Adrian Fortescue

Adrian Henry Timothy Knottesford Fortescue (14 January 1874 – 11 February 1923) was an English Catholic priest and polymath. An influential liturgist, artist, calligrapher, composer, polyglot, amateur photographer, Byzantine scholar, and adventurer, he was also the founder of the Church of St Hugh of Lincoln in Letchworth. Biography Early life and education Adrian Fortescue, a direct descendant of the martyr Adrian Fortescue (died 1539), was born on 14 January 1874 in Hampstead, London, into a Midland county family of ancient lineage and high position. His father was Edward Fortescue, a renowned high church Anglican clergyman who was "highly regarded as a preacher and retreat master" and an active participant in the Anglo-Catholic Oxford Movement, before he was received into the Catholic Church. His mother, Gertrude Martha Robins, was the daughter of Sanderson Robins, another Anglican clergyman, and Caroline Gertrude Foster-Barham, the scion of the Foster-Barham family of Jamaican plantation owners and granddaughter of the 8th Earl of Thanet. In 1891 Fortescue entered the Scots' College in Rome, where, due to his exceptional musical talent, he was soon appointed organist. He was awarded the degree of Bachelor of Divinity in 1892 and his PhD in 1894, when he entered the theological faculty at Innsbruck University. He was ordained to the priesthood on 27 March 1898 by Simon Aichner, Bishop of Brixen.