Saints in Fifteenth Century Italy

Pietro di Cristoforo Vannucci (Il Perugino) (b. 1450, Citta della Pieve, d. 1523, Perugia)
The Miracles of San Bernardino: The Healing of a Young Girl
1473
Tempera on wood, 75 x 57 cm
Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia




Osservanza Master for the Church of Sant'Agostino in Siena (Italian, active second quarter of 15th century)
All Saints in an Initial E: Cutting from an Antiphonary, ca. 1430–40
(The Virgin in prayer, surrounded by Saints. Standing next to her in the foreground are Saint Augustine on the left, and Saint Paul on the right. Partly visible behind them are the heads and gold haloes of numerous other saints)
Tempera and gold leaf on parchment
6 3/4 x 5 1/2 in. (17 x 14 cm)
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975 (1975.1.2484)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York




Initial A with Saint Dominic Saving the Church of Saint John Lateran, mid-15th century
From a Dominican gradual
Italian (Lombardy, possibly Cremona)
Tempera, gold, and ink on parchment
4 1/4 x 3 5/8 in. (10.9 x 9.3 cm)
Bequest of Gwynne M. Andrews, 1930 (31.134.5)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

“Whereas saints in the eleventh and twelfth centuries hailed from many countries of Latin Christendom, by the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries they came predominantly from France and Italy.... Between 1198 and 1431, the period studied by Vauchez, 25 per cent of all saints recognised by the Papacy were Italians; and more than 50 percent of all saints who had a local cult - whether canonically recognised or not- were of Italian origin. No other country came close. The preponderance of Italians was especially striking because in the same period no saints from the Iberian peninsula, northern Germany and the Low Countries received papal approbation.” 

From Religious Cultures by R. Po-chia Hsia in A companion to the worlds of the Renaissance By Guido Ruggiero, page 334

"If the historian of the Church of the fifteenth century meets with many unworthy prelates and bishops, he also meets, in every part of Christendom, with an immense number of men distinguished for “their virtue, piety, and learning," not a few of whom have been by the solemn voice of the Church raised to her altars. 

Limiting ourselves to the most remarkable individuals, and to the period of which we are about to treat, we will mention only the saints and holy men and women given by Italy to the Church. 

The first of this glorious company is St. Bernardine of Siena, of the Order of Minorites, whose eloquence won for him the titles of trumpet of Heaven and fountain of knowledge, and whom Nicholas V. canonized about the middle of the century. 

Around him are grouped his holy brothers in religion: Saints John Capistran, Jacopo della Marca, and Catherine of Bologna, a Sister of the same Order (d 1463). 

Among the Blessed of the Franciscan Order are Tommaso Bellaci (d 1447), Gabriele Ferretti (d 1456), Arcangelo di Calatafimi (d 1460), Antonio di Stronconio (d 1471), Pacifico di Ceredano (d 1482), Pietro di Moliano (d 1490), Angelo di Chivasso in Piedmont (d 1496), Angelina di Marsciano (d 1435), Angela Caterina (d 1448), Angela Felice (d 1457), Serafina di Pesaro (d 1478), Eustochia Calafata (d 1491), etc. 

The Dominican Order was yet richer in saints and holy persons.

Blessed Lorenzo da Ripafratta (d 1457) laboured in Tuscany, and under his direction the apostolic St. Antoninus (d 1459) grew up to be a pattern of self-sacrificing charity, and the glorious talent of Fra Angelico da Fiesole (d 1455) soared heavenward, leading men's hearts to the Eternal by the language of art, as the mystics had done by their writings." 

St. Antoninus, whose unexampled zeal was displayed in Florence, the very centre of the Renaissance, had for his disciples Blessed Antonio Neyrot of Ripoli (d 1460) and Costanzio di Fabriano (d 1481). Blessed Giovanni Dominici (d 1420) and Pietro Geremia da Palermo (d 1452) were celebrated preachers and retormers.

Then follow Blessed Antonio ab Ecclesia (d 1458), Bartolomeo de Cerveriis (d 1466), Matteo Carrier (d 1471), Andrea da Peschiera (d 1480), the Apostle of the Valteline, the recently beatified Cristoforo da Milano (f 1484), Bernardo Scammaca (d 1486), Sebastiano Maggi da Brescia (d 1494), and Giovanni Licci, who died in 1511, at the extraordinary age of one hundred and fifteen.

The Dominicaness, Chiara Gambacorti (d 1420), had held communication with the greatest saint of the later mediaeval period, St. Catherine of Siena; and, together with Princess Margaret of Savoy (d 1407), also a Dominicaness, was subsequently beatified. 

In the Order of St. Augustine we have to mention the following who have been beatified :—Andrea, who died at Montereale in 1479, Antonio Turriani (d 1494), Rita of Cascia (d 1456), Cristina Visconti (d 1458), Elena Valentino d` Udine ( d 1458), and Caterina da Pallanza (d 1478). 

Blessed Angelo Mazzinghi de Agustino (d 1438) belonged to the Carmelite Order ; that of the Gesuati had Giovanni Travelli da Tossignano (d 1446), the Celestines, Giovanni Bassand (d 1455); and the Regular Canons the Holy Patriarch of Venice, St. Lorenzo Giustiniani (d 1456). 

Blessed Angelo Masaccio (d 1458) was of the Camaldolese Order, and finally the great Cardinal Bishop of Bologna, Albergati (d 1443), was a Carthusian. St. Frances (d 1440), the foundress of the Oblates, was working in Rome. The labours of another founder, St. Francis of Paula (born 1416, d 1507), belong in part to the period before us. 

These names, to which many more might easily be added, furnish the most striking proof of the vitality of religion in Italy at the time of the Renaissance.

Such fruits do not ripen on “trees which are decayed and rotten to the core."

From Pages 36-38 Pastor. Lives of the Popes Volume I

Cardinal Domenico Capranica (1400-1458)

The tomb of Cardinal Domenico Capranica (1400-1458) which he had built in the Chapel of the Rosary, next to the tomb of S. Caterina di Siena, in the church of S. Maria sopra Minerva, Rome

Of the Cardinal, Dr Ludwig Pastor History of the Popes Volume II, pages 488-495 writes:

"Capranica, or the Cardinal of Fermo, as he was styled from his Archiepiscopal See, was valued by the new Pope even more highly than he had been by Eugenius. 

He accompanied Nicholas V. on his various journeys, and in the year 1449 was appointed by him to the important office of Grand Penitentiary, the duties of which he discharged in the most admirable manner. 

Various difficult legations were, as we have already said, confided to him, and while fulfilling these he also gave proof of his genuine devotion to the Church by promoting the cause of reform wherever it was possible to do so. 

In the Conclave after the death of Nicholas V. There seemed again a likelihood that Capranica would be chosen. During the Pontificate of Nicholas V. he had already been actively interested in the Turkish question, and under Calixtus III. He redoubled his efforts for the protection of Christendom. 

The plague, which raged in Rome in the year 1456, drove almost all the Cardinals away, but he remained with the Pope. He fearlessly traversed the infected streets, strewn with the unburied corpses of its victims, as he went to confer with Nicholas on the affairs of the Church. He displayed equal courage of another sort in personally and freely remonstrating with Calixtus when favours were heaped upon his unworthy relations. 

As we have already related, he steadfastly refused to acquiesce in Don Pedro's appointment as Duke of Spoleto. The enmity which he thus incurred induced him to withdraw more and more from public life, and he employed his time of retirement in pious exercises, as if foreseeing his approaching end. 

In the last days of July, 1458, just at the time when negotiations regarding his election as Pope were going on, Capranica was attacked by a slight indisposition, which soon grew into a mortal sickness. His first care was to receive the Holy Sacraments, and to seek pardon from the Cardinals for any offence he might have given them. 

