Bede Jarrett

Bede Jarrett OP (22 August 1881 – 17 March 1934) was an English Dominican friar and Catholic priest who was also a noted historian and author. Known for works including Mediæval Socialism and The Emperor Charles IV, Jarrett also founded Blackfriars Priory at the University of Oxford in 1921, formally reinstating the Dominican Order at that university for the first time since the Dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII.

Early life and education

Born in Greenwich as Cyril Jarrett, he was the fifth of six sons to parents Colonel H.S. Jarrett, Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE), and Agnes (Beaufort) Jarrett. Beginning in 1891, Jarrett studied at Stonyhurst, and in August 1898 he joined the Order of Preachers (OP), also known as the Dominican Order, at St Dominic's Priory in London. Jarrett continued to study at the novitiate in Woodchester and became a novice on 24 September 1898 under the new name of Friar Bede. His religious name was for Bede, known as "the Venerable Bede", an early British Catholic saint sometimes called the Father of English History. On 30 August 1900, Jarrett moved to continue his studies of philosophy, theology and history at Hawkesyard Priory and received minor orders and the subdiaconate, and diaconate in 1902.

In 1904 Jarrett became the first Dominican friar since the Reformation to study at the University of Oxford, matriculating as a student with the Benedictines at St. Benet's Hall. He studied history and completed his degree in 1907. On 18 December 1904, after his first term at Oxford, Jarrett was ordained in Woodchester. To complete his formal education, in 1908 he received his lectorate in theology at Louvain.