Bernard Orchard
Encyclopedia
Dom Bernard Orchard OSB
Order of Saint Benedict
The Order of Saint Benedict is a Roman Catholic religious order of independent monastic communities that observe the Rule of St. Benedict. Within the order, each individual community maintains its own autonomy, while the organization as a whole exists to represent their mutual interests...

 MA
Master of Arts (Oxbridge)
In the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin, Bachelors of Arts of these universities are admitted to the degree of Master of Arts or Master in Arts on application after six or seven years' seniority as members of the university .There is no examination or study required for the degree...

 (born 3 May 1910 — died 28 November 2006) was an English Roman Catholic Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...

 monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...

, headmaster and biblical scholar.

Early life and education

John Archibald Henslowe Orchard, the son of a farmer, was born in Bromley
Bromley
Bromley is a large suburban town in south east London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Bromley. It was historically a market town, and prior to 1963 was in the county of Kent and formed the administrative centre of the Municipal Borough of Bromley...

, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

. He was educated at Ealing Priory School (to which he would in later life return as headmaster), and on leaving in 1927 became its first pupil since foundation in 1902 to go to university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...

, winning a place at Fitzwilliam House, in the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

, where he read History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

 and Economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

. At Ealing Priory he shared classes with Reginald C. Fuller
Reginald C. Fuller
Reginald Cuthbert Fuller was ordained as a priest in 1931 by Cardinal Bourne, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, and appointed Canon of Westminster Cathedral by Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor in 2001...

 with whom he would in later life collaborate on scholarly projects.

Monk

After graduating Orchard taught initially at a preparatory school
Preparatory school (UK)
In English language usage in the former British Empire, the present-day Commonwealth, a preparatory school is an independent school preparing children up to the age of eleven or thirteen for entry into fee-paying, secondary independent schools, some of which are known as public schools...

 before in 1932 taking the monastic habit at Downside Abbey
Downside Abbey
The Basilica of St Gregory the Great at Downside, commonly known as Downside Abbey, is a Roman Catholic Benedictine monastery and the Senior House of the English Benedictine Congregation. One of its main apostolates is a school for children aged nine to eighteen...

, adopting the name Bernard
Bernard
The masculine given name Bernard is of Germanic origin.The meaning of the name is from a Germanic compound Bern-hard meaning "bear-hardy", or "brave as a bear". Bern- is the old form of bear from West Germanic *beran-....

; he was subsequently ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1939. At Downside he both taught at the school, took the role of choirmaster and began his career as a biblical scholar under the tutelage of Abbots John Chapman and Christopher Butler
Christopher Butler
Basil Christopher Butler OSB , was a convert from the Church of England to the Roman Catholic Church, a Roman Catholic priest, the 7th Abbot of Downside Abbey, one-time Abbot President of the English Benedictine Congregation, a bishop, an internationally respected scripture scholar, a consistent...

. From 1943 he took advantage of Divino Afflante Spiritu
Divino Afflante Spiritu
Divino Afflante Spiritu is an encyclical letter issued by Pope Pius XII on September 30, 1943. It inaugurated the modern period of Roman Catholic Bible studies by permitting the limited use of modern methods of biblical criticism. The Catholic bible scholar Raymond E...

, the papal encyclical
Encyclical
An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Catholic Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop...

 of Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....

, which for the first time permitted modern methods of biblical criticism
Biblical criticism
Biblical criticism is the scholarly "study and investigation of Biblical writings that seeks to make discerning judgments about these writings." It asks when and where a particular text originated; how, why, by whom, for whom, and in what circumstances it was produced; what influences were at work...

 to be employed by Catholics, to embark upon A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, eventually published in 1951.

St Benedict's School

After 13 years at Downside its then-Abbot, Sigebert Trafford, instructed Orchard to take on the headship of Ealing Priory School. The school, which had been established in 1902 as a dependency of Downside, was by 1945 in a state in which closure rather than growth seemed the more likely prospect. Orchard, however, threw himself into the task of revitalising the school, which he renamed St Benedict's School
St Benedict's School
St Benedict's School is a co-educational independent Roman Catholic school situated in Ealing, West London. The school is part of Ealing Abbey and is governed by the Abbot and monks of Ealing. As the only day school of the English Houses of the English Benedictine Congregation, the school does not...

, and by 1947 succeeded in achieving recognition by the Ministry of Education as efficient (thus enabling it to participate in the teachers’ pension scheme).

