Yesterday, Bishop Peter Elliott, Auxiliary Emeritus of Melbourne, Australia, passed away at the age of 81. His Excellency was a strong supporter of the traditional liturgy, and wrote a well-regarded manual for the new rite, Ceremonies of the Modern Roman Rite; his scholarly work covered a great many other topics as well, on Church history, marriage and family, and religious education. He was also very much involved with the establishment of the Anglican Ordinariate in Australia.
Bishop Elliott was born in 1943, the oldest son of an Anglican priest, and converted to Catholicism while studying at Oxford University in the 1960s. He was ordained to the priesthood for the archdiocese of Melbourne in 1973, and after serving there for several years, did a doctorate at the Lateran University in Rome, specializing in the theology of marriage. He then served as a representative of the Holy See at various international conferences, including the United Nations population conferences in Cairo and Beijing; he was also a consultor to the Congregation for Divine Worship. In 2007, he was made an auxiliary bishop of his native diocese by Pope Benedict XVI, and retiring from that position in 2018.
Deus, qui inter Apostolicos sacerdotes famulum tuum Petrum pontificali fecisti dignitate vigere: praesta quaesumus; ut eorum quoque perpetuo aggregetur consortio. Per Christum, Dominum nostrum. Amen.
God, who didst raise Thy servant Peter to the dignity of bishop in the apostolic priesthood, grant, we beseech Thee, that he may be joined to the everlasting fellowship of the Apostles. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
