Thomas Watson (bishop of Lincoln) - "Absalom" Come True

"Absalom" Come True

Watson was passionate as well about restoring the sacraments to those who had lost them. His engagements included several public orations like that at St. Mary's Spital at the end of April. Mary was eager to relinquish her parliamentary title of "Supreme Head on Earth of the Church of England" and seek reconciliation with Rome. Cardinal Pole, as Papal Legate, formally welcomed England back into the Catholic Fold on St. Andrew's Day, November 30, 1554. Watson's hopes and dreams, so poetically expressed in Absalom, had finally come about.

Bishop Gardiner, now convinced of the fatal flaw in royal supremacy, died reconciled to Rome in November 1555. John White, who had followed Taylor as Bishop of Lincoln, was transferred to Winchester in 1556, and Thomas Watson, pending ratification by the pope, was elected the thirty-fourth Bishop of Lincoln. In January 1557, as bishop-elect, he was sent by Cardinal Pole to "re-visit" Cambridge University and ensure that all was proceeding well. He re-emphasised the importance of traditional doctrine, traditional symbolism and traditional liturgy. The following month, February 1557, he officiated at the exhumation and burning of the remains of Martin Bucer and Paul Fagius. At the ceremony he preached for two hours on the harm they had done to the English Church by their "wykedness and heretycall doctryn."

Watson's papal bull of appointment (the last ever for a Bishop of Lincoln) was issued on March 24, 1557. However, he still had business in Durham. On May 29, Cardinal Pole gave him permission to remain Dean of Durham for as long as necessary. His main task was the restoration of Catholic doctrine, customs and liturgy, included efforts to recover valuables, property and land plundered during the two previous reigns. But he also undertook some duties in the Diocese of Lincoln as Bishop-Elect.