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Some Aspects of the Controversy between Cardinal Wiseman and the Westminster Chapter1
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2011
Extract
Within a decade after the restoration of the Roman Catholic hierarchy to England and Wales in 1850, cardinal Nicholas Wiseman found himself engaged in a significant struggle with the archdiocesan chapter of Westminster. The fundamental issue involved the right of the chapter to interfere in matters which, as they appeared to Wiseman, were clearly within the sole jurisdiction of the bishop. A number of other controversial matters became almost inextricably tied to the dispute, so that litigation, in England and in Rome, plagued the cardinal to the end of his life.
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page 125 note 2 The members of the chapter were: Henry Edward Manning, chapter provost; John Maguire, canon theologian and vicar general of the diocese; Thomas Long, canon penitentiary; James O'Neal, a second diocesan vicar general; William Weathers, president of St. Edmund's College; Francis Searle, the cardinal's secretary; George Rolfe, president of Sedgeley Park, George Last, chapter secretary; William Hunt; Robert Shepherd and Frederick Oakeley. Cf. Catholic Directory, 1858 and 1859.
page 125 note 3 The most detailed and accurate study of the controversies is still that of Ward, Wilfred, The Life and Times of Cardinal Wiseman, London 1897, ii. 253–88Google Scholar; 321–94; 587–637. For a briefer account, cf. Butler, Cuthbert, The Life and Times of Bishop Ullathorne, London 1926, i. 189–256Google Scholar.
page 126 note 1 Southwark Diocesan Archive (South.), C. 1: Wiseman to Cox, 20 July 1851.
page 126 note 2 William Weathers (1814–96) had been prefect of the college from 1840 to 1843 and vice-president since 1843. He then served as president until 1868, and, in 1872, under archbishop Manning, was consecrated as auxiliary bishop of Westminster.
page 126 note 3 Archivio della S. Congregazione de Propaganda Fide (PF.), Congregazione Particolari (CP.), 1860, clviii. 727. The most complete and sympathetic study of Ward's position at the college is that of his son, Ward, Wilfred, W. G. Ward and the Catholic Revival, London 1912, 33–60Google Scholar.
page 126 note 4 Snead-Cox, J. G., The Life of Cardinal Vaughan, London 1912, i. 59–103Google Scholar.
page 126 note 5 Ward, Card. Wiseman, ii. 266–74 and Leslie, Shane, Henry Edward Manning: his Life and Labours, London 1921, 121–48Google Scholar; 498–512. In spite of widely criticised inaccuracies, one should still consult Purcell, E. S., Life of Cardinal Manning, London 1896, ii. 60–150Google Scholar. Errors of emphasis, detail, and judgement abound, but the author has reproduced a vast amount of contemporary correspondence, some of which has been lost or is not readily available.
page 126 note 6 There are a number of archival sources of information for a detailed examination of the nature of the Oblates of Westminster and the controversy that surrounded them in the mid-nineteenth century. The most convenient, detailed record can be found among the papers gathered and organised by the Abbé A. Chapeau of the university of Angers and maintained at the Oblate residence, St. Mary of the Angel's, Bayswater (cited hereafter as Bays.); cf. volume of ‘Documents concerning the Oblates of St. Charles’. One may also consult the papers available at the Westminster Diocesan Archive (hereafter cited as West.), 116/3, folder marked ‘Oblates’, and South., C. 2, documents to be found among Searle's papers. The most thorough contemporary criticism of the congregation is that of archbishop Errington, cf. PF., CP., clviii. 724–846; lengthy extracts of Errington's statements are published in their original Italian in Ward, Card. Wiseman, ii. 587–600. For Wiseman's defence of the congregation, cf. PF., CP., clviii. 632–640: Wiseman to Barnabò, 22 February 1860. Manning's own defence may be read in PF., Scritture Riferite nei Congressi (SR.), xv. 1096–1111; 1120–9.
page 127 note 1 Wiseman to Manning, 6 March 1857; Leslie, op. cit., 498–9 and Manning to Wiseman, 8 April 1857; Purcell, op. cit., ii. 75. The pope appointed Manning to the highest dignity in the chapter at the suggestion of Wiseman; cf. Bays., Talbot to Wiseman, 9 April 1857 and 7 July 1857. In the latter, Talbot wrote: ‘It certainly was a happy idea of your Eminence to get Manning made Provost of Westminster’.