Years before he had composed a little book, which we may really call a golden volume, “On the art of dying,” and all his thoughts were now directed entirely to eternity. He consoled the friends who stood mourning around his bed by reminding them that the death of those only is to be lamented who have never thought of dying until they saw that they could live no longer. 

The ideal of what a Cardinal should be is certainly a very high one. Capranica may be said to have realized it. 

All his contemporaries are unanimous in testifying that this great man united learning and piety in an uncommon degree. J His life was that of a Saint. His nightly repose was limited to four hours. Immediately on rising he recited the Hours, he then said or heard Mass, generally first going to Confession. 

Before granting audiences he devoted several hours to the study of the Fathers, among whom he had a special love for St. Jerome and St. Augustine. No women were allowed to enter his apartments, neither religious women nor his nearest relations—not even his sister and sister-in-law were excepted from this rule. 

The Cardinal of Fermo had built himself a palace suitable to his dignity in the vicinity of Santa Maria in Aquiro in Rome, but luxury found no place within its walls. His manner of life was remarkable for its simplicity; his dinner consisted of one dish. He hated court ceremonies, and in intercourse with others he was simple, short, and precise. 

His ecclesiastical household was composed exclusively of men of worth; various nationalities found place in it. To those around him he was rather a careful father than a master. If he perceived a fault in one of his retainers he at once endeavoured to correct it. He could be vehement and severe in dealing with the vicious and idle, and was unsparing in his reproofs to prelates who forsook their churches and busied themselves at court. 

Capranica was sterner towards himself than towards others. It is told of him that never, even in joke, did he permit himself to utter a falsehood. 

He repeatedly asked his friends frankly to point out his faults to him. When his dead body was unclothed it was found that even in his last illness he had worn an instrument of penance. His liberality was so unbounded that he was often in pecuniary difficulties. 

He frequently disposed of silver vessels and gave the proceeds, in secret, to the poor, who were required to promise that they would never let anyone know of his bounty. 

He bequeathed all his property to ecclesiastical uses. 

“The Church," he would say, "gave it to me ; I give it back, for I am not its master but its steward. I should, indeed, have reaped but little profit from the nights spent in studying ecclesiastical decisions if I were to leave the goods of the Church, which belong to the poor, to my own relations." 

In Rome and in the States of the Church, Capranica zealously strove to settle the numerous feuds which existed. 

If anyone would not be reconciled he used to take him into his room, and having bound him to secrecy, fall on his knees and implore him to make peace with his enemy.

He was a great lover of learning; his own attainments, especially in theology and in canon law, were considerable, and he counted among his friends both ecclesiastical and humanistic scholars. 

His valuable library was open to all students. He was also the founder of the first of the numerous colleges in Rome. 

In this institution, which still exists and bears his name, thirty-one poor scholars were to be received, of whom sixteen were to study theology and the liberal arts, and the remainder canon law. As his means were not sufficient to enable him to erect a building for this college, he received the students into his own palace. The constitutions, which he drew up himself, are in their way a model.'' 

Capranica was also an author. We have already spoken of his "Art of dying;" he also collected the Acts of the Council of Basle, wrote a work on the Turkish war, dedicated to Calixtus III., and for his nephews a set of Rules of Life, in which his beautiful character is reflected. 

When in the second week of August the physicians declared Capranica to be out of danger, the joy with which the announcement was received by all friends of learning and all well-disposed persons may be imagined. 

But a violent attack of fever came on in the night between the 13th and 14th, and by the afternoon of the latter day he was dead. A short time before he breathed his last he received the Holy Sacraments with such recollection and piety that he seemed to those who stood by like an angel from Paradise. 

The last words which the dying man addressed to his friends were to beg the alms of their prayers, and to exhort them to continue to labour indefatigably for the welfare of the Church which he had loved so ardently in life. 

" Two hours before his death,'' writes Otto de Carretto, the Duke of Milan's ambassador, " the Cardinal gave me his hand and said, 'God be with you; it grieves me to the heart that I have not been able before my departure to show to your lord and yourself the gratitude you deserve from me ; but God will repay you.' I," continues the ambassador, '" had no power to answer him. And so, my illustrious Duke, the wisest, the most perfect, the most learned and the holiest prelate whom the Church in our days has possessed is gone from us. His whole life was devoted to the exaltation of the Roman Church. He was the pillar of Italian peace and a mirror of piety and all sanctity. We all confidently expected soon to be able to honour him as Pope, for parties in general were agreed regarding his elevation. And now we must sorrowfully assist at his obsequies. Such is the world I So is every hope disappointed!"

With these words, written an hour after Capranica's death, the ambassador closes the despatch from whose faded lines the warm heart of the writer still speaks to our souls. 

The remains of the great man found a fitting resting place near the grave of St. Catherine of Siena in Santa Maria sopra Minerva. He was lamented by all. "Nothing but mourning and sighing is heard," wrote the ambassador of the Marquess Lodovico de Gonzaga on the 19th August, in reference to this calamity. 

The Romans had, indeed, good cause for grief. Of all the cardinals of the Renaissance Age none but Albergati, Cesarini, and Carvajal can compare with Capranica. His sudden death was, in the existing state of affairs, the heaviest imaginable loss to the Church. 

Two days later the Conclave began, and from it issued, as Pope, a cardinal distinguished alike as a statesman and an author, who had once been secretary to the Cardinal of Fermo."

His most lasting work was the foundation of the Seminary in Rome, now known as the Capranica.

In two speeches Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the college and the achievement of its founder.

In his address to the Seminary Community of the Capranica College, Rome on Friday, 19 January 2007, the Pope said:

"“I am pleased to welcome you just before the Feast of your Patroness, St Agnes. ... 

Five hundred and fifty years have passed since that 5 January 1457 when Cardinal Domenico Capranica, Archbishop of Fermo, founded the College that was named after him. He bequeathed to it all his property and his palace near Santa Maria in Aquiro, so that it could house young students called to the priesthood. 

The newborn institution was the first of its kind in Rome; initially reserved for young Romans and young men from Fermo, it later extended hospitality to students from other regions of Italy and of different nationalities. 

Cardinal Capranica died less than two years later, but his foundation had already started on the way it has followed until today, undergoing only 10 years of closure from 1798 to 1807 during the so-called Roman Republic. 

Two Popes studied at the Capranica: Pope Benedict XV, whom you rightly consider "Parens alter" because of the special affection he always felt for your house, and then, if for a shorter period, the Servant of God Pius XII. My venerable Predecessors, some of whom visited you on special occasions, have always demonstrated their benevolence towards your College. 

Our meeting today also takes place not only close to the Memorial of St Agnes but also in the context of an important anniversary for your institution. In this historical and spiritual perspective, it is useful to ask what motives impelled Cardinal Capranica to found this provident work, and what value they still have for you today. 

It is necessary, in the first place, to remember that the founder had direct experience of the colleges of the Universities of Padua and of Bologna where he himself had been a student, as well as those of Sienna, Florence and Perugia. These institutions had developed in order to house young scholars who did not belong to wealthy families. 

By altering several elements of these models, he conceived of one that would be exclusively destined to training future priests, with preferential attention to less well-off candidates. Thus, he anticipated by more than a century the establishment of "seminaries" decreed by the Council of Trent.

However, we have not yet focused on the basic reason for this provident initiative: it was the conviction that the quality of the clergy depends on the seriousness of their formation. 

Now, in Cardinal Capranica's time, there was no careful selection of aspirants to sacred Orders: they were sometimes examined in literature and song, but not in theology, morals and canon law, with foreseeable negative repercussions on the Ecclesial Community. 

