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THE LIFE OF
CARDINAL VAUGHAN
VOL. II

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THE LIFE OF
CARDINAL VAUGHAN

BY

J. G. SNEAD-COX

VOL. II

LONDON
HERBERT AND DANIEL
21 MADDOX STREET, W.
I9IO

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Third Archbishop of Westminster . i
II. The Education of the Priest . 34
III. The Education of the Layman . 70
IV. The Fight for the Schools . 87
V. The Reunion of Churches . . 141
VI. Rome and Lambeth . . . 194
VII. The Term "Roman Catholic" and
the Royal Declaration . .231
VIII. Rescue Work in London . . 261
IX. Crosses by the Wayside . . . 277
X. The Building of Westminster
Cathedral . . . . 3r3
XI. Characteristics . . . . 361
XII. Inner Life .... 408
XIII. The Last Days . . -452

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE
Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, aged 65
Frontispiece
Herbert Cardinal Vaughan, aged 61 . .27
Last Days ..... 473

THE LIFE OF CARDINAL VAUGHAN
CHAPTER I
THIRD ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER
CARDINAL MANNING died on the morning of
January 14th, 1892. The day before his death he
had made his last public profession of faith in the presence
of the Chapter, and all through the last night of his life
the Bishop of Salford was at his bedside. Writing to the
present Bishop of Salford, Dr. Casartelli, Herbert Vaughan
said : " It has been a great consolation to me to help my
old friend of forty-one years to die. From 4 a.m. to 7.30
the time was spent in ejaculatory prayers." Writing more
fully to Mrs. Ward, he says : " A few lines about the
Cardinal's death will interest you. He refused to take
any more drugs and gave himself up to prayer. From
4 to 7.30 I made ejaculatory prayers for him, repeating
oftener those he loved best, such as ' Dulcissime Jesu non
sis mihi judex sed salvator', and ' Fiat', ' Laudetur,' &c,
' Jesus, mercy ! ' ' Mary, help ! ' &c, &c, with acts of faith,
hope, charity, and contrition. At 7.30 I said it was time
for Mass, and asked whether he would like me to go and
say it for him — he was still clear and conscious." Before
that Mass was over the Cardinal was dead.
Cardinal Manning had lived his life, and his work was
11 B

2 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
done, but his death meant a great blank in the world of
English Catholicism. There was never any doubt at all,
however, as to who would be chosen to succeed him. The
choice of the Chapter, of the Bishops, and of the Holy See
was so discounted by public opinion, that when the official
news came it seemed only the ratification of the popular
selection. The " Rome Correspondents " and news agencies
were so sure that the Bishop of Salford would now be
called to Westminster that they announced the appoint
ment three or four times before it was actually made.
The Westminster Chapter met at the Pro-Cathedral,
Kensington, on February 9th, to choose a terna. They sent
up the following names in alphabetical order : those of the
Bishop of Salford ; Dr. Hedley, Bishop of Newport ; and
Mgr. Gilbert, Vicar-General of Westminster. At a meet
ing held on the following day at Archbishop's House, under
the presidency of William Vaughan, Bishop of Plymouth,
the English Bishops adopted the terna chosen by the
Chapter and, recommending Herbert Vaughan, forwarded
the document to Rome.
There was one man who viewed these proceedings;'
with apprehension and disapproval. With a strange
mingling of humility and self-knowledge, and a detach
ment of which few men are capable, Herbert Vaughanj
silently passed in review his own qualities and capacities^
and then contrasted them with those which might
fairly be expected of the occupant of the See of West
minster. All his life he underrated his own intellectual!
powers, and when he thought of Cardinal Manning and
all he had been in the face of the English people he
seemed to see his own deficiencies as in a glass. He was
not the man to shrink from the sight — on the contrary, he

ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 3
looked at it steadily, in his own brave, unblinking way,
until he was satisfied that he was fitter to be a Bishop in
a Lancashire city than Metropolitan in London. The
conviction that some one else would make a better Arch
bishop than he carried with it an imperative duty. There
was not a moment to be lost ; it was thought that the
appointment to the vacant See would be made within the
fortnight. Without taking counsel with any one he sat
down and wrote a letter for submission to the Holy See.
After noting that the terna chosen by the Chapter had
been approved by the Bishops, and saying he thinks it
more respectful to submit his remonstrances before the
matter has come under the consideration of the Pope, he
says : " A person may succeed in the subordinate position
of a Bishop in a provincial city such as Manchester, and
yet be very unfit to be Metropolitan and fill the See of
Westminster. The duties are altogether of a different
order, and they require altogether different qualifications.
I do not possess these higher qualifications, and feeling
convinced of this I should be risking my own peace of
mind and the salvation of my soul were I not, upon the
first opportunity, to press this consideration upon the mind
of your Holiness. The See of Westminster ought to be
occupied by a Bishop distinguished for some gift of
superior learning or by remarkable sanctity, for he ought
to be commended to the Church and to the people of
England (for whose conversion he may be able to do more
than any one else) by some manifest superiority or excel
lence. Holy Father, it is no mock modesty or fashion of
speech which makes the confession that I have no qualifi
cation of learning for such a post. I do not excel as a
preacher, an author, a theologian, a philosopher, or even

4 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
as a classical scholar. Whatever I may be in these
matters, in none am I above a poor mediocrity. It will be
very easy in such a position as the See of Westminster to
compromise the interests of religion in England by errors
of judgment — and the very quality of a certain tenacity
and determination would make these errors still more
serious. As to the other characteristic, sanctity of life,
which often makes up for certain intellectual shortcomings,
I will only say this, that no one will have been so blind as
to have said that I possess this compensating degree of
holiness. These, most holy Father, seem to me to be
manifest reasons for addressing your Holiness, upon
whom much responsibility rests for the progress of religion
in England and in every country in the world. I beg of
you to select some one more worthy of this important f
position, and I will gladly continue to labour, where I
have been for nearly twenty years, as long as God shall
give me strength."
To many this will seem an astonishing document ; for
those who knew Cardinal Vaughan at all intimately it can
contain no surprises. It is only the simple and direct
expression of a feeling of which his friends were well
aware. The See was not filled as soon as was expected, *
The Cardinals of the Sacred Congregation of the Propa
ganda did not meet until the 21st of March. On that
day their judgment was reported to the Holy Father,
and on the 29th Herbert Vaughan was definitively
appointed Archbishop of Westminster.
The Archbishop-Elect was quickly interviewed, and
many papers had more or less flattering accounts of his
career, and more or less accurate appreciations of his
character. Among these was one written for the National f

ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 5
Observer by one of W. E. Henley's brilliant young men
who at the same time was on the staff of the Tablet — the
late Mr. Vernon Blackburn. Through the mask of a
certain foppishness of words, and in spite of its humour
of exaggeration, one seems to get very near the man.
The Cardinal himself read it at the time with great
amusement. " His face betrays none of that superfluity of
nervousness, that keen-edged sensitiveness, which domi
nated Cardinal Manning so cruelly. For Dr. Vaughan
has a more contented, a more complacent view of life.
He is perhaps somewhat less personally compassionate
for the multitude. He has a straightforward philosophy,
in which optimism has the preponderance of motive, and
he is English in a most native sense. There is the blood
of an English squire in his veins, and, entrusted with a
different destiny, it might have been his to retrieve a
shattered fortune, to repurchase old lands and old dwell
ings, to fill a Herefordshire valley with the indications
of his own energy and enterprise, to hunt and ride with
the best, to sit in local judgment, to win a reputation of
wit as an after-dinner speaker, to direct his merchandise
successfully over many lands, to die and go forth to burial,
to lie till the crack of doom under his own effigy in his
own parish church, his virtues and his benefactions
chronicled in an elegant epitaph upon perdurable stone.
But his destiny was otherwise willed. From a long
ancestry, into which a Spanish element had some time
been fused, he derives a religious impulse and fervour
which from his extreme youth have been paramount
influences over his action. Cradled, as it were, in quint
essential Catholicism, the spirit within him of the rural

6 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
overlord has been changed and remodelled thereby. His
commercial genius, his abounding energy, his Conservative
persuasions, his merchant spirit, were accordingly given to
the Church ; and time has proved the value of his gift.
"His career has been long and not unconventional.
The history of a Roman ecclesiastic is quickly recorded.
He begins, as all must, at the lowest place ; he may rise
thence to be a Monsignore, thence to be a Bishop, thence
to be an Archbishop, possibly a Cardinal, and, in the
unique case, Pope. The quality, above everything, which
is necessary for such promotion is energy. A moderate
education is demanded ; but in art and science and letters
there is no examination. Now, this Dr. Vaughan is a
man whose mere vitality is prodigious. From the outset
he has needed no more than opportunity for its expendi
ture ; and as he has never let an opportunity escape, so,
when such opportunity did not lie to his hand, he has gone
about fervently to find it. He would be a journalist, and
he proceeded to buy the Tablet ; he would guide literary
taste, and he swallowed the Dublin Review — a heavy dish ;
he would evangelise the Heathen, and he ran up mis
sionary colleges, travelled in America and founded a
Society ; he would be educator of youth, and he built a
college in Manchester, and eke another in Germany ; he
would be a philanthropist, and the Salford Protection
and Rescue Society was presently sent spinning down the
road of his schemes ; he has walked and talked where
others have reposed and whispered. A journey to Rome
is a hop with him, and a plunge through the United States
a stroll. " It follows that Archbishop Vaughan is no senti
mentalist. He is busy over certain philanthropic works

ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 7
because that is an avocation which he ranks among the
duties of his life ; but he is incapable of such literature as
Dr. Barnardo and Mr. Booth do from time to time emit.
Not that the Archbishop, probably, conquered any per
sonal and insistent temptation to sentimentalism when he
made choice of a principle ; the thing is not in his blood.
He is by nature and grace a Tory. It has often been said
of him that he is even a rancorous politician ; but the judg
ment is a foolish one. He is known to dislike, in a com
prehensive way, a certain school of politicians ; but it is
not on record that he has made any personal effort to put
them to public scorn. It may be said that the sole poli
tical questions to shake his enthusiasm into action are
those which affect the interests of his Church. He has
written vehement things and spoken vehement things
about the Italian occupation of Rome ; and to this day
he continues to do so. He will continue to do so until
the present Pope or one among his successors shall effect
some truly satisfactory arrangement with the Kingdom
of Italy. If such a conclusion be reached, the new Arch
bishop will cease to excite his mind over the subject
without one memorial pang. He will tell no ' grey tales '
of the battles past ; he will merely turn to the considera
tion of a new ecclesiastical problem ; the establishment of
a hierarchy among the Esquimaux, or the conversion of
the caretakers of London. It thus becomes a nice point
to separate in such a life the real emotion from the dutiful.
Absolutely speaking, and apart from the religious merit of
the question, Dr. Vaughan cares as little for the occupa
tion of Rome, or for Esquimaux Bishops, or for the souls
of caretakers, as he does for the vicissitudes of Algol.
Yet he has made these other matters so persistent a part

