Cardinal Wiseman At Maynooth, Ireland, And The Re-Establishment Of The Catholic Hierarchy In England In 1850. (Part Two).

Cardinal Wiseman.

Illustration: LIBFOCUS

“A Grand Anti-Popish Procession, demonstrative of 

the feeling existing against the Papal Aggression, took place at Eltham, Kent, on Wednesday. An immense figure of the Pope, in full Pontificals, and of Cardinal Wiseman, were carried in vans, accompanied by between forty and fifty horsemen. After perambulating the country in the neighbourhood, they burnt the two effigies at Eltham, amidst discharges of rockets and other fireworks, while a band played the National Anthem”. — 1850 Illustrated London News.

The following Text is from THE VICTORIAN WEB

Although Catholics had long enjoyed toleration in England, their Church was governed by Vicars Apostolic, rather than Bishops, and there was no Diocesan or Parish organisation. 

But, in 1850, partly to better administer the large number of Catholic Irish flocking into England after The Irish Famine, The Catholic Church re-established its full hierarchy. 

For the first time since the reign of Mary Tudor (1555-1558), Catholics now had a a full hierarchy consistent with that of Catholic countries. Thirteen Sees and the Archdiocese of Westminster were established.

To liberals, the re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in England was but a logical extension of toleration and full religious liberties, but to many other Englishmen it marked yet another disastrous concession to the “Bishop of Rome” and yet another sign that the Church of England, convulsed by the high ritualism and Anglo-Catholicism of The Oxford Movement, and still reeling from the recent conversion to Catholicism of the eminent Anglican theologian, John Henry Newman, was in retreat before its old adversary, The Catholic Church.

The appointment of Dr. Nicholas Wiseman as a Cardinal and Catholic Archbishop of Westminster (in London) also provoked a reaction, as Wiseman was considered to be a militant and extremely outspoken Catholic. To The Times, to choose the Capital City as the Archbishopric, and Wiseman as Archbishop, was either a “clumsy joke” or else “one of the grossest acts of folly and impertinence which The Court of Rome has ventured to commit since The Crown and the people of England threw off its yoke.” (The Times, 14 October, 1850, 4, quoted in Arnstein 45.)

The wording of his “Pastoral Letter” served as a Red Flag to those who feared that the re-establishment of the hierarchy would be the first stage in a Catholic take-over of England.

He naturally rejoiced in the new Catholic organisation in England, but did so in immoderate and provocative language: “Your beloved country”, he told his fellow Englishmen, “has received a place among the fair Churches, which, normally constituted, form the splendid aggregate of Catholic communion; Catholic England has been restored to its orbit in the ecclesiastical firmament, from which its light had long vanished.” (Quoted in Chadwick I, 291). 

He went on to state that: “We govern and shall continue to govern”, he wrote, “the Counties of Middlesex, Hertford, Essex, as Ordinary, thereof, and those of Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Berkshire, and Hampshire, with the islands annexed, as Administrator, with Ordinary jurisdiction.”

Queen Victoria was purported to have reacted to these imperious words with: “ Am I Queen of England, or am I not ? ”

It should be stressed that the re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in 1850, did not, of course, occur in a vacuum ! 

There was considerable interest in England in the struggle of Italian patriots to free their country from both foreign (Austrian) and Papal influence, and that increased anti-Roman sentiment, but, even more important, The Irish Famine resulted in the emigration to England of thousands of Irish men and women. 

English attempts to “settle” Ireland with Protestant plantations belonged in the distant past and had proved a failure: Now, it seemed, that the reverse process had begun. The Church of England had, in 1833, “unified” (a convenient euphemism for abolished !) several of its Sees in Ireland, marking a retreat from the old mission to bring the benefits of The Established Church to The Irish: Again, it seemed, the reverse process had begun.

In what ways, quite specifically, did the Irish immigration pattern provoke fears and anger ? How large was the immigration ? In which major urban and industrial centres did the immigrants settle ? Did they stay permanently in England or simply use England as a springboard for further emigration to the USA and Canada ? How accurate were immigration figures ?

The re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy thus occurred at a most critical time and raised many questions. Did the new Catholic Archbishop, with his Archdiocese in London, take diplomatic precedence over The Bishop of London ? What was his diplomatic status as a Cardinal ? Should The English permit The Catholic Church full powers to proselytise and convert ? Did the new recognition of The Catholic Church mean that all the qualifying clauses which accompanied The Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829) were now in abeyance ?

Typical of the most extreme reactions and bigotry of the day were the vehement thunderings of The Bulwark or Reformation Journal , a journal published in Scotland. 

It equated Catholicism with moral and political “blight,” superstition, depravity, and corruption and feared that “Papal Aggression” was bent on the re-conquest of England. 

