He was baptised conditionally and confirmed on 9 August 1910 by Father Stanislaus St John SJ in the Farm Street Church of The Immaculate Conception in Mayfair, central London.
In 1913 he was accepted as a candidate for the priesthood by Bishop (later Archbishop) Peter Amigo of Southwark, having failed in his application to the Archdiocese of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, and studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, where he obtained a doctorate in philosophy in 1915 and doctorates in both theology and canon law in 1921.
He was ordained to the priesthood aged 34 years in the Lateran Basilica on 30 March 1918 by Basilio Pompili, Vicar General for Rome.
After a lengthy illness and with failing sight and hearing, he died in the clinic at S. Stefano Rotondo on 16 September 1973, aged 89.
His funeral took place in St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican and he was buried in the Campo Verano cemetery, Rome.