emphasized, "none of these sects is Old Catholic, or is recognized in any way by the genuine Old Catholic churches in communion with the Archbishop of Utrecht."<ref name="Moss2005" />{{rp|page=308}}

=== Liberal Catholic Church ===

{{Main|Liberal Catholic Church}}

Anson wrote that, for at least two years, Mathew was "in close touch with leading Theosophists, apparently without investigating the orthodoxy of their beliefs," and believed that Mathew "had no excuse" for not understanding the [[Cult (religious practice)|cult]] of [[Maitreya (Theosophy)|Maitreya]] beliefs held by the majority of his clergy.<ref name="Anson2006" />{{rp|pages=195–196}} The manifestations of Maitreya included the Hindu deity [[Krishna]] and [[Christ]] during the three years of the [[ministry of Jesus]].<ref name="Leadbeater2007" />{{rp|page=278}} [[Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke]] wrote, in ''Constructing Tradition'', that the identification of Christ as Maitreya was [[Charles Webster Leadbeater]]'s "innovation, closely linked to his assimilation of Christianity to Theosophy."<ref name="GoodrickClarke2010" />{{rp|page=144}} According to Anson, the majority of clergy involved with Mathew were members of the Theosophical Society and the [[Order of the Star in the East]] (OSE), and were dismayed when Mathew directed them to separate from these organizations in 1915.<ref name="Anson2006" />{{rp|pages=200, 342}} Instead, within weeks, they had separated from Mathew and elected Rupert Gauntlett, secretary of the Theosophical Society's Order of Healers, and Robert King, a consulting [[psychic]] and [[astrologer]], to the episcopate.<ref name="Brandreth1987" />{{rp|page=19}}<ref name="Anson2006" />{{rp|page=344}}