This is why, in the Constitutions of his College, the Cardinal imposed on theology students knowledge of the best authors, especially Thomas Aquinas; on law students, the doctrine of Pope Innocent III, and on them all, Aristotelian ethics. 

Further, not content with the lessons of the Studium Urbis, he guaranteed supplementary lessons provided by specialists directly within the College itself.

This curriculum was integrated into a framework of integral formation centred on the spiritual dimension. It was supported by the pillars of the Sacraments of the Eucharist - daily - and of Penance - at least monthly - and sustained by the pious practices prescribed or suggested by the Church. 

Great importance was given to charity, both in ordinary fraternal life and in assistance to the sick, as well as to what today we call "pastoral experience". 

Indeed, it established that on feast days, students would serve in the cathedral and in other local churches. 

An effective support in the students' formation was also provided by the style of the community itself, including strong participation in decisions concerning life in the College 

Here we find the same fundamental disposition that was later to be made by the diocesan seminaries, of course, for the latter with a fuller sense of belonging to the particular Church; the choice, that is, of a serious human, cultural and spiritual formation, open to the requirements proper to the time and place.

Dear friends, let us ask the Lord, through the intercession of Mary Most Holy and St Agnes, that the Almo Collegio Capranica may continue on its way, faithful to its long tradition and to the teachings of the Second Vatican Council.”

The next year Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday, 19 January 2008 said:

"“After celebrating its 550th anniversary in 2007, the Almo Collegio, which boasts an age-old history and a long tradition of fidelity to the Church and to her supreme Pastor, will commemorate in August the actual anniversary of the death of Cardinal Domenico Capranica (14 August 1458), who did a great deal for the birth of the Collegium pauperum scholarium, destined for the formation of well-trained men for the priestly ministry. 

In approaching this anniversary, I gladly remember the exemplary and far-sighted figure of this Cardinal, who with determination and a practical sense knew how to support the desire for reform that was also beginning to make itself felt in Rome, and, a century later, was to contribute to determining the orientation and decisions of the Council of Trent. 

He had the gift of clearly intuiting that the hoped-for reform was not solely to concern ecclesiastical structures, but mainly the life and decisions of those in the Church who were called to be guides and pastors of the People of God at any level. 

Convinced of the importance of the spiritual dimension in the formation of future ministers of the altar and in the Church's mission, Cardinal Capranica not only did his utmost to establish the College, but he also desired to endow it with Constitutiones that fully regulate the various aspects the young students' formation. 

Thus, he showed his attention to the primacy of the spiritual dimension as well as his awareness that the depth and consequent perseverance of a sound priestly formation crucially depend on a complete and organic educational programme. These decisions have even greater prominence today, given the many challenges that priests and evangelizers must face in their mission. 

In this regard, on various occasions I have reminded seminarians and priests to cultivate a profound inner life, personal and constant contact with Christ in prayer and contemplation, and a sincere longing for holiness. Indeed, without true friendship with Jesus, it is impossible for a Christian, especially a priest, to fulfil the mission the Lord entrusts to him. For the priest, this certainly also entails a serious cultural and theological training which you, dear students, are acquiring during these years of study in Rome. 

Actually, I would say that your formation process can receive a decisive impulse precisely from your stay in this City. The levels of experience and the contacts that it is possible to have here are in fact a providential gift and a unique incentive. The presence of the Chair of Peter, the work of the people and organizations that help the Bishop of Rome to preside in charity, a more direct knowledge of certain particular churches, especially the Diocese of Rome, are important elements that help a young man called to the priesthood to prepare himself for his future ministry. 

Moreover, your Pastors have sent you to the City of the Successor of Peter in the hope that you will return later enriched by a pronounced Catholic spirit and with a fuller ecclesial sensibility of universal breadth. 

The experience of communal life at the Capranica College among students from various regions of Italy and from countries of the whole world, enables each one of you, dear friends, to be thoroughly acquainted with the interweaving of cultures and mentalities that is typical of contemporary life. Furthermore, the presence of several who belong to the Russian Orthodox Church gives a further impetus to dialogue and brotherhood and nourishes ecumenical hope.”

St Bernardine of Siena

Bernardino di Betto (Benedetto) called II Pinturicchio (b. ca. 1454, Perugia, d. 1513, Siena)
Death of St. Bernardine
1487-89
Fresco
Cappella Bufalini, Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Rome

All the frescoes on the life of St Bernardine in the Chapel can be seen on this website

"The following year [1424] brought St. Bernardine of Siena, one of the greatest saints and preachers of his age, to Rome.

This hero of unworldliness and self-sacrificing charity had devoted himself to the care of the sick during the great plague of 1400, when he was but twenty.

He afterwards preached penance to the Roman populace, who had grown wild and lawless during the absence of the Popes. A pure and saintly life gave double power to his words, and the success of his preaching was immense. Bloody feuds which had lasted for years were brought to an end, atonement was made for great crimes, and hardened sinners were converted.

“On the 21st June, 1424," writes the Secretary of the Senate, Infessura, "a great funeral pile of playing-cards, lottery tickets, musical instruments, false hair, and other feminine adornments, was erected on the Capitol, and all these things were burned." ...

In 1427, St. Bernardine came again to Rome to clear himself of the charge of heresy, of which he had been accused to the Pope. The occasion was as follows: when the Saint entered a city, he had a banner carried before him on which the Holy Name of Jesus was painted, surrounded by rays. It was set up near the pulpit when he preached; sometimes also, when speaking of the Holy Name, he held in his hand a tablet, on which it was written in large letters visible to all.

By his earnest persuasion many priests were induced to place the Name of Jesus over their altars or to have it painted on the inner or outer walls of their Churches; and it was inscribed in colossal letters outside the Town Hall in many Italian Cities, as, for example, in Siena, where it is to be seen to this day.

St. Bernardine's enemies had accused him to the Pope on account of this veneration paid to the Holy Name, misrepresenting the facts. As might have been expected, the investigation which Martin V. instituted resulted in his triumphant justification; the Pope permitted him to preach and display his banner wherever he chose. Moreover, in order to manifest his innocence the more clearly in Rome, where he had been slandered the Pope himself, with his assembled clergy, made a solemn procession in honour of the Name of Jesus amidst universal rejoicings.

He also commanded the Saint to preach in St. Peter's, and then in other Churches in the Eternal City. For eighty days St. Bernardine devoted himself to these Apostolic labours, which were crowned with the greatest success, AEneas Sylvius Piccolomini, afterwards Pope Pius II., writes: “All Rome flocked to his discourses. He frequently had Cardinals, and sometimes even the Pope himself, amongst his audience, and all with one voice, bore witness to his marvellous power and success.” "
From L. Pastor. History of the Popes Volume 1, pages 232-234

Bernardino was canonized in 1450, only six years after his death, by Pope Nicholas V

St Bernardine died and was buried in L`Aquila. Unfortunately the church where his remains lie was very badly damaged in the recent earthquake.

The Church of Sant`Agostino, Rome

The Church of Sant`Agostino, Rome

"Martin V. also sought to increase devotion to the relics existing in the Eternal City, and carefully provided for their fitting custody.

A new and precious relic, the body of St. Monica, the mother of the great St. Augustine, was brought to Rome, from Ostia, by his desire. [In 1424] He caused its arrival to be celebrated by a special solemn function, at which he himself offered the Holy Sacrifice. Afterwards he addressed a striking discourse to the Augustinian Hermits whom he appointed guardians of the sacred remains, and to the assembled crowd. A passage in this discourse has a peculiar interest, inasmuch as it proves Martin V. to have been completely uninfluenced by the Humanistic tendencies of his day.

