CATHOLIC LONDON MISSIONS JOHANNA H. HART INC. THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES IT MORA WM > LI9RAHT CATHOLIC LONDON MISSIONS Chapel, Kly Place. 1815. [Frontispiece. /CATHOLIC LONDON MISSIONS FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE YEAR 1850 BY JOHANNA H. HARTING "I have here made a garland of culled flowers, and have brought nothing of my own but the string that ties them." MONTAIGNE LONDON SANDS &CO. 12 BURLEIGH STREET, STRAND 1903 PREFACE To have unearthed any fragments of that infinite treasure of history buried beneath the living London of to-day ; to have supplied however few of the articulations of which its past can be recon- structed and set before our eyes is a service of public utility. But it is to those interested in the fortunes of Catholicism in England during the long years of its humiliation, that this history of "The Old London Missions" will be especially welcome. The materials are necessarily scant. Men flying for their lives are not likely to leave careful records of their flight for the convenience of the leisurely historian of the future ; nor, when secrecy is essen- tial to safety, will they leave any traces of their path that can possibly be obliterated. Hence the little that these pages enshrine has been gathered together but slowly, and at the cost of much in- dustry, from private tradition, from letters between intimate friends, and from similar sources. Hidden away in side alleys and dark streets, seeking in every way to escape notice, these ugly, uncouth I vi PREFACE little chapels and conventicles stood, and in some cases still stand, monuments of that undying Hope which writes Resurgam on our headstones, and breathes life into the valley of dry bones. And if we look for the basis of that hope, it was doubtless in the consciousness of union with the centre of that international Church whose vitality can repair the ravages of the storm, and send forth new branches to replace those that have been torn away. Severed from Rome, the little remnant of the old religion had soon gone under and been lost. Catholics will be pardoned a little thrill of triumph in turning from the crypts and catacombs described in these pages, to contemplate the great cathedral at Westminster that appears to crown the seem- ingly extravagant hopes of their forefathers, and to give basis for further hopes not less extravagant in the eyes of cold reason. But, indeed, it will be well to remember that elation in prosperity is as dangerous as depression in adversity ; nor is the prosperity of a religion to be measured by the bulk and number of its churches, nor even by the mere multitude of its adherents ; but solely by its power for good over souls ; by the intelligence and moral fibre of its clergy, the devotion, union, and religious energy of its laity ; by its spiritual, intellectual, political, and social influence in the country at large. In the golden days of Christianity, the croziers were of wood ; and in the days that live again in PREFACE vii these pages, the laity and clergy were often of steel often of yet more precious metal, tried in the furnace. They laboured, and we have entered into their labours, not, let us hope, as idle heirs, but as all-conscious of our duty to the future. If an account of the Chapels Royal and Em- bassy Chapels has been included in that of the missions, it is because, when these latter were few and far apart, they supplied their place and kept the faith alive, where else it had been extinguished through lack of priestly ministrations. The missions established subsequent to 1850 are too numerous to come within the scope of this book ; and, furthermore, possess little of the quaint historical interest attaching to the older chapels. G. TYRRELL, SJ. LIST OF THE HEADS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN ENGLAND From the Year 1584 to 1850 The two last Bishops of the ancient Catholic Hierarchy were : THOMAS WATSON, Bishop of Lincoln, who died in Wisbeach Castle, September 1584; and THOMAS GOLDWELL, Bishop of St Asaph, who died in Rome, August 1585. ENGLAND UNDER CARDINAL ALLEN, 1585 to 1594. 1585 to 1594 CARDINAL ALLEN. ENGLAND UNDER ARCHPRIESTS, 1598 to 1621. The Archpriests were the head of the secular priests sent to England from the seminaries of Douay and Rome. They had twelve assistants, without the help of whom the Archpriests could not act. 1599 to 1608 GEORGE BLACKWELL. 1608 to 1614 GEORGE BIRKHEAD. 1615 to 1621 WILLIAM HARRISON. ENGLAND UNDER ONE VICAR-APOSTOLIC, 1623 to 1655. 1623 to 1624 WILLIAM BISHOP. 1625 to 1655 RICHARD SMITH, D.D. HEADS OF THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND VICARIATE VACANT, 1655 to 1685. During the thirty years in which the English Vicariate was vacant, the English clergy were obliged to resort to Irish and Continental bishops for the performance of their functions, such as consecrating the holy oils, etc. The Internuncio in Paris was the chief medium of communication between the Catholics of England and the Holy See. ENGLAND UNDER A VICAR-APOSTOLIC, 1685 to 1688. 1685 to 1688 JOHN LEYBURNE, D.D. CREATION OF FOUR VICARIATES, 1688 to 1840. London District comprising the counties of Kent, Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Hants, Berks, Bedford, Bucks, Hertford, and the islands of Wight, Jersey, and Guernsey. Midland District comprising the counties of Oxford, War- wick, Worcester, Salop, Stafford, Derby, Nottingham, Lincoln, Northampton, Cambridge, with Ely, Norfolk, Suffolk, Hunting- don, Rutland, and Leicester. Northern District comprising the counties of Chester, Lancaster, York, Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmore- land, the Bishopric of Durham, and the Isle of Man. Western District comprising the counties of Wilts, Cornwall, Somerset, Dorset, Gloucester, Hereford, with the Principality of Wales. LONDON DISTRICT. 1688 to 1702 JOHN LEYBURNE, late -Vicar-Apostolic of England. 1703 to 1734 BONAVENTURE GlFFARD, D.D., Bishop of Madaura. 1721 to 1758 BENJAMIN PETRE, D.D., Bishop of Prusa. 175810 1781 RICHARD CHALLONER, D.D., Bishop of Doberus. 1759 to 1790 HON. JAMES TALBOT, D.D., (coadjutor), Bishop of Birtha. HEADS OF THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND xi 1790 to 1812 JOHN DOUGLAS, D.D., Bishop of Centuriae. 1803 to 1827 WILLIAM POYNTER, D.D., Bishop of Haliensi. 1823 to 1836 JAMES YORKE BRAMSTON, Bishop of Usulae. 1828 to 1833 ROBERT GRADWELL, (coadjutor), Bishop of Lydda. 1833 to 1840 THOMAS GRIFFITHS, (coadjutor), Bishop of Olena. CREATION OF EIGHT VICARIATES, 1840. 1840 to 1847 THOMAS GRIFFITHS, Bishop of Olena. 1847 to 1848 NICHOLAS WISEMAN, Pro- Vicar- Apostolic. 1848 to 1849 THOMAS WALSH, Bishop of Cambysopolis. 1849 to 1850 NICHOLAS WISEMAN, Archbishop of West- minster. RESTORATION OF THE HIERARCHY, 1850. 1850 to 1865 NICHOLAS WISEMAN, Cardinal. CONTENTS .PAGE 1625 HENRIETTA MARIA'S CHAPELS i 1649 SARDINIAN CHAPEL, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS . 22 1662 THE CHAPELS ROYAL OF THE STUARTS . 55 SUNDAY IN THE TIMES OF THE STUARTS . 74 1740 ST MARY'S, MOORFIELDS . . . .80 SOME EMBASSY CHAPELS . . . .100 ST ETHELDREDA'S, ELY PLACE . . .114 1742 SPANISH PLACE CHAPEL . . . .132 1762 VIRGINIA STREET CHAPEL, RATCLIFFE HIGH- WAY . . . . . .144 1788 ST GEORGE'S-IN-THE-FIELDS . . .151 1792 ST PATRICK'S, SOHO . . . .163 CATHOLIC HAMMERSMITH . . .182 SOME FORGOTTEN CHAPELS . . . 209 1799 FRENCH CHAPEL . . . . .225 1808 ST ALOYSIUS, SOMERS TOWN . . . 240 1811 ST MARY'S, CHELSEA .... 253 1816 ST MARY'S, HAMPSTEAD .... 263 1833 CHURCH OF OUR LADY, ST JOHN'S WOOD , 266 ILLUSTRATIONS ELY PLACE CHAPEL IN 1815 - . . Frontispiece QUEEN HENRIETTA MARIA'S CANDLESTICKS . Face page 9 LAVABORIUM IN HENRIETTA MARIA'S CHAPEL 19 DR CHALLONER . . . . . 29 LORD GEORGE GORDON . . . 35 CARDINAL HOWARD . . . 57 FATHER HUDDLESTON . . . 65 ST MARY'S, MOORFIELDS, IN 1827 . . 81 DR POYNTER . . . 91 DR BRAMSTON . . . . 95 ST MARY'S, MOORFIELDS, IN 1899 . . 99 ELY PLACE IN 1769 . . . 119 THE UNDERCROFT, ELY PLACE CHAPEL, IN 1786 125 FATHER WILLIAM LOCKHART, O.C. . . 127 OLD CHURCH, SPANISH PLACE . . 135 DR JAMES SMITH . . . . 167 DR GRADWELL . . . . 177 CARDINAL WELD . . . . 193 DR GIFFARD . . . . 201 ABB CARRON ...... 243 SOMERS TOWN CHAPEL . . . 251 DR MILNER , , . . 