Arthur Wollaston Hutton

“ The progress of Catholicism was undeniable, but yet Wiseman found himself steadily opposed by a minority among his own clergy, who disliked his Ultramontane ideas, his “Romanizing and innovating zeal,” especially in regard to the introduction of sacred images into the churches and the use of devotions to the Blessed Virgin and the Blessed Sacrament, hitherto unknown among English Catholics. In July 1850 he heard of the pope's intention to create him a cardinal, and he took this to mean that he was to be permanently recalled to Rome. ”

“ The Roman Catholic Cathedral at Westminster is his joint memorial with his predecessor, Cardinal Wiseman.
Whatever may have been the value of Manning’s services to the Roman Catholic Church in England in bringing it, as he did, up to a high level of what in earlier years was commonly denounced as Ultramontanism, it is certain that by his social action, as well as by the earnestness and holiness of his life, he greatly advanced, in the minds of his countrymen generally, their estimate of the character and value of Catholicism. ”

“ Residing in London in Golden Square, Wiseman threw himself into his new duties with many-sided activity, working especially for the reclamation of Catholic criminals and for the restoration of the lapsed poor to the practice of their religion. He was zealous for the establishment of religious communities, both of men and women, and for the holding of retreats and missions. He preached (4th July 1848) at the opening of St George's, Southwark, an occasion unique in England since the Reformation, 14 bishops and 240 priests being present, and six religious orders of men being represented. ”

“ In July 1852 he presided at Oscott over the first provincial synod of Westminster, at which Newman preached his sermon on the “Second Spring”; and at this date Wiseman's dream of the rapid conversion of England to the ancient faith seemed not incapable of realization. But many difficulties with his own people shortly beset his path, due largely to the suspicions aroused by his evident preference for the ardent Roman zeal of the converts, and especially of Manning, to the dull and cautious formalism of the old Catholics. ”

“ He was neither a philosopher nor a literary genius. Among his many publications, written, it is only fair to admit, amidst the urgent pressure of practical work, there is barely a page or even a sentence that bears the stamp of immortality. ”

“ In 1857 the pope, proprio motu, appointed him provost (or head of the chapter) of Westminster, and the same year he took up his residence in Bayswater as superior of a community known as the “Oblates of St Charles,” an association of secular priests on the same lines as the institute of the Oratory, but with this difference, that they are by their constitution at the beck and call of the bishop in whose diocese they live. The community was thus of the greatest service to Cardinal Wiseman, whose right-hand man Manning thenceforward became. ”

“ In his own case these views did not lead to scepticism, because he had always possessed the necessary interior conviction; and in writing Tract 85 his only doubt would have been where the true Church is to be found. But, so far as the rest of the world is concerned, his teaching amounts to this: that the man who has not this interior conviction has no choice but to remain an agnostic, while the man who has it is bound sooner or later to become a Roman Catholic. ”

“ In 1863, addressing the Catholic Congress at Malines, he stated that since 1830 the number of priests in England had increased from 434 to 1242, and of convents of women from 16 to 162, while there were 55 religious houses of men in 1863 and none in 1830. The last two years of his life were troubled by illness and by controversies in which he found himself, under Manning’s influence, compelled to adopt a policy less liberal than that which had been his in earlier years. ”

“ In 1860 he delivered a course of lectures on the pope’s temporal power, at that date seriously threatened, and shortly afterwards he was appointed a papal domestic prelate, thus becoming a “Monsignor,” to be addressed as “Right Reverend.” He was now generally recognized as the able and effective leader of the Ultramontane party among English Roman Catholics, acting always, however, in subordination to Cardinal Wiseman; and on the latter’s death (Feb. 15, 1865) it was felt that, if Manning should succeed to the vacant archbishopric, the triumph of Ultramontanism would be secured. ”

“ In a letter home he described Rome as “the most wonderful place on earth,” but the Roman Catholic religion as “polytheistic, degrading and idolatrous.” It was during the course of this tour that he wrote most of the short poems which a year later were printed in the Lyra Apostolica. From Rome Newman returned to Sicily alone, and was dangerously ill with fever at Leonforte, recovering from it with the conviction that he had a work to do in England. ”

“ Oscott, under his presidency, became a centre for Englisb Catholics, where he was also visited by many distinguished men, including foreigners and non-Catholics. The Oxford converts (1845 and later) added considerably to Wiseman's responsibilities, as many of them found themselves wholly without means, while the old Catholic body looked on the newcomers with distrust. It was by his advice that Newman and his companions spent some time in Rome before undertaking clerical work in England. ”