After describing the virtues of St. Monica, her sweetness, her patience, her maternal solicitude, which found its reward in the holiness of such a son, he exclaims, " then, while we possess Augustine, what care we for the sagacity of Aristotle, the eloquence of Plato, the prudence of Varro, the dignified gravity of Socrates, the authority of Pythagoras, or the skill of Empedocles? We do not need these men; Augustine is enough for us. He explains to us the utterances of the prophets, the teaching of the Apostles, and the holy obscurity of Scripture. The excellences and the doctrine of all the Fathers of the Church and all wise men are united in him. If we look for truth, for learning, and for piety, whom shall we find more learned, wiser, and holier than Augustine? "

After this discourse, which may be considered as St. Monica's Bull of Canonization, Martin V proceeded to place the precious remains in a sculptured sarcophagus of white marble. This had been provided, at great cost, by Maffeo Veggio, a pious Humanist, and two noble Roman ladies also gave three silver-gilt lamps, which were lighted before the sacred relic and kept burning night and day."

From L. Pastor, The History of the Popes Volume 1, pages 230-231

Hiatus

I shall be in Scotland and unable to blog for about ten days.

May: The Month of Mary

May Magnificat

May is Mary's month, and I
Muse at that and wonder why;
Her feasts follow reason,
Dated due to season -

Candlemas, Lady Day;
But the Lady Month, May
Why fasten that upon her,
With a feasting in her honour?

. . . . . . . .

Ask of her, that mighty mother:
Her reply puts this other
Question: What is Spring? -
Growth in every thing -

. . . . . . . .

All things rising, all things sizing
Mary sees, sympathizing
With that world of good,
Nature's motherhood.

Their magnifying of each its kind
With delight calls to mind
How she did in her stored
Magnify the Lord.

Well but there was more than this:
Spring's universal bliss
Much, had much to say
To offering Mary May.

. . . . . . . .

This ecstacy all through mothering earth
Tells Mary her mirth till Christ's birth
To remember and exultation
In God who was her salvation.

Gerard Manley Hopkins (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889),

Paul Gauguin (French, 1848–1903)
TitleIa Orana Maria (Hail Mary)
1891
Oil on canvas
44 3/4 x 34 1/2 in. (113.7 x 87.6 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Gallery Label for this picture states:

"Before embarking on a series of pictures inspired by Polynesian religious beliefs, Gauguin devoted this, his first major Tahitian canvas, to a Christian theme, describing it in a letter of March 1892: "An angel with yellow wings reveals Mary and Jesus, both Tahitians, to two Tahitian women, nudes dressed in pareus, a sort of cotton cloth printed with flowers that can be draped from the waist. Very somber, mountainous background and flowering trees . . . a dark violet path and an emerald green foreground, with bananas on the left. I'm rather happy with it."

Gauguin based much of the composition on a photograph he owned of a bas-relief in the Javanese temple of Borobudur.

El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) (Greek, 1541–1614)
The Virgin Mary ("Mater Dolorosa"), 1590s
Oil on canvas; 20 1/2 x 14 1/8 in. (52 x 36 cm)
Musées des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg

Plaque with the Virgin Mary as a Personification of the Church, carved 800–875
Carolingian
Ivory
Overall 8 11/16 x 5 11/16 x 5/16 in. (22 x 14.5 x 0.8 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Gallery Label states:

“The spindles in Mary's right hand often appear in depictions of the Annunciation, as she receives the news that she will bear the Christ Child. The military appearance of her costume and the cross-topped scepter she holds suggest that she should also be understood here as a personification of the Church Triumphant. The curious juxtaposition of the figure of Mary as the Virgin Mother of Christ and as the Church is unique to this ivory plaque. "

Lorenzo Monaco (c.1370-1425)
Coronation of the Virgin
15th century
Tempera, gold-leaf on panel, integral frame gabled top
Height: 195 cm; width: 154.7 cm
The Courtauld Gallery, London

A Diagram Illustrating the Christian Faith

A Diagram Illustrating the Christian Faith, in St. Anselm's 'Similitudes' And Other Works (1225)
Ink and pigments on vellum
Cotton MS Cleopatra C XI
Length: 19.9; Width: 13.5 cm
The British Library, London

The catalogue entry in The British Library says of the above:

“In [St Anselm`s] 'Similitudes', also called 'Human Morals', he compares virtues and vices.

Other texts in this volume include an account by Adam, monk of Eynsham, of a vision of purgatory and paradise experienced by his brother Edmund in 1196.

The illustrations are exceptional because they usually attempt to illustrate abstract ideas, often in pairs, such as health and sickness, or strength and weakness.

This manuscript belonged to the Cistercian Abbey of Dore, Herefordshire, by the 14th century, and it may have been written and illustrated there.

At the top of the diagram the Madonna and Child are enthroned between personifications of the Church and Synagogue; below are Christ blessing, Christ crucified, Christ carrying the Cross, and the Resurrection of Christ, and other figures.”

Iris Murdoch and St Anselm

Iris Murdoch (1919-1999)

The novelist Iris Murdoch argued that modern ethics had become an abstract and arid affair, detached from a) the concrete conditions of human action, b) any overarching conception of the good, and c) from the sort of spiritual exercises that make moral transformation possible.

In the essay below, Hibbs argues that Anselm’s writings provide a neglected resource for recovering what Murdoch thinks contemporary ethics has lost.

It is not surprising that Anselm situates all human reasoning within an overarching account of the good, but what has been less obvious to readers is the way, not just in his prayers but even in his speculative writings, he never loses sight of the concrete conditions of the individual human soul, its virtues and vices.

In Anselm’s writings, Hibbs argues that we can discern patterns for practices that amount to spiritual exercises designed to bring about the moral transformation of the reader

See Thomas S. Hibbs, Iris Murdoch, Spiritual Exercises, and Anselm's Proslogion and Prayers in The Saint Anselm Journal 3.1 (Fall 2005) 62

St Anselm 2

Sarcophagus with Scenes from the Passion of Christ
(probably from the Catacomb of Domitilla):
Cross with Chi-Rho, laurel wreath, and guards at the tomb, detail of 3rd [C.] panel, mid-4th century A.D.
Museo Pio Christiano , Vatican

Eia nunc ergo tu, domine deus meus, doce cor meum ubi et quomodo te quaerat, ubi et quomodo te inveniat. Domine, si hic non es, ubi te quaeram absentem? Si autem ubique es, cur non video praesentem? Sed certe habitas lucem inaccessibilim...

Creasti in me hanc imaginem tuam, ut tui memor te cogitem, te amem. Sed sic est abolita attritione vitiorum, sic est offuscata fumo peccatorum, ut non possit facere ad quod facta est, nisi renoves et reformes eam

Come then, Lord my God, teach my heart where and how it may seek You, where and how it may find You. Lord if you are not here, where shall I seek You in your absence? If, however, You are everywhere why then do I not see You near at hand? Surely You dwell in light inaccessible...

You have created Your image in me, so that I may recall and think of You, and love You. But the image is so obliterated by the erosion of vice, so obscured by the smoky fumes of sin, that it cannot do what it was made to do unless You renew it and reform it

St Anselm of Canterbury, The Proslogion

St Anselm: 900 Years

Giovanni Francesco Romanelli (1610-1662)
The Meeting of the Countess Matilda and Anselm of Canterbury in the Presence of Pope Urban II (1637-1642)
Oil on canvas
Galleria dei Romanelli, The Vatican

The opening of Cur Deus homo
From a 12th century copy of Anselm's works in Lambeth Palace Library, London

Portrait of Eadmer of Canterbury, (biographer of St Anselm)
about 1140–50
Benedictine abbey of Saint Martin, Tournai,

April 21st 2009 was the 900th Anniversary of the death of St Anselm (c. 1033 – 21 April 1109)

Anselm was probably the greatest theologian ever to have been appointed Archbishop of Canterbury.