page 127 note 2 PF, CP., op. cit., 661.
page 127 note 3 Ibid., 753.
page 127 note 4 Archive of the English College (Rome), Talbot Papers, 551: Oakeley to Talbot, 27 September 1860.
page 127 note 5 Ibid., 565: Patterson to Talbot, 3 March 1859. J. L. Patterson (1822–1902) was a convert and at this time, a priest of St. Mary's pro-cathedral, Moorfields. He was himself president of St. Edmund's from 1870 to 1880 and was then consecrated as auxiliary bishop to cardinal Manning. He later altered his view of Manning and attributed his early lack of trust to Searle's criticism of the provost. Cf. Patterson's own undated comments, West. W2/4/4, a single page headed ‘note on the letter of Msgr. Searle of 25 February 1859’.
page 127 note 6 PF, CP., op. cit., 658–9.
page 128 note 1 ‘Non v'è dubbio che egli [Errington] era la sola forza motrice a tutto’; ‘There is no doubt that he was the sole moving force behind everything’; ibid., 595. Also cf. Talbot Papers, 1067a: Wiseman to Talbot, 8 March 1859. Wiseman's own nephew, the Rev. William Burke, left the Oblates after expressing his conviction that the cardinal did not understand the true nature of the congregation. There is no doubt that Errington relied upon Burke for much of his information and that he was influential in the younger man's decision: cf. Bays., Burke to Manning, 4 March 1858 and Manning to Burke, 17 May 1858.
page 128 note 2 Monsignor George Talbot, private chamberlain to pope Pius IX and consultor for the Sacred Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith in matters concerning England, was a convert to Catholicism and a former priest of the London District. Talbot corresponded with almost all of the English bishops. While his lack of tact was widely recognised, the importance of his position and his connexions made him indispensable in managing English affairs in Rome. Cf. Butler, op. cit., i. 227–8 and Moore, Michael, ‘Monsignor George Talbot’, The Venerabile, xv (1951), 200–9Google Scholar.
page 128 note 3 Westminster Diocesan Chapter Records, Minute Book (hereafter referred to as ‘Minute Book’) 1 July 1858. An abbreviated extract from the minutes may be found in South., C. 2. For the proceedings of the chapter, historians have hitherto relied heavily upon correspondence and upon Manning's own account written at the end of the 1870s; cf. Bays., volume of Manning's autobiographical sketches, 43.
page 129 note 1 West., 116/3, 7 August 1858.
page 129 note 2 ‘More Letters of Wiseman and Manning’, Dublin Review, clxxii (1923), 107–8Google Scholar, referring to 7 August 1858. Cf. Bays., for the original letter and the others published in this issue of the Dublin Review.
page 129 note 8 West., 116/3, 9 August [1858].
page 130 note 1 Ibid.
page 130 note 2 Minute Book, 1 September 1858
page 130 note 3 Ibid., 15 September 1858.
page 130 note 4 ‘More Letters of Wiseman and Manning’, Dublin Review, clxxii., 108.
page 131 note 1 Minute Book, 15 September 1858. For a copy of the resolution, cf. South., C. 1. Though passed on 15 September, the address was not presented to the cardinal until 28 September 1858.
page 131 note 2 Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, original text with English translation by H. J. Schroeder, St. Louis, Mo. 1941; sess. xxiii., ch. xviii.
page 131 note 3 West., 116/3, 10 January 1853; printed in Ward, Card. Wiseman, ii. 601–2.
page 131 note 4 West., 116/3, Wiseman's letter commissioning the chapter to elect deputies, 10 January 1858 and ibid., R79/9, canon Whitty to Wiseman, advising him of the results of the chapter's election, 12 January 1853.
page 131 note 5 South., C. 2: Errington to Grant.
page 131 note 6 John Morris (1829–93), a convert to Catholicism, was, for a time, secretary to both Wiseman and Manning. He joined the Jesuits in 1867, and at the time of his death, was preparing a biography of Wiseman. Wilfrid Ward made extensive use of his MS., part of which may be found in West., R79/13, henceforth referred to as ‘Morris MS.’. Miss Elizabeth Poyser, Westminster Archivist, has arranged and renumbered the pages of the MS. which Ward obviously cut up and organised as he used it. Her pagination, identified by parenthesis, is that which I have followed.
