IN MEMORIAM
HIS GRACE HOWARD EDWIN CAUDILL

9 January 1932 - 25 October 1998



  Released by St. George Seminary Press in 2023, Journey of Faith: The Apostolic See of Saints Stephen and Mark, by Rutherford I is a history of the present See and its people - those who went before us, laying the groundwork over the last decades and past centuries, and those who keep the faith today. 


His Grace Bishop Caudill of perpetual memory was born in South Charleston, West Virginia, United States. A Bishop and educator, his educational accomplishments included the degrees of Bachelor of Science (California College), Licentiate of Theology (University of Saskatchewan), Doctor of Philosophy (St. Andrew's College), and Doctor of Sacred Theology from St. George Theological Seminary (now Pontifical Georgian College). His honours included the distinction of Knight Commander of the Order of St. Stanislaus. 

His Grace was consecrated by Macario V. Ga, Supreme Pontiff (Bishop) of the Philippine Independent Church, and Bishops Frank Benning and John Hamers. 21 October 1993, Holy Cross Polish National Catholic Church, Brooklyn, New York. The remnants of his See, the Diocese of the Southwest, after suffering a schism, became part of the Apostolic Communion of Anglican Churches in 2008. This included the Very Rev. Dean John Mark Vornholt, who returned in 2009, recognizing it as the authentic continuation of the Diocese of the Southwest in which he had previously served under Bishop Caudill. The new Bishop of the Southwest was the Vicar-General of the Apostolic Communion of Anglican Churches. He was subsequently succeeded by H.H. Papa Rutherford I of Rome-Ruthenia (then Archbishop Johnson), at which point it became a Metropolitan See. Thereafter its territorial boundaries changed as it became the Coadjutorship of Rome and Apostolic See of the Gallo-Russo-Byzantine Catholicate and Anglican Patriarchate of Rome. The coat of arms of Bishop Caudill's See, the Diocese of the Southwest, later became the coat of arms of the Roman Coadjutorship and the Most Holy Patriarchal Basilica of Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome as that See evolved over the years.


Consecration of Bishop Caudill by Macario V. Ga, Supreme Pontiff (Bishop) of the Philippine Independent Church, and Bishops Frank Benning and John Hamers. 21 October 1993, Holy Cross Polish National Catholic Church, Brooklyn, New York. Bishop Caudill was Bishop of the Southwest. Some years after his repose, the remnants of his See went into the Apostolic Communion of Anglican Churches in 2008 and ceased to be part of the "Continuing Anglican" movement. Later it was renamed the See of St. Stephen and became the Coadjutorship of Rome, principal See of the  Anglican Patriarchate, Gallo-Russo-Byzantine Catholicate, and Imperial Roman Church.


Very Rev. Dean John Mark Vornholt

SACRISTY PRAYER AFTER CELEBRATING THE HOLY MASS
Written by Rt. Rev. Edwin Caudill, Bishop of the Southwest

FINISHED and perfected, O Lord our Christ, so far as in us lieth, is the mystery of thy dispensation. We have kept the memorial of thy death; we have celebrated thy resurrection and glorious ascension. Fill us now with thine own unending life, through the grace of God, + Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

From the Stephenian Archives (the archives of the Apostolic See of the Imperial Roman Church) and the Pontifical Apostolic Library, several important documents pertaining to Bishop Caudill are shared below in the interest of preservation of history and legacy. 


Attestation of communion with the Anglican Communion
via the First Chair of the Catholicate.


Document of consecration from the Philippine Independent Catholic Church.


Letter acknowledging affiliation with the Episcopal Synod of America
on the Diocese of the Southwest (later the Coadjutorship of Rome in the Imperial Roman Church) under Bishop H. Edwin Caudill


Letter from Bishop H. Edwin Caudill to his clergy


Letter from the Very Reverend John Vornholt, here as Curate of
the Parish of the Nativity, later as Dean to the Metropolitan
Archbishop of the Southwest (later H.H. Rutherford I)


Handwritten letter from Bishop H. Edwin Caudill to
one of his priests.

The Stephenian Archives and Pontifical Apostolic Library maintain extensive records pertaining to the history of the former Anglican Diocese of the Southwest, the Philippine Independent Catholic Church, and the Independent Catholic Church International and their relationship to the modern Imperial Roman Church (Gallo-Russo-Byzantine Catholicate and Anglican Patriarchate of Rome).

Gallo-Russo-Byzantine Rite
Pontifical Orthodox Old Catholicism
The website of the Catholicate
Anglican Patriarchate of Rome


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