261 CATHOLIC LONDON MISSIONS HENRIETTA MARIA'S CHAPELS 1625 THE Chapels Royal of the Stuarts, with which I shall deal in these chapters, were, first, the chapel at Somerset House, which was built for Henrietta Maria, the Queen of Charles I. ; secondly, the chapel at St James's, which was also a Queen's chapel in the time of Catherine of Braganza; and, thirdly, the Queen's Oratory at Whitehall. In the reign of Charles I., Somerset House was, it would appear, the chief resort of the Catholics at that time, the chapel at St James's being only used when the Queen was in residence there. When the negotiations for the Spanish marriage were commenced, the chapel at St James's was begun for the use of the future Queen, and the first stone laid by the Spanish Ambassador on 3Oth May 1625, while Inigo Jones was appointed to superintend the 1 A 2 CATHOLIC LONDON MISSIONS works. When this match was broken off, the building of the chapel was suspended, but was again com- menced when the King's marriage with Henrietta Maria was decided upon. It was not, however, finished in time for the Queen's use on her arrival in England, so Mass was said in a small oratory at Whitehall. On the marriage of King Charles I. to Henrietta Maria, the daughter of Louis XIII. and Marie de Medicis, it had been stipulated in the marriage articles that the Queen was to be allowed the free practice of her religion as a Roman Catholic ; but scarcely had she arrived in England when many difficulties arose. Panzani, writing in 1631 to the Pope, says: "Her Majesty Queen Henrietta, in conformity with the stipulations effected by the aid of your Holiness, opened, besides her own private chapel, another, a public one, wherein, by the Fathers of the Oratory first, and afterwards by the Capuchins in their habits, were recited the Divine Office ; and Masses were said, and Sacraments administered. At these ser- vices the King and all the Court are present upon the high festival days, with notable edification. In this chapel the Divine Offices are celebrated with the aid of excellent music ; and it is incredible what good effect is produced on the congregations, not only by the beautiful adornment of the chapel and altar, and the correct performance of ecclesiastical ceremonies, but also by the sermons delivered by the Capuchins, HENRIETTA MARIAS CHAPELS 3 and occasionally by the Queen's Almoner, the Bishop of Angouleme," In this manner, the Protestants according to Panzani lose their fear of Catholic rites and cere- monies. " The chapels of the Ambassadors and agents of the Princes similarly effect much good. At present the chapel of Signor Georgio Coneo (George Conn, a Scotch ecclesiastic, in great favour with the Queen, and by her recommended for the purple) is opened with exceeding splendour. The King is clement, and adverse to bloodshed, and albeit in want of money, does not enforce fines against Catholics " (Maziere Brady). Immediately the Queen's Chapel at St James's was opened as we are told by an historian of those times " the Catholics came in such numbers to hear the Queen's Mass on Sundays, that she herself rebuked them and caused them to be driven out" (Ellis) ; and the King, who found it convenient in this, as in other matters, to forget his promise, ordered "the French," as he contemptuously called them, to be expelled. From St James's they went in a body to the chapel at Somerset House, " where for some time they performed Mass and heard con- fessions, until " Steenie," Duke of Buckingham, was ordered to dislodge them thence also, and to pack the French off, without ceremony, to their own country. On leaving St James's, we are told, "the women howled and lamented as if they were going to execu- tion ; but all in vain, for the Yeoman of the Guard, by 4 CATHOLIC LONDON MISSIONS Lord Conway's appointment, thrust them and all their country folk out of the Queen's lodgings, and locked the doors after them." Bassompierre adds : " The Queen, when she under- stood the design, grew very impatient, and broke the glass windows with her fist ; but since, I hear, her rage is appeased, and the King and she, since they went together to Nonsuch, have been very jocund together. "The King, her husband, had permitted her to gain her jubilee in the Chapel of the Fathers of the Oratory at St Gemmes (St James's) within a month of her arrival in England, which devotion had termi- nated with Vespers, and as at that time the heat of the day was past, she had walked in the park of St Gemmes, and in the Hipparc (sic), in company with the King, her husband." The King had allowed his wife three chaplains when he dismissed the French Court from England, and he was reluctant to permit more, but Bassom- pierre the French Ambassador persuaded Charles to allow it to be as the Queen desired. " First the Queen has re-established (and this is for her con- science) a Bishop and ten priests (the priests were Capuchins, who concern themselves less in politics than other orders), a confessor and his coadjutor, and ten musicians for her chapel ; that of St James's is to be finished for her, with its cemetery, and an- other is to be built for her at Somerset House, at the expense of the King, her husband." Bassom. HENRIETTA MARIAS CHAPELS 5 pierre goes on to mention numerous members of the Queen's household who are all French, "which caused her Majesty to be the most unpopular of women living ; but the numbers were considerably less than those of the French Court the Queen had brought with her from France, who were banished by Charles, as they numbered more than 400." Although Father Sancy, S.J., the Queen's con- fessor, did his best to insist as some historians say unwisely on the performance, to the very letter, of every article in the Queen's marriage-contract re- specting the establishment of her Catholic chapel, great difficulties arose, and amongst other grievances was the Mass at Whitehall, when the Queen claimed permission for the celebration of the rites of her religion, which was granted with reluctance. Instead of a chapel, according to the marriage articles, the most retired apartment in the palace was assigned for the purpose. The first Mass that was celebrated in an English Royal Palace since the winter of Queen Elizabeth's accession, is thus described in the words of an angry newswriter : " The Queen, at eleven o'clock, came out of her chamber, in a petticoat, and a veil over her head, supported by the Count de Tilliers, her chamberlain, and followed by six of her women, and the Mass was mumbled over her. Whilst they were at Mass, the King gave notice that no English man or woman should come near the place. The priests have been very importunate to have the chapel 6 CATHOLIC LONDON MISSIONS finished at St James's, but they find the King slow in doing that His answer was : ' Tell them,' he said petulantly, 'that if the Queen's closet' where they said Mass ' is not thought large enough, they may use the great chamber ; and if the great chamber is not large enough, they may make use of the garden ; and if the garden will not suit their purpose, they may go to the Park, which is the fittest place of all.' " This last remark, it would seem, did not so much apply to the number of French Catholics in general as to the number of English priests, who seized every opportunity of attending the celebration of Mass. This assemblage eventually became so numerous, that even the Queen herself on one occa- sion rose from her seat, and, rebuking the priests for their improper zeal, peremptorily commanded them to retire. Their numbers, however, continuing to in- crease, the officers of the Court were stationed at the entrance of the chapel in order forcibly to prevent their ingress. Some indecent scenes were the con- sequence ; the French drawing their swords in defence of their English brethren, and resisting the interference of the guard. To Charles, the number of Roman Catholic priests who accompanied Henrietta Maria to England was a cause of great annoyance, as he considered that they interfered with his private concerns. Father Sancy, the Jesuit, was speedily sent back to France, the reason given being an untrue one, which was that he had caused the Queen to walk on foot from HENRIETTA MARIAS CHAPELS 7 St James's Palace to Tyburn, to do honour to the many martyrs who had there shed their blood in defence of the Catholic faith. This act the Queen most strenuously denied ; but it was generally believed, and caused her to be more disliked than ever. Probably the young Queen, when she first beheld the grim object on the gibbet, so near her courtly promenade, may have crossed her- self, and repeated some Latin prayer or adjuration, and from thence the whole story grew. However, this circumstance occasioned the removal of the gibbet, with general approbation, to the vicinity of Paddington. In the following year Father Sancy came back to England as Chaplain to the Embassy; but he made himself unpopular with the King, who insisted on his being again banished from England before he would discuss any point with the French Ambas- sador. Nevertheless, Father Sancy remained, and it is said that on this subject many disputes arose between the King and Queen. Bassompierre, the Ambassador, was sent from France to make peace between Charles and his wife after the French Catholics had been banished from England ; and succeeded by wise counsels and very plain speaking to the beautiful, spoilt young queen, in pouring oil on the troubled waters, and carried back with him to France Father Sancy who had given so much offence to the King. The coronation of the King taking place on 2nd 8 CATHOLIC LONDON MISSIONS February, Candlemas day, was, no doubt, one of the reasons why the Queen refused to be present at the ceremony, which was to be carried out according to the Protestant rites. Had she been there, and had listened to the oath imposed on the King, she would have found that the ceremonial she so much objected to, obliged him to "keep the Church of England in the same state as Edward the Con- fessor ! " The following occurrence, which took place 1632, increased the unpopularity of the Queen to an alarming degree. " On Friday, at eleven in the forenoon, her Majesty, with