How the Queen Subsequently Revealed Herself As an Enemy of Catholicism, and What She Did to Destroy It1

Book 2, chapter 22 How the Queen Subsequently Revealed Herself as an Enemy of Catholicism, and What She Did to Destroy it1

Throughout her sister Mary’s reign, Elizabeth made an outward show of being a Catholic, though it was said that inwardly she was no such thing. But once she had taken the scepter and the throne and began to reign, she revealed herself for what she was and, deluded by her own ambition and several heretical advisers, decided to alter and transform the Catholic religion. For, seeing that she had been born to a marriage condemned by the Apostolic See, and that the sacred canons cast doubt upon her illegitimacy and her right to rule, she chose to disregard them and all church law, so as to avoid any such danger and confusion—accordingly, she attempted to pervert religion itself. To that end, she commanded all Catholic preachers to keep silent,2 gave permission for

1 Sander, De origine ac progressu, 366–68. Much of this chapter is based on Ribadeneyra’s own recollections of his time in England. On January 20, 1559, he wrote to Laínez, “I have already written how the queen died on November 17 and Cardinal Pole fourteen hours later. Since then have followed the acclama- tion and coronation of this new queen, Elizabeth, who, having been raised from childhood with no such pure milk as her sister, has thus far shown neither the same good will nor the same sincere heart in matters of religion, in which, though as yet there has been no universal alteration, there have nevertheless been such beginnings as we can hope for nothing but a ruinous conclusion. For they have ordered the litany to be said in English, removing the invo- cation to the saints; they have provided that the Mass be said as it is in the queen’s chapel, in which last Sunday, the fifteenth, neither the host nor the chalice was elevated in the solemn Mass for her coronation. She orders that no one should preach anything but the Gospels, the letters of Paul, the Pater Noster, and the Credo—and this said in English and without any further explication. She has confined one bishop to his house because while preaching in honor of Queen Mary he urged the bishops, like good dogs, to bark and chase off the wolves that were to come, and so on. With these winds blowing up, Your Paternity can easily fathom the storm that is to follow if our Lord in his mercy does not prevent it. These things have the heretics here utterly smug, the Catholics utterly downcast—even though they are without comparison more numerous in the kingdom than the heretics. The count of Feria does all he can to prevent harm coming to religion, or at least less than the devil would desire, and in this the Lord’s favor is crucial.” mhsir, 1:311. 2 On December 27, 1558, a royal proclamation prohibited preaching and public prayer, save in English and on the Gospels, Pauline Epistles, or the Ten Commandments. trp, 2:102–03.

412 Book 2, chapter 22 the exiled heretics to return,3 and, with a bishop standing before her, ready to say Mass, forbade the elevation of the consecrated host.4 On this account, the bishop of York, to whom it pertained to anoint her as queen (Cardinal Pole, who was archbishop of Canterbury and primate of England, being now dead), refused to do so, as did every other bishop save one, who was weak, the last and the least of all.5 Yet because she would not be moved, in spite of their scru- ples, and it was said she had not entered by the proper door, nor observed the ancient ceremonies that law and tradition prescribed for royal coronations, she took a solemn oath to defend the Catholic faith and preserve ecclesias- tical privileges and liberties.6 For the heretics who advised her told her that anything at all could be feigned or dissembled, sworn or perjured for the sake of seizing power. For the same reason, she allowed herself to be anointed with the consecrated oil, although as they anointed her she turned to her ladies and said in mockery and derision, “Keep back, lest the awful smell of this oil offend you.” I was in London at this time, in the house of Don Gómez de Figueroa, then count and later duke of Feria, who had been sent by his lord, the Catholic King Don Philip, to visit, serve, and attend upon his ailing wife, Queen Doña Mary. His Majesty could not do so in person, as he wished, being occupied in the war against France. And as the duke was so zealous for our sacred religion,7 and so devoted to the Society of Jesus, he desired me, as one thereof, to accompany

3 More than three hundred Marian exiles are known to have returned to England with Eliza- beth’s accession. N.M. Sutherland, “The Marian Exiles and the Establishment of the Elizabe- than Regime,” Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 78 (1987): 253–86, here 255. 4 Owen Oglethorpe, bishop of Carlisle (c.1503–59). As Suárez de Figueroa wrote to the emperor on December 29, 1558, “On the Sunday of Christmas-tide the Queen before going to Mass sent for the bishop of Carlisle, who was to officiate, and told him that he need not elevate the Host for adoration. The Bishop answered that Her Majesty was mistress of his body and life, but not of his conscience, and accordingly she heard the Mass until after the gospel, when she rose and left, so as not to be present at the canon and adoration of the Host which the Bishop elevated as usual.” cspse, 1:6. Cf. cspv, 7:2; cspr, 1:3. 5 Only Oglethorpe, diocesan of one of the poorest sees in England, could be prevailed upon to anoint and crown Elizabeth. William P. Haugaard, “The Coronation of Elizabeth i,” jeh 19, no. 2 (October 1968): 161–70, here 161. 6 The actual formula of Elizabeth’s coronation oath has been lost, but it likely resembled the established wording that had the monarch swear they “would permit the church to enjoy its liberties.” William Cooke Taylor, Chapters on Coronations (London: J.W. Parker, 1838), 106. 7 This phrase, “zeloso de nuestra santa Religion” is ambiguous: it could be translated variously as “zealous for our sacred religion,” with religion denoting the Catholic faith, or as “zealous for our sacred order,” with religion signifying the Society of Jesus. I have opted for the former,