But the "effective leader of the schism" was [[James Ingall Wedgwood]].<ref name="Anson2006" />{{rp|page=344}}<ref name="Pearson2007" />{{rp|page=32}} Wedgwood explored an [[Anglo-Catholic]] vocation in the {{abbr|CoE|Church of England}} and was associated with the [[Order of Corporate Reunion]] prior to his involvement with the [[Theosophical Society]].<ref name="Tillett2007">{{Cite thesis|location=Sydney|publisher=University of Sydney|last=Tillett|first=Gregory J.|title=Charles Webster Leadbeater 1854–1934: a biographical study|type=Ph.D.|year=1986|publication-date=2007|oclc=220306221|hdl=2123/1623}} {{open access}}</ref>{{rp|page=573}} Mathew ordained Wedgwood as a priest in 1913.<ref name="Anson2006" />{{rp|pages=345–348}} In 1916 [[Frederick Samuel Willoughby]], who had been consecrated by Mathew, consecrated Gauntlett, King, and Wedgwood.<ref name="Brandreth1987" />{{rp|page=19}}Leadbeater wrote to [[Annie Besant]], in 1916, that Wedgwood offered Mathew's Old Catholic movement to Maitreya, one of the [[Great White Brotherhood]]'s [[ascended master]]s and holder of the office of World Teacher, "as one of the vehicles for [... Maitreya's] force, and a channel for the preparation of His Coming." Leadbeater took Wedgwood during a festival in Sydney to make that offering.<ref name="Jinarajadasa1952">{{Cite book|location=Adyar|publisher=Theosophical Publishing House|last=Leadbeater|first=Charles W.|editor-last=Jinarājadāsa|editor-first=Curuppumullagē|editor-link=Curuppumullage Jinarajadasa|title=On the Liberal Catholic Church: extracts from letters of C.W. Leadbeater to Annie Besant, 1916–1923|date=1952|oclc=646284705|pages=3–8|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.aus-vn4927946}}</ref>{{rp|pages=3–5}}{{efn|Also quoted by Anson who identified the festival as the Asala festival.<ref name="Anson2006" />{{rp|pages=347–348}} In his clairvoyant Theosophical [[syncretism]] of the Asala festival, Leadbeater wrote in ''The Masters and the Path'', that it is an annual official occasion when all the members of the Great White Brotherhood attend the anniversary of Buddha preaching the ''[[Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta]]'', commemorated on the full moon of the [[Hindu calendar]] month of [[Aashaadha]] at the house of Maitreya. He noted that it is not a physical event "but all astral visitors who know of the celebration are welcome to attend it."<ref name="Leadbeater2007" />{{rp|page=280}}}} Goodrick-Clarke wrote that the {{abbr|LCC|Liberal Catholic Church}} was used for "the assimilation of Catholicism and its sacraments into the Theosophical Society" as a subsidiary movement of a diversified second generation [[Neo-Theosophy]] which emphasized "the acquisition and practice of [[psychic]] and [[occult]] powers, notably [[clairvoyance]], explorations of the [[astral plane]], [[past lives]] research."<ref name="GoodrickClarke2010">{{Cite book|location=Leiden; Boston|publisher=Brill|series=Aries book series|volume=11|editor-last=Kilcher|editor-first=Andreas B.|title=Constructing tradition: means and myths of transmission in Western esotericism|year=2010|isbn=978-9004191143|pages=113–160|last=Goodrick-Clarke|first=Nicholas|s2cid=59057008|chapter=The coming of the masters: the evolutionary reformation of spiritual intermediaries in modern Theosophy|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rs0GkfXNqmwC&pg=PA113|doi=10.1163/ej.9789004191143.i-474.37}}</ref>{{rp|page=142}} Leadbeater promoted an unorthodox [[esoteric]] understanding of Christian creeds;{{efn|Leadbeater wrote, in ''The Christian Creed'', that "I do not mean [... that] the Church which [...] recites these Creeds [...] known[s] their true meaning [... nor] that the ecclesiastical councils [...] ever realized the [...] signification of the [... phrases] used" because "much of the true meaning" was lost and "materializing corruption had been introduced long before those unfortunate assemblies were convoked."<ref name="Leadbeater1904">{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{Cite book|location=London [u.a.]|publisher=Theosophical Publishing Society|last=Leadbeater|first=Charles W.|title=The Christian creed: its origin and signification|year=1904|orig-year=1899|edition=2nd enl. and rev.|oclc=221390587|url=https://archive.org/details/christiancreedi00leadgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/christiancreedi00leadgoog/page/n24 14]}}}}</ref>{{rp|page=2}} Although he referenced history, he explained that his approach was not scholarly and obtained from neither "ancient manuscripts" nor "theological writers" but obtained from [[clairvoyant]] "investigation into the [[Akashic records|records of Nature]] made by a few students of [[occultism]]" about the "inner sense of the Creeds."<ref name="Leadbeater1904" />{{rp|pages=3–4}} He wrote that "three entirely separate ideas" are conflated together in "the words 'through Jesus Christ our Lord'." Those three ideas are: "(a) the disciple Jesus; (b) the great Master whom men call the Christ though he is known by another and far grander name among the Initiates; and (c) the Second Aspect or Person of the Logos."<ref name="Leadbeater1904" />{{rp|page=13}} He wrote that both Jesus and Christ "are men of our own humanity however far in advance of us they are along the path of evolution. It is therefore incorrect to speak of either of them as a direct manifestation or incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity."<ref name="Leadbeater1904" />{{rp|page=15}} Jesus "was permitted to yield up his body for the use of a mighty Teacher sent out by the Great Brotherhood to found a new religion."<ref name="Leadbeater1904" />{{rp|page=14}} That entity "took possession" of Jesus' body and used it for three years.<ref name="Leadbeater1904" />{{rp|pages=14–15}} [[Helena Blavatsky]] explained, in ''[[Lucifer (magazine)|Lucifer]]'', that "the same spirit" which appeared in Jesus had appeared in other reformers in other ages; it is the "light of all true religion" by which Theosophists guide themselves along the path to salvation "by every incarnation of ''Christos'' or the ''Spirit of Truth''."<ref name="Lucifer_1887-12-15">{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{Cite journal|location=London|publisher=Theosophical Publishing Society|journal=Lucifer|oclc=804337810|volume=1|issue=4|date=1887-12-15|author=Anonymous (Blavatsky, Helena P.)