Thomas John Capel, an English Roman Catholic clergyman, born in Brompton, Kent, Oct. 28, 1835. He received his early education at Lay-ston and at Hastings. In 1852, at the age of 17, he associated himself with a band of young men who, under the leadership of the Rev. J. M. Glennie, started at Hammersmith, London, a normal training college for the education of schoolmasters. Lord Edward Howard, brother to the late duke of Norfolk, and himself lately raised to the peerage, took great interest in this institution, and provided it with an annual competition and prize, entailing in favor of the successful candidate many valuable advantages. In 1856 Thomas Capel was appointed vice principal of the college. In the same year he entered the ecclesiastical state, and was ordained priest in 1859 by Cardinal "Wiseman. Immediately afterward he .fell seriously ill, was obliged to resign his post as vice principal, and sent to seek restoration of health at Pau in the Pyrenees. He founded there a mission for English-speaking Catholics, and labored in it till November, 1869. The pope, as a mark of appreciation for this special work, in 1867 made Mr. Capel one of the honorary private chamberlains of his court (this office involving the Roman title of monsignore), two years later raised him to the rank of private chamberlain, and in 1872 made him domestic prelate, a dignity giving him precedence equivalent to that of a bishop.

Each degree of monsignore entitles the bearer to assume a purple robe. Since 1869, when Mgr. Capel returned to England, he, as private chaplain to the marquis of Bute (an English peer has the right of nominating several honorary private chaplains), has devoted himself to preaching, an occupation for which he is singularly fitted. His address and delivery are very engaging, and his powers of persuasion as well as of argument no less strong.