Ignatius Rice Explained

William Ignatius Rice (1883–1955), known in religion as Dom Ignatius Rice, O.S.B., was an English Benedictine monk of Douai Abbey, a headmaster of Douai School (1915–1952), and a first-class cricketer. He was reputedly "the only monk whose cricket performances were reported by Wisden".^[1]

In 1917-1918 Dom Ignatius served as a military chaplain on the Western Front.^[2]

During his 37 years as headmaster, he was an important influence on the development of Douai School, re-established in England in 1903, seeing it into the Headmasters' Conference in 1920.^[3] In the 1930s David Matthew, later Apostolic Delegate for Africa, congratulated him on the fact that: "no Catholic school has been so free from the influence of Arnold of Rugby as Douai has been."^[4]

He was a close friend of G. K. Chesterton for over thirty years, being one of four priests mentioned by Chesterton's biographer, Maisie Ward, as "especially intimate" with him (the other three being Ronald Knox, Vincent McNabb, and John O'Connor).^[5]

External links

• Statistical summary from CricketArchive
  • Obituary in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (1956)

Notes and References

1. Benny Green, A History of Cricket (1988), p. 142.
2. James H. Hagerty, "Benedictine Military Chaplains in the First World War", English Benedictine History 24 (1998). [www.plantata.org.uk/papers/ebch/1998hagerty.pdf Available online]. Accessed 2009-11-20.
3. Henry Outram Evennett, The Catholic Schools of England and Wales (Cambridge University Press, 1944), p. 69: "But in spite of all handicaps they [the monks of Douai] have created in forty years a large and efficient school on Public School lines which has achieved membership of the Headmasters' Conference ... For this achievement the present headmaster, Dom Ignatius Rice, who has guided the school's fortunes since 1915, must be given the main credit."
4. Geoffrey Scott (ed.) The English Benedictine Community of St Edmund King and Martyr. Paris 1615 / Douai 1818 / Woolhampton 1903-2003. A Centenary History (Worcester: Stanbrook Abbey Press, 2003), p. 149.
5. Maisie Ward, Gilbert Keith Chesterton (Sheed & Ward, 1942).