|title='Lucifer' to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Greeting!|page=251|hdl=2027/pst.000058528167?urlappend=%3Bseq=251}}}}</ref> {{" '}}The Christ of esoteric science' is the ''Christos'' of Spirit—an impersonal principle entirely distinct from any carnalised Christ or Jesus."<ref name="Roca1888">{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{Cite journal|location=London|publisher=Theosophical Publishing Society|journal=Lucifer|oclc=804337810|volume=1|issue=5|date=1888-01-15|last=Roca|first=Paul|title=Esotericism of the Christian dogma|page=369|hdl=2027/pst.000058528167?urlappend=%3Bseq=374}}}}</ref> While "the Second Person of the Logos" in [[Gnosticism]] "is the greatest of all the [[Aeon (Gnosticism)|aeons]] or [[Emanation (philosophy)|emanations]] from the eternal Father."<ref name="Leadbeater1904" />{{rp|page=70}}}} he interpreted Christian doctrines through Theosophy.<ref name="Tillett1990">{{Cite book|location=Berlin; New York|publisher=Mouton de Gruyter|series=Religion and society (Hague, Netherlands)|volume=29|editor-last=Trompf|editor-first=Garry W.|title=Cargo cults and millenarian movements: transoceanic comparisons of new religious movements|year=1990|isbn=0-89925-601-5|chapter=Esoteric adventism|last=Tillett|first=Gregory J.|pages=143–177|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fdIfAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA143}}</ref>{{rp|page=160}}{{efn|Goodrick-Clarke described that Leadbeater "wove in many trinitarian elements" into a pantheon.<ref name="GoodrickClarke2010" />{{rp|page=153}} Leadbeater wrote, in ''The Masters and the Path'', that "the [[Logos]] of our solar system [...] is a [[triple deity|Trinity]]; he has, or rather is, Three Persons; he functions through Three Aspects."<ref name="Leadbeater2007">{{Cite book|location=New York|publisher=Cosimo Classics|last=Leadbeater|first=Charles W.|title=The masters and the path|edition=Reprint|year=2007|orig-year=1925|isbn=978-1-60206-333-4|pages=250, 254, 296|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ocz9_WVj8_wC&pg=PA250}}</ref>{{rp|page=250}} "As the Logos is a Trinity, so [...] the world is [...] ruled by three mighty Officials, who are not merely reflections of the Three Aspects of the Logos, but are in a very real way actual manifestations of them. They are the Lord of the World, the Lord Buddha and the {{as written|Mahachohan}}, who have reached grades of Initiation which give them waking consciousness on the planes of nature beyond the field of evolution of humanity, where dwells the manifested Logos."<ref name="Leadbeater2007" />{{rp|page=254}} The Lord of the World, in that system of beliefs, is [[Sanat Kumara]],<ref name="Leadbeater2007" />{{rp|page=296}} leader of beings known as "the Sons of the Fire, the Lords of the Flame from Venus" who govern the evolution of the Earth.<ref name="GoodrickClarke2010" />{{rp|page=145}}}}{{efn|For a visual explanation of the spiritual hierarchy of superior beings, see organizational chart in Goodrick-Clarke.<ref name="GoodrickClarke2010" />{{rp|page=148}} The superior beings include a Solar Logos, a Planetary Logos, Sanat Kumara, Mahachohan, and others.}} Leadbeater and Wedgwood revised ''The Old Catholic Missal and Ritual'', {{Circa|1916|1918}}, by "eliminating references to fear of God, everlasting damnation, the insistence on sinfulness and appeals for mercy," according to Joanne Pearson, in ''Wicca and the Christian Heritage''.<ref name="Pearson2007">{{Cite book|location=London; New York|publisher=Routledge|last=Pearson|first=Joanne|title=Wicca and the Christian Heritage: Ritual, sex and magic|year=2007|isbn=978-0-203-96198-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Au_paUclEZkC|access-date=2013-05-03}}</ref>{{rp|page=33}}<ref name="Jinarajadasa1952" />{{rp|pages=6–8}} Later that year, before the end of [[World War I]], the schism which separated from Mathew's group was renamed the Liberal Catholic Church (LCC) and Wedgwood became the first [[presiding bishop]].<ref name="Pearson2007" />{{rp|page=32}}{{efn|The Theosophical Society's legacy for 20th "century occultism and [[Wicca]] has been well documented. It was not, however, from this scion of the Mathew succession, via the" {{abbr|LCC|Liberal Catholic Church}}, that [[Gerald Gardner]] and his "associates received their ordinations and consecrations."<ref name="Pearson2007" />{{rp|page=34}}}} Leadbeater informed Besant that Maitreya approved of the {{abbr|LCC|Liberal Catholic Church}} founding.<ref name="Wessinger2013">{{Cite book|location=Leiden; Boston|publisher=Brill|series=Brill handbooks on contemporary religion|volume=7|last=Wessinger|first=Catherine|editor1-last=Hammer|editor1-first=Olav|editor2-last=Rothstein|editor2-first=Mikael|title=Handbook of the theosophical current|year=2013|isbn=978-9004-23596-0|chapter=Second generation leaders of the Theosophical Society (Adyar)|pages=33–50|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=snZRetoB9yIC&pg=PA33|doi=10.1163/9789004235977_004}}</ref>{{rp|page=39–40}} The {{abbr|LCC|Liberal Catholic Church}} "affirms a number of Christian beliefs but injects a [[Gnostic]] or [[Theosophy (disambiguation)|theosophical]] meaning into them," according to ''Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology''. "The church believes that humans are sparks of divinity (rather than creatures of God) and believes in [[reincarnation]] (rather than [[resurrection]]). The church also accepts the idea of the [[Ascended master|spiritual hierarchy of masters]], or highly evolved beings who guide the spiritual development of the race. In this regard, it accepts the idea that [[Jesus]] is one of the masters, but separates the human Jesus [...] from the [[master Jesus]]." In other words, Jesus, "the person known in his early life as [[Appolonius of Tyanna]]" in that system of beliefs, is not the same as the entity known as Maitreya in that same system beliefs.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|location=Detroit|publisher=Gale Group|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of occultism and parapsychology|edition=5th|editor-last=Melton|editor-first=J. Gordon|volume=1|year=2001|isbn=0-8103-8570-8|title=Liberal Catholic Church|page=921}}</ref>

