English Catholicism in the Nineteenth Century Cheryl E
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Old Dominion University ODU Digital Commons History Theses & Dissertations History Winter 1982 Emancipation & Renewal: English Catholicism in the Nineteenth Century Cheryl E. Yielding Old Dominion University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/history_etds Part of the European History Commons, and the History of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Yielding, Cheryl E.. "Emancipation & Renewal: English Catholicism in the Nineteenth Century" (1982). Master of Arts (MA), thesis, History, Old Dominion University, DOI: 10.25777/vgjz-9x15 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/history_etds/23 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the History at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in History Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. EMANCIPATION & RENEWAL ENGLISH CATHOLICISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY by Cheryl E. Yielding B.A. May 1978, Christopher Newport College A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Old Dominion University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS HISTORY OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY December, 1982 Approved by: jir^ctor) Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT EMANCIPATION & RENEWAL: ENGLISH CATHOLICISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY Cheryl E. Yielding Old Dcrninion University, 1982 Director: Dr. Norman H. Pollock English Catholics faced great difficulties and divisions in the nineteenth century. The chief problems were obtaining civil rights and the right to provide their children with a religious education, prejudice, the restoration of the hierarchy for more efficient government, and the split between Ultramontanes and Liberals. The influx of Irish added to these problems. This thesis is concerned only with the English Catholics and those Irish Catholics living in England. The "Irish Question" is not dealt with, as the Irish Catholics had different problems and needs than their English brethem. The major emphasis is the preju dice encountered by English Catholics and the restoration of the hierarchy. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PREFACE The Emancipation of English Reman Catholics was a long slow process. An attitude of toleration was necessary in the country before the penal laws vtfiich had been passed against them could be eased in severity or removed. Not until the 1820s did it appear that Catholic emancipation had a chance of passing parliament. Finally in 1829 parliament passed a bill returning to English Catholics the civil rights they had lost during the reigns of Elizabeth I, Janes I, and Charles II. This preface will survey sane of the major penal laws against the Catholics. It must be noted that in England the Catholic question was often intertwined with the status, condition, and prob lems of Ireland and many Englishmen believed it to be chiefly an Irish question. Only the English Catholic question will be taken up and dealt with in the first chapter. Penal laws against English Catholics were first enacted in the reign of Elizabeth I, a time when the Church of England was taking its structured form and England was fighting an undeclared war against Philip II of Spain. Most Elizabethan Englishmen regarded Philip as a despot and Catholicism as a means of enslavement to the Spanish King and the Pope. Political considerations also played their part in the enactment of penal laws against English Catholics. The Tudor dynasty's grasp on the English throne was not so firm as it might have been and ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. when Mary I, Elizabeth's predecessor, attenpted to return England to Catholicism, the nation reacted with fear and fury. Her marriage to Philip II fueled these two emotions and Mary's death in 1558 was a relief to many Englishman. Not all Englishman ware ecstatic about Elizabeth's reign, how ever. There ware several plots against her during her reign. One, to replace her with her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary's Catholicism caused the government to doubt English Catholics' loyalty. Che of Elizabeth's first religious acts was the 1559 Act of Uniformity which set the use of the 1552 Anglican Book of Common Prayer as the official Anglican liturgy. The act set penalties for not using the book or for speaking in derogation of the book or its contents.1 In 1570 Pope Pius V published a Papal Bull denouncing Eliza beth I as an enemy of Catholicism and declaring her deprived of the throne. The bull also absolved her citizens of any duty to obey her and urged them not to obey. Those who continued to obey her "we do 2 include in the like sentence of anathema." The bull meant that all English Catholics might be potential traitors and so resulted in more anti-Catholic penal laws. Several important acts were passed during the years 1581 to 1602 designed to tighten the existing laws against Catholics and create new ones. The most important of these were: the Act of 1851, which forbade reconciliation with Rcme; the Act of 1585, directed 1Henry S. Bettenscn, ed., Documents of the Christian Church, 2d ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1963), p. 333. 2 J. R. Tanner, ed., Tudor Constitutional Documents, 3d ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1951), p. 146. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. against Catholic priests in England; the Act of 1593 against "Popish Recusants"; and the Act of 1602, again directed against Catholic priests, especially Jesuits, whose success in England in serving English Catholics and converting others alarmed the government. With these acts it was illegal to assist Catholicism in England or to con vert Englishmen. Anyone found guilty of either of these actions would suffer the penalties of high treason. This same penalty was applicable to anyone convicted of being a Catholic. Those who aided a Catholic— priest or layman— would be guilty of misprision of treason. Non- attendance at Anglican services resulted in a 620 fine per month and if continued for a year, that person would have to post at least a 3 6200 bond for good behavior. The Act of 1602 banned all Catholic priests from England and banished those in England at the time. The Act of 1585 was directed against Catholic priests in England and forbade than to enter England. If alreacfy in England, it for bade them to stay longer than forty days. The English Catholics in seminaries abroad were ordered to return heme and take an oath of loyalty to Elizabeth and the Anglican Church. Those who stayed abroad were considered guilty of high treason. Families who sent their chil dren abroad to seminaries were fined 6100 per child; those sending students abroad or sending money to aid such students were guilty of praemunire; while those who knew of the location of a Catholic priest 4 and did not reveal such location were fined and inprisoned. The Act of 1593 was against all English Catholics— priest or layman. Known ^Ibid., p. 153. 4 G. W. Prothero, ed., Select Statutes and Other Constitutional Documents— Elizabeth I and James I (Oxford; reprint ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963), pp. 83-86. iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Catholic recusants or those convicted of non-attendance at Anglican services had to remain at hate and were forbidden to travel more than five miles fron there. Matties and notification of travel were to be given to the local minister and constables to be forwarded to the Justices of the Peace. The penalty for disobedience was forfeiture to the crown for life of all lands and goods as well as rents and annui- . 5 ties. English Catholics' status fluctuated during the reigns of the Stuart rulers. During the reign of James I several new penal laws were enacted. Two of these were enacted in 1606. The first required annual attendance at an Anglican service and reception of comnunion. Refusal resulted in a 620 fine the first year, 640 the second, and 660 each year thereafter. In addition, the king could seize two-thirds of the recusant's land until his return to the Anglican Church. Those who practiced the Catholic faith or converted anyone to Catholicism were guilty of high treason. The second act established rewards for informants giving names of those attending or officiating at a Mass. The informer received one-third of the convicted recusant's money, goods, and property or 6150— whichever sum was lower. Catholics were forbidden entrance to any building where the king or heir to the throne resided on penalty of a 6100 fine. Catholics living in or with in ten miles of London were subject to the same fine.** This same act closed off almost all the professions to Catho lics; positions in cannon law, medical positions, court and government ^Tanner, pp. 160-61. **J. R. Tanner, ed., Constitutional Documents of the Reign of James I (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1952), pp. 89, 92, 94-95. v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. positions in local and national government, military officerships— Catholics were now barred fron all of these and were fined H 0 0 if they defied the ban. This act also struck at Catholic families. A con victed female recusant married to a Protestant forfeited two-thirds of her jointure and dowry and could not inherit under her husband's will, while the same ban against inheritance applied to Catholic men married to Protestant wanen. Catholics who inherited goods or property could not receive them. They were held by the nearest Protestant relative until the recusants return to the Anglican Church and this same rela- 7 tive acted as guardian for the recusant's children.