her own hands, helped to lay the two first square corner-stones with a silver plate of equal dimensions between them in the foundation of her Capuchins' Church, intended to be built in the tennis-court of Somerset House ; which stones, in the presence of upwards of 2000 persons, were consecrated with great ceremony, having engraved on the upper part of the plate the portraits of their Majesties as founders, and of the Capuchins as consecrators " (Ellis's Original Letters^ New Series, vol. iii., p. 271). Pere Cyprian Gamache gives us the following description of the chapel at St James's : " The new chapel, when it was finished, was of a splendour to which Catholic churches in England had long been strangers. The reredos represented 'a para- dise of glory, about 40 feet in height.' There was a great arch, supported by two pillars, about 5^ o HENRIETTA MARIA'S CHAPELS 9 feet from the two side walls of the chapel. The spaces between the pillars and the wall served for passages between the sacristy and the altar, and the choir, with the organ and other instruments, was on either side over these vacant places. The altar stood outside the arch, and there were six steps leading up to it Behind the altar was a dove holding the Blessed Sacrament, and forming the centre of a series of separate oval frames painted with angels seated on clouds, most ingeniously contrived, with the aid of perspective and hidden lights, so to deceive the eye and to produce the illusion of a considerable space occupied by a great number of figures. There were seven of these ovals the outer and larger ones consisting of angels playing on musical instruments, the central one of angels vested as deacons, and carry- ing censors, and the inner ones with child angels in various attitudes of devotion. Immediately round the dove were cherubim and seraphim in glory, sur- rounded by rays of light." No wonder, then, that the place was thronged with curious visitors, and on the third night after the chapel was opened, great diffi- culty was experienced in clearing the chapel for his Majesty King Charles I., who came down from Whitehall on purpose to see it. " He admired the arrangement, kept his eyes fixed upon it for a very long time, and said aloud that he had never seen anything more beautiful or more ingeniously contrived." The Parliament at this time testified the greatest io CATHOLIC LONDON MISSIONS jealousy of Father Phillips, the Queen's confessor, who underwent several examinations, and many were the threatening hints dropped respecting her Majesty's Capuchin establishment at Somerset House. About this time Father Phillips was brought before the House of Commons as a witness, to enable them to convict Benson, a Member of Parliament, of selling protections to the unfortunate Roman Catholics. Father Phillips refused to be sworn on the Protestant translation of the Bible, and the House, instead of allowing him to take an oath which he considered binding on his conscience, commenced a long theological wrangle, and committed him to prison " for contempt of the Scriptures authorised in England." In this difficulty the Queen sent a sensible and conscientious letter to Parliament, say- ing, "that if her confessor did not appear to have done any wrong against the State maliciously, she hoped, for her sake, that they would forgive and liberate him." The House of Lords complied, but the House of Commons refused him bail. Bassompierre took seventeen Catholic priests back with him to France, they being under condemna- tion of death for saying Mass, thus commuting their sentence of death to one of banishment, to the great indignation of Charles's Parliament ; but new victims soon accumulated, whose deaths and tortures were points of dispute between Charles and his advisers. It is asserted (by mistake it is supposed) that Bassompierre had carried with him to France, and HENRIETTA MARIAS CHAPELS n saved the lives of, seventy of these victims (Bassom- pierre's Journal, p. 1 1 2). The Queen, who was ill and suffering, wished to return to France to breathe her native air, which she firmly believed would restore her to health, and now reports were rife that it was her resolution to bury herself in her Carmelite Convent. She declared that she felt sure she should recover if she could breathe for a time her native air at the Bourbon Baths ; but, at the same time, that she would never consent to go unless the King gave her a promise that he would not close her chapel, but that it should remain open to her English as well as her French Roman Catholic subjects ; but that if the chapel was closed for one day on account of her departure, "she would stay, and live as long as it pleased God, and then die at her post of duty. . . . When she had obtained that permission she prepared to depart, and ordered me (Father Cyprian) to attend her as her chaplain, and to choose another of my fraternity to assist me. I chose the Rev. Father Matthieu of Auxerre, who had had the honour of preaching before her Majesty for two Lents in London, to general satisfaction ; in fact, he was her preacher when she went to France, and as long as she lived. A little before the great Princess left London, she bade me call together all our fraternity that they might learn her wishes from her own mouth. As God had given her a mind prompt and acute, with great facility of utterance, she made off-hand a very fine speech, in which she told them 12 CATHOLIC LONDON MISSIONS that she hoped by God's grace that she should not be very long away, and that her chapel was meantime to be open to English Catholics as well as French." This was in 1665. Pere Gam ache continues : " Scarcely, however, had the Queen arrived in France, before the plague increased so terrifically, that the week after her departure between 4000 and 5000 persons died of it. In some alarm lest the pestilence should infect her palace of Somerset House, and spread, by reason of the closely packed crowds that flocked to the chapel there, she wrote to her Capuchins to have her chapel closed ; but they returned an earnest supplication to her, begging her not to impede them in their duty. At this appeal the Queen overcame her fears of infection, and, moreover, disbursed vast sums in charity by the hands of the monks, to alleviate the approaching miseries with which poor London was afflicted in that season of horror. Two of the Capuchins fell victims to their exertions " (MS. of Pere Gamache). The Parliament refused the King money unless the bloodiest of the penal laws were carried out against the Roman Catholic faith. Charles considered, and no doubt rightly, that the Queen's religion excited unpleasant remarks when she visited the Protestant magnates of the land, and the furious jealousy of the whole community if she paid visits to the old Roman Catholic families, and this caused the King and Queen to remain much in one spot, and made HENRIETTA MARIAS CHAPELS 13 Charles still more unpopular with the people amongst whom he seldom travelled or was seen. The King, in the course of his correspondence with Sir Edward Nicholas, makes many references to his desire to get rid of the community of Capuchins at Somerset House. Many measures were discussed between them as to how it could be managed so as to give least offence to the Queen. Sir Edward Nicholas advised his Majesty to send them all away before the matter was discussed in Parliament. The King hesitated : " I know not what to say," he wrote, " if it be not to advertise my wife of the Parliament's intention concerning her Capuchins, so as first to hear what she will say." The downfall of her husband's dignity was preferable in the Queen's mind to giving up one iota of the dignity of her Roman Catholic observances ; the Capuchin establish- ment, therefore, existed for one year longer, when it was attacked by an infuriated mob, who destroyed every vestige of the chapel. Some of its unfortunate inmates were put to death (MS. of Pere Gamache). Another account tells us that "from six in the morning until noon there was a succession of Masses daily, and as it was difficult to approach the Masses elsewhere, except clandestinely, the confessionals were thronged constantly ; there was a controversial lecture at noon, and soon after followed Vespers, sung by the Capuchins, and musicians in the galleries. When Vespers were over, there was a sermon preached on the Gospel of the day ; and lastly, Complin. There CATHOLIC LONDON MISSIONS frequent " conferences * for the edification of Catholics, and for the instruction of Protestants, and on three days in each week the Catholic doctrine was liii^ltl catechetically in KgiiJi and in French. The consequence was that there were frequent conversions to the ancient faith, and the name of the chapel began to offend the ruling powers. Therefore, when the Queen was absent in Holland, it was resolved by the authorities to make an assault upon the place. The Capuchin Fathers were silenced and driven out ; then imprisoned, and at length banished ; their dwelling itself was pulled down, and the chapel desecrated, in spite of its being the property of the Queen. The Capuchins were brought back, and the chapel repaired, when Henrietta Maria returned to England, a widowed queen, after her son's restoration" (Maziere Brady). In 1631 Panzani writes as follows: "In England are 150,000 Catholics, of whom some are titled persons, many are of die middle rank. Several of them possess considerable wealth; but there are great differences to be noted amongst them in another respect. Some are Catholics in private only, and for their selfish ends, living outwardly in such a manner as not to be known for Catholics, and thus doing little benefit to their brethren in the faith. Among such are several persons of very high rank, who have all the greater fear on account of their position, lest they should lose the Royal favour. Consequently, even if they keep a priest in their HENRIETTA MARIAS CHAPELS 15 houses, they keep him so secietly that not even their own sons, much less their servants, are aware of it, anfl SO *^ DOOr {_- a '*M?lfCB HI their BdPriiMmFfl*^*M have no vjpf9t\n Htt y of resorting to their houses to hear Mass and icuave Sacraments. On the other hand, many of die chiefj and almnrf- afl the rank of Catholic nooks, and many wealthy of private !rt?