The {{abbr|LCC|Liberal Catholic Church}} self identifies as a part of the historical Catholic Church; has doctrines but does not regulate how they are believed by congregants, unlike [[Roman Catholic dogma]]; and has membership based on acceptance of a common worship without the profession of a common belief.<ref name="Sheehan1925">{{Cite book|location=Los Angeles|publisher=St. Alban Press|last=Sheehan|first=Edmund W.|title=Teaching And Worship of the Liberal Catholic Church|year=1925|oclc=613198842|pages=15, 18, 21–22|hdl=2027/uc1.$b273991?urlappend=%3Bseq=27}}</ref>

In ''Western Esotericism and Rituals of Initiation'', Henrik Bogdan compared the network containing the [[Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica]] (EGC) to the network containing the {{abbr|LCC|Liberal Catholic Church}}.<ref name="Bogdan2007">{{Cite book|location=Albany|publisher=State University of New York Press|series=SUNY series in Western esoteric traditions|last=Bogdan|first=Henrik|title=Western esotericism and rituals of initiation|year=2007|isbn=978-0-7914-7069-5|chapter=Modern pagan witchcraft or wicca|page=152|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ApuE1tEMBuYC&pg=PA152}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto;"
|+ Parallel concepts in the {{abbr|EGC|Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica}} and {{abbr|LCC|Liberal Catholic Church}} networks<ref name="Bogdan2007" />
|-
| Belief in invisible superiors || [[Secret Chiefs]] || [[Mahātmā]]s
|-
| Belief in a world teacher || Crowley ([[Therion (Thelema)|Therion]]) || Krishnamurti (Alcyone{{efn|The pseudonymous author of ''[[At the Feet of the Master]]'' attributed to Leadbeater or Krishnamurti.}})
|-
| World religion{{efn|Bogdan notes that this is despite disclaimers by both sets of groups.<ref name="Bogdan2007" />}} || [[Thelema]] || Theosophy
|-
| Oath bound body || [[A∴A∴]] || {{abbr|E.S.|Esoteric Section}}
|-
| Fraternal body || [[Ordo Templi Orientis]] (OTO) || Co-Masonic Order
|-
| Church body || {{abbr|EGC|Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica}} || {{abbr|LCC|Liberal Catholic Church}}
|}

== Validity ==

Concerning the validity of the holy orders conferred by Mathew in the period following his departure from the {{abbr|UU|Union of Utrecht}}, the following have been stated:

=== Utrecht and Roman denial ===

Gul consecrated and commissioned Mathew as a bishop in accordance with the norms of universal ecclesiastical law, nominating and electing him to a title. Mathew declared autonomy from the {{abbr|UU|Union of Utrecht}} on 29 December 1910,<ref name="Mathew1915" /> and asserted of canonical rights and prerogatives for the continuation and perpetuation of the Old Roman Catholic Church from Utrecht. He also, prior on 1 November 1909, was allegedly conditionally consecrated for the Order of Corporate Reunion.<ref name=":0" /> According to Catholic canon law, [[Conditional sacrament|conditional sacraments]] are performed when there are doubts of validity.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Code of Canon Law - Book IV - Function of the Church (Cann. 834-878) |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann834-878_en.html#PART_I. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190616204727/http://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann834-878_en.html |archive-date=2019-06-16 |access-date=2021-11-07 |website=www.vatican.va |quote=[[Canon (canon law)|Can.]] 845 §1 Because they imprint a character, the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and order cannot be repeated.<br>§2 If after diligent enquiry a prudent doubt remains as to whether the sacraments mentioned in §1 have been conferred at all, or conferred validly, they are to be conferred conditionally.}}</ref>