Wiseman was burned in effigy, several Catholic Churches had their windows broken, and “No Popery” Processions were held throughout England.

As part of the great anti-Catholic outburst, an Ecclesiastical Titles Act was passed which imposed a fine on any non-Anglican Bishop who took a territorial title. 

It passed, however, in considerably emasculated form, its provisions were never enforced, and it was repealed in 1871.

This concludes the Article.

Cardinal Wiseman At Maynooth, Ireland, And The Re-Establishment Of The Catholic Hierarchy In England In 1850. (Part One).

Cardinal Wiseman.

Illustration and Text: LIBFOCUS

Saint Patrick’s College, 

Maynooth, Ireland.

Date: 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: Finaghy at English Wikipedia

(Wikimedia Commons)

By: Olive Morrin, Library Assistant, Maynooth University.

Nicholas Wiseman was born in Seville on 2 August 1802 of Irish parents. He was the son of James Wiseman (a Waterford, Ireland, merchant then living in Seville, Spain) and Xaviera Strange, also from Waterford. 

He returned to Waterford after the death of his father in 1805, with his mother and siblings. He attended school in Waterford for some years until he was sent to Ushaw College, Durham, England, in 1810. 

Having decided on a religious life, he was selected to attend the re-opened English College in Rome. He took his degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1824 and was Ordained in 1825, and in 1828, when he was twenty-six, he became Rector of The English College in Rome. 

He was appointed Curator of the Arabic manuscripts in The Vatican and Professor of Oriental languages in The Roman University.

Cardinal Wiseman visited England in 1835 and was disappointed with the level of Catholic involvement in public life, despite The Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829. 

He embarked on a lecture tour, which was very well attended, and attracted some distinguished converts, including Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-1852) the eminent architect who designed the Library and three sides of Saint Mary’s Square in Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Ireland. 

In 1840, he was Consecrated Bishop, appointed President of Oscott College, England, and Co-Adjutor to Bishop Walsh. At Oscott College, he became acquainted with Daniel O’Connell and, in 1836, Wiseman founded The Dublin Review, along with Michael Joseph Quin and Daniel O’Connell. 

In 1916, the name was changed to The Wiseman Review but the periodical was eventually incorporated into The Month.

Bishop Wiseman was appointed Cardinal and first Archbishop of Westminster upon the re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales in 1850. 

His appointment was not greeted by universal acceptance. There was strong opposition from both the Clergy and Laity of “the old school”, especially to his “Romanising” initiatives, which included the introduction of Religious Images into Churches and the Veneration of The Blessed Virgin Mary.

Cardinal Wiseman worked to overcome this opposition by striving to interact with his antagonists, writing and giving frequent lectures. In 1858, he visited Ireland for three weeks and undertook what turned out to be a triumphant tour. 

He landed in Waterford in September and stayed with his cousin, Peter Strange. Among other places, he visited Dublin, Dundalk, Ballinasloe, and Maynooth. 

On the morning of 8 September 1858, he arrived at Maynooth railway station, where he was met by the President of the College, Dr. Charles William Russell (1812-1880): “The Professors and the Students, over five hundred in number, in full academic costume, were waiting in the College grounds, and accorded to their illustrious visitor a thoroughly Irish welcome” (Cardinal Wiseman's tour of Ireland) 

He then Celebrated High Mass and, in the afternoon, he met with Staff and Students of the College in the new Library (later re-named the Russell Library) which was still an empty hall. 

“In the evening, His Eminence was entertained at a banquet by the President. Upwards of seventy Prelates, Clergy, and Gentry, sat down at table. After nightfall, the College, and also the Town of Maynooth, were handsomely illuminated in honour of the visit of the Cardinal” (ibid.). 

Dr. Russell corresponded with Cardinal Wiseman and some of these Letters are reproduced in The Irish Monthly [1], also there are original Letters from Cardinal Wiseman to Dr. Russell in the archives of Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth.

Cardinal Wiseman’s last years were beset by ill-health and an estrangement with his Co-Adjutor Bishop, George Errington.

He died on 16 February 1865, aged sixty-three, and was buried in Saint Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, Kensal Green, London. He was re-buried in 1907 in the newly-opened Westminster Cathedral, London. 

His tomb was designed by Edward Welby Pugin, son of A.W. N. Pugin, and is the only Gothic Monument in an otherwise Byzantine Cathedral.

The Russell and John Paul II Libraries in Maynooth College hold sixty-four of Cardinal Wiseman’s publications.

[1][1] Dr. Russell of Maynooth. Memorial Notes XIII: Correspondence with Cardinal Wiseman (concluded). The Irish Monthly: vol. 21, 239(May, 1893), pp 263-269.

PART TWO FOLLOWS.