^ ****** *-*\nff nt^tno more fervent, or bom some other cause, are bolder, and make almost open profession of their religion. These give iariKrirs to their poor Catholic neighbours to hear Mass in their houses. a?i" to rccTi vc jafrr****^**fr^ HIIK conferring a notable ptivflegc on the poor, who, oppiea&ed by various miseries and in terror of the laws, are reduced to extremities, there not being a single priest in England who is under iiHjgrtinp to **\ummSm9* . the Sacraments. "Besides tfc^ alMM_MiiiaSnaii f artwa^-^ there are Christians of another sort, who, although they detest in their 1y-*!f^- huLsy and schism, yet through fear of Ir^Miig their properties, ^Bf*- or ^ >fm ^^ lfm \ and through desire of advancing !* ! ^ at Court, five outwardly as heretics: ^i" t yj fn Amf f Protestant Churches, taKiy die natli^ of supremacy and allegi- ance, and speaking openly, when it serves their pur- pose, against ralhnKrt. But inwardly they ucJim. and live as Catholics, acme, of them even *j[Ji^ a priest in their houses in order that in case of need they may be reconciled to the Church. Cocsequently they are commonly called ' iJ K** J fMtf* r ir by ^fc*r good 16 CATHOLIC LONDON MISSIONS Catholics. Of this kind are some of the first rank, ecclesiastical as well as secular, and many of every other condition of life. Even when I was in London," asserts Panzani, "almost all the principal gentle- men who died, although in life reputed Protestant, yet died Catholics. Whence some, not without reason, infer that the English are cognisant of their evil state, and desire us in order to secure their salva- tion, to become Catholics in the time of mortal sickness. True it is that God has occasionally shown tremendous tokens of His indignation against those who thus know the truth yet are afraid to embrace it for some persons kept, as I have said, in their houses, one, and sometimes two priests, to be at hand in case of emergency. When about to die they sent for the priest, but though they were in their rooms, they could not be found, God not permitting them to be seen, and so the unhappy man died without the Sacraments. " * It has often been asserted that Henrietta Maria brought up her children in the Roman Catholic faith until they had reached the age of thirteen, but as they were not baptised Catholics, and were, more- * An instance of this kind occurred in our own family. My great-grandfather, who had for some years neglected his religion, was anxious on his bed of death to see a priest, and his wife, in an agony of mind about him, had begged a priest to be close at hand that she might call him when a moment of consciousness arrived. On being sent for the priest could not be seen, although he had never left the spot where he was waiting in expectation of being called in. J. H. H. HENRIETTA MARIAS CHAPELS 17 over, surrounded by governors and tutors devoted to the Church of England, this would seem very unlikely. The Parliament busied itself exceedingly regard- ing the Queen's residence with her children during the King's absence in Scotland. " They sent to her to say that she must deliver up her young family out of her hands, lest in the absence of the King she should endeavour to make them Papists." We are told that there is proof that the Queen tried to teach the Princess Mary the truths of the Catholic religion, and that she had secretly given her (her eldest daughter) a crucifix and a rosary, and taught her the use of them, and bade her keep them in her pocket. It is certain that the Queen, after the death of her husband, took the resolution of bringing up her youngest child in her own faith, and to this end she placed her daughter Henrietta under the tuition of her Capuchin confessor, Pere Cyprian Gamache. Miss Strickland is forced to admit that " the sincerity of belief, the simplicity of heart, and the kindness of manner of the old friar, must have made him far more persuasive to the Queen's children than the more austere teaching of the pastors of the Church of England." "As soon, then," writes Pere Gamache, "as the first sparks of reason began to light in the mind of the precious child, the Queen honoured me with the command to instruct her; and her Majesty took the trouble to lead the child herself into the chapel B 1 8 CATHOLIC LONDON MISSIONS of the Louvre, where I was teaching the little ones of poor humble folk the principles of Christianity ; and there she gave a noble instance of humility, by placing her royal daughter below them, and charging her all the time I catechised to listen. Then I taught the little Princess in her turn, even as the most simple of my little flock, how to learn to seek the God who made us. The Princess profited so well by these humble examples, that as she went out she said aloud : she should always come to hear me teach these little children. This Princess grew up a beautiful woman, and in 1661 married the Duke of Orleans." Later on, "in the depths of the Queen's distress during the blockade of Paris, she was forced to sell not only her jewels, to supply her famishing house- hold, but even the altar-plate of her chapel She had not hitherto been able to afford to replace it, but when she was preparing to depart for England at the Restoration, the Duchess d'Aiguillon, niece of Cardinal Richelieu, presented the altar-plate left her by that minister to Queen Henrietta. It was very rich, brilliant and magnificent, and was used at the Roman Catholic chapel at Somerset House " (Pere Gamache). On the Queen Mother's return to England on the Restoration in 1660, the palace at Somerset House was again opened for her use. It had become much dilapidated, and had suffered severely from the attacks of the mob, when the chapel had been Lavaborium, formerly in the Queen's Chapel, Somerset House, now in the possession of Mr GlLLOW, Cheadle Hall, Cheshire. HENRIETTA MARIAS CHAPELS 19 destroyed, and it was some time before it was ready for habitation ; and in the meantime Henrietta Maria returned once more to France. This establishment was opened with a certain amount of magnificence, and the old services in the chapel were once more resumed with much pomp. French Capuchins again were installed there, but this time there were only six instead of ten priests, and two lay brothers. King Charles II. went to meet his mother on her return, and at Dover Castle, where a feast had been arranged in her honour, a quarrel arose between the Capuchins and the King's chaplain as to who should say grace on the occasion. This scene is amusingly told in an interesting article in the Downside Review, which I venture to quote : "The King's chaplain began, and blessed the food in the Protestant fashion, but Pere Gamache was not to be put aside in this way, and promptly rose and said the Catholic grace, Benedic Domine nos, in a loud and solemn voice, at the same time making a great sign of the cross over the dishes which had been set on the table. This bold pro- ceeding, as may be supposed, caused considerable annoyance to the Puritans, the Independents, and the Quakers, and the discontent was by no means lessened when the next morning the good priest proceeded to celebrate High Mass before the Queen in the great hall of Dover Castle, with all the doors open, and in the presence of a very great number 20 CATHOLIC LONDON MISSIONS of people. . . . Sometimes the contest between the two chaplains was pushed to a most unseemly extent. On one occasion, for instance, it happened, at the Palace of Whitehall, that the dishes were already on the table, and their Majesties waiting for grace, but neither chaplain had yet arrived. Each hurried to be there, and raced to arrive there first, forcing their way with some violence through the people who filled the room. The minister in the struggle fell to the ground, amidst shouts of laughter from the lords and gentlemen round the King, who called out that Protestantism was upset, knocked down and floored, and that the Catholic Church was victorious. For the priest had said the grace, and dinner had begun before the minister had recovered from his tumble, or gained his place" (A. S. Barnes). Four years later the Queen Mother died, August 