In 1913, Fleming testified in ''Mathew v. "The Times" Publishing Co., Ltd.'' about the {{abbr|OKKN|Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands (Oud-Katholieke Kerk van Nederland)}} that, "The Holy See or the Pontiff has never condemned these orders as invalid; but he has never explicitly recognized them."<ref name="Times_1913-04-17" /> However, Mathew was regarded by the papacy as a "pseudo-bishop."<ref name=":1" />

After Mathew died in 1919, the {{abbr|IBC|International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference}} declared in 1920 that Mathew's "consecration was obtained ''{{lang|la|[[mala fide]]}}'' and that consequently it is null and void."<ref name="Brandreth1987" />{{rp|at=xvi, pp14–15}} The suggestion was that the petition for his consecration and its 150 signatories collated by O'Halloran was false in its premise for the consecration and thus the consecration was invalid.<ref name="Kury1978">{{Cite book|location=Stuttgart|publisher=Evangelisches Verlagswerk|series=Kirchen der Welt. Reihe A|volume=3|last=Küry|first=Urs|editor-last=Oeyen|editor-first=Christian|title=Die Altkatholische Kirche: ihre geschichte, ihre lehre, ihr anliegen|language=de|year=1978|edition=3rd, amended with an addendum|isbn=3-7715-0190-3}}</ref>{{rp|page=97}}

Smit explained that in 1913, "ties of the {{abbr|IBC|International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference}} with Mathew were formally severed",<ref name="Smit2011">{{Cite book|location=Leiden|publisher=Brill|series=Brill's Series in Church History {{ndash}} Brill European History and Culture E-Books Online, Collection 2011|issn=1572-4107|volume=52|last=Smit|first=Peter-Ben|title=Old Catholic and Philippine Independent Ecclesiologies in History: The Catholic Church in every place|journal=Brill's Series in Church History and Religious Culture|year=2011|isbn=978-9004206472|pages=50, 180–285|doi=10.1163/9789004214989_004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rE3HEeoXJNsC&pg=PA197}}</ref>{{rp|page=197}} and after [[World War I]], the {{abbr|IBC|International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference}} "distanced itself more from the {{'}}''{{lang|la|episcopus vagans}}''{{'}} Mathew and those ordained and consecrated by him."<ref name="Smit2011" />{{rp|page=213}} Consecrations derived from Mathew were not recognised by the {{abbr|IBC|International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference}}.<ref name="Brandreth1987" />{{rp|at=xvi}} The {{abbr|IBC|International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference}} did also state that consecrated persons and communities connected with Mathew would not be welcome by the {{abbr|UU|Union of Utrecht}}.<ref name="Niche">{{Cite web|website=stmichael-online.de|last=Niche|first=Matthias|title=Über die sogenannten 'Vagantenbischöfe'|language=de|url=http://www.stmichael-online.de/mathew.htm|access-date=20 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405195011/http://www.stmichael-online.de/mathew.htm|archive-date=5 April 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>

Herzog's discourse was published in ''{{lang|de|Internationale Kirchliche Zeitschrift}}'' in 1915. He wrote that a surreptitious consecration, under false pretenses and on presentation of false documents, can not be recognized as valid, even if the rite of ordination had been accurately performed by real bishops.<ref name="IKZ1915a">{{Cite journal|location=Bern|publisher=Stämpfli & Cie|journal=Internationale Kirchliche Zeitschrift|issn=0020-9252|language=de|volume=neue folge 5; ganzen folge 23|issue=3|date=Jul–Sep 1915|title=Zwei thesen über die gültigkeit einer bischöflichen konsekration|last=Herzog|first=Eduard|pages=271–296|url=https://archive.org/details/a635309805bernuoft}}</ref>{{rp|pages=271}}