8 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
of his life that it is difficult, if not impossible, to effect the
separation ; and the experiment were profitless enough.
The new Archbishop decided to stay in Manchester a
few weeks longer, winding up his affairs in the diocese,
and adjusting his thoughts to his new responsibilities.
Writing to one of his oldest friends and helpers, Canon
Beesley, at this time he says : " I am touched and greatly
obliged by your kind letter. So the end has come, or one
act at least has been completed. We are God's servants,
and must do His Will as far as He makes it known, cost
us what it may. I shall want all your prayers — to be pilot
on so large a ship and in such dangerous waters as those
the Church is traversing needs far more than my poor
natural powers. May Our Lord show Himself in the ship
and be ever with us ! As for yourself, I trust that your
health will improve, and that you will have many years of
usefulness to the Church. The work we have done to
gether has left nothing but sweet and consoling memories.
I have always found you loyal and true. Take broad and
generous views of work and be hopeful, and you will find
that grace will come down in showers."
It was a great wrench to him to have to leave the
diocese where he had worked so fruitfully and so well, and
in more than one letter of this period comes the phrase
" My heart is still in Salford." And though the call of the
Holy See might sweep regrets out of sight, it could not
save him from the uncomfortable feeling that the oppor
tunity had come to him too late. He was sixty, and was
it wise to transplant a Lancashire Bishop at that age to
the New World of London ? One afternoon, when he was
feeling more despondent than usual, he went into the
college chapel at St. Bede's and knelt in a side gallery

ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 9
out of sight of the sanctuary. Dr. Casartelli, the Rector,
was preaching ; the subject seemed remote enough from
the Bishop's thoughts — it was the mission of St. Patrick.
Suddenly came a sentence which riveted all his attention.
The preacher told how St. Patrick was sixty when he first
set foot in Ireland. The moment the sermon was over the
Bishop left the church, and at once asked what authority
there was for the remarkable statement that St. Patrick
was sixty when he began the work of converting the
people of Ireland. He listened to the reply, and then
said eagerly, " Then I may take courage about West
minster." During the few weeks he spent in his old diocese before
going to Westminster he spoke twice in public, and on
each occasion went out of his way to reproach himself
before his people because he had been a Bishop among
them so many years before he awakened to the truth that
hundreds of Catholic children were being lost to the faith
every year for want of a shepherd's care. Speaking at a
great meeting of the Rescue Society in the Free Trade
Hall, he said that " though their Bishop for fourteen years,
he had been ignorant of what was going on around him,
and he ought to have known, and he begged his hearers
to atone for his neglect by new efforts." It was a note
strangely out of harmony with the congratulations which
were everywhere greeting him, but it stood for a thought
that lived with him. In the same address he made use of
a simile he was fond of — it summed up his outlook upon
the world : " Their work was like a game of chess. Every
one of them was useful to the game — the king, the queen,
the knights, the pawns — they were all made of the same
stuff and each played his own part for the time, but at the

10 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
end of the game all alike were swept off the board by the
same hand into the same box." Once using the same
figure of speech in conversation, he added with a smile,
referring to himself, " and the king is just as wooden as
the rest."
The new Archbishop came to town to take up his
residence permanently in May. The manner of his entry
into London was characteristic. In the morning of the
day he was coming I was surprised to get a telegram from
him asking me to meet him in the early afternoon at
King's Cross. I was on the platform at the time named,
and as the train drew up the Archbishop greeted me, and
said smilingly, " You are not in a hurry, are you ? " and
then without waiting for a reply he went on, " They don't
expect me at Archbishop's House for some time, so let us
have a good talk." Then, giving his luggage in charge of a
porter, he led the way to the broad drive in front of the Mid
land Station Hotel, and there for the best part of two hours
we paced up and down. The whole time he talked eagerly
and earnestly, pouring out his hopes and plans and fears.
They were all based on the assumption that he might live
or perhaps another ten years. He felt that was an outside
estimate, and that the term of his active life would prob
ably be shorter. But whether it were longer or shorter
he meant that it should be filled with service. He was so
full of his subject, had all the work he meant to do, and
did do, so clearly mapped out, he seemed to take such a
pleasure in building up his own projects into words, that I
was able for the most part to be a listener. I have often
wondered since at the method and perseverance with
which the words of that afternoon were redeemed in the
years that followed. His scheme for a Central Seminary,

ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER n
his plans for bringing clergy and laity together, the
Catholic Social Union, the Society of the Ladies of
Charity, and, above all, Westminster Cathedral, were
all put forward as so many things to be accomplished.
When he told me he meant to build a great Cathedral I
received the news in a silence of dismay. People are always
so quick to say " Ut quid perditio haec f " when money
is lavished upon bricks and mortar, and I thought the task
of collecting the money hopelessly beyond his strength.
He admitted the difficulty of doing the thing, but pre
ferred to dwell upon the importance of getting it done.
He was sure that the revival of the Catholic Church in
England had reached a point in its development when the
restoration of the life of the Cathedral was a necessity.
And he looked to a Cathedral not only as necessary for
the perfection of the liturgy and worship of the Church,
but also as the centre of all Catholic life and activity.
He had no money for building a Cathedral, but was
confident that the Catholics of England would come to
his help if only the right appeal were made to their
hearts. Then, talking of work amongst the poor, and the part
which women might play in it, he stopped suddenly as
though another thought had struck him, and said, " Tell
me, have you ever got to like visiting the poor ? " There
was the embarrassment of a moment, and I could only
point out that his query was an assumption as well as
a question. " Yes," he said, with a laugh, " and that is an
answer as well as an evasion." Then in graver tones he
went on, " Then you are like me ; I cannot bring myself
to like visiting them in their homes. But I must, it is my
plain duty — the way to their souls is often through their

12 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
temporal concerns." He spoke with an earnestness and
a depth of feeling which were unusual with him. 1 felt at
the moment that, whether or not Westminster Cathedral
were ever begun, no effort would be spared to do some
thing permanent in the way of bringing the rich and the
poor of the diocese into closer contact. A few minutes
later the Archbishop's luggage was being put on a four-
wheeler, and so Herbert Vaughan started for his new home.
The enthronement of the Archbishop-Elect took place
on Sunday, May 8th, at the Pro-Cathedral, Kensington. It
was a very quiet ceremony, only one other Bishop being
present. An address of welcome was read on behalf of
both clergy and laity, to which the Archbishop replied.
After a high tribute to each of his great predecessors in
the See, Wiseman and Manning, he went on to plead, as
though in mitigation of his own presence there, that it
was unreasonable to suppose there would be no break in a
succession of great leaders — it was inevitable that the turn
of smaller men should come. " Perhaps it is not to be
expected that there should be no break in the line of men
of exceptional power and individuality, specially raised up
by God to lead His Church in this country through a
critical passage of her history. From time to time there
will come a season of mediocrity, when the ordinary work
of the Church must be carried on by instruments of the
common and ordinary kind. Such a period is designed to
develop the higher loyalty of men to the Church. For
when less can be accomplished by the Captain alone,
greater must be the generosity of the subordinates in
putting forth all their resources."
But it was not in Herbert Vaughan's nature to be
discouraged by a handicap or to be frightened by odds.

ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 13
If he had some natural misgivings when he compared
himself with those who had gone before him, there was
another thought which at once restored his confidence and
gave him all the strength he needed. How had he become
Archbishop ? Surely not by his own seeking or doing.
All the several steps enjoined by the Church had been
taken, and every rule observed, with the result that he had
been elected. And that thought cast out fear. He had
been chosen by the Holy See, and it was his business now
to justify the choice in the eyes of all men. This feeling
found expression in these words : " In such matters as the
nomination to a share in the Apostolate God makes known
His Divine will through the appointed channel of His
Church. When the discipline and law of the Church have
been faithfully served ; when the clergy of the diocese and
the Virgins consecrated to God, and the whole Catholic
flock have persevered in prayer ; and, finally, when the
Vicar of Jesus Christ has deliberately made up his mind
and declared that the lot has fallen on such an one — we
may then believe with confidence that the great Prince of
Shepherds has Himself made known His choice and His
Will. The feeble human instrument thus elected becomes
at once clothed with an official character, and his per
sonality becomes merged and lost in his representative
position. He becomes strong because his feet are planted
upon a divine foundation, because his back is placed
against the impregnable Rock. His course is made clear
to him because he is under the patronage of Peter, the
Fisherman of the world. As to what seas he shall
traverse, and with what winds and weather, that is the
affair of God. God will use him as an instrument accord
ing to His Will, if only he be not unfaithful."

14 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
There were undoubtedly times in the last years before
his death when Cardinal Vaughan understood the bitter
ness of disappointment, when, sick and discouraged and
despondent, and seeing so much to do and so little done,
he would sometimes say, and with an air of sad conviction,
to his intimate friends, " I know I have been a failure."
But these were not the moods the world knew ; and they
were as remote as possible from the temper with which he
came to Westminster, and which indeed sustained him
during all the active part of his career as Archbishop.
His one thought was to get the utmost out of each day, to
crowd the greatest possible amount of work into the few
years that were left. He was fond of saying, " We have
all eternity to rest." And he knew that his task differed
from the old one, and in kind. He was no longer a Lanca
shire Bishop, but Metropolitan. He was to address him
self, not to his co-religionists in a provincial city, but to
the people of England. As the thread runs through the
beads there was one thought which governed and gave
unity to Cardinal Vaughan's whole policy during his ten
years in Westminster. He believed that beyond and
above the duty he owed to his own flock, he had another
to perform in the face of the English people — to bring to
their knowledge, in the most public possible way, the
claims of the Catholic Church upon their spiritual
allegiance, and to familiarise them with the beauties of
her liturgy, and to bring home to their hearts the meaning
of her doctrines and her ritual. He brought to the task
not only the high courage of his eager and energetic
nature, but also a confidence which came of the thought
that God had made known His Will in the appointed ways,
had made him Archbishop and would not desert him.

ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 15
But if Herbert Vaughan's entry into London and his
enthronement as Archbishop-Elect had been strangely
quiet and simple, as if he had wished to slip into his place
unobserved, there was a ceremony still to come, which he
was resolved should be as public a spectacle as possible.
Before, as Archbishop, he could exercise any of the greater
acts of jurisdiction it was necessary that he should receive
the sacred Pallium from the Pope. He might have gone
to Rome to receive it " from the bodies of the Apostles,"
as Manning had done and Wiseman, but he preferred to
petition that it should be sent to him in London, and so
provide an ecclesiastical pageant which should serve as
an object-lesson, reminding the English people of certain
vital truths in the story of their own past. His purpose
was frankly controversial — as the representative of a
Church that claims the allegiance of all he could not
help being controversial — that was what he was for. He
saw an opportunity of recalling the great and significant
fact that for a thousand years English Archbishops had
been accustomed either to journey to Rome to receive
the Pallium from the Roman Pontiff himself or to accept
it from the hands of his Legate at home, and in either
case had reverenced it as the instrument of jurisdiction
and the symbol of unity with, and obedience to, the Holy
See. The Pallium still figures in the official arms of the See
of Canterbury, but to the people at large it had become a
symbol without a meaning, and even educated men had
ceased to be aware of the part it had played for so long in
the ecclesiastical history of the country. In asking that
the Pallium might be sent to him by an Apostolic Dele
gate the Archbishop had, of course, abundant precedent

16 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
in the past. Before the Norman Conquest it was the
common custom for English Archbishops to go to Rome,
but as early as 805, in the days of Egbert, a letter
was addressed to the Pope "by all the Bishops and
priests of the whole Island of Britain" begging that in
future the Archbishop- Elect of Canterbury might be
relieved of the long and dangerous journey to Rome
and might instead receive his Pallium from a Papal
Envoy in England. The favour was granted and was
often repeated in later ages. The form used by the
Archbishops of Canterbury before the time of the
Reformation was as follows : " Your devoted daughter,
Christ's Church of Canterbury, asks that the Pallium
taken from the Body of Blessed Peter be granted to
her Archbishop-Elect, so that he may have the fulness
of his office, and for this she earnestly and urgently
supplicates your Holiness." And the form by which
the Pallium was bestowed ran : " We grant to thee the
Pallium taken from Blessed Peter in which is the pleni
tude of the Pontifical office, with the name and title of
Archbishop." The last prelate to receive the Pallium in England
before the investiture of Cardinal 'Vaughan had been
Cardinal Pole. He had intended that the ceremony
should take place in his own Cathedral of Canterbury,
but for reasons that seemed sufficient to the Queen it
was arranged that he should receive the Pallium in Bow
Church. This was done on the 25th of March, 1556, and
Pole was unexpectedly called upon to preach. From a
contemporary letter we get an excellent account of his
extemporary sermon. One passage may be cited here
for the simple words in which it tells of the significance

ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 17
of the Pallium he had just received. "So long ago as
in the time of the early Church, when any one was
consecrated an Archbishop, by which consecration a
power was conferred of such a nature as to be supreme
after Christ's Vicar on earth, yet it was not lawful to
exercise such power until after having received the
Pallium ; which being taken from the body of St. Peter
and placed on the Archbishop-Elect, merely signified
that, as his power and authority proceeded from that
body, so likewise in all his actions he was bound to
render a corresponding obedience like that of members
to their head. Thus, this ceremony; lest the Arch
bishops, having such great authority, detaching them
selves from their head, might cause much turmoil and
disorder in the Church, instead of acknowledging it as
held neither of themselves nor of others, but solely of
Christ's Vicar, who is the Roman Pontiff, so that by
this regulation the unity of the Church might be pre
served for ever. Thus, then, an Archbishop cannot
exercise this power given to him by the act of consecra
tion until he receives authority to do so by means of
this Pallium, taken, as I have said, from the body of
St. Peter and transmitted to him by Christ's Vicar." J
In Herbert Vaughan's case the Apostolic Delegate
chosen to bring the Pallium was the Hon. and Right Rev
Mgr. Stonor, Archbishop of Trebizond, and the solemn
investiture took place on the 16th of August in the
Church of the Oratory. The function was as solemn
and impressive as care and thought could make it, and
was attended with every circumstance of ceremonial
splendour. It was performed in the presence of the whole
1 Venetian State Papers, edited by Rawdon Brown.
n C

18 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
English Hierarchy, the heads of the Religious Orders,
and four hundred priests ; while the body of the church
was crowded to its utmost capacity by a great multitude
of the faithful laity, including the representatives of the
Catholic Powers and other members of the Diplomatics
Corps, as well as a notable proportion of the Catholic
nobility and gentry of the country. The sermon was
worthy of the occasion,, and was preached by Abbot
Gasquet. It was so largely to give an opportunity for
this address, for this appeal to the historical conscience
of the nation, that the Archbishop had been anxious
to receive the Pallium in London, rather than in Rome,
that a salient passage from it may well be quoted
here. After speaking of the origin of the Pallium, the
preacher went on to tell of its place in English history.
" The grant of the Pall, then, is the proof and token
that Peter, to whom is committed Our Lord's Kingdom
on earth, has imparted jurisdiction and power of ruling
to the prelate upon whom is laid the burden of adminis
tering some portion of that Kingdom. For jurisdiction;
comes not with ordination or consecration to the episcopal
office. This high dignity confers upon the Bishop no
authority over the souls of others. The charge of some
particular part of the flock must be given by a direct
commission of the Chief Shepherd. So true is this, that
even after consecration, or translation to a Metropolitan
See, the Archbishop-Elect cannot exercise his highest
functions until he is possessed of the sacred Pall. It is
thus the title of his authority over others, and in every
quarter of the globe is the sign and token of the universal
bond which draws all hearts and souls to Rome, the

ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 19
only centre of living unity, the only sure foundation and
guardian of the Christian faith.
"From the coming of St. Augustine and the first
establishment of the Church of the English no fact' is
more clearly marked in the history of our country than
the intimate union which existed between the Church
of this land and the Holy Apostolic See. When at
St. Gregory's command Augustine is consecrated ' Arch
bishop of the English people,' this is performed by the
Pope's Vicar, the Bishop of Aries, in which city, be it
remembered, British Bishops three hundred years before
had, by solemn synodical act, shown how they recognised
the practical import of St. Peter's primacy among the
Apostles. "The ceremony of to-day carries back our thoughts
to that month of June in the year 601, when, nearly
thirteen hundred years ago, by the authority of Pope
St. Gregory, the first hierarchy of English Bishops was
established, and the ' Pallium of honour from the Holy
and Apostolic See ' was sent by the hands of Paulinus
and Mellitus to Augustine as first Archbishop. It was
from Rome that the jurisdiction came: 'We give you
no authority over the Bishops of Gaul,' wrote Gregory
to his new Vicar, when* sending him the symbol of his
power ; 'but all the Bishops of Britain we commit to
your charge, that the ignorant may be taught, the weak
confirmed, the perverse corrected by authority.'
" And as we review the centuries of Saxon rule, and
note how each occupant of St. Augustine's chair sends,
or himself goes, to Rome for that sign of pre-eminence,
first conferred on the Church of Canterbury, we recognise
how to our English forefathers the Roman Pall ever was

20 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
the pledge and symbol of ' the Catholic faith, of unity,
and of subjection to the Roman Church,' as writes St.
Boniface, the English Apostle of the German people,
to Archbishop Cuthbert of Canterbury. Even in the
dark and stormy days of the tenth century, in spite of
the dangers and hardships of a journey from England
to Italy, almost every successor of St. Augustine, in
cluding St. Odo, St. Dunstan, and St. Elphege— thosef
three glories of our English Church— made that weary
pilgrimage, in order that he might bow his head before
the Roman Pontiff, and at his command and concession,"
take from the shrine of the Apostles this sacred sign of
his jurisdiction. No difficulties could turn these sons
of England from testifying their loyalty to the Holy
See. Of one Bishop — Alfsin of Winchester — we read
that, designated to succeed St. Odo on the throne of
Canterbury, ' according to the custom {more solito), he set
out to Rome to obtain his Pall ; ' but, as his saintly pre
decessor had in vision warned him, he was destined never
to wear it, and he perished of the cold amid the snows
of the Alpine passes before he set his foot in Italy.
"Let us pass quickly onward. From the Norman
Conquest to the reign of Queen Mary seven-and-thirty
Archbishops of Canterbury received the sacred wool as
successors of St. Augustine and in token of their union
with and subjection to Rome. To obtain it many, like
their Saxon predecessors, journeyed to Italy; whilst to
others it was sent, ' by reason of the perils and dangers of
the road,' by the hand of the Papal delegates. And as
they knelt before the altar to receive the token of their
jurisdiction, most of the long line of prelates were sworn
upon the Holy Gospels, 'from this hour forward to be

ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 21
faithful and obedient to St. Peter, to the Holy Apostolic
Roman Church, and to my Lord the Pope and his suc
cessors.' It was the profession of the Church of England
by the mouth of its appointed head, and by this solemn
act of men like Langton, Peckham and Courtenay, Arundel
and Bouchier and Morton — men no less illustrious as
churchmen than as champions of English greatness — was
the Church of the land linked with the Church of Christ,
and by the Apostolic yoke of the Pall was it bound to
Rome, the centre of ecclesiastical unity."
After the Mass the Archbishop-Elect, coming to the
front of the high altar, and taking off his mitre, knelt at
the feet of the Papal Delegate, who sat on a faldstool in the
centre of the sanctuary, with a book of the Gospels open
on his knees. Then all present stood up as Archbishop
Vaughan renewed once more on English soil the tradi
tional act of homage of the English Church to the
Apostolic See, ending with the words that give to the
protestation the form of an oath, " So help me God and
His holy Gospels." Then the Delegate, rising, took the
Pallium from the altar and put it round the neck of the
still kneeling Archbishop, as the sacred badge of his
Metropolitan dignity and authority, and pronounced
the formula of investiture. A few minutes later the old
Canterbury ceremony of the kissing of the Pallium
(" osculentur Pallium cum reverentia " z) was carried out,
and the Archbishop, seated on the throne, presented the
sacred stole to be kissed by the multitude of the clergy
and faithful who defiled before him. Finally the new Arch
bishop, with all the " fulness of the Pontifical Office," rose
and, with his Cross borne before him, blessed the people.
1 Maskell, Monumenta, ii, p. 317.

22 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
That year, 1892, was crowded with events for Herbert
Vaughan. In March he had been appointed Archbishop.j
in May he had been enthroned ; in August he had received
the Sacred Pallium, and in December he knew he was to
take rank with the Princes of the Church as a Roman
Cardinal. Cardinal Manning, after he was Archbishop,
had waited ten years for the Red Hat ; it came to Arch
bishop Vaughan in ten months, and so to the public
the news was a surprise. Herbert Vaughan accepted the
new dignity with his usual simplicity. It was a signal
mark of the favour of the Holy See, and so a source ol
encouragement and strength, and therefore of gladness to
him. It necessitated an immediate journey to Rome, where
on January 19th, 1893, he received the Red Hat from
the hands of Leo XIII, and was, created a Cardinal, with
the Presbyterial title of SS. Andrea and Gregorio on the
Coelian. This had also been Cardinal Manning's titular
church. It represented the very fountain source of
English Christianity; it was the spot from which St.
Augustine and his companions set out upon their mission
to England. Writing to Miss Hanmer, a month later, the Cardinal
said: "It is the 21st. I have just returned from taking
possession of San Gregorio. Tremendous crowd there;
all went off well. The ceremony on Sunday was most
moving, and I had hard work to keep the nervous system
quiet. Men and women were overcome by emotion. It
was the grandest sight I have ever witnessed. The
work here is incessant, and I wonder how, without
exercise, I keep as well as I do; but next week it will
be quieter."
While he was still in Rome he learned that a move-

ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 23
ment was on foot in England to present him with an
address of welcome, and at the same time to offer him a
personal testimonial. The first he was glad to receive,
the second he peremptorily forbade — no money offering
was to be thought of. The address was presented on his
return to England on the 31st of March, 1893, and was
in the name of both clergy and laity. After the Vicar-
General, Mgr. Gilbert, and the Duke of Norfolk had
spoken, the Cardinal rose to reply, and it is impossible
not to note how easily his habitual thoughts betray them
selves by the readiness with which they drop into the
familiar phrases. Only a few months before, when taking
leave of his people in Manchester on his appointment as
Archbishop, he had used the simile of the chess-board, and
noted how at the end of the game king and pawns are
unceremoniously tumbled back into the same box by the
same hand. Now again, as though half apologising for
the dignity which, as it were, had been lent to him to bear
for a few years, he used the same metaphor : " The indi
vidual who bears the honours, what is he ? Simply one
who for a little while plays the part assigned to him by
his Maker upon the stage of this life. He has neither
made himself, nor placed himself where he is found to-day.
See the men on the chess-board, &c." Then turning to
the future : " Two words seem to me to sum up the pro
gramme which is before us — Amare et Servire. Love
must be the root out of which service must spring up.
Without love, Service demanding care and self-sacrifice
will never endure. As it is said, ' Ubi amatur non labor-
atur, aut si laboratur labor amatur.' "
That thought was often with Cardinal Vaughan during
all the years he was at Westminster. His special effort