1669, at Colombe, near Paris, and her heart was placed in a silver vessel, and preserved in the chapel of the convent there, which the religious Queen had founded amidst the pressure of her troubles, in July 1651. She was buried amongst her own people, in the Abbey of St Denis, near Paris. Thus once more the chapel at Somerset House was closed to the public, and this proved very inconvenient for the numerous Catholics who had been in the habit of worshipping there, the chapel at St James's being some distance off, and HENRIETTA MARIAS CHAPELS 21 in those days almost in the country ; and so we read : "The oratory of the Queen Mother is closed. Its situation was very far advanced towards the gross part of the city, and was therefore very con- venient for the Catholics residing in the neigh- bourhood. It is to be hoped that it will soon be reopened for Mass by her Majesty, on the pretext of her retiring sometimes to Somerset House as the Queen's proper place." SS. ANSELM AND CECILIA, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS* 1649 (The Sardinian Chapel) THIS is the oldest Catholic chapel continuously used as such in London ; the building, which was erected in 1648, was the residence of the Countess of Bath, and subsequently became the chapel of the Sardinian Embassy. As early as the year 1676, there is proof that Mass was said " in the house of a widow on the left-hand side of Duke Street " ; and in the same year, Father William Barrow, alias Waring, and a Jesuit of the name of Harcourt, who was martyred at Tyburn, 2O-3Oth June 1677, were reported as saying Mass there. Three years later, in or about 1679, Dom James Maums Coreker, O.S.B., is likewise reported to have said Mass in the residence of a Mr Paston in Duke Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. This neighbourhood is mentioned in connection * This article first appeared in The Lamp in 1886, and has since been enlarged. SS. ANSELAf AND CECILIA 23 with the Catholic faith as early as 1588, during the reign of Elizabeth, when a holy priest, named Robert Morton, a Yorkshire man, and Hugh Moor, gentle- man, born at Grantham in Lincolnshire, were both executed for their faith within two days of each other, " on a new pair of gallows set up in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and there hanged, bowelled, and quartered," in August of that year (Challoner's Missionary Priests). The heavy stone archway, bearing the date 1649, which stands close to the chapel in Duke Street (so named from James, Duke of York, and now known as Sardinia Street), is said to be the work of Inigo Jones, as is also part of the chapel, from the walls of the sanctuary to the pulpit. u Inigo Jones was buried at the age of eighty (as estimated), and it seems strange, therefore, to read of his death as hastened by any cause, yet it is said that he did die prematurely through the anxieties and worries brought on him by his loyal tendencies in poli- tics, and also towards the Roman Catholic religion. On the latter ground he was subjected to a heavy fine in 1651 " (Knight's London, vols. v.-vi, p. 182)1 In 1687, soon after the accession of James IL, the Franciscans, under their provincial, Father John Cross, obtained a ten years' lease of the house near the arches in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and from this time it became a Catholic foundation, and has remained in the possession of Catholics ever since. We read in Mr Gillow's Biographical Dictionary^ voL L, that Father John Cross (alias Moore, in religion 24 CATHOLIC LONDON MISSIONS Father John of the Holy Cross) was in 1672 created D.D., and in 1687 he and ten members established a community in the house in Lincoln's Inn Fields. "All offered a cheering prospect to religion," says Mr Gillow, "until William of Orange landed at Brixham, 4th November 1688. As soon as the intelligence reached London, even the presence of the King did not prevent the populace from attempt- ing to demolish the Catholic chapels. They made a desperate and continued attack on the residence of the Franciscans in Lincoln's Inn Fields for a day and a night, and were only prevented from carrying their design into execution by a guard of cavalry and infantry sent by the King. This discomfiture only served to sharpen the mob's appetite for vengeance ; and learning that on the I7th November the King was to remove the infant Prince of Wales to Ports- mouth, and if necessary to convey him to France, as also that his Majesty would proceed on the same day to join the army at Salisbury, the rioters deferred to that day the work of destruction. But James II. consulted the safety of the friars by sending Father Cross an order, through Bishop Leyburne, to retire from the residence with the rest of the community. After first removing their goods, the Franciscans withdrew on the i6th November, by which they suffered a loss of upwards of ^3000. Father Cross did not long survive the Revolution ; he followed the King to St Germain, but died at Douay, I3th October 1689, aged sixty, in religion forty-two. SS. ANSELM AND CECILIA 25 " He was a learned man, and much esteemed, and the King had appointed him one of his chaplains." At this time England was divided into four vicariates, and Pope Innocent XI., by three briefs, dated 3Oth January 1868, appointed three Vicars- Apostolic, with titles in partibus, to assist Bishop John Leyburne, who, up to this time, had been Vicar- Apostolic of all England. The four vicariates into which this country was now divided were called the London, Midland, Northern, and Western Districts ; the London Dis- trict comprising the counties of Kent, Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Hampshire, Bucks, Berkshire, Bedford- shire, Hertfordshire, and the Isles of Wight, Jersey and Guernsey. John Leyburne, D.D., became the first Vicar-Apostolic of the London District, 3Oth January 1688. He was seized at Faversham when the Revolution broke out, and with Bishop Giffard of the Midland District incarcerated in the Tower, where they remained for two years. "Bishop Leyburne's blameless conduct, which his enemies could not impeach, secured him a release from prison and per- mission to dwell in England. He lived privately in London, and died at an extreme old age on 9th June 1702." Bishop Giffard was transferred from the Midland to the London District on the death of Dr Leyburne, and the Catholic Miscellany may wonder at the clumsy and unecclesiastical exterior of the church, and at the seemingly disadvantageous site which has 26 CA T HO LIC L ONDON MISSIONS been chosen for the erection ; but it should be borne in mind that at this period the persecution of Catholics was so bitter and unrelenting that it was desirable above all things to avoid anything like publicity, and the more the House of God could be brought to resemble a stable or a factory, the less liable it would be to insult and attack. For the same reason the darkest and most unattractive streets were fixed upon in order that the " Mass- houses," as they were then commonly called, might be known only to the few who constantly ran the risk of imprisonment, and often death itself, for the privilege of hearing Mass and frequenting the Sacraments. A Mr Franklin became a convert to the Church here in 1722 ; he afterwards was ordained at Lisbon, and came back to the English Mission. " Nollekens the sculptor was baptised there in 1737 ; and opposite the church lived Benjamin Franklin, when employed as a journeyman printer at Watt's office in Lincoln's Inn Fields. He paid 2s. a week rent" (Cunningham, Handbook for London). In the same year, the Rev. Joseph Morgan Hausbie, O.P., D.D., served the Sardinian Chapel, and was installed Vicar-General of England, and for the third time Provincial of his Order. He died in Lincoln's Inn Fields, 5th June 1750, aged seventy- six, "lamented in death as he had been esteemed in life, for he had made himself all to all, that he might gain all to Christ." Father Hausbie was a SS. ANSELM AND CECILIA 27 hearty Jacobite, and the excited mob was easily induced to credit the absurd report that he had great numbers of men, horses, and arms concealed in subterraneous passages in Lady Petre's house at Cheam, where he formerly resided. Thomas Augustine Arne, Doctor of Music, was a member of this congregation ; " he had been brought up a Catholic by his parents, and although it has been stated that he had neglected his religion, he was a constant attendant at the Sardinian and Portuguese Embassies, and composed for the choir of the former, two Masses, one in four, the other in three, parts. He died a devout death, attended by all the rites of religion, his friend Mr Mawhood recording it in his diary, 5th March 1778" (Gillow, Biographical Dictionary], The mention of this Mr Thomas Mawhood of Smithfield and Finchley, introduces us to a neigh- bouring mission, in close association with that of Lincoln's Inn Fields. He was a very prominent figure at this time ; besides saving the life of Bishop Challoner, as will be shown hereafter, he was the upholder and prop of many distressed Catholics, and was one of the most constant in attendance in the club-room of " The Ship " tavern, where, seated round the long table on which cards were