In 1908, Lambeth had expressed regret over the consecration of Mathew. Lambeth also indicated a desire for a closer relationship with Utrecht. [[Randall Davidson]], Archbishop of Canterbury, and [[William Maclagan]], [[Archbishop of York]], replied to the Holy See in ''[[Saepius officio]]'' giving a defence of Anglican orders.<ref>{{Cite book|location=New York|publisher=Longmans, Green|last1=Davidson|first1=Randall|author-link1=Randall Davidson|last2=Maclagan|first2=William|author-link2=William Maclagan|editor-last=Lacey|editor-first=Thomas A|title=A Roman diary and other documents relating to the papal inquiry into English ordinations MDCCCXCVI|year=1910|lccn=a11000248|chapter-url=http://anglicanhistory.org/england/lacey/diary/app2.html|access-date=20 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060113011942/http://anglicanhistory.org/england/lacey/diary/app2.html|archive-date=13 January 2006|url-status=live|chapter=Saepius Officio, Answer of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to the Bull ''Apostolicae Curae'' of H. H. Leo XIII|language=la|orig-year=1897-02-19}}
{{Cite web|publisher=University College London|website=ucl.ac.uk|title=English translation of ''Saepius officio''|url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgbmxd/saepius.htm|access-date=20 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000831201145/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgbmxd/saepius.htm|archive-date=31 August 2000|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Discussions about union with Utrecht had been taking place since the end of the 19th century, such as the conferences of reunion in Bonn in 1874 and 1875 convoked by [[Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger|Johann von Döllinger]]. Though the Dutch bishops in a report of 1894 still could not decide on the recognition of Anglican orders,<ref name="Kury1978" />{{rp|page=109}}it would appear that a desire for closer cooperation on the part of Utrecht with an Anglican desire for the recognition of their orders, conspired to impugn the reputation of Mathew.<ref name="Schuler1997">{{Cite book|location=Amersfoort|publisher=Stichting Centraal Oud-Katholiek Boekhuis|series=Publicatieserie Stichting Oud-Katholiek Seminarie|volume=30|last=Schuler|first=Christoph|title=The Mathew affair: the failure to establish an Old Catholic Church in England in the context of Anglican Old Catholic relations between 1902 and 1925|year=1997|isbn=9070596644}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=August 2013}} By June 1925, Davidson stated that the {{abbr|OKKN|Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands (Oud-Katholieke Kerk van Nederland)}} had "after lengthy investigations and serious discussions" arrived "without any reservation (to recognise) that the apostolic succession was not interrupted in the Church of England"<ref name="Niche" /> and in 1931 the ''[[Bonn Agreement (religion)|Bonn Agreement]]'' was signed and intercommunion agreed between the {{abbr|UU|Union of Utrecht}} and the Anglican Communion.

=== Anglican denial ===
[[Anglican Communion]] bishops stated in 1920 Lambeth Conference resolution 27 and 1958 Lambeth Conference resolution 54 that they do not regard the Old Catholic Church in Great Britain, its extensions overseas, and {{" '}}''{{lang|la|episcopi vagantes}}''{{'}} who call themselves either 'Old Catholic' or 'Orthodox,' in combination with other names" as properly constituted Churches, or recognise the orders of their ministers."<ref name="Lambeth1920" />{{rp|page=34}}<ref>{{Cite conference|location=London|publisher=Anglican Communion Office|conference=9th Lambeth Conference, 1958|title=Resolution 54|url=http://www.lambethconference.org/resolutions/1958/1958-54.cfm|access-date=25 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070516100740/http://www.lambethconference.org/resolutions/1958/1958-54.cfm|archive-date=16 May 2007|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

=== Rite ===

Old Roman Catholic jurisdictions have consistently employed the Tridentine Ordinal and ''[[Roman Pontifical]]'' for the conferral of ordinations and the [[consecration]] of bishops. This was the case with the See of Utrecht right up to and some years beyond the consecration of Mathew himself, without any alterations to the ceremonies. Mathew's ''Old Catholic Missal & Ritual'' contains his English translation of the ''Roman Pontifical''.<ref name="Mathew1909" />{{rp|page=289–326}}