24 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
in his own spiritual life was to make Love and Service
go hand in hand, and so to school his thoughts and
affections that, even when most resolutely following along
the narrow path of duty, he should be able to do so,
as it were, at the bidding and beckoning of his own
heart. George Eliot says somewhere that the finest of
all human possibilities is when a strong personal love is
blended in one current with a larger duty. Cardinal
Vaughan may not have been familiar with these lines,
but he would certainly have held " that the finest of all
human possibilities" was when a man seeing his highest
duty found his chief gladness in doing it ; the resultant
satisfaction might count for little, but from such a union
was most likely to spring the perfect and enduring
work. During the course of the next few years it was the
Cardinal's lot to receive many addresses of congratulation
and thanks and welcome. It may be safely said none
gave him more genuine pleasure than the letter addressed
to him by the General of the Jesuits towards the end of
1894, on the occasion of the founding of their new College
at Stamford Hill. It had been the Cardinal's fortune to
be in controversy with the Society of Jesus, but no one
ever set a higher value on their services or was more
anxious for their co-operation. One of his first acts on
coming to Westminster had been to invite the Jesuits to
take a part in the work of higher education in the diocese
by opening a secondary school. The offer was met as
generously as it was made ; and the following letter from
Fr. Ludovicus Martin, the General of the Order, shows
how completely the old antagonists had sunk their
differences in the service of a common cause. After a

ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 25
reference to the opening of a College at Stamford Hill
and to the Cardinal's conduct in inviting their help in
the work of education in the Archdiocese, the General of
the Jesuits went on to make a more general acknowledg
ment : —
"At the same time I wish to thank you most
sincerely, in my own name and in the name of the
whole Society, for the numerous marks of benevolence
which it has received at your hands ; for your earnest
and considerate efforts to protect its good name ; for
the generous encouragement which you have given our
labours in your diocese and elsewhere ; for your repeated
acts of kindness which you have shown both to the
Society at large and to its individual members in par
ticular ; for the great favour which you have conferred on
it by honouring Stonyhurst College with your presence
at the time of its centenary celebration ; and, above all,
for the touching sentiments to which you gave utterance
on that occasion. Those sentiments, rest assured, have
found an echo in the hearts of the sons of St. Ignatius,
not only in England, but the world over. I need not
tell you what warm response they have awakened in
those especially who are more immediately under your
patronage and jurisdiction. Suffice it to say that their
letters to me bear constant witness to their devotedness
to your person and that their highest ambition is to
place themselves at your service and to co-operate, to
the best of their abilities, with your zealous endeavours
for the diffusion of the faith and of sound Christian
principles in a country endeared to our Society by many
hallowed memories and happy in the enjoyment of
religious freedom, now so little known and understood
in other lands. Allow me, in conclusion, to lay at the
feet of your Eminence the homage of the entire Society
of Jesus. Believe me, we shall always deem it a duty
and a pleasure to defer to your wishes and to second
your undertakings ; and our earnest prayer shall be that
you may be long preserved in health and strength to

26 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
carry out every noble purpose which you have set your
self for the advancement of religion and the greater glory
of God. .
"Asking your blessing for myself and for the bociety
" Believe me,
" Your Eminence's humble and most devoted servant,
"Ludovicus Martin."

When Herbert Vaughan entered a room or stood
upon a public platform in his Cardinal's robes he was
always a striking and imposing figure. His natural
stateliness of manner and bearing, however, was some
times misunderstood, and there were many among those
who never had an opportunity of being intimate with
him who thought him hard and cold and unapproach
able, and generally too magnificent, to sympathise with
the troubles and difficulties of ordinary people. That
there was a fibre of hardness in the Cardinal's character
need not be denied, but very certainly there was also an
infinite tenderness. And perhaps this chapter of his
biography which tells of his first appearance as Prince
of the Church may fitly conclude with a few pages of
the spiritual diary in which at long intervals he used
to write down his resolutions for the future ; they are
pages which seem to lift the veil for a moment and
enable us to see, not the "haughty prelate," but the
very human heart of the man : —
"August ist. — Every great interior grace produces
generosity, sympathy, and love of souls. My grace of
continual prayer when alone, and when silent in the midst
of company, at dinner, &c, ought to produce this gentle
ness, sympathy, and love of souls. Hitherto I have often
behaved decently to bores, &c, through the thought of the

AGED SI.

ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 27
bad effect roughness produces ; a human unworthy motive
indeed. In future the love of Jesus Christ, the example
of my Mother, must be the sole motive. Gentleness and
sympathy, these shall be the instruments wherewith to
beat down self-love. What a brute am I that the practice
of these two tokens of love should mean self-sacrifice and
self-denial instead of being the spontaneous outcome of
charity! Never mind — we are going to improve. He
cannot possibly refuse to hear the prayer which He has
made continual — the desire that grows stronger day by
day. ' Discite a me quia mitis sum et humilis corde.' This
is the old lesson often spoken to me before and now
spoken again with renewed force and persuasiveness.
Herein is (1) surrender of self; (2) annihilation of the ' I ' ;
(3) destruction of self-love. How cheap and sweet a way
to reach the attainment of those terrible aims ! What an
easy way to Divine Union ! If Jesus Christ comes to me
by meekness and humility there is the union accomplished.
What is there to urge this on ? Love ; and where is the
love to be found ? In the Precious Blood ; bathing, wash
ing in It, pouring It into the vessel of my soul. I have
been many years hearing this lesson, and now only I
understand it in a vivid and practical manner. Meekness
with self— gently forcing my sloth and weariness into con
tinuous action ; meekness with self which will not permit
despondency at feeling my own shortcomings and want of
power ; meekness under the sense of fatigue and worn-out
feelings. Meekness with others : priests, poor, and every
one, in words, in manner, in conduct, and deeds. Meek
ness towards God's providence — as shown in the circum
stances around me, in the trials and sufferings He may
send or permit, in the spiritual action of God on my soul.

