How far has the importance of the missionary priests in ensuring the survival of English Catholicism been exaggerated?
How far has the importance of the missionary priests in ensuring the survival of English Catholicism been exaggerated?
Over the years, historians have vigorously debated the role of the Jesuit and Seminary Priests (collectively the missionary priests) in the survival of English Catholicism. These debates have ranged from the actual extent of Catholic survivalism, to the significance of the missionary priests themselves. Whereas historians such as Haigh believe that at the time of the 1559 settlement, England was still, essentially a Catholic country, those such as Bossy maintain that the missionary priests were essential in ensuring the survival of English Catholicism, which, he argues, was dying out due to the lack of Marian priests.
The missionary priests aimed to bring Catholicism to the English, a country ruled by a Protestant Queen, who was, in the eyes of the Catholic church, a bastard, or, as Pope Pius V referred to her as in 1566, the one 'who pretends to be Queen of England.' With strong legislative restraints on the practices of Catholicism, including a £20 recusancy fine, and the dramatic reduction in Marian priests, Catholicism in England was clearly in need of support, and historians such as Doran have argued that it is difficult to see how Catholicism could have existed after 1574 without the help of the foreign priests to administer the sacraments. This argument is supported by the fact that Catholicism died out in areas such as Cornwall and Northeast Wales, which had been Catholic strongholds in the 1560s, where the missionary priests had failed to reach by the 1580s. Some historians, such as Bossy, argue that it was only the arrival of the missionary priests who 'saved English Catholicism from extinction'.
The argument that English Catholicism would have died out altogether without the help of the missionary priests as the congregations needed spiritual guidance from a Catholic point of view is, however, essentially flawed, as the missionary priests did not preach in areas such as the North of England, where the majority of the Catholic population resided, instead with over half of the priests choosing to stay in the South East, where only one fifth of the Catholics in England lived. The neglection of the Catholic population in the North and West of the country can be seen from ...
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The argument that English Catholicism would have died out altogether without the help of the missionary priests as the congregations needed spiritual guidance from a Catholic point of view is, however, essentially flawed, as the missionary priests did not preach in areas such as the North of England, where the majority of the Catholic population resided, instead with over half of the priests choosing to stay in the South East, where only one fifth of the Catholics in England lived. The neglection of the Catholic population in the North and West of the country can be seen from two different viewpoints. Historians such as Haigh have taken a very cynical standpoint on this matter, suggesting that the priests aspired to a sort of 'martyr cult', and chose to live near London because 'they were more likely to be captured' (Doran), as well as because of the extra comfort of life in the South. Other historians have, however, attributed this concentration of priests to geographical and political means. Foreign priests arriving from many of the major European ports would have first landed in the Southeast, and so naturally tended to stay around that area. They also felt the need to make their presence known in the capital city of the country. Haigh argues that the misdirection of the Jesuits and seminaries was one of the major causes of their failure to have any major effect on the religion of the country, and maintains that the priests should have directed their attentions to the larger Catholic populations in the North of the country who were in far greater need of spiritual guidance. Even one of the Jesuit priests, Robert Southwell, commented in 1586 that 'The priests actually working in the harvest betake themselves in great numbers to one or two counties, leaving the others devoid of pastors'. If, as Bossy argues, the missionaries were so effective in keeping English Catholicism alive by providing pastors to congregations in need of priests, their restricted access to the Catholic population of England would have surely impaired their ability to preserve Catholicism, and so leads us to the assumption that their role has, in this respect, been somewhat exaggerated, and although the priests seem to have helped the survival of Catholicism in the areas they were actually abundant in, areas such as Cornwall and Wales became notably less Catholic where there was an absence of missionaries.
There have been similar arguments from historians regarding the fact that the Jesuits and seminaries tended to reside in the houses of the gentry, and Haigh has also criticised the tendencies of the missionaries to focus their efforts to the nobility, at the expense of the poorer groups in society. A form of Catholicism dependent on the support of the gentry for its survival may there have been created (this has been termed a 'seigneurial Catholicism' by Dures). There was, however, little alternative to this, as it was only the gentry who held both the financial and political power in order to maintain the safety of the priests, and in the hierarchical society of Tudor England, the influence of the gentry over their tenants and dependants would have been very helpful for the missionaries.
Governmental policy towards the Catholics played a vital part in the extent of the survival of English Catholicism. These policies changed throughout the reign, ranging from the leniency of the 1560s, to the far less accepting approach towards the end of Elizabeth I's reign. Haigh summed this up by commenting that Elizabeth I was 'tolerant when intolerance was dangerous, and intolerant when tolerance was dangerous.' We can clearly see the shift in governmental policy after Elizabeth I's excommunication in 157 , and the move towards a far harsher treatment of the Catholics in the light of an increased threat, both from home and abroad. The harsher treatment is clear, with the execution of Norfolk in 1572, and the two acts passed in 1580 to both prevent the spread of rumours and retain the faithfulness of Elizabeth I's subjects. One hundred and eighty Catholics were also executed between 1581-1603, on a charge of praemunire. The severe treatment of the Catholics in the second half of Elizabeth's reign shows that the extent of Catholic survivalism was due to several factors, only one of which was the missionary priests, and supports the argument that their role has been exaggerated.
The missionaries were not the only supportive force behind Catholicism, and Elizabeth I struggled on an international basis with both the Pope, and her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots. There were several Catholic plots attempting to install Mary as Queen of England, including the Babbington plot in 1586, which eventually lead to Mary's execution. There were several Catholic plots brought against Elizabeth I, many with foreign backing, especially after her excommunication, and this led to an increase in anti-Catholic legislation, for instance the Bond of Association, which stated that if Elizabeth I was assassinated, then Mary would be also. The military intervention in the Netherlands in 1585 also shows how Catholic threats from abroad were worrying the Queen, and show that although the threat of the seminaries and Jesuits was taken seriously in England, it was not the only form of Catholic survivalism threatening the throne, and has therefore, to some extent, been exaggerated
Most historians now accept the idea that at Elizabeth's succession, England was a Catholic country. By the end of her reign, only one or two percent of the population could still be said to be true Catholics, which indicates the failure of any missionaries to maintain a strong Catholic faith in England. The decline of Catholicism was not as Haigh suggests, due to the 'strategic and logical errors' of the missionary priests, but due to more long term causes, such as the gradual decline in supporters as the people drifted into conformity, and gradually gave up their Catholic beliefs. The traditional view of the missionary priests; that they were the sole reason for the saviour of English Catholicism has been greatly exaggerated, and although they had a significant part to play in the survival of the religion, other factors such as the traditional religion of the majority of the country, the leniency of Elizabeth I towards the beginning of her reign and the foreign backing of several Catholic plots, all contributed greatly to the survival of English Catholicism in Elizabeth's reign.
Louise Phillips U6 EYS
Louise Phillips U6 EYS
How far has the importance of the missionary priests in ensuring the survival of English Catholicism been exaggerated? 1