In 1720, Anselm was recognised as a Doctor of the Church

Born at or near Aosta in Northern Italy, he became a monk in Normandy at the age of 27

He was elected the Prior at Bec

Under Anselm's jurisdiction, Bec became the foremost seat of learning in Europe

The last sixteen years of his life were spent as Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of England. He is buried in Canterbury Cathedral.

On 21st April this year, the Pope sent Cardinal Biffi as his delegate to the Cathedral at Aosta for the celebrations. Cardinal Biffi`s sermon is online in English translation on the website of Sandro Magister

He defended the relevance of the great Anselm: "a formidable thinker" and a man of faith among the many false teachers of doubt, absolutely faithful to the successor of Peter among the many, including bishops, who left him alone.

The Cardinal concentrated on three “gifts” uniquely suited for the present time.

First, “an extremely acute awareness of the invisible world, meaning that reality which lives and breathes beyond the showy, noisy scene of the things and events here below: this is the world where the most august Trinity reigns; it is the world full of throngs of happy creatures; it is the world that transcends us, but is also near to us and gives meaning and scope to our lives as mortal creatures ...

When we are overcome by depression and discouragement at the sight of what takes place under the heavens, both within and outside of Christianity, the most decisive remedy to this sort of disappointing spectacle lies precisely in remembering the actual extension of the universe, which also includes the invisible world; that invisible world which is already victorious over evil is already our own; that invisible world which is full and exuberant with a superhuman energy in which (even when we do not realize it) the earth is constantly bathed”

Second, “for him – and for every adequately informed Christian – faith not only is not separable from reason, and does not harm it, but is even the greatest and highest exercise of our intellectual faculty.

On the other hand, in modern culture, influenced and dominated by an absolute subjectivism, there has been a gradual assertion of a pessimistic view of natural human knowledge. Many think that man is not capable of arriving at any truth that is not conditional and intrinsically relative. ...

Anselm, however, recognizes the dignity and the effectiveness of reason. For him – and for all disciples of Jesus – reason must be honored for its own sake, as a great gift from God. Moreover, it is an indispensable element of the act of faith, and remains an indispensable element of that "understanding of faith" in which Anselm is an acknowledged master.”

Third, “never lose sight, he exhorts us, of the primary and irreplaceable function of the see of Peter. .. Anselm knew that it was to Peter and his successors (and not to others), that Jesus said, "Strengthen your brethren" (Luke 22:32)... the apostolic see is always the normal point of reference and the ultimate, indisputable judge for every problem concerning revealed truth, ecclesial discipline, the pastoral approach to be taken.”

Apart from his meditations, letters and a treatise on grammar, he is best known for three works: the Monologion, the Proslogion with its ‘ontological' proof of the existence of God, and Cur Deus homo, a defence of the doctrine of the Incarnation.

One hundred years ago, St Pope Pius X issued on 21 April 1909 an Encyclical on the Life of St Anselm. Communium Rerum can be viewed here

Other articles/websites which you might wish to consult are:

'Anselm as Author: Publishing in the late eleventh century', Journal of Medieval Latin 19 (2009), 1--87. It can be downloaded as a pdf: Anselm as Author: Publishing in the late eleventh century - 1.3Mb

Ian Logan 'Shooting round Corners: Newman and Anselm', which was originally published in New Blackfriars, Vol. 79 No. 934 (December 1998) 544-550

A Bishop Saint

Sir Alfred Gilbert RA (1854-1934)
A Bishop Saint
Model for the tomb of Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, at Windsor C.1892
Ivory, bronze, copper and glass beads
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Of this piece, the Museum website states:

“This is a prime example of Gilbert's experimental working methods. The central core is a discarded bronze torso from another statuette. To this he has added a painted ivory head, a bronze cope studded with glass beads and a copper mitre. Though meant as a model for a tomb figure, it was sold as an independent work.”

Sir Alfred Gilbert (12 August 1854 – 4 November 1934) was an English sculptor and goldsmith and was one of the main figures in the New Sculpture movement

Prominent in his work is a decorative aesthetic and elements of fantasy, which he uses to explore the Symbolist themes of fate, love, and death

Amongst his best known works are: the memorial to Anthony Ashley-Cooper, earl of Shaftesbury, in the form of a fountain surmounted by the figure of Eros (1885–93; Piccadilly Circus, London), and the polychromed, mixed media tomb of Prince Albert Victor, duke of Clarence (1892–1928; Albert Memorial Chapel, Windsor Castle).

Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (Albert Victor Christian Edward; 8 January 1864 – 14 January 1892) was the eldest son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII). He did not become king because he predeceased his father and his grandmother, Queen Victoria

The prince fell ill with influenza in the great influenza pandemic of 1889–1892. He developed pneumonia and died at Sandringham House in Norfolk on 14 January 1892, less than a week after his 28th birthday

The Prince is buried in the Albert Memorial Chapel close to St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

The tomb designed by Gilbert , is magnificent A recumbent effigy of the Prince in a Hussar uniform lies above the tomb. Kneeling over him is an angel, holding a heavenly crown. The tomb is surrounded by an elaborate railing, with figures of saints

See images of the chapel below:

St Francis of Assisi

Giotto di Bondone b. 1267, Vespignano, d. 1337, Firenze)
Legend of St Francis: 17. St Francis Preaching before Honorius III
1297-1300
Fresco, 270 x 230 cm
Upper Church, San Francesco, Assisi

From the Address of Pope Benedict XVI to the Franciscan Family taking Part in the International “Chapter of Mats” at Castel Gandolfo Saturday, 18 April 2009

"And here we come to the point that certainly lies at the heart of our meeting.

I shall sum it up like this: the Gospel as a rule of life. "The Rule and the Life of the Friars Minor is this, that is, to observe the Holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ". This is what Francis wrote at the beginning of his Regula bullata (Rb I, 1: FF, 75). He understood himself entirely in the light of the Gospel. This is his fascination. This is his perennial timeliness.

Thomas of Celano says that the Poverello "always carried Jesus in his heart. Jesus on his lips, Jesus is his ears, Jesus in his eyes, Jesus in his hands, Jesus in all his other members.... Indeed, finding himself frequently travelling and meditating on or praising Jesus, he would forget that he was on a journey and he would stop and invite all creatures to praise Jesus" (1 Cel., II, 9, 115: FF, 115).

Thus the Poverello became a living Gospel, capable of attracting to Christ men and women of every epoch, especially young people who prefer radicalism to half measures.

Bishop Guido of Assisi and, later, Pope Innocent III recognized the evangelical authenticity of the proposal of Francis and his companions and they were able to encourage their commitment, also in view of the good of the universal Church

Here a reflection springs spontaneously to mind: Francis might also not have gone to the Pope.

Many religious groups and movements were forming at that time and some of them were opposed to the Church as an institution or at least did not seek her approval. A polemical attitude to the hierarchy would undoubtedly have gained Francis many followers.

Instead, he immediately thought of putting his journey and that of his companions in the hands of the Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Peter. This act reveals his authentic ecclesial spirit. From the very first he had conceived of the little "we", which had begun with his first friars, as being within the great "we" of the Church, one and universal. "

Bernardo Tolomei

Pompeo Batoni (1708-1787)
Blessed Bernardo Tolomei helping a victim of the plague 1745
Oil on canvas 261 x 173 cm
San Vittore al Corpo, Milan

Bernardo Tolomei (1272-1348) founded the congregation of the Blessed Virgin of Monte Oliveto (the Olivetans), giving it the Rule of St. Benedict.

