More Roman than Rome: English Catholicism in the Nineteenth Century

During the 19th century the Catholic Church was forced to react to a series of political and economic, social and intellectual revolutions which would effectively dominate its development until the second half of the 20th century. This book is a lucid and fascinating survey of the development of English Catholicism during the 19th century and particularly of the critical influence of Cardinals Wiseman and Newman, Manning and Vaughan. This is the first modern attempt to write a survey of English Catholicism during the 19th century and one which incorporates the latest historical research as well as original material. The work begins with a description of English Catholics at the time of their Emancipation before the dramatic transformation which took place as a result of the massive immigration of Irish Catholics into England and the growth of Ultramontanism in the Catholic Church throughout the world. The author argues that the religious and political, social and economic attitudes of the 'Old' English Catholics were not those of a rather frightened or even 'lukewarm' and 'disloyal' minority as some of the Ultramontanes would later claim. Of course, the 'Old' Catholics did not welcome the way in which the Catholic community in England was being transformed not only by the arrival of numerous Irish immigrants, but by the demands of the new converts from Anglicanism and the complaints of the foreign missionaries who were now working for the conversion of the country. Dr Holmes describes in great detail the increasing adoption of Roman or Ultramontane theological ideas and religious practices with the advent of Wiseman and Manning, Faber and Ward, and the failure of a more Liberal Catholic approach associated with Newman and to a greater extent with Acton and Simpson on such issues as academic freedom, the temporal power of the Pope and the definition of papal infallibility...