LIBR AR Y O F THE UNIVER SITY O F CALIFOR NIA LO S ANG ELES O L D M I S S I O N S O N O R L E B A R A N E M A. J H P Y , . ND ON : NS OATES LI M ITED LO BUR , K ATH LI C P LI ATI N I NEW YOR : C O UB C O SOC ETY. 1 8 8 9. N I th o f S 1 8 6 the 3 eptember, 3 , a Royal Commission was “ issued for the purpose of enquiring into the state, cus c c o r tody, and authenticity ofany su h Re ords of Births Baptisms , D M ” eaths or Burials , and arriages lawfully solemnized, as had “ E n W been formerly kept in gland and ales, other than the Paro c hial Registers ; as also for enquiring what measures could c t be adopted for their colle tion , arrangemen , and final deposit - within the office of the Registrar General . O n 2 6th o f O the ctober, in the following year, this Commission S was renewed , and a ecretary appointed , who , by letters addressed to dissenting ministers and others having custody of such R egis e c t rs, acquainted them with the existence and obje t of the C w l — — ' ommission itsel f, hi e, what is more to our purpose, the C 1 8 1 8 8 ommissioners , in their Report , dated June, 3 , add that c om munications to a similar effec t were also addressed to the ” T prelates of the Roman Catholic Church . hese prelates at this R e v v . e A time were the Rt . P ter ugustine Baines , John Briggs , T f T homas Gri fiths , and homas Walsh , respectively Vicars A W N L M postolic of the estern , orthern , ondon and idland D . istricts Further on , however, the Report proceeds as follows Th e C Roman atholic prelates have declined to deliver up, 1 4 9 1 8 53 i v LD E N L H CA TII LI C M I SSI NS O G I S O O . or to autho rize the inferior clergy of their persuasion to deliver c c up any registers in their possession , partly on a ount of the omissions and defects incident to rec ords made and preserved c c for so many years , with so mu h danger and diffi ulty under the w c c o f severe pressure of the penal la s , and , partly also on a ount the prac tical inconvenience that would result from depriving the Roman Cath o li c c lergy of the custody of Rec ords to whi c h frequent reference is made for purposes purely religious and ” ca nonical . Th e language of this extract may be taken as undoubtedly that employed by the Bishops in their reply to the Commission t ers , yet , s range to say, within little more than two years from 1 8 0 - this date , in the autumn of 4 , seventy eight old Catholic M ission Regis t ers were for warded by the c lergy to the A u t h o r i t ies at Somerset House . Still more perplexing is the fact that M ’ t . one of these registers , that viz . of S ary s Crathorne in York shire , as will appear hereafter , is accompanied by a letter signed by Bishop Briggs himself, shewing that the removal of the register in question was with his Lordship ’s full knowledge and c on c urrence . From all this then , and from what follows , it will be evident that some c onsiderable difference of opinion must have prevailed amongst the Catholi c hierarc hy as to the expediency o f allowing the registers to c hange hands by passing from the c upboards of t he presbytery into the apparently safer c ustody afforded by the fi r e - S M proof rooms in omerset House . oreover it was but , — natural that a sort o f jealous reluctance not to say alarm should have existed in many quarters at the very notion o f parting with original and authenti c records of Catholic life to a G overnment whose predecessors , not so very long before , would have condemned to death the custodian of each register for the mere fact of his being a priest . A nother c ause of c onfusion and misunderstanding must surely also have arisen from the wording of a c lau s e in the Commission , “ ” wherein it is suggested that the Registers o r co ies t/zer eo , p f, ’ might eventually find their way to the Registrar -General s office . OLD E N GLI SHCATH LI M O C I SSI ONS . A c c c -o n ordingly, we find , for example , the priest of Berwi k T weed writing to the Commissioners when forwarding his in s e c registers , Please, have the kindness to return them after p ” T . w A tion hese words, however, are after ards erased . vener 1 8 0 able priest, also, who is still living, and who in 4 had the charge of a country mission , most obligingly writes to me as follows : I D r . f received an order from the Bishop , Gri fiths, to n S I se d the Baptismal Register to omerset House, which did , ’ with the request that as soon as they had eopzea or inspected it in they would send it back ; they did so almost immediately, I forming me that it was no use to them , unless would allow them to keep the original book : I am surprised to learn that you found any of the original Catholic Registers at Somerset House. A s I c c well as re olle t , there was a general order from the Bishop that the p riests who sent the Registers should request their ” immediate return . ’ n o w T S t . Pasted inside a register, at homas , Canterbury, is a paper stating that it too had on the same occ asion experienced T a similar double journey. his was probably the register kept T he the at Hales Place . fact, also, of the retention of one of D c f urham Registers , noti ed in its place, af ords too, further evidence of an existing reluctance to part with them . I t is very evident at any rate, that there was a warrantable belief prevalent among the Catholic clergy at that time that c opies of their Registers were to be made at Somerset House and O . the riginals afterwards returned Be this, however, as it may, a C I st 1 8 nother ommission was issued on January, 57, having the c same obje ts as those already mentioned . O vertures were again — — made this time to Cardinal Wiseman to obtain possession o f the Catholic Registers , with what result, however, the subjoined reply of His E minence will shew a (Car din al Wisem an 1 0 Me R eg is tr ar Gen er l. ) L E A 8 1 8 6 eyton , ssex , pril , 5 . I n n m e reply to your ote of the sth instant, referring c 20 th O c I to your communi ation of the tober of last year, beg to I I NS OLD E N G LI SH CA TH OLI C I I I SS O . v i say that the subjec t to whic h they both r elate is o n e on whi c h I i c ould not give an answer without cons u lting my fellow b shops . A s they all met in London last week for the first time sin c e I O I c had the hono u r of hearing from you in ctober, embra ed the opportunity of bringing before them your proposal that our C atholi c Registers of Ba ptisms and M arriages should be deposited ’ c in the Registrar G eneral s O ffi e . I t is nec essary to observe that almost c ontinual appli c ations are made from the Continent and from A meri c a to us for c e r t ifi c M ates of Baptism Confirmation , and arriage , both for legal and , (still oft ener) for ecclesiasti c al purposes . Persons about to receive O rders or to marry require the two first , and the third is wanted to determine succession . I n Catholi c c ountries no merely civil certifi c ate is suffi c ient for A n c c c such purposes . y su h do ument must be extra ted from the Register by the priest in c harge of the c h u rch or c hapel where c c t he entry was made , and it must be a ompanied by a declaration , a n c signed d sealed by the Catholi bishop , that the person whose f c c signature is a fixed holds su h offi e , and is entitled to full c c reden e . V- ere the Registers to pass out of the custody of the priest in c c c harge of the pla e to whi h they belonged , it would be necessary fo r c L M c the priest to ome up to ondon , say from an hester, to v c c c erify any extra t , or to make it himself, every time a ertifi ate w as T applied for to him from abroad .