William Godfrey was born in
Liverpool to George and Mary Godfrey. His father was a
haulage contractor. He leaned towards the priesthood from an early age, never taking any alternative into serious consideration. After studying at
Ushaw College, Durham, and the
English College, Rome, he was
ordained a priest on 28 October 1916 in Rome. He then finished his studies in 1918, obtaining his doctorates in
theology and philosophy in 1917, and did
pastoral work in
Liverpool until 1919. He taught
Classics, Philosophy and
Theology at Ushaw from 1918 to 1930, the year when he was appointed
rector of the
English College, Rome and given the title
Monsignor (28 October). At the college, the strict priest was known to his students as "Uncle Bill". In 1935, Godfrey was made a member of the Pontifical Commission to
Malta, and attended in an official capacity the 1937
coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. On 21 November 1938, Mgr Godfrey was appointed
Titular Archbishop of
Cius and first
Apostolic Delegate to Great Britain,
Gibraltar and
Malta. Godfrey, who was the first
papal representative to England since the
Reformation, received his
episcopal consecration on the following 21 December, in the chapel of the English College from Cardinal
Raffaele Rossi,
OCD, with Archbishop
Luigi Traglia and Bishop Ralph Hayes serving as
co-consecrators. He was also ''
chargé d'affaires'' of the
Holy See to the
Polish government-in-exile in London in 1943. He left these diplomatic posts on 10 November 1953 when he was made
Archbishop of Liverpool.
Pope Pius XII appointed Godfrey
Archbishop of Westminster, and thus the ranking prelate of the
Catholic Church in England and Wales, on 3 December 1956. During his installation, Godfrey condemned Communism and professed his mission as bringing England "back to the love of Christ". At one point in his tenure, he caused some mirth by calling for English Catholics to feed their pets less during
Lent. Archbishop Godfrey was created
Cardinal-Priest by
Pope John XXIII in the
consistory of 15 December 1958 and was assigned the title of
Ss. Nereo ed Achilleo. Godfrey, who enjoyed the piano and sports, He is buried in
Westminster Cathedral. His likeness was sculpted by
Arthur Fleischmann. ==References==