scattered, and pots of beer were placed (to avert suspicion), the small congregation listened with attention to Dr Challoner, who, seated at the head of a table, dis- coursed to them of the Word of God. Mr Mawhood 28 CATHOLIC LONDON MISSIONS has left behind him an interesting diary, a curious record of those difficult times. Dr Challoner, afterwards Vicar-Apostolic of the London District, was the son of a wine-cooper at Lewes in Sussex. He was born on 2Qth September 1691, and baptised by a minister of the dissenting sect to which his father belonged. Soon afterwards the father died, leaving his young widow with her infant child totally unprovided for. Fortunately she found a refuge for herself and her son, first in the family of Sir John Gage of Firle in Sussex, a family distinguished by its fidelity to the ancient form of religion ; and afterwards in that of Mr Holman, who resided for some time at Longwood near Winchester, and subsequently at his own seat of Warkworth in Northamptonshire. In both these families, Challoner was instructed in the tenets of the Catholic Church, of which his mother was at that time a member. It appears, however, that he remained a Protestant until he was about thirteen years of age. At Warkworth he had the celebrated controversial writer John Goter for his tutor. In 1704 he was sent to the English College at Douay, and he took the college oath in 1708. The annals of that Seminary relate that in all his exer- cises, whether private or public, he showed an ex- cellent genius, quick parts, .and solid judgment. So diligently did he apply himself to his studies, that although twelve years was the time usually allotted, he went through all the school in eight The Right Rev. Dr RICHARD CHALLONER, Vicar-Apostolic of the London District. Born, September 1691 ; died, January 1781. [To face page ). SS. ANSELM AND CECILIA 29 years. He taught poetry in 1712, was also Professor of Rhetoric, and was chosen Professor of Philosophy on 6th October 1713. The latter office he held for seven years. He was ordained deacon in 1716, and priest in March 1716, by Ernestus, Archbishop of Tournay; in April 1719 he was made Bachelor and Licentiate of Theology. He took the degree of D.D. at Douay on 27th May 1727. On the death of Dr Petre, in December 1758, Dr Challoner succeeded to the Apostolic Vicariate of the London District. At the beginning of 1759 he became extremely ill, and his life was in danger. He therefore obtained from the Holy See a Coadjutor, in the person of the Hon. James Talbot. Dr Challoner was most zealous in the adminis- tration of his diocese; he established several new schools, and he was the founder of the Charitable Society. At first he was accustomed to preach every Sunday evening to this Society, composed of poor and middle classes, which assembled in a miserable and ruinous apartment in Clare Market. Thence they removed to a room almost as wretched, among the stables in Whetstone Park, Gate Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields ; and lastly, after the Bishop had preached for a few weeks in the Sardinian Chapel there, he was silenced by the Ambassador, at the instance of the ministry. The society then removed to a place rather more commodious, in Great Turnstile, HR>orn. 30 CATHOLIC LONDON MISSIONS The laws against Catholics were so severe at this time, that it was a matter of great difficulty for any one to practise his religion openly, and it was impossible for one professing that faith to under- take the education of youth, or the keeping of schools, without being liable to perpetual imprison- ment. The Gentleman's Magazine of that date tells us that "the laws were so severe, not to say un- Christian, that Roman Catholics were rendered incapable of inheriting by descent if any of the next -of -kin claimed the inheritance, and even children adjuring the Popish faith and turning Protestants might thereby deprive their parents of their estates, and reduce them to beggary." "The time was," writes Father Price in his Sick Calls, " when it was felony to preach the Gospel ; when Bishop Talbot was arraigned at a felon's bar for saying Mass ; when the saintly Bishop Challoner used to meet a few of his persecuted flock at a public-house in Gate Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, hiring the apartment by the year as a club-room, and on the night of meeting, a sturdy Irishman at the door to admit none but the faithful with the appointed watchword ; how the same venerable Prelate, thus pitifully bowed down by circumstances under cruel penal laws, came in coloured clothes and preached a little comfortable exhortation, much like his own series of meditations, and, to save appearances, in case the Philistines should break in, with a pint of porter before him, which the SS. ANSELM AND CECILIA 31 good Bishop never tasted, but which was drunk reverently by one or other of the assembly as ' the Bishop's beer.' " The Rev. Thomas Gabb was appointed one of the chaplains to the Sardinian Ambassador in 1788, and served this laborious mission for four years and a half. Some years previous to this he had supplied at Mr Langdale's in Holborn, on Sundays and holidays, and for Mr Brown at the Sardinian Chapel on week-days, and was private chaplain in many country houses. He was an accomplished man, and, amongst other artistic pursuits, was a clever architect. Mr Heneage, wishing to give a chapel to West Cowes, employed Mr Gabb to draw the plans, and he partly superintended the erection of the church. He died April 17, 1817, aged 75. Alexander Geddes, LL.D., was ordained priest in 1764, and for some time served the mission in Lincoln's Inn Fields ; but he soon after this abstained from his priestly functions, and gave himself up to a new translation of the Scriptures under the patronage of Lord Petre, who, during this under- taking, allowed him an annuity of .100, which during his lordship's lifetime was in fact doubled. As soon as Dr Geddes's work appeared it was censured by the Vicars-Apostolic, and his own Bishop suspended him. Regardless of the general displeasure, he published his second volume in 1797, in language still more exceptional. Dr Milner, who includes him in his examples of scandalous and 32 CATHOLIC LONDON MISSIONS apostate priests, states that he used to send for the help of the Church when ill, though he derided it when he recovered ; " but God is not mocked, and the priest who went to reconcile him at last, found that he had unexpectedly expired." Charles Butler, who, with other Catholics, had remained throughout the doctor's friend, says : " The frequent levity of his expressions was certainly very repugnant, not only to the rules of religion, but of good sense ; they gave general offence, but those who knew him, while they blamed and lamented his aberrations, did justice to his learning and to his friendly heart and guileless simplicity. The writer has more than once witnessed his lamenting the estrangement of his brethren from him, with great agitation and even with bitter tears." Besides this regret there is another reason for trusting to his final repentance, and that is the fact that when search was made after his death for the continuation of his biblical translation, in which there is reason to believe he had made great progress, it was found that, in view of his approaching dissolution, he had com- mitted it to the flames. The church in Lincoln's Inn Fields was from this time served by seculars, and was placed under the protection of the Sardinian Ambassador, whose residence stood close by, the only way into the fields lying through his house. Although Mass was allowed to be offered, no pulpit was permitted, as at this time, and for many years afterwards, SS. ANSELM AND CECILIA 33 controversial subjects were strictly forbidden, and any attack on the Catholic faith could only be refuted by means of tracts or pamphlets. Catholics were permitted, under the plea of some imaginary connection with the different embassies, to attend Mass at the Ambassadors' chapels ; but all this was on sufferance, and those esteemed themselves favoured who were allowed this great privilege after the long period of persecution they had endured. In 1778, an Act of Parliament was passed in England which permitted Catholics to take the oath of allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain, without taking at the same time the oath of supremacy, or making the declaration against Transubstantiation ; either of which implied apostacy and renunciation of Catholicism. Lord George Saville had undertaken the task of obtaining the repeal of the particular clauses which were considered unjust, and of unneces- sary severity against Catholics ; and had carried the Bill through the House without a division. This was done the more easily, as an invasion of England was threatened, and it was absolutely necessary to secure the support of Ireland, and of the English Catholics. The Gentleman's Magazine tells us that " the Papists, elated with the favours that had been granted to them, instead of prudently and thankfully enjoying the blessings of freedom, began to abuse their new privileges, and to extend them beyond what the law allowed, for although the heavy penalty c 34 CATHOLIC