MISSIONARY LIFE IN ENGLAND IN THE LATER PENAL

TIMES.

F RECENT years the subject of British Catholicism in the penal times has come prominently before that section of the reading public which finds its chief literary interest in the social life of bygone days, thanks principally to the appearance of such works as Gillow's "Biographical Dictionary of English Catholics," Mgr. B. Ward's "History of St. Edmund's College" and "Catholic London a Century Ago." The present writer in his "Historical Dictionary of English Missions" endeavored to illustrate another aspect of the same subject, and he now proposes to give some account of the daily labors and missionary methods of the Catholic clergy in England during that era of "bloodless martyrdom" which intervened between the abdication of James II. and the first Catholic Relief Act of 1778.

The history of English priests in those times is strangely uniform, and the story of one is practically the record of all. If the aspirant to holy orders were not a scion of one of the old Catholic landed families of the country, he was generally the younger son of one of their sturdy dependents that hardy class of Catholic yeomen who in conjunction with the few "papist" noblemen and squires kept the lamp of the faith burning brightly in spite of the drag and burden of the penal laws and the accompanying social ostracism which these entailed. From such a stock the child early learnt those lessons of steadfast loyalty to his religion and resignation to the injustice of the times which were the chief characteristics of the old Catholic families, and which are among the proudest memories of their descendants.

When Sir George Saville's act gave a slight modicum of relief to the adherents of the ancient faith in 1778, there were about eighty Catholic chapels in England, and in a few of these the Holy Sacrifice was offered almost daily, but in the vast majority of "Mass houses" Mass was only said by stealth on Sundays, and not always even then. When the penal laws were actively enforced during times of public excitement, as in the case of the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745, the feeble Catholic life of the recusants ceased for a while, and only by taking special precautions were the initiated enabled to avail themselves of spiritual consolation. Thus when things were at their worst, it was not uncommon to give warning that Mass was about to be said in such and such a place by putting out pieces of linen to dry on the hedges around or near the house where Catholics were known to reside. To return. The Catholic boy in whose breast

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God had awakened the holy desire of the sacred priesthood would usually commence his ministering career by serving the Mass of the chaplain at the hall or castle, and from this worthy man would receive the first rudiments of instruction not only in the "three R's," the Douay catechism and "the casting of accompts," but if especially promising as a student, would often be grounded also in a portion at least of Lilly's "Latin Grammar" or the "Introduction to the Latin Language," in use at Douay College. If the young candidate for holy orders persevered in his vocation his name was duly submitted to the Vicar Apostolic of the district, who, if satisfied as to the aspirant's general fitness for the sacred office, would procure his entrance at Douay or one of the other "foreign seminaries beyond the sea." Occasionally the student was recommended by some wellknown priest or layman, but even in this case, of course, the consent of the Vicar Apostolic was required before the lad could become a "church student." If too poor to defray the necessary expenses of his collegiate course, the candidate would be placed on one or other of the seminary funds set apart for the purpose. Bishop Challoner, the "clarum et venerabile nomen" of English Catholicism in the eighteenth century, went to Douay in 1705 as a pensioner on one of Bishop Leyburn's bursaries. After the establishment of Sedgeley Park School in 1761 and the Old Hall Green Academy, the present St. Edmund's College, in 1769, it became not unusual for church students to pass at least a portion of their time at one of these furtive seats of learning before proceeding to their more advanced course abroad.

At a time when it was extremely dangerous for Catholics, and especially Catholic priests, to have about them anything that might "bewray" their sacred calling, it was highly desirable that the ministers of the faith in England should carry their libraries chiefly in their heads. There was a large and valuable library for the use of the London clergy and educated laity at Gray's Inn, and the care of this collection was generally entrusted to some old priest who had fought the good fight and was looking forward to his near eternal reward. In most Catholic houses of note and in some of the more retired missions, notably at Dorchester, in Oxfordshire, were to be found similar, but, of course, far smaller stocks of books, mostly theological and apologetical, disguised from dangerously inquiring eyes by such titles as "Opera Ciceronis," "Opera Senecae" and the like. But in their journeys through the shires on sick calls, visits of instruction and so forth, it was inexpedient for priests to have about them any works or tractates likely to arouse suspicion. Hence the course of study for the clergy of the English mission was almost invariably protracted over twelve or even fourteen years, one

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of the chief features of this lengthy curriculum being a public "defensio" of some philosophical or theological thesis against all comers-a trying ordeal which usually took place before a large and distinguished company in the university or public hall of the town where the college of the tyro might be situated. These "defensiones" or public examinations, needless to say, were of the severest description, and they not infrequently covered what was practically the whole course of the candidate's reading. Those who defended their philosophy or divinity "with great applause" were often honored with the bachelor's degree or even doctor's cap and ring.

Thus laboriously and thoroughly equipped for his work on the English mission, the newly ordained priest returned home and placed himself at the disposal of the Vicar Apostolic of his district. Being a man of mature years, that is, about thirty or thirty-one years of age, the newcomer was as a rule appointed chaplain to some nobleman or gentleman whose residence formed the rallying point, so to speak, of the faithful over an entire district of many miles. While thus employed the priest would often pass as his patron's bailiff or steward, and sometimes he actually discharged the duties of these responsible posts. In such centres as Lancashire or Staffordshire, where the number of Catholics was always considerable, the work of the missioner lay far beyond the borders of his immediate sphere of influence. Under the favorable conditions just named, Catholics found safety in numbers and professed their religion almost openly. Thus in 1709 Dr. Holmes, Protestant vicar of Blackburn, reported to the Bishop of Chester that out of a total of 1,800 families in his parish, no fewer than 1,023 were "avowed Papists." Not only did the clergy of this district say Mass and perform their other sacred duties publicly, but the Vicar Apostolic when making his visitation the same year gave Confirmation to "crowds of Catholics," who assembled for the purpose at Lower Hall, Samblesbury.