The purpose of the new religious institute was a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

Upon the appearance of the plague in the district of Arezzo, Bernardo and his monks devoted themselves to the care of the sick at the monastery of San Benedetto a Porta Tufi in Siena. . As a result of this charitable act, Bernardo and eight two of his Olivetian confreres themselves succumbed to the ravages of the plague.

On 26th April 2009 he will be one of the saints canonised at a ceremony in St Peters Square, Rome

His life is described in the Vatican website

There is also a blog in Italian called San Bernardo Tolomei on the life of San Bernardo and the Benedictines of Mount Oliveto

On 22nd April 2009, Pope Benedict XVI discussed greed, the world economic crisis and the monastic life.

Referring to the little known eighth-century Benedictine monk, Abbot Ambrose Autpert, the Pope said that the ascetic lifestyle of contemplative religious does not reflect a disregard for the world, creation and beauty.

Turning their backs on the world's material possessions reflects "a disregard for the false vision of the world greed presents to us," he said. And it is this greed that tempts people into thinking that having is the most important value in life "and in this way distorts creation and destroys the world," he added.

The pope said the abbot also taught that God can only be found through love.

Theological or "intellectual study may point the way, but only when we love God do we truly know him," he said.

For more about Monte Oliveto, see The Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore and the Crete

For more about Batoni, see Re-discovering Batoni and Batoni: The Artist of the Sacred Heart

Vision

Alphonse Osbert 1857-1939
Vision 1892
Oil on canvas 235 x 138 cm.
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

This represents a vision of Saint Geneviève

In the late 1880s, Osbert abandoned naturalistic painting in favour of a Pointillist technique like that employed by Seurat and Signac

He also embraced mystical themes and the Symbolist movement.

Art as the evocation of mystery, like prayer’ finds no better expression than Vision.

Such works were praised by Symbolist writers who considered them visual counterparts of the poetry of Paul Verlaine, Stéphane Mallarmé and Maurice Maeterlinck.

A Testerian Catechism

Testerian Catechism c.1524

In the early period of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, before religious instructors had learned the languages of the indigenous peoples, they used pictorial stories describing basic teachings to spread the Christian Gospel. These catechisms were called Testerians, after Father Jacobo de Testera, a Franciscan priest who pioneered this method of teaching.

This is one of the "exhibits" in a new website sponsored by the Library of Congress and UNESCO entitled The World Digital Library (WDL)

The purpose of the site is to make available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world.

The WDL was developed by a team at the U.S. Library of Congress, with contributions by partner institutions in many countries; the support of the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); and the financial support of a number of companies and private foundations

La Sainte et le chardon

Odilon Redon 1840 - 1916
La Sainte et le chardon (The saint and the thistle) 1891
Lithograph on chine appliqué
Height: 285 millimetres; Width: 207 millimetres
Inscription Content: Signed in pencil, and lettered with title and '50 exemplaires'
The British Museum, London

In French iconography, the thistle is the symbol of the pain of Christ and of the Virgin.

It is also the symbol of virtue protected by its thorns.

The thistle is not the Scottish variety of thistle, but one of the many types which flourish in France.

The Cardinal, the Prime Minister and the Catholic Relief Act 1926

Cardinal Bourne (in clerical dress) in public procession at The National Catholic Congress of 1929

On 13 - 17 September 1929, the Catholic Church in the United Kingdom and Ireland celebrated the centenary of the passing of the Catholic Emancipation Act 1829.

Cardinal Bourne (March 23, 1861—January 1, 1935) as Archbishop of Westminster from 1903 until his death, headed the celebrations in London. See Solomon, I Have Surpassed Thee: National Catholic Congress 1929


The homilist at the Opening ceremony on Friday 13 September 1926 was able to say:

"One hundred years ago, our faith was subject to all sorts of disabilities, it was despised and hated, it had to keep itself secret in order to live. Now we parade it before all the world, and scarcely anyone raises so much as a murmur of protest! What a change in the temper of the people of this country!"

One would not have been surprised if the Cardinal had found difficulty in suppressing a rueful smile: it had been a damn near thing !

Only a few years previously the Cardinal had played a major part in the passing of the Catholic Relief Act 1926. Without the passing of the 1926 Act, the celebrations in 1929 may not have been able to take place and probably certainly not in public legally.

The 1926 Act for most important purposes ensured legal equality for Catholics in the exercise of their religion in England, Wales and Scotland

The 1926 Act is now forgotten. In fact, if you look for it in the UK Statute Law Database, you will not find it. However there are one or two uninformative footnotes about it in the official text of the 1829 Act, which do not explain what the 1926 Act did.

However the passing of the 1926 Act became an essential matter and was bitterly contested at the time.

Why was the 1926 Act so important ?

At the turn of the century in 1900, most people assumed that Catholics did have equality.

It was felt and with reason that whatever disabilities which remained as a result of the 1829 Act were "dead letters" and of no practical significance.

However about this time a number of groups started to assert that the remaining penal provisions were not dead and attempted to breathe new life into them.

The main areas in which there were problems were:

1. Public processions of Catholics especially where the Host was exhibited and where members of the Catholic clergy dressed in canonicals.

2. The status of religious orders and their disabilities in law



Public processions.

In 1908, on the occasion of the Eucharistic Congress, the main procession of the Congress involving the procession of the Host around some streets in Central London flanked by clerical dignitaries was banned by the Government.

See 2008: A Centenary of a Eucharistic Procession

After this, it would appear that the Government was chastened by the amount of criticism which it received and it was felt that no Government would again attempt such a ban.

However religious tensions in the United Kingdom became more bitter especially as a result of the problems in Ireland.

After the First World War, religious tensions in Scotland and certain areas of England became acute.

In 1923 the Church of Scotland produced a highly-controversial (and since repudiated) report entitled The Menace of the Irish Race to our Scottish Nationality. It accused the Catholic population of subverting Presbyterian values and of causing drunkenness, crime and financial imprudence.

John White, one of the Church of Scotland leaders at the time and later a Moderator of The Church of Scotland, called for a "racially pure" Scotland, declaring, "Today there is a movement throughout the world towards the rejection of non-native constituents and the crystallization of national life from native elements."

On the question of processions matters came to a head in 1924. The police authorities prohibited the annual Corpus Christi procession in the village of Carfin, Lanarkshire on Sunday, 22nd June 1924

The police invoked the Catholic Emancipation Act, 1829, and informed the priests concerned that they would be prosecuted for wearing their vestments in public, as laid down in the Act. The details can be seen in the House of Commons Reports:

HC Deb 02 July 1924 vol 175 c1357W

HC Deb 08 July 1924 vol 175 cc1935-7

HC Deb 15 July 1924 vol 176 cc185-6

The status of religious orders

After the 1829 Act, monasteries and convents came under recurrent criticism and attempts at regulation and suppression.

See Convents and Monasteries in Victorian Britain

From a legal point of view, Sections of the Act of 1829 provided that "whereas Jesuits, and members of other religious orders, communities or societies of the Church of Rome, bound, by monastic or religious vows, are resident within the United Kingdom; and it is expedient to make provisions for the gradual suppression and final prohibition of the same therein " (emphasis added)

The intention of the provisions was that all monastic orders would become extinct in the United Kingdom as the then e x i s t i n g members died out.

The provisions had never been put into f o r c e , and Sir James Stephens in his History of the Criminal Law said, "These provisions ever since they have been passed have been treated as an absolutely dead l e t t e r "

However in 1902 the Protestant Alliance applied to the Metropolitan Police Magistrate at Marlborough Street for summonses against three well -known Jesuits under the Act of 1829, but the Magistrate refused to grant the summonses on the ground that the Information was too scanty. He also took into consideration the fact that the Act of 1829 had been, in p r a c t i c e , a dead l e t t e r . The case was taken on a mandamus to the High Court (Rex. v. Kennedy, Law Times Reports 1903; volume 18, page 557) and the High Court upheld the M a g i s t r a t e ' s decision on the ground that he had exercised a discretion in the matter which was given to him by law, and i t was not for the Court to i n t e r f e r e.

