Thomas Weld was an English landowner who renounced his assets to enter the priesthood. He was consecrated bishop and cardinal.
Thomas Weld (cardinal)
Portrait miniature of Thomas Weld and his daughter Mary Lucy, painted in Paris in 1819 by Jean-Baptiste Jacques Augustin
Portrait of Cardinal Weld by Andrew Geddes
Palazzo Chigi-Odescalchi Rome, from an etching
Thomas Weld (of Lulworth)
Thomas Bartholomew Weld (1750–1810), known as Thomas Weld of Lulworth Castle, was a member of the English Catholic gentry, landowner, philanthropist and bibliophile. He was connected to many of the leading Catholic families of the land, such as the Bodenhams, Cliffords, Erringtons, Petres and Stourtons. He proved to be a great benefactor of the Society of Jesus in England in their educational and pastoral endeavours, as timely donor of his Stonyhurst estate in 1794. He was also a benefactor to other Roman Catholic religious and clergy. He was a personal friend of King George III. His sister-in-law was Maria Fitzherbert. After the French Revolution he hosted refugee remnants of the French royal family at his castle. He was the builder, in 1786, of the first Roman Catholic place of worship in England after the Protestant Reformation.
Lulworth Castle, Dorset, England
Grade I listed RC Chapel of St Mary, built to look like a house, 1786
Interior of St Mary's Chapel, Lulworth Castle
Stonyhurst college, a 1794 benefaction by Weld to the English Jesuits still under Suppression