page 131 note 7 Ward, Card. Wiseman, ii. 274. Cf. Morris MS., 13. Wiseman's most recent biographer repeats Morris's explanation; cf. Fothergill, Brian, Nicholas Wiseman, London 1963, 243Google Scholar.
page 131 note 8 West., R79/4; Grant to Wiseman, 8 July 1858. A draft of the letter may be found in South., C. 1.
page 132 note 1 West., W3/21: draft letter from Wiseman to ‘My dear Lord’ [Grant], 9 July 1858.
page 132 note 2 Ibid.: draft letter, 25 November 1858.
page 132 note 3 Minute Book, 15 September 1858. A copy of this description may be found in South., C. 2. It is dated 28 September 1858, the day on which the address was presented to the cardinal.
page 132 note 4 West., 116/3, copy.
page 132 note 5 ‘More Letters of Wiseman and Manning’, op. cit., 109: Manning to Wiseman, 22 November 1858.
page 133 note 1 South., C. 2: Last to Searle, 30 October 1859.
page 133 note 2 The cardinal had suffered his first heart attack in September 1859.
page 133 note 3 South., C. 2: Last to Searle, 1 November 1859. The copy of the account which Last wrote is preserved in the Westminster Archive along with the materials dealing with the third Provincial Synod of Westminster, 116/3. It is dated 15 October 1859. Hereafter I shall refer to it as the ‘Chapter Paper’.
page 133 note 4 West., 116/3: Last to Wiseman, 1 December 1859.
page 133 note 5 ‘More Letters of Wiseman and Manning’, op. cit., 118–19: Wiseman to Manning.
page 134 note 1 West., 116/3, draft letter, n.d.
page 134 note 2 West., W3/21, 5 January 1859.
page 134 note 3 Ibid., 7 January 1859.
page 134 note 4 Chapter Paper, 2. The book here described is that which I have hitherto referred to as the Minute Book. Through the courtesy of bishop Patrick J. Casey, provost, and the Westminster chapter, I have been permitted to examine the controversial chapter books.
page 134 note 5 Ibid., 3.
page 135 note 1 Ibid., 4.
page 135 note 2 Ibid., 5–8.
page 135 note 3 Capitular Statutes, ix. 50, in The Synods in English, Being the Text of the Four Synods of Westminster, Stratford-on-Avon, 1886, 116Google Scholar. The Latin text may be consulted in Acta et Decreta Primi Concilii Provincialis Westmonasteriensis, Paris, 1853Google Scholar, or, more conveniently, in Decreta Quatuor Conciliorum Westmonasteriensium 1852–73, Salford, 1884.Google Scholar
page 135 note 4 Chapter Paper, 8–10.
page 136 note 1 Westminster Diocesan Chapter Records, Resolution Book (hereafter referred to simply as the ‘Resolution Book’). The last item in the Minute Book is that of 5 October 1858, when it was resolved to present an address to the cardinal on his return from a tour of Ireland. The address was presented on 14 October 1858.
page 136 note 2 Chapter Paper, 12–15. A copy of the resolutions, as presented to the cardinal, is in West. 116/3. Written on the first page, in canon Last's script, is ‘Copies of resolutions voted by the Chapter of Westminster from 1st of July 1858 to 5th October 1858 inclusively’, and, added by Wiseman, ‘Estratti fatti dal Libro Capitolare, la sera dei 30 Nov. 1858. In prova che non esisteva un libro contenente le sole risoluzioni’ [‘Extracts made from the chapter book, the evening of 30 November 1858, proof that a book, containing only the resolutions, did not exist’].
page 136 note 3 Chapter Paper, 17–18.
page 137 note 1 ‘The bishop may demand that the chapter exhibit for him the books in which capitular resolutions are recorded’.
page 137 note 2 Chapter Paper, 18–20.
page 137 note 3 West., 116/3, n.d. [1 December 1858] and also preserved in PF., SR., xv. 648–9.
