39. ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLICS. The Roman Catholic Church in Eng land is descended from those who in the reign of Elizabeth refused to accept the Reformation (q.v.) and remained in communion with the See of Rome. Nearly all the English bishops were included in this number and were deprived of their sees and stringent laws were made with a view to enforcing conformity with the estab lished religion. Notwithstanding these, how ever, and the fact that they were frequently put into execution, the number of those who ad hered to the Roman Catholic faith was, for a time, very considerable. No form of ecclesi astical government was instituted at first, as hopes were entertained of a national reunion with Rome; but in the meantime, in order to perpetuate a succession of clergy, several col leges were established on the Continent, in which also the laity obtained their education. Chief among these was the college at Douay, in Flanders, founded by Cardinal Allen in 1568. Others were in Rome, Paris, Saint Omer, Seville, Valladolid, Lisbon, etc., several owing their origin to the well-known Jesuit, Father Parsons. Most of these still exist, some on their original sites, while others, having come to an end during the French Revolution were refounded in England, for the laws against Catholic schools had then been relaxed. It was undoubtedly due to the English colleges abroad that the Roman Catholics in England were saved from extinction.
Early in the 17th century, when the hopes of reunion had become remote, an attempt was made to form a proper ecclesiastical govern ment for the Roman Catholics; but it was not until the reign of James II that affairs were put on a permanent footing. England was then divided into four "districts*— the Northern, Western, Midland and London — each under the government of a bishop called a "Vicar Apostolic.* This means the he was, by a kind of legal fiction, bishop of an Asiatic see "in partibus Infidelium;) and he ruled his actual ((district*. with authority delegated directly by the Pope. Thus the first ((Vicar Apostolic was nominally Bishop of Chalcedon. A similar arrangement was made a little later in Scot land. And all the colonies having no ecclesias tical government of their own, were con sidered as belonging to the "London District,* so that in early days, the Roman Catholics of North America were under the London "Vicar Apostolic.* The beginnings of the present American Roman Catholic hierarchy date from the time of the War of Independence. In England the government by "Vicars Apostolic* continued until the establishment of the hier archy in 1850; in Scotland it lasted until 1878.
After the brief reign of James II new penal laws were enacted against Catholics and the time which followed may be considered the low water mark of Roman Catholicism in England. The hopes they had placed in the Stuarts had failed and the outlook seemed dark and dreary. There were numerous de fections about that time and hardly any con verts were made to replace them. The only centres where the Catholic religion could be regularly practised were the country seats of the old Catholic families and in London the chapels of the various Roman Catholic ambas sadors.
Toward the end of the 18th century, how ever, there were signs of better times for them. The penal laws were mitigated by Parliament in 1778 and practically abolished by a second Act in 1791, after which Catholic chapels began to spring up in many of the larger towns and a certain number of conversions were made. Roman Catholics were still, however, disquali fied from sitting in either house of Parliament, and were under many other civil disabilities. These were not formally removed until the Act of Emancipation,° obtained by the agitation of O'Connell and the Irish in 1829.
Three events of later time must be briefly alluded to, as having had a permanent effect on the state of English Catholics. One was the French Revolution, which had a double effect. In the first place, it drove back to England the numerous communities of English monks and nuns, who had settled abroad during penal times, and by accustoming the people in Eng land to their presence amongst them, prepared the way for the rapid multiplication of such institutions in later times. In the second place, it caused some thousands of French priests to take refuge in England, where they were re ceived with marked hospitality, and consider able sums both of private and public money were apportioned to their relief. Most of them indeed returned to France on the signature of the concordat between Napoleon and the Pope in 1801; but a certain number remained in England and founded missions or other Catho lic works, some of which still continue. The second event to be alluded to was the great immigration of the Irish after the potato famine in 1845-49, which was the chief cause of the rapid increase of the Catholic congregations at that time and later. The third was the Oxford Movement (q.v.), which though it did not have such a great effect numerically speaking, never theless brought over men of standing and in fluence who have left a lasting mark on the Church. The names of Newman, Manning, Faber, Ward, Oakeley are only some of many that might be mentioned in this connection.