=== Disputes of validity ===

The Old Catholic Church of British Columbia, which claims apostolic succession from Mathew, was, {{circa|2006|2007}}, a probationary member of the {{abbr|UU|Union of Utrecht}}.<ref name="OCCBC2012-10-08">{{Cite book|location=Vancouver, BC|publisher=Old Catholic Church of B.C.|title=History06a-Utrecht-Reports.pdf|date=8 October 2012|url=http://www.oldcatholicbc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/History06a-Utrecht-Reports.pdf|access-date=21 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130821160926/http://www.oldcatholicbc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/History06a-Utrecht-Reports.pdf|archive-date=21 August 2013|url-status=live}} Includes {{Cite book|location=Amesfoort|last=Vercammen|first=Joris|author-link=Joris Vercammen|title=[letter]|date=7 July 2006|id=Arch.nr.N.21}}</ref>{{rp|at=&thinsp;[letter]&thinsp;}}{{efn|In a letter, [[Joris Vercammen]], {{abbr|OKKN|Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands (Oud-Katholieke Kerk van Nederland)}} Archbishop of Utrecht, wrote that "the {{abbr|IBC|International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference}} also has to reflect on the validity of the ordinations within your church. [...] we do not expect major problems concerning this issue. [...] we concluded we did not yet receive the official certificates of your election neither of your ordination. [...] send us these documents, as it is requested in the Guidelines of the {{abbr|IBC|International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference}} with respect to the recognition of a church as independent Old Catholic Church of the Union of Utrecht."<ref name="OCCBC2012-10-08" />{{rp|at=&thinsp;[letter]&thinsp;}} The {{abbr|OCCBC|Old Catholic Church of British Columbia}} bishop was told by an {{abbr|IBC|International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference}} bishop the next year, among other issues, both that the {{abbr|OCCBC|Old Catholic Church of British Columbia}} bishop's consecration was derived through the {{abbr|LCC|Liberal Catholic Church}} and that "the line of Matthews succession is there and is not recognized by Utrecht".<ref name="OCCBC2012-10-08" />{{rp|at=rpt.pp.10–11}} The {{abbr|IBC|International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference}} rejected an {{abbr|OCCBC|Old Catholic Church of British Columbia}} request for consecration of a successor bishop,<ref name="OCCBC2012-10-08" />{{rp|at=rpt.pp.12–13}} was told that the {{abbr|OCCBC|Old Catholic Church of British Columbia}} "should be under 'the umbrella' of the Anglican Church",<ref name="OCCBC2012-10-08" />{{rp|at=rpt.p.13}} and was informed that the {{abbr|IBC|International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference}} bishops reconsidered the {{abbr|OCCBC|Old Catholic Church of British Columbia}}'s probationary membership and were "no longer a member of the Utrecht Union".<ref name="OCCBC2012-10-08" />{{rp|at=rpt.p.14}}}}

The [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec]], in a public statement, which included an apology made for miscategorizing Father Claude Lacroix, acknowledged the validity of Lacroix's holy orders and stated that {{abbr|OCCBC|Old Catholic Church of British Columbia}}'s certificates of baptism "may be accepted for the inscription of children to First Communion and Confirmation program" in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec. It also stated that when "Roman Catholics marry before an ordained minister belonging to another religious denomination, as in the case of the [... {{abbr|OCCBC|Old Catholic Church of British Columbia}}], their marriage is invalid from a religious point of view."<ref>{{Cite book|location=Québec, QC|publisher=[[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec]]|last=Pelletier|first=Jean|title=Rectification with respect to the communiqué by the Chancery Office on the Old Catholic Church of B.C. and the Reverend Claude Lacroix, a priest of this Church|year=2010|url=http://www.oldcatholicbc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/RC_archdiocese_of_Quebec.pdf|access-date=20 August 2013
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329150026/http://www.oldcatholicbc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/RC_archdiocese_of_Quebec.pdf
|archive-date=29 March 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>{{Relevance inline|paragraph|reason=1. The Archdiocese of Quebec statement does not imply that Claude Lacroix's ordination is valid through Mathew. 2. Anyone – Catholic, non-Catholic, or non-Christian – can baptize. See Catechism of the Catholic Church and 1983 Code of Canon Law.|discuss=Old Catholic Church of British Columbia sacraments|date=March 2014}}