page 137 note 4 The cardinal was obviously confusing the address pertaining to the seminary, delivered to him on 28 September (cf. Minute Book, 15, September 1858), with that presented to him by way of congratulation when he returned from Ireland; cf. above, 76, n. 1.
page 138 note 1 West., 116/3. Along with the materials dealing with the third Provincial Synod of Westminster, one will find Wiseman's letters to these foreign prelates, together with their answers and a summary of these replies, made by Wiseman. These include the answers of the bishops and archbishops of Malines, Besanson, Bourges, Poitiers, Bruges, Bologna, Imola and Capua.
page 138 note 2 Chapter Paper, 21 (footnote): ‘The decree of censure which was lying on the table’.
page 138 note 3 Ibid.; also recorded in Resolution Book, 1 December 1858.
page 139 note 1 The decree may be found in a number of places: West., 116/3 (2 copies); Resolution Book, 3 December 1858; and PF., SR., xv. 650.
page 139 note 2 Chapter Paper, 22.
page 139 note 3 The words are Mannings. Cf. ‘More Letters of Wiseman and Manning’, op. cit., 109; Manning to Wiseman, 1 December 1858. The same letter is quoted in Leslie, op. cit., 501, as is Wiseman's answer of 3 December 1858.
page 139 note 4 PF., CP., op. cit., 668–9. I have previously referred the reader to this source which contains the materials submitted by Wiseman and Errington to the Sacred Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith when it became apparent that they could no longer work together. The matter was referred to a special commission composed of three cardinals and the record of the affair occupies almost three hundred folio pages in the volume indicated.
page 140 note 1 West., 137/5: Talbot to Wiseman, 12 May 1859.
page 140 note 2 Morris MS., 26–7. For the entire controversy regarding the status of the colleges, cf. PF., Acta Sacrae Congregationis, ccxxvii. 137–309 and PF., Scritture Originali, cmxc. 251–583.
page 140 note 3 PF., CP., op. cit., 754–5.
page 140 note 4 Ibid., 756–7.
page 140 note 5 The text of the chapter petitions with appended documents may be found in Ward, Card. Wiseman, ii. 600–6: two copies are available in West., 116/3 and 140/2, 3 December 1858.
page 140 note 6 ‘Eminentissimus Cardinalis dicit non tantum librum resolutionem, verum etiam librum omnia ut supra descripta referentem sibi exhibendum. Canonici e contrario credunt librum resolutionum tantum Episcopo exhibendum, vel copias resolutionum ex ipso extractas esse dandas’: Ward, Card. Wiseman, ii. 605.
page 141 note 1 West., 116/3, 9 December 1858.
page 141 note 2 Talbot Papers, 358: Grant to Talbot, 1 February 1859 (incomplete).
page 141 note 3 Ward, Card. Wiseman, ii. 606–7; cf. West., 116/3 and 140/2. Barnabd wrote a similar letter to Wiseman on the same day, 7 January 1859; cf. West., 140/2.
page 141 note 4 West., 140/2, 3 January 1859.
page 141 note 5 Chapter Paper, 80.
page 141 note 6 West., 116/3.
page 141 note 7 Ibid., 14 December 1858. This correspondence between Manning and Last may be found also in PF., SR., xv. 653.
page 142 note 1 West., 116/3, n.d. This statement by Oakeley was included in Wiseman's commentary on his chapter's petitions to Rome; cf. PF., SR., xv. 654, 5 December 1858.
page 142 note 2 For Manning's disavowal of any knowledge concerning the second chapter book, cf. PF., SR., xv. 651–2.
page 142 note 3 West., 116/3: ‘Risposte alle asserzioni e domande umiliate alia Santa Sede dal capitolo di Westminster’. Wiseman commented upon the chapter's two petitions separately. The first of the drafts preserved at Westminster is dated 14 December 1858, the reply to the second, 15 December 1858. The final documents, both dated 15 December, are in PF., SR., xv. 630–51.
page 142 note 4 Ibid.
page 142 note 5 Ibid., ‘Furono essi nominati ad annum, come per fare uno sperimento. Dessi nulla agirono perchè non esisteva alcun piano autorizzato per il governo di seminarii, i quali tutti senza erezione in Inghilterra’.
page 143 note 1 West., 116/2: cardinal Fransoni to Wiseman, 27 June 1855.