28 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
And all this is to be coupled with humility— humility
deeper than hitherto — constant digging down for deep
foundations. ' Et invenietis requiem animabus vestris.' It
is very good of Our Lord to promise rest of soul if I am
meek and humble, but I would learn of Him to practise
these virtues, were there to be no such reward. To please
Him would be infinite recompense. What greater
privilege could any one possess than the certainty of being
able to please Him ? Here, then, I have these truths for
my standard of life.
" i. 'Ignem veni mittere in terram et quid volo,' &c. I
must be ever kindling and then spreading the fire of
divine love and zeal for souls. Herein I am 'alter
Christus.' " 2. This I must do while learning to be meek, gentle,
and humble of heart — in other words, I must thus place
Christ within my own soul. I must make room for
Him there by causing a displacement of, a destruction
of, an annihilation of my hurn^n self-love, of my human
Ego. " 3. Continual prayer for light and strength will accom
plish all this. ' Omnia possum in eo qui me confortat'.
' Sine me nihil potestis facere! "
"August 28th. Meekness. To-day N. called after
absence on business. I might have congratulated him,
encouraged him, sent him away quite happy and full of
spirit, but I said nothing of the kind. I kept him
waiting, saw him, refused his request without expressing
regret, and probably let him see that I was treating him
as one to be got rid of, and so we parted. ... A
tradesman in a shop said, 'What a beautiful day it has
been ! ' My curt reply was, ' Has it been a good day for

ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 29
you ? ' thinking it had not. I had a grave and forbidding
countenance most of the day. At prayers to-night very
dry; asked God to speak to me. And after awhile I
saw clearly what an unchristian beast I had been to-day
I saw that N. had been a splendid opportunity and
that I had lost it altogether. I saw that I might have
cheered the tradesman, that I might have been Our
Lord to him — I had not been a Christian, or even a
human being, to him. Thank God for showing me this
so clearly. A distinct light such as this will set me on
the right track to-morrow. One can represent Our Lord
and bestow kindness and charity —
"1. By a smile, by a bright and sympathetic counte
nance. This can be bestowed on servants and every one
where no words need be uttered. To do so when low
and out of humour will be a splendid exercise in the
practice of killing my self-love — the thing I am asking
for perhaps a hundred times a day.
" 2. By thinking what pleasant and encouraging thing
I can say to So-and-so who has just come to interrupt
me, and saying it.
" 3. By avoiding any sarcastic remark, any cold and
chilling reception of another's remark, any morose sign
of displeasure or ill-humour. Now we'll begin again, and
thanks to God for all His mercies."
Something of the true inwardness of the Cardinal's
life and its essential unworldliness comes out in the
following curious memorandum as to the comparative
advantages and disadvantages of dining out. It is un
dated, but was clearly written soon after he came to
Westminster and apparently while he was on a visit at
Arundel Castle : —

30 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
" Reasons for and against my Dining out in London.
"For. — i. Time to remove certain anti-Catholic pre
judices. "2. Sometimes an opportunity to do some positive
good — but this not often.
" 3- Opportunity to make acquaintance with public
men and with persons exercising influence. This is a
very practical and positive advantage. My office and
work needs such acquaintances and their goodwill.
"4. Example of Our Lord, who during His public
life left us an example of this kind.
" 5. Possessing but very few gifts, I ought to utilise
such as I have for God's service — e.g., a certain manner and
presence that, rendering me acceptable in general society,
help to conciliate the goodwill of non-Catholics towards
me and the religion I represent.
"6. Having undertaken to work upon public opinion
and to mix with men— is not this one of the most im
portant ways of carrying this out ?
"7. I do not find that dining out dissipates my mind or
exercises any sinister influence over me. I cannot, there
fore, say that it is a temptation or a danger which I should
shun. " 8. To accept an invitation may sometimes be a real
act of charity. It may be my only way of repaying a
person for great service or charity to the Church — it may
be a highly esteemed commendation of them, &c, &c.
" 9. There are people in great position, e.g., a Minister,
an Ambassador, a Royal personage, a great traveller, or
man of science, whose goodwill it is important to obtain.
I am asked to a quiet dinner to meet them. If I refuse
I shall have no other opportunity of effecting the good

ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 31
that seemed to be placed within my reach by the designs
of Providence. Is it right and reasonable in me to lay
down a rule for Providence, viz., that God may not invite
me to influence any one between the hours of 8 and
1 1 p.m. over a dinner-table ? Am I to lay it down that
a dinner-table is so opposed to the life I ought to lead,
and is of such bad example, that I must conclude that
God will never lead me, or desire me to do work for Him
in this way ? If yes — then ought He not to have made
me a monk, and given me a rule which forbids such dining
out ? If on the contrary He has left me free, is it not in
order that I should use this freedom, wisely and rarely,
according to what may appear to be His Will ?
" 10. As to my occupations during these dinners, i.e.,
in times of silence during dinner, and after — as also in
driving to and fro — the whole of such time is taken up in
aspirations, or in thoughts about God, or souls, or in acts
of Divine Love. This seems to show that there is no
great danger or attraction for me in these parties — the
worst is some sensuality in eating and drinking from time
to time, but this does not go very far and is not habitual.
"Against. — 1. Our Lord's example was evidently rare
and exceptional — was certainly not an affair of even once
a week. " 2. The Vicars of Christ never dine out.
" 3. St. Charles Borromeo gave dinners indeed, and on
certain occasions attended public dinners — but he never
ate at them himself.
" 4. Cardinal Fransoni, Prefect of Propaganda, strongly
dissuaded the clergy from dining out. Those Cardinals
and Bishops who have a character for greater sanctity
and for greater zeal in their work rarely dine out.

32 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
" 5. The laity, especially non-Catholics, who delight in
dining out will certainly attribute my habit of dining out
to the same motives of pleasure, or of worldliness, which
animate them. Such an example is not, therefore, a good
one to set before them.
"6. My example will be followed by those of my
clergy who may have a taste for society. Some will see a
special reason for the Archbishop dining out, but more
will see a taste for pleasure indulged, and an example
given to them to do likewise. My conduct will influence
many beyond my own diocese — and beyond the period of
my own lifetime, which will soon close. When I went out
to dinner in Rome, during Lent, one of the students said
playfully, ' The Cardinal has written a little book on the
sanctification of Lent, and I intend to get it and follow his
example.' " 7. Perhaps a better impression (religious impression
will be made on the public