In 2002, Cardinal [[Édouard Gagnon]] investigated the documentation of Bishop [[André Letellier]]'s episcopal orders and consecration; Letellier was consecrated on 23 May 1968 by Archbishop André Leon Zotique Barbeau of the Catholic Charismatic Church of Canada.{{efn|André Barbeau had been consecrated by Charles Brearley,{{efn-lr|name=NotInBrandreth|This person is not found in Brandreth.<ref name="Brandreth1987" />}} who had been consecrated by Matthew Cooper,{{efn-lr|name=NotInBrandreth}} who had been consecrated by James Bartholomew Banks, who had been consecrated by Frederick Samuel Willoughby,<ref name="Brandreth1987" />{{rp|page=23}} who had been consecrated by Mathew.<ref name="Brandreth1987" />{{rp|page=19}}}} Gagnon commented that, "nothing allows me to doubt the validity of episcopal ordination of Mgr André Letellier by Archbishop André Barbeau and that of Archbishop Barbeau by Archbishop Ignatius Charles Brearley, Primate of the Church of the 'Old Catholics' having its seat in England. The ordinations of the 'Old Catholics' are generally considered to be the same as those of Orthodox bishops."<ref>{{Cite book|location=Montreal|last=Gagnon|first=Édouard|title=À qui de droit|language=fr|type=letter|date=2002-05-06}}{{Primary source inline|reason=This primary source is a purported French language letter, written to whom it may concern, and anonymously translated into English. There must be an objective source to verify the existence and authenticity of the letter and the accuracy of the translation.|date=June 2014}} Translated in {{Cite web|last=Gagnon|first=Édouard|title=To whom it may concern|url=http://www.thedegree.org/cardgagnon.html|quote=After having studied the documentation about Mgr André Letellier and his predecessors in episcopal succession, I am convinced that he has been validly consecrated a bishop. It is not my intention to rule on the reports of the organization, incorporated under the name of Catholic Charismatic Church of Canada with the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Canada and of Québec. But nothing allows me to doubt the validity of episcopal ordination of Mgr André Letellier by Archbishop André Barbeau and that of Archbishop Barbeau by Archbishop Ignatius Charles Brearley, Primate of the Church of the 'Old Catholics' having its seat in England. The ordinations of the 'Old Catholics' are generally considered to be the same as those of Orthodox bishops. I have known Archbishop Barbeau for more than 60 years since our time at the Grand Seminary of Montreal. I have had little contact with him thereafter, having exercised my ministry far from here. But he has always been known to me as a man of prayer, a mystic. And I think that his disciples are also, above all, men of prayer.}}{{dead link|date=August 2013}}{{cbignore}}{{third-party-inline|reason=The link is dead and a translated transcript of this letter is only found on websites that seem to be close to the subject.|date=August 2013}}</ref>{{Relevance inline|paragraph|reason=Gagnon's response letter lists this Letellier consecration back to Brearley in the 1950s but not to Mathew. It is unknown, from this response letter, what was written to Gagnon.|discuss=André Letellier|date=March 2014}}{{Portal|Catholicism|Christianity}}

== Publications ==

*{{Cite book|location=London|publisher=Elkin Mathews|last1=Mathew|first1=Arnold H|last2=Calthrop|first2=Annette|title=The life of Sir Tobie Matthew, Bacon's alter ego|year=1907|oclc=564740658|hdl=2027/yale.39002034928433}}
*{{Cite book|location=London; Edinburgh|publisher=T.C. & E.C. Jack|series=The social problems series|volume=5|last=Mathew|first=Arnold H|title=Woman suffrage|year=1907|oclc=574296800|hdl=2027/mdp.39015003658088}}
*{{Cite book|location=London|publisher=Francis Griffiths|last=Mathew|first=Arnold H|title=The life and times of Hildebrand, Pope Gregory VII|year=1910|oclc=681821441|hdl=2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t7gq73j0c}}
*{{Cite book|location=New York|publisher=Brentano|last=Mathew|first=Arnold H|title=The life and times of Rodrigo Borgia, Pope Alexander VI|year=1912|oclc=682272315|hdl=2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t4bp00q66}}


== Further reading ==

*{{Cite book|location=New York|publisher=October House|last=Anson|first=Peter F.|title=Bishops at Large|year=1964}}
*{{Cite book|location=Schäffern|publisher=Arcturus-Verlag|last=Bruk|first=Kurt J.|title=War Bischof Arnold Harris Mathew ein Vaganten-Bischof?|language=de|year=2005|isbn=3-901489-40-1}}
*{{Cite book|location=San Bernardino|publisher=St. Willibrord's Press|last=Pruter|first=Karl|title=The Old Catholic Church, a history and chronology|year=1996|isbn=0-912134-19-4}}
*{{Cite book|location=Lincoln|publisher=iUniverse|last=Queen|first=Andre J.|title=Old Catholic, history, ministry, faith & mission|year=2003|isbn=0-595-74936-4}}

== Notes and references ==
=== Notes ===
{{Notelist}}
{{Notelist-lr}}

=== References ===
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathew, Arnold}}
[[Category:1852 births|Mathew, Arnold Harris]]
[[Category:1919 deaths|Mathew, Arnold Harris]]
[[Category:Old Catholic bishops|Mathew, Arnold Harris]]
[[Category:English Old Catholics|Mathew, Arnold]]
[[Category:Former Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Former Anglicans]]
[[Category:Mathew family|Arnold]]
[[Category:People educated at Sedbergh School]]
[[Category:Founders of new religious movements]]