page 143 note 2 Chapter Paper, 31–2.
page 143 note 3 Talbot Papers, 565: Patterson to Talbot, 3 March 1859.
page 143 note 4 South., C. 2. Among Searle's papers are drafts of three letters which he wrote to canon John Henry Fisher of St. Edward's College, Liverpool, who was in Rome on other business. Searle first wrote on 7 December 1858; he repeated the request on 21 December and sent further information on 4 January 1859. A reply from Fisher, 28 December, indicates that he was doing his best to comply with the request.
page 143 note 5 Talbot Papers, 1068: 22 March 1859. Patterson discussed Maguire's case in detail in a letter to Talbot on 3 March 1859: Talbot Papers, 565.
page 143 note 6 South., C. 2. Errington communicated advice for Maguire in letters to bishop Grant on 1 April, 3 April, and 19 March 1859.
page 144 note 1 Talbot Papers, 1070: Wiseman to Talbot, 2 April 1859.
page 144 note 2 Ibid., 1072: Wiseman to Talbot. Also cf. Morris MS., 17–19.
page 144 note 3 West., W2/4/4: Searle to Patterson, 25 February 1859. The cardinal denied having ‘directly or indirectly’ commissioned anyone to urge Searle to resign. Cf. Talbot Papers, 573: Patterson to Talbot, 22 February [1859].
page 144 note 4 West., W3/17: Wiseman to Weathers, Whitmonday [13 June] 1859 (incomplete).
page 144 note 6 PF., CP., op. cit., 759.
page 145 note 1 John Briggs, senior suffragan, cf. West., 116/3, 22 July 1859.
page 145 note 2 William Clifford of Clifton, ibid., 22 July 1859. Decree xv was that dealing with the government of colleges. A decree concerning chapter deputies (de consiliariis) was prepared, but it was dropped before approbation was given by Rome, since it was decided that the colleges were not seminaries in the strict sense intended by the Council of Trent. For the various drafts of the decrees of the Third Provincial Synod of Westminster, see West, 116/3.
page 145 note 3 West., 116/3, 24 July; a copy of the apology is also preserved in South., C. 2.
page 145 note 4 Resolution Book, 31 August 1859. Two copies are also in West., 116/3.
page 145 note 5 The reservation of the chapter, to which Errington refers, can be seen from the text of the apology: ‘As the Fathers assembled in Synod have expressed their opinion that the Chapter of Westminster, in the addition [italics mine] to the petition to the Cardinal Archbishop that the provisions of the Council of Trent might be carried out in regard of the Diocesan Seminary, have exceeded its province …’ It is only the ‘addition’ to the petition, i.e. the remarks made regarding the status of the Oblates, that is retracted. The request that the provisions of Trent be implemented is not withdrawn.
page 146 note 1 South., C. 2: Errington to Grant, 5 August 1859.
page 146 note 2 West., 116/3: Wiseman to Barnabò, 2 August 1860; and West., 140/2: Barnabò to Wiseman, 18 August 1860.
page 146 note 3 Ibid., W3/40: Manning to Wiseman, 28 July 1859.
page 146 note 4 Purcell, op. cit., ii. 114–15; cardinal Rinaldini to Manning, n.d. I have been able to find only an undated copy of this letter in Manning's handwriting (cf. Bays.). Though Purcell implied that it was written immediately after the decision on the colleges in 1863, a letter from canon Morris to Manning, 27 February 1864, indicates that no formal word had been received by the chapter at that date; cf. Bays. In the same place, there are several pages of Manning's notes, indicating the opinions of the individual cardinals regarding the cardinal's right to see the chapter book. Six of them stated, without reservation, that the book should be handed over. Three others had minor reservations, but agreed that a copy of the entire book should be made available to the bishop. Extracts of the minutes, it was agreed, were insufficient.
page 147 note 1 Talbot Papers, 750, Whitty to Talbot, 17 December 1858.
page 147 note 2 Ward, Card. Wiseman, ii. 279; cf. Morris MS., 19.
page 147 note 3 Bays.: Searle to Manning, 28 March 1889. An undated draft of this letter may be found at South., C. 1. A portion of it is quoted in Leslie, op. cit., 157.