Unfortunately therefore members of the Jesuit Order and other orders in law had no legal right to remain in the United Kingdom.

The Church was quite content to let the matter rest there.

However Lord Birkenhead, in the case of Bourne vs Keene, in 1919,pointed out that religious orders are excluded from the Roman Catholic Charities Act, 1832. Accordingly, being still illegal bodies, gifts to them for the purpose of their work were illegal, and void and invalid.

The Inland Revenue authorities therefore refused to a charity carried on by an order the relief given to all other charities by the Finance Act, 1921.

No property could be held on trust for a religious order, and accordingly their property had to be held privately by beneficial owners, with the result that on the death of the holder Death Duties became payable.

This blow to exemption from taxation enjoyed by other charities and religions would have caused severe detriment to religious orders in the United Kingdom.

In Bourne v Keene, Lord Birkenhead, whilst he said that gifts for Masses were not to be for superstitious use, did also go on to say: "That is not to say there are now no superstitious uses or that no gifts for any religious purpose can be invalid."

The law needed to be reformed: it was a matter of justice that orders should be put on an equal footing with all other religious bodies

The First Attempts at Reform: 1924

Shortly after the banning of the procession in Carfin in June 1924, and the lack of Government action following on it, a member of the House of Commons introduced a Private Members Bill entitled "The Catholic Relief Bill" into the House of Commons on 5th August 1924.

It was a relatively simple Bill as can be seen from the Bill and the explanatory notes below.

It simply wanted to repeal sections of the penal statutes and those sections of the Catholic Emancipation Act 1829 which were obstacles to the practice of ordinary Catholics in their faith.

Private members bills (then and now) without the support of the Government did and do not pass.


Further attempts at Reform: 1925

In 1925, there was an attempt to get Government support for a new Bill. It seems to have had the support of the then Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin. He had his Private Secretary prepare a Memorandum on the Bill in Febrauary 1925. The memo is the one above.

It is sad to say that Cabinet support was not forthcoming

The main opponent seems to have been the Home Secretary of the day, Sir William Joynson-Hicks

As Home Secretary, he had a reputation for strict authoritarianism.

Popularly known as "Jix", he was seen as a reactionary. However it should be said that he was also responsible for piloting the Equal Franchise Act through Parliament in 1928, which allowed women to vote on the same terms as men.

In religious matters he was a very strong Low Church Evagelical Anglican. Prior to the First World War he had been a strong opponent of Irish Home Rule. He was a leader of the Evangelical laity and President of the National Church League

In 1927-28, he was one of the leaders of the movement against the revision of the Anglican Prayer Book which led to Parliament throwing out twice the proposed revision to the Prayer Book. See Wikipedia: The Book of Common Prayer: Further attempts at revision

However bearing in mind the composition of the Cabinet, there were others who perhaps were not well disposed to further attempts to liberalise the law.

Lower down in party ranks, there was some anti-Catholic feeling:

"Some party members of Protestant conviction, especially in north west constituencies, grew suspicious that there were Catholic sympathies in the higher echelons of the party. A Conservative Central Office agent for Lancashire and Cheshire, H. R. Topping, wrote to a Baldwin aide that there was ‘strong disapproval amongst individual members of the party’ regarding the bill, and that the ‘ultra Protestant atmosphere’ in some areas had already resulted in the loss of a few municipal seats. He suggested that, for many Low Church voters in Lancashire, ‘this was just the type of question which might prevent those who are wavering politically at present from definitely identifying with our party’.

Pembroke Wicks, a party worker close to Baldwin, feared that there might be a violent Protestant reaction in some quarters, most probably in areas such as Preston and Birkenhead. For some MPs in less sectarian constituencies, there was apprehension that their stance could equally lose them Protestant or Roman Catholic voters. Thus, religion was already a cause of heightened tension within the Conservative party by 1927. Protestant organisations were able to stockpile an arsenal of polemical ammunition to fire at the Baldwin administration, which was now open to the accusation of being ‘soft’ on the Catholic issue."

(From John G. Maiden, The Anglican Prayer Book Controversy of 1927-28 and National Religion: Chapter Six; Nation and Religion: The Parliamentary Debates )

In response to the Prime Minister`s Memorandum, the Home Secretary also prepared a Memorandum. It is dated 6th February 1925. It is below. He was against Government support for the Bill.

Unfortunately it was the view of the Home Secretary which prevailed when Cabinet met on 11 February 1925. See the Cabinet Minute below

In 1925, the Bill was introduced again. Petitions were presented in favour of the Bill. But without Government support, the Bill was effectively killed off in 1925.

See the relevant House of Commons proceedings:

The Bill was introduced again on 2nd March 1925: See HC Deb 02 March 1925 vol 181 c40

Petitions presented were 3rd May 1925 See HC Deb 03 May 1925 vol 13 cc361-2 361

But to no avail.

It was only in 1926 that the tide began to turn.

1926: The Tide Turns: The Prime Minister backs Reform

Bassano (floruit 1902-1979).
Francis Alphonsus Cardinal Bourne (1861-1935), Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster.
Whole-plate glass negative, 19 November 1925
The National Portrait Gallery, London

After the Bill was sidelined in 1925, there was another attempt in Parliament to introduce the Bill.

This time the Bill was sponsored and introduced into the Commons by Alan Herbert (an Anglican) on 10th March 1926

See HC Deb 10 March 1926 vol 192 cc2305-8

The Bill passed First and Second Readings and then went to the next stage, Standing Committee at the end of March 1926, where it was expected to languish, wither and die off.

But from reading the papers, it would appear that something happened.

In accordance with the previous decision of 1925, the Home Secretary wrote to the Whips to say that the Bill would be blocked. However the Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin let it be known that he had no objection to the Bill. The Whips therefore did not block the Bill.

The Prime Minister then brought the matter back to Cabinet in April 1926.

There then followed a dispute at Cabinet level which lasted until the end of July 1926 as to whether the Government should support the Bill and if so on what terms and conditions.

Considering that this period covered the period leading up to The General Strike and its aftermath, it is noteworthy that what should have been a relatively uncontroversial Bill occupied a great deal of Whitehall time at the highest levels during a particularly serious and important time in the country`s history.

On 27th April 1926 the Home Secretary produced a Memorandum for the Cabinet on the issue. It is reproduced below. He set out his opposition to the Bill in the strongest terms.In particular he was against the provisions for public processions and those allowing religious orders.

The next day 28th April 1926 Cabinet considered the matter. Before the matter could be considered, Baldwin absented himself to attend negotiations involving the Coal Dispute which were threatening to escalate into a General Strike. In his absence Cabinet considered whether or not to support the Bill. The Home Secretary addressed the Cabinet no doubt in terms of the Memorandum which he submitted.

It would appear from the Cabinet Memorandum below that the discussion was lengthy. Apart from certain provisions which were definitely excluded, the Cabinet agreed to further consider the matter.

One does wonder if the absence by Baldwin was "diplomatic" and prevented him from coming into open conflict with his Home Secretary at such a crucial time.

There no doubt followed further negotiations and discussions. It is clear that Cardinal Bourne was involved with corresponding with the Prime Minister, Baldwin on the matter.

Certain agreements were reached. The provisions about religious orders and the taxation of these as charities appear to have been reached.

But it was clear that there were certain issues on which there could not be agreement. One of the issues was the issue of Catholic processions.