In 1951 Orchard was admitted to the Headmasters' Conference, giving St Benedict's the status of a public school
Public School (UK)
A public school, in common British usage, is a school that is neither administered nor financed by the state or from taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of endowments, tuition fees and charitable contributions, usually existing as a non profit-making charitable trust...

, the only Catholic day school to achieve this position. By 1959, Abbot Rupert Hall of the by-then independendent Ealing Abbey
Ealing Abbey
Ealing Abbey is a Roman Catholic Benedictine monastic foundation in West London, England, and part of the English Benedictine Congregation.-History:...

, was concerned that Orchard's ambitions for the school exceeded the financial capability of the monastic community, and requested that Orchard resign his position as headmaster in 1960. The death of his successor after just one term and the resignation of his successor after five years resulted in Orchard being called upon to resume the headship of the school in 1965, a position he held until a further dispute over his ambitions for expansion led to his resignation a second time in 1969.

Biblical Scholar

After completing his biblical commentary in 1951, and in addition to his headmaster’s duties, Orchard embarked with Reginald C. Fuller
Reginald C. Fuller
Reginald Cuthbert Fuller was ordained as a priest in 1931 by Cardinal Bourne, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, and appointed Canon of Westminster Cathedral by Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor in 2001...

, his erstwhile fellow Ealing Priory pupil, on producing a new translation of the Bible, suitable for both liturgical and academic use, which was published in 1967. At the age of 60, and finally free from stewardship of the school, Orchard resumed his career as a biblical scholar in earnest. He participated in the establishment in 1969 and was the second General Secretary (1970–1972) of the World Catholic Federation and, displaying the same vigour evident in his revival of St Benedict's School, organised and financed a series of international conferences on the Gospels. During the 1970s he spent four years as spiritual director of the Beda College in Rome and took up the position of Visiting Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 of New Testament Studies at the University of Dallas
University of Dallas
The University of Dallas is a private, independent Catholic regional university located in Irving, Texas, established in 1956, which is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. According to U.S...

 (Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

) before returning to the community at Ealing for the remainder of his life.

Following in the footsteps of his mentor Christopher Butler, Orchard promulgated, in the face of general scholarly scepticism, the Griesbach hypothesis, which he renamed the Two-Gospel Hypothesis, which maintained that the Gospel of Matthew
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...

 was the first and the Gospel of Mark
Gospel of Mark
The Gospel According to Mark , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Mark or simply Mark, is the second book of the New Testament. This canonical account of the life of Jesus of Nazareth is one of the three synoptic gospels. It was thought to be an epitome, which accounts for its place as the second...

 the last, being a synthesis of Matthew's Gospel and the Gospel of Luke
Gospel of Luke
The Gospel According to Luke , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Luke or simply Luke, is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels. This synoptic gospel is an account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. It details his story from the events of his birth to his Ascension.The...

. Into his old age he remained a familiar face in biblical circles, lecturing worldwide in support of his hypothesis. Aged 95, he publicly declined the invitation of Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster
Archbishop of Westminster
The Archbishop of Westminster heads the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster, in England. The incumbent is the Metropolitan of the Province of Westminster and, as a matter of custom, is elected President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, and therefore de facto spokesman...

 to attend a lecture which would support the priority of Mark's Gospel.

Death

After leading the chant at midday on 28 November 2006, Orchard, aged 96, prayed at the bedside of the dying Dom Kevin Horsey. They were the last survivors of the Ealing community before it became independent in 1947, and died within hours of each other that night.

Publications

Books
  • A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture (1951) (editor)
  • Catholic Edition of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, (ed., with Reginald C Fuller), London (1967)
  • The Common Bible, (ed., with Reginald C Fuller), London (1973)
  • Matthew, Luke & Mark, Koinonia Press, Manchester (1976)
  • A New Catholic Commentary, (General Editor), London (1969)
  • Synopsis of the Four Gospels in English (1982)
  • Synopsis of the Four Gospels in Greek (1983),
  • The Order of the Synoptics (with H. Riley) (1987)
  • Born to be King - The Epic of the Incarnation (A theological application of the Matthean Priority Hypothesis), Ealing Abbey Scriptorium, London (1993)
  • The Origin and Evolution of the Gospels, Ealing Abbey Scriptorium, London 1993


Articles
  • "Thessalonians and the Synoptic Gospels," Biblica
    Biblica (journal)
    Biblica is an academic journal published by the Pontifical Biblical Institute. The editor-in-chief is Dean Béchard....