In some few places, especially those situated in remote districts, persons were occasionally attracted to the proscribed Church by arguments widely different from those to be found in the pages of Bellarmine or Gother. During a debate in the House of Commons in November, 1753, Admiral Vernon said that there lately lived in his county "a great and rich Popish lady," who by connivance had a chapel in her own house, where Mass was celebrated every Sunday and holiday. This lady, out of zeal for her religion, had on every such day a large quantity of beef and mutton roasted or boiled with plenty of roots and greens from her garden, and every poor person who came to Mass at her chapel was sure of a good dinner. The neighboring parish churches were all deserted and the lady's chapel crowded with persons who, in the phrase of the gallant admiral,

بالله

thought that Mass with a good dinner was better than the church service without one."*

But such instances as those just recorded were quite exceptional, and the greatest caution was required for the safe exercise of the ancient faith. Even as late as the decade following the accession of George III. Bishop Challoner was compelled to preach to his congregation in "an upper room" of the "Ship" Tavern, off Holborn, his auditors having pipes and pewter pots by them to disarm suspicion. At the ancient mission of Cheam, in Surrey, Father William Heatley, O. S. B., Lady Petre's chaplain, who served the district, had to retire for a time to avoid a prosecution set on foot against him by the Protestant rector. Early in the century Bishop Gifford, of the London district, was forced to change his lodgings fourteen times in one year to elude pursuit. In 1733 Bishop Williams, of the Northern district, had "to fly to remote places to escape prison," and in 1747, the year after Prince Charles Edward's abortive rising, Bishop York, coadjutor of the Western district, wrote to Propaganda: "We are compelled to fly from house to house and from city to city." There was a recrudescence of "priest hunting" in 1766-71, owing to the exertions of the informer Payne, and so numerous were the prosecutions that one firm of lawyers alone, Messrs. Dynely & Ashmall, of Gray's Inn, defended upwards of twenty priests, and for the most part gratuitously, during the years 1765-7. The penal laws were evidently strangling the very life out of the Catholics of England, for a little later (1773) Bishop Challoner reported to Rome that there were only 707 adherents of the Church in Sussex, including clergy. By 1790 this attenuated number had still further fallen to 550. Next year came the Second Catholic Relief Act, legalizing our chapels and schools and opening to members of the old religion the professions of law and medicine, and this boon, in conjunction with the emigration of the French clergy and laity, which set in about this time, inaugurated the first epoch of the Catholic revival.

In those missions which were not supported by some wealthy or influential patron, the clergy were forced to subsist on the scanty offerings of their little flocks. Not a few of the mission houseswhich contained also the secret chapel-were in a dilapidated condition and were often used as barns and farm buildings to further disguise their real character. In many of the towns things were little better, and matters did not always improve with the times. Twelve years after the Second Relief Act Father Selby, the first Catholic resident priest at Leeds since the Reformation, lived in a single room down a miserable alley behind the public shambles. It was one of his "economical expedients" to go to the butchers' stalls late on Saturday night and buy as much refuse meat as would suffice for the ensuing week. Another "purgatory of a mission" was Ugthorpe, in Yorkshire, associated with the labors of the Rev. J. Harvey and the Rev. Sir W. Anderton, who were tried and convicted for recusancy in 1747.

Notwithstanding the difficulties of the time, the zeal of the missionary clergy as a body never flagged. The old mission registers are full of entries and items which show that not only were the spiritual interests of the faithful, living and departed, carefully attended to, but that even a considerable number of converts were continually being made. From the many instances that might be adduced in proof of this assertion, we give the following items relating to the ancient mission of Danby upon Yure, showing "what Mr. Oakley, S. J., did" from 1742 to 1758:

"1742-April 28. I administered (the last Sacraments to) Charles Robinson, of Wensley; recovered. May 2. I administered Frank Stabler, of East Wilton; he dyed. December 15. I received into the Church Margarite Stabler, of Thornton, wife of Will Stabler. "1743-15 Nov. I christened at Danby a Scotchman beggar with one Legg, his son Claud.

"1744-February 6. I administered to Margaret More at E. Wilton the viaticum the 15 (sic) without the holy oiles. I was sent for too late.

"1745-Jan. 12. I baptised at Ulshaw Bridge James son of Will Topham and Lucy his wife of Middleham: sponsors John Pease sen'r and Eliz. Allen, jun'r, for which I hardly escaped (banishment)."

So much for the strictly sacerdotal insertions. Here and there the entries in the old registers relate to such matters as "remedies against the Infection of Aer, sickness, &c.," or "against wormes in the stomack"-a strange blending of the physical with the spiritual which actually occurs in the "Liber Baptizatorum" of Father Thomas Worthington, O. P., the chaplain at Croxteth from 1713 to 1717.

The long missionary journeys which the priests of those days were forced to make for the purpose of attending to the wants of their scattered flocks were not the least arduous of the many duties which fell to the lot of men who can only be described as truly apostolic. The missioner visited all the towns and villages of his district periodically and made it a point to see personally all the known Catholics of the several localities. In many of these places the faith gradually died out owing to such causes as the penal laws and the extinction or apostasy of some family of influence which had hitherto made a mission possible. Instances of this species of spiritual destitution occurred at Boston, Lincolnshire, which was said to contain not a single Catholic in 1781, and at Linstead, Kent, this fatter owing