On 19th May 1926, Cabinet had a further discussion. Its position was set out in the Memorandum below. There were to be no processions, nothing to affect the law in Norther Ireland and nothing to allow a Roman Catholic to become Lord Chancellor. If there were, the Bill was to be blocked.

There were protests from Cardinal Bourne to the Prime Minister.

However it would appear that there was a section of the Cabinet who had drawn "red lines" about certain matters. If the red lines were breached, there would be a block on the Bill.

Further negotiations ensued.

On 23rd June 1926 the Prime Minister brought the matter before Cabinet again "as a matter of urgency". He advised Cabinet that some of the provisions which had been objected to had been removed. There followed another long discussion. It would appear that the opponents of the Bill were now trying to delay further consideration of the Bill and to "kick it into the long grass". It would appear that the Solicitor General, Sir Thomas Inskip also had reservations "about the detail" of the Bill.

The reference to Inskiip is quite interesting. He later became Lord Chancellor (Lord Caldecote) and during the Second World War, Lord Chief Justice. At the time he was Vice-President of the Protestant Truth Society.

He was one of the diehards who opposed the Bill throughout its passage. In November 1926 he wrote to Baldwin advising that the Government`s stance could equally lose them Protestant or Roman Catholic voters. (T. Inskip to Baldwin, 26 November 1926, Baldwin Papers, Vol. 52/P3, Roman Catholic Relief Bill, Cambridge University Library, 30-31) . When the Bill did eventually come up for a vote, he led thirty members, against the bill


Cabinet backs the Bill

In any event, Cabinet instructed the Home Secretary to enter negotiations with the promoters of the Bill and see if agreement could be reached.

On 30th June 1926, the Home Secretary on the instructions of the Cabinet met with the promoters of the Bill. He managed to achieve agreement with them to allow the Bill to go forward. They accepted the red lines. See the Cabinet Memorandum of 30th June 1926 below

Bourne holds out and presses for further Reforms

However someone obviously forgot to tell Cardinal Bourne. When he was told, he was not pleased. He wrote to the Prime Minister. He protested that there was still to be a ban on Catholic processions. He pleaded for justice and equality.

On 7th July 1926 Baldwin raised the matter again in Cabinet. He read out sections of the Cardinal`s letter protesting about the continued ban on Catholic processions. Eventually Cabinet agreed to allow a free vote on the question and support the Bill. Rather surprisingly Ministers were to be allowed a free vote on the question in the Commons. This breach of collective Cabinet responsibility indicates the degree and strength of opposition to the measure within the Government. The licence to opponents was highly exceptional. See the Cabinet memorandum below.

One would have thought that with the Government`s blessing, the Bill should have swiftly proceeded. However it was not dealt with until December 1926. It would appear that there may have been some rearguard attempt at seriously delaying the progress of the Bill until 1927. There was a heavy Government schedule of Bills but for some reason the placing of the Bill seems to have consistently moved down the list of priority.

The Bill goes through Parliament

In any event, the Bill along with other Bills appears to have gained priority and on 3rd December 1926, the Bill came out of Committee and was debated again on the floor of the House.

The important debates and divisions were:

Clause 1:HC Deb 03 December 1926 vol 200 cc1581-3

Clause 3:HC Deb 03 December 1926 vol 200 cc1584-95

Schedule: HC Deb 03 December 1926 vol 200 cc1595-642

For some reason opposition in the Commons was not great and the Bill went through the Commons that day.

Catholics could have processions with priests in high canonicals, amongst other things.

However the debates are interesting as they throw a great deal of light on the temper of the times.

The attempt to exclude the provisions of the Act from Scotland came to nothing, fortunately.

The Bill then went to the House of Lords. There it received the support of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the English Anglican bishops. No speaker dissented or opposed the Bill. It was passed that day without a division.

The House of Lords debate can be accessed here:HL Deb 10 December 1926 vol 65 cc1487-96

On 15th December 1926 the Bill received Royal Assent and became law.

The two indispensables: Cardinal Bourne and Prime Minister Baldwin

Amongst the many promoters of the 1926 Act who deserve praise for the passage of the Act, two stand out: Cardinal Bourne and the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin

Without either of them, there would have been no legal equality for Catholics in the 1920s.

Bourne had been Archbishop of Westminster since 1903. His public actions in the First World War as well as Catholic casualties in the Great War strengthened public toleration for Catholics.

His rejection of the idea of a Catholic University and a Catholic political party and his promotion of the idea that Catholics should mix with non-Catholics and not be separate encouraged toleration.

Protestants were alarmed by the successes of Anglo-Catholicism, which by the 1920s was the most dominant Anglican Church party. The fear of Rome was heightened by ecumenical conversations at Malines between Anglo-Catholic and Roman Catholic representatives from 1921-5. However Bourne was not at all encouraging towards the Malines Conversations.

On social issues he was a conservative. He was a blunt patriotic Englishman who seems to have seen things in simple black and white terms. On 9th May 1926, during the dying days of the General Strike, Cardinal Bourne declared in a sermon during High Mass that:

"It is a direct challenge to lawfully constituted authority and inflicts without adquate reason, immense discomfort and injury on millions of our fellow countrymen. It is therefore a sin against the obedience which we owe to God who is the source of that authority."

He obviously found an admirer in Baldwin. He shared similar characteristics with the rather 'plain blunt man' : Baldwin. His lobbying of Baldwin on the issue of the Bill was successful. One does wonder if any other Archbishop of Westminster would have been able to persuade Baldwin of the necessity of the measure despite all the other major problems affecting the Government: the onset of modern democratic politics, the rise of Labour, chronic economic depression, the General Strike, persistent newspaper attacks, imperial discontent.

From the above narrative, it is quite clear that without the support of Baldwin for the measure, the Act would never have been passed.

It had been blocked by the Cabinet. Yet he overruled the block and brought it back to Cabinet.

When his very strong Home Secretary succeeded in blocking the Bill again, it was Baldwin who brought it back again for further consideration until he got his way.

When Cabinet and the promoters of the Bill agreed on a way forward for the Bill, it was Baldwin who overruled his Home Secretary again (and his Cabinet) to get the issue of Catholic processions debated yet again by the Cabinet until the Cabinet agreed to allow a free vote by the Commons on the issue.

All of this was against his political interest and the interest of his party and its grassroots.

The three-times premier was the most important politician in interwar Britain.The reputation of Baldwin was high when he left office but plummeted during his lifetime with the onset of the Second World War. He was blamed for the lack of preparedness of the British forces to fight Hitler earlier and for the policy of appeasement. His critics, including Churchill and “Cato”, unjustly claimed that Baldwin had put party before country on this vital matter.

Why did Baldwin do it ? He was primarily a One Nation Conservative. Social cohesion was his philosophy rather than social divisiveness. His political speeches emphasised the theme of “England”. He articulated a pastoral, moral vision of England, which offered comfort and security to a nation scarred by war. His philosophy was of a moral policy and of a harmonious society. Before 1914, Unionists had been preoccupied by Ulster. The establishment of the Irish Free State and partition of Ireland in 1922 meant that Conservative policy had to look forward and put the old battles behind them. Baldwin wanted to construct an amorphous, broad-based coalition, going well beyond the frontiers of his own party. He was eager to transcend the divisions of class and interest reflected in party conflicts. He was intent on including all men and women of goodwill in a warm, purportedly non-political embrace. Baldwin sought to depoliticise government, to damp down ideological controversy and class conflict, and to convince the electorate that common sense pointed in one direction only and to insist that duties came before rights. His reward was nearly 20 years of Conservative hegemony.

It would be fanciful to think that perhaps Baldwin was motivated by personal considerations. His niece, Monica Baldwin joined an enclosed Roman Catholic convent in 1914. It was only in 1941 that she obtained a rescript from Rome and left the convent.