    19 (1938) 19-42
  • The Rejection of Christ, Downside Review LVI (1938) 410-426
  • The Persecution of Christ, Downside Review LVII (1939) 189-198
  • The Two Year Public Ministry Viewed and Reviewed, Downside Review LVII (1939) 308-339
  • St Paul and the Book of Daniel, Biblica
    Biblica (journal)
    Biblica is an academic journal published by the Pontifical Biblical Institute. The editor-in-chief is Dean Béchard....

    : 20 (1939) 172-179
  • A Note on the Meaning of Galatians 2: 3-5, Journal of Theological Studies Vol. 43 (1942) 173-177
  • A New Solution of the Galatians Problem, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library No. 28 (1944) 154-174
  • The Problem of Acts and Galatians, Catholic Biblical Quarterly
    Catholic Biblical Quarterly
    The Catholic Biblical Quarterly is a refereed theological journal published by the Catholic Biblical Association of America....

    : 7 (1945) 377-397
  • Prayers We have in Common: The Biblical Aspect, Worship: 47 No. 3 (March 1973) 144-149
  • The Meaning of ton epiousion (Mt 6:11 = Lk 11:3), Biblical Theology Bulletin III-3 (1973), 274-282
  • The Ellipsis between Galatians 2:3 and 2:4, Biblica
    Biblica (journal)
    Biblica is an academic journal published by the Pontifical Biblical Institute. The editor-in-chief is Dean Béchard....

    54 (1973) 469-481
  • Priestly Training according to the Gospels, Omnis Terra (English Edition): 58 (February 1974)
  • Once again the Ellipsis between Galatians 2:3 and 2:4, Biblica
    Biblica (journal)
    Biblica is an academic journal published by the Pontifical Biblical Institute. The editor-in-chief is Dean Béchard....

    57 (1976) 254-255
  • J.A.T. Robinson and the Synoptic Problem, New Testament Studies: 22 (1975/1976) 346-452
  • J J Griesbach: Synoptic and Text Critical Studies 1776-1976, Society for New Testament Studies, (1978)
  • Are All Gospel Synopses Biased? Theologische Zeitschrift: 34 (1978) 149-162
  • Ellipsis and Parenthesis in Gal 2:1-10 and 2 Thess 2:1-12, Paul de Tarse - Apotre de Notre Temps (Rome: Basilica di San Paulo-f-1-m, (1979))
  • Some Guidelines for the Interpretation of Eusebius H.E. Ill 34-39, Festschrift
    Festschrift
    In academia, a Festschrift , is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during his or her lifetime. The term, borrowed from German, could be translated as celebration publication or celebratory writing...

     in Honour of Bo Reicke, Basle (1979)
  • Why THREE Synoptic Gospels? Irish Theological Quarterly: 46 No. 4 (1979)
  • The Solution of the Synoptic Problem, Scripture Bulletin, XVIII, No. 1. Winter (1987)
  • The Formation of the Synoptic Gospels, Downside Review, Vol. 106 No. 362 (Jan 1988) 1-16
  • The Evolution of the Gospels, CTS
    Catholic Truth Society
    Catholic Truth Society is a body that prints and publishes Catholic literature, including apologetics but also prayerbooks, spiritual reading, lives of saints and so forth...

     Publications (CTS SC60), London (1990)
  • Response to H. Merkel (Ancient Patristic Testimony to the Gospels), The Interrelations of the Gospels, (ed. David L Dungan), Leuven 1990, 591-604
  • Mark and the Fusion of Traditions, The Four Gospels - Festschrift Frans Neirynck, Leuven (1992), 779-800
  • The Making and Publication of Mark's Gospel: An Historical Investigation, Annales Theologici 1, (1993), 369-393
  • The Origin and Evolution of the Gospels, (1993)
  • The Publication of Mark's Gospel, The Synoptic Gospels - Source Criticism and The New Literary Criticism, ed. Camille Focant, Leuven (1993), 518-520.
  • Josephus
    Josephus
    Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...

    and the Unnamed Priests of his Roman Mission
    , Downside Review, Vol. 113 No. 393 (October 1995) 248-270
  • Dei Verbum and the Synoptic Gospels, This Rock (1996)
  • The Bethrothal and Marriage of Mary to Joseph, Homiletic and Pastoral Review, Volume CII No 1 (October 2001)
  • The Bethrothal and Marriage of Mary to Joseph, Homiletic and Pastoral Review, Volume CII No 2 (November 2001)
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