“ Consecrated at the pro-cathedral at Moorfields (since destroyed) by Dr Ullathorne, bishop of Birmingham (June 8, 1865) , and enthroned there (Nov. 6) , after receiving the pallium in Rome, Manning began his work as archbishop by devoting himself especially to the religious education of the poor and to the establishment of Catholic industrial and reformatory schools. He steadily opposed whatever might encourage the admission of Catholics to the national universities, and so put his foot down on Newman’s project to open a branch house of the Oratory at Oxford with himself as superior. ”

“ Its aim was to secure for the Church of England a definite basis of doctrine and discipline, in case either of disestablishment or of a determination of High Churchmen to quit the establishment, an eventuality that was thought not impossible in view of the States’ recent high-handed dealings with the sister established Church of Ireland. The teaching of the tracts was supplemented by Newman’s Sunday afternoon sermons at St Mary’s, the influence of which, especially over the junior members of the university, was increasingly marked during a period of eight years. ”

“ After the Vatican council, and more especially after the death of Pius IX., Manning devoted his attention mainly to social questions, and with these his name was popularly associated during the last fifteen years of his life. From 1872 onwards he was a strict teetotaller, not touching alcohol even as a medicine, and there was some murmuring among his clergy that his teaching on this subject verged on heresy. But his example and his zeal profoundly influenced for good the Irish poor forming the majority of his flock ”

“ But his accomplishments and ability were such as would have secured for him influence and prominence in any age of the Church; and besides being highly gifted intellectually and morally, he was marked by those specially human qualities which command the interest of all students of life and character. ”

“ In the cause of labour he was active for many years, and in 1872 he set an example to the clergy of all the churches by taking a prominent part in a meeting held in Exeter Hall on behalf of the newly established Agricultural Labourers’ Union, Joseph Arch and Charles Bradlaugh being among those who sat with him on the platform. ”

“ The “creation” took place on 12th May, with the title of St George in Velabro, Newman taking occasion while in Rome to insist on the lifelong consistency of his opposition to “liberalism in religion.” After an illness that excited apprehension he returned to England, and thenceforward resided at the Oratory until his death, 1 1th August 1890, making occasional visits to London, and chiefly to his old friend, R. W. Church, dean of St Paul’s, who as proctor had vetoed the condemnation of Tract 90 in 1841. ”

“ He was received into the Roman Catholic Church by Father Brownbill, S.J., at the church in Farm Street, on Passion Sunday, the 6th of April 1851. On the following Sunday he was confirmed and received to communion by Cardinal Wiseman, who also, within ten weeks of his reception, ordained him priest. Manning thereupon proceeded to Rome to pursue his theological studies, residing at the college known as the “Academy for Noble Ecclesiastics,” and attending lectures by Perrone and Passaglia among others. ”

“ At this date Newman became editor of the British Critic, and he also gave courses of lectures in a side-chapel of St Mary’s in defence of the via media of the Anglican Church as between Romanism and popular Protestantism. His influence in Oxford was supreme about the year 1839, when, however, his study of the monophysite heresy first raised in his mind a doubt as to whether the Anglican position was really tenable on those principles of ecclesiastical authority which he had accepted ”

“ At the time of the Vatican Council (1869–1870) he was known to be opposed to the definition of Papal infallibility, and in a private letter to his bishop (Ullathorne) , surreptitiously published, he denounced the “insolent and aggressive faction” that had pushed the matter forward. ”

“ In the same year he was appointed vicar of St Mary’s, to which the chapelry of Littlemore was attached, and Pusey was made regius professor of Hebrew. At this date, though still nominally associated with the Evangelicals, NeWman’s views were gradually assuming a higher ecclesiastical tone, and while local secretary of the Church Missionary Society he circulated an anonymous letter suggesting a method by which Churchmen might practically oust Nonconformists from all control of the society. ”

“ Within it his influence was mainly in the direction of a broader spirit and of a recognition of the important part played by development both in doctrine and in Church government. And although he never called himself a mystic, he showed that in his judgment spiritual truth is apprehended by direct intuition, as an antecedent necessity to the professedly purely rational basis of the Roman Catholic creed. Within the Anglican Church, and even within the more strictly Protestant Churches, his influence was greater, but in a different direction, viz. ”