LONDON MISSIONS of perpetual imprisonment was remitted, and they were put upon a common footing with other subjects respecting the right of inheritance, and even in the purchase of lands, they were still subject to heavy persecutions for propagating their religion, which they very unwisely disregarded." And it goes on quaintly to remark, " they became more earnest than ever in preaching, teaching, visiting the sick, making proselytes, to the no small scandal of many pious divines of the Established Church, whose duties they usurped, and to whose characters they did not always pay due regard." In the meantime disturbances broke out in Scot- land, on the bare rumour that similar indulgences were to be granted to " Papists " in that country as had been procured for them in England. The Pro- testant Association in London receiving no reply to their petition for the repeal of these new laws, Lord George Gordon put himself at its head, and having collected a vast number of people, he called a meet- ing at St George's-in-the-Fields, in order to carry the measure by force. On Friday, 2nd June 1780, at ten o'clock in the morning, it is said that more than 100,000 persons had collected, and, led by Lord George, marched in companies over the bridges of London, Westminster, and Blackfriars, to the Houses of Parliament, which they surrounded. The first who felt the effects of their resentment was the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, whom they saluted with hisses and groans ; and when he got out of his carriage, to LORD GEORGE GORDON. (Published 1st July 1780.) [To face page 35. SS. AN S ELM AND CECILIA 35 avoid greater mischief, he was compelled to cry out (which he did in a feeble voice), " No Popery ! No Popery ! " " One party directed their march to the Sardinian Ambassador's chapel in Lincoln's Inn Fields, another to that of the Bavarian Ambassador, Warwick Street, Golden Square, where, finding little or no opposition, they pulled down the altars, and ornaments of furni- ture, and committed the whole to the flames. Amongst the valuables then destroyed was the beautiful painting at the altar, of the Sardinian Chapel, by Spagnoletto,* the gift of the Chevalier Casali, which is said to have cost 2500. A party of the Guards was sent for, but when they arrived the mischief was done. Thirteen of the rioters were taken ; the rest, on the appearance of the military, instantly dispersed" (Gentleman's Magazine, June 1780). The distinguished lawyer, Wedderburn, then Attorney-General, was an eye-witness of all that passed, and, daring to upbraid the firemen with cowardice in standing idly by their engines, not dar- ing to use them, was at once set upon by the rabble, to the cry of " No Popery ! A spy, lads, a spy ! " and with difficulty escaped with his life. He fortified his private house in Lincoln's Inn Fields, vowing that at least one Englishman should be found willing to brave to the death the tyrants of the Association." * This picture was afterwards paid for by the English Govern- ment. 36 CATHOLIC LONDON MISSIONS At Langdale's great distillery in Holborn, damage was done computed at 100,000. At the Sessions held from 28th June to 4th July, amongst thirty-five rioters condemned to death were the following : " James Henry, one of the foremost in burning Langdale's distillery, and Joseph Lindo, apprehended taking a folio and a velvet cushion from the Royal Sardinian Chapel when on fire." Another account in the Political Magazine says: " Part of the mob went to the Sardinian Ambassador's chapel in Duke Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, where they broke open the door of the chapel and pulled down the rails, seats, pews, communion table, etc., brought them into the street, laid them against the door, and set them on fire, and in about twenty minutes the chapel caught fire. The mob would not suffer anybody to attempt to extinguish it ; about eleven the Guards came, the engines at this time began to play, and the Guards took several of the ringleaders, but by the assistance of the mob some made their escape. At twelve o'clock the inside of the chapel was entirely consumed, and the house over the gate much damaged." The houses of the Sardinian and Bavarian Ambassadors were broken into, and much damage was done. On the follow- ing day they gutted the house of Mr Maberly, of Little Queen Street, for giving evidence against the rioters ; and the other parties destroyed the " Popish " chapels in their respective routes, insulted the Catholics, plundered their houses, brought out and SS. ANSELM AND CECILIA 37 set fire to the furniture, and threatened extirpation to the whole "sect." This day a proclamation was issued, offering 500 reward for the discovery of the persons concerned in destroying the Sardinian and Bavarian chapels. In the meantime, Lord Petre's house in Park Lane, that of Messrs Foster, Neal, and Beavis, near Little Turnstile, and that of Mr Cox, Great Queen Street, with those of many other Catholics in obscure parts of the town, were " among the triumphs of the night, which were celebrated by a general illumination by order of the governing mob, who were now masters of the cities of London and Westminster." On Sunday, 4th June, at five o'clock in the after- noon, the Sardinian Chapel was again attacked, the repairs made the day before were destroyed, and preparations for pulling down the walls were com- menced, when the Guard from Somerset Palace arrived. The life of Dr Challoner, who had succeeded to the vicariate of London in 1758, was in great danger. "Tidings were brought on the night of Friday, 2nd June, to the Bishop's residence in Castle Street, Holborn, at eleven o'clock, after he had gone to bed, that the rioters intended, after destroying the Sardinian Chapel, to visit Bishop Challoner, seize his person, and burn his house. His chaplains there- upon awakened the Bishop out of his sleep, and tried to persuade him to go to the country house of Mr William Mawhead, situated at Finchley. This 38 gentleman had also a house in London, to which he went daily to ascertain the progess of events, and he found that the rioters on Tuesday, 6th June, had visited his town house, and threatened to return to it and destroy it, and afterwards to destroy his country house. He therefore advised the Bishop to set out for the residence of another Catholic friend further off from London. On the next day, after dinner, which was over at half-past one o'clock, the Bishop went to his apartment to recommend himself to God before commencing his journey. He continued in prayer for the space of an hour : the coach was waiting at the door, and the family were under some uneasiness lest during his delay the rioters should come to seize his person. At length the Bishop appeared, but instead of going to the coach, went into the parlour and told the family that 'he who dwells in the help of the Most High shall abide under the protection of the God of Heaven.' He then said he had changed his mind and would not depart, and that the master of the house 'might lay aside his fears, for he was certain no harm would happen either to his country house or to his town house.' The next morning news arrived that the military had quelled the riot, and that order was re-estab- lished. But although Bishop Challoner escaped personal violence during these wicked riots, he suffered much anxiety. He was ninety years old, and the affliction which he felt when he found his SS. ANSELM AND CECILIA 39 chapel demolished, and many Catholics deprived of the means of public worship, and even the place where he himself used to preach burned to the ground, preyed upon his spirits. He did not live long after his return to London. He was seized with paralysis as he sat at table, and expired later at his house in Queen Square, the I2th January 1781. " Dr Challoner it was who gave us the admirable translation of The Following of Christ, which is now in use.* For beauty of style, and for forcible English, it could not be surpassed ; and is besides extraordinarily close to the original text. Dr Milner it was who first put it into verse. " Dr Challoner was a man of great learning and ability, and the memory of few men is held in greater veneration" (Barnard's Life of Dr Challoner}. His remains were interred in the family vault of Mr Brian Barret at Milton, near Abingdon, Berks. The rector of the parish, the Rev. J. G. Warner, entered this singular record of the event in the register : "Anno Domini 1781, January 22, buried the Rev. Richard Challoner, a Popish priest, and Titular Bishop of London and Salisbury. A very pious and good man, of great learning and extensive abilities." * Since this was written, many other and better translations have been published. 40 CATHOLIC LONDON MISSIONS Malcolm, writing on the Lord George Gordon Riots in 1780, states: "There were thousands of them (the mob) at the Spanish Ambassador's, they not leaving any wainscot within the house or chapel, taking away great quantities of plate, with much money and household goods, and writings ; verifying the proverb, 'All fish that comes to my net.' The spoil of the house was very great, divers Papists having their goods sent thither, as judging that the securest place " (Malcolm's Anecdotes, vol. i., P- 377> quoting the English Courant and London Mercury}. During the riots, a Jesuit Father, the Rev. Sir George Mannock, Bart, came in company with an Anglican parson, the Rev. Mr Warren, to view the blazing chapel from a short distance. The mob, in its blind rage, mistook the parson for one of the priests who had escaped, and shouting "A Popish priest!" seized the amazed parson, and, in spite of his protestations and entreaties, was about to im- molate him in the flames when Sir George, who possessed a commanding presence, and, of course, was in the dress of a gentleman of the period (as no priest dared to appear at this time in clerical garb), stepped forward and assured the infuriated rabble, upon his word of honour, that he knew the person they took for " a Popish priest " to be a Protestant clergyman. The mob believed him, and thus a Jesuit saved the life of a Protestant parson. Indeed, it is related that this was not the only time SS. AN S ELM AND CECILIA 41 that Sir George did this service to an Anglican clergyman. It is said that " Lord George Gordon frequently addressed the mob without, in terms calculated to enflame their passions, expressly stating to them that the people of Scotland had no redress till they pulled down the Popish chapels. After the adjourn- ment of the House, the mob, on this suggestion, immediately proceeded to the demolition of the Sardinian and Bavarian Ambassadors' chapels. The military being ordered out, could not prevent the mischief, but apprehended various ringleaders" (Belsham's Memoirs of the Reign of George III., vol. iii.). During the sacking of the church in Duke Street, a certain Mrs Roberts took the sacred plate from the sacristy, "and, whilst the rioters were trying to burn down the chapel, carried them to a priest who was hiding at the Ship Tavern, at the corner of Turnstile, Gate Street, Holborn ; and, as he was fasting, he said Mass in thanksgiving for the pre- servation of the Blessed Sacrament and the sacred vessels, in a room on the first floor, upon an altar- stone laid on a table, with one cloth doubled three times, two candles and a cross, and a small missal which the priest took out of his pocket; and Mrs Roberts served the Mass." This priest was the celebrated James Archer, D.D., "born in London 1 7th November 1751, and was the son of Peter Archer and his wife, Bridget Lahey. He was 42 CATHOLIC LONDON MISSIONS employed at a public-house called the 'Ship/ in Turnstile, Lincoln's Inn Fields, where Catholics were accustomed for many years to meet for Divine service in a large club-room. His devout behaviour and natural abilities coming under tiie notice of Dr Challoner, he was sent to Douay College in 1769. Here he was ordained priest, and in June 1780 returned to London to commence his labours on the mission in the very public-house in which he had formerly served. This was the year of the Gordon Riots ; indeed, the newly-ordained missioner arrived in London only a few days after the furious mob had burned the chapels, and plundered and destroyed the houses of the Catholics. Under these circumstances it was more necessary than ever to assemble in secrecy for the celebration of Holy Mass, and it is related that when Dr Archer commenced his preaching in the club-room at the 'Ship,' pots of beer were placed on the tables as a 'blind.' " He was a most eloquent pulpit orator, and an indefatigable missionary. His whole missionary career for half a century was earnestly devoted to preaching the Gospel on each returning Sunday, and it is thought that he never missed one through that extended period. " He is described as very short in stature, perhaps not more than five feet one or two. But he had a magnificent head, his brow was wonderfully ample and intellectual, and his deep grey eyes shone with SS. ANSELM AND CECILIA 43 a flashing brilliancy until his seventieth year and upwards. His voice was silvery in tone, musical, and wonderfully distinct in the pulpit. He was justly considered the most eloquent preacher in England. " Charles Butler, referring to his style of preach- ing, says : ' It has been his aim to satisfy reason, whilst he pleased, charmed, and instructed her; to impress upon the mind just notions of the mysteries and truths of the Gospel ; and to show that the ways of virtue are the ways of pleasantness, and her paths the paths of peace. No one has returned from any of his sermons without impressions favourable to virtue, or without some practical lesson which, through life, probably in a few days, perhaps even in a few hours, it would be useful for him to re- member.' After passing further encomium, Mr Butler adds : ' To almost every Protestant library, and to many a Protestant toilet, Mr Archer's sermons have found their way.' " The Rev. Edward Price gives a long description of him in a footnote to one of his missionary stories in Sick Calls, of which the following is an extract : "'Shortly after my conversion, in the year 1822, I saw the venerable little man for the first time out of the pulpit. He was busily employed in looking over some books in front of an old shop in Holborn. I stood behind him for more than five minutes, gazing with reverence upon him whose eloquent sermons had been so mainly instrumental in pro- 44 CATHOLIC LONDON MISSIONS moting my conversion. His dress was certainly rather slovenly. A long, brown great-coat, much the worse for wear, nearly down to his heels; an old broad-brimmed hat, and thick-soled shoes, a world too wide for his feet, and which had evidently been soled a score of times. Though I took in these discrepancies at a glance, I thought not of them, but of the mind and heart they concealed.' "This description is typical of many of those fine old priests who lived in the days of religious intolerance. In those times the priests generally wore brown cloth clothes, with high boots, and it has elsewhere been stated that the Rev. Joseph Berington was the first to assume black cloth. " For many years Dr Archer was Vicar-General of the London District ; and the Pope, in recognition of his missionary labours, his talents as a preacher, and his published works, conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity at the same date with Dr Lingard, Dr Fletcher, and Dr Gradwell. " He found a peaceful, happy end in the family of Mr Booker, the publisher, in whose house he had resided for more than twenty-five years. He died 22nd August 1834, aged eighty-two" (Gillow, Biographical Dictionary). Mr Thomas Booker, above-mentioned, was a bookseller and publisher in New Bond Street He died in June 1793, and seems to have been the founder of the firm of that name. One of his daughters, Mrs Dolman, with her sister, carried on 55. ANSELM AND CECILIA 43 the business after her father's death ; and Mr Dolman, the publisher at the present time, is a relative of her husband. Mr Thomas Booker was a member of the Lincoln's Inn Fields congrega- tion, and a great benefactor to the schools in Gate Street, attached to the mission ; a memorial cross bearing his name still stands in the courtyard front- ing the schools. After the suppression of the Gordon Riots, the chapel was enlarged westwards, by adding to it the ground formerly occupied by the Ambassador's stables. This was done by Sir Christopher Wren at the public expense; and it is observable that much ingenuity has been employed in the con- struction, as the outside wall takes several curves which are not perceptible from the interior. During the first twenty years of the present century, this chapel formed the centre of Roman Catholic worship, and of the charities of that Church; but it was superseded by the erection of other Roman Catholic churches in Islington, Clerkenwell, and Soho. It formerly had a fine choir, and still shows, in its fine ecclesiastical plate and pictures, some remains of its former import- ance. It has now come to be a chapel for Roman Catholics in the immediate neighbourhood, many of whom are foreigners. In 1790, Bishop John Douglas, Vicar-Apostolic of the London District, wrote as follows : " The Catholic religion is now beginning to flourish, and 46 CATHOLIC LONDON MISSIONS as public sermons and services in the chapels are now permitted, many conversions are the result. There are now in London ten public chapels, of which three are maintained at the cost of the Spanish, Portuguese, and Sardinian Embassies. The Sardinian Chapel has five missionary priests, whereas there were once seven. The number of priests serving the public chapels in London is thirty-seven." The marriage of the celebrated authoress, Fanny Burney, with General d'Arblay, took place in this church. This union was much against the wishes of her father, Charles Burney, Mus.Doc., as M. d'Arblay, a refugee at the time of the French Revolution, had lost all his property by confiscation, and Miss Burney herself owned nothing but the small annuity which she enjoyed as having been a a dresser to Queen Charlotte, and which might be discontinued if she married a Roman Catholic. Such a match in any case implied seclusion and a loss of position. It is related in Fanny Burney and her Friends^ edited by, L. B. Seeley, M.A., that " the marriage took place in Mickleham Church, on the 3