Frederick C. Hopkins

The Most Reverend

Frederick Hopkins, S.J.
Vicar Apostolic of Belize
ChurchCatholic Church
SeeTitular Bishop of Athribis
Appointed17 August 1899
In office5 November 1899 – 9 April 1923
PredecessorSalvatore di Pietro, S.J.
SuccessorJoseph Anthony Murphy, S.J.
Orders
Ordination23 September 1877
Consecration5 November 1899
by Archbishop John Joseph Kain
Personal details
Born12 December 1844
Birmingham, England
Died9 April 1923(1923-04-09) (aged 78)
British Honduras

Frederick Charles Hopkins was an English Jesuit and Catholic bishop in British Honduras, Central America, at the turn of the 20th century.[1]

Missionary bishop

Frederick C. Hopkins was born 12 December 1844 in Birmingham, England. He entered the Society of Jesus in September 1868 and was ordained a priest on 23 September 1877. He arrived on the British Honduras mission in January 1888. He became Superior of the mission in 1892 and Vicar General in 1893. On the demise of Bishop Salvatore di Pietro, Hopkins was made Vicar Apostolic of British Honduras on 17 August 1899. He was consecrated bishop in St. Francis Xavier College Church in St. Louis on 5 November 1899. His cathedral parish was Holy Redeemer in Belize City. In 1910, when the Mercy motherhouse in New Orleans was no longer able to send sisters to Belize, Hopkins obtained permission from Rome and they opened an independent motherhouse in Belize. Then in 1913 Hopkins welcomed the Sisters of the Catholic Apostolate (Pallottines) to Belize, to labor first in Corozal Town and Benque Viejo.[2]

Writer

Pitpan.

Before becoming bishop, Hopkins was editor of The Angelus, the Roman Catholic newspaper for British Honduras (later "Belize"), and chronicled the early history of the mission. Much of what he wrote was from his own experience, as of the need to "get out of the pitpan and pull it up the raging waters."[3] While bishop he wrote The Catholic Church in British Honduras (1851-1918).[4] On 9 April 1923, Hopkins died when a coastal boat that he was travelling in sank, taking his life and that of two sisters headed with him to the Corozal mission. [5][6]

References

  1. ^ David M. Cheney. "Bishop Frederick Charles Hopkins [Catholic-Hierarchy]". catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  2. ^ Woods, Charles M. Sr., et al. Years of Grace: The History of Roman Catholic Evangelization in Belize: 1524-2014. (Belize: Roman Catholic Diocese of Belize City-Belmopan, 2015), pp. 197, 163, 174.
  3. ^ The Angelus, June 1900, pp. 118f.
  4. ^ Hopkins, Frederick C. (October 1918). "The Catholic Church in British Honduras (1851–1918)" (PDF). The Catholic Historical Review. pp. 304–314. JSTOR 25011583. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
  5. ^ "Frederick C. Hopkins (obituary)". Woodstock Letters. 77: 222. 1948. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  6. ^ “Episode of the North: The E.M.L. sinks” (April 1984). The Christian Herald, p. 8.