R. Hugh Connolly

Richard Hugh Connolly (1873 – 16 March 1948) was a monk of Downside Abbey in Somerset, England, and a patristic scholar who was a major contributor to Syriac scholarship.

He was born at Carcoar in New South Wales, Australia, and attended St Stanislaus' College, Bathurst, in 1889. He continued his education in England at Downside and at Christ's College, Cambridge. He made his solemn profession at Downside Abbey in 1896, was ordained priest in 1899, and became Head of Benet House, Cambridge (1904–16), where he was closely associated with some outstanding patristic scholars in the university (J. A. Robinson, F. C. Burkitt, J. F. Bethune-Baker). His main work lay in the field of early Syrian Christianity. Barred for reasons of health from administrative or public roles he was trained by Edmund Bishop and belonged to a notable group of Cambridge Orientalists. He was a major contributor to the Journal of Theological Studies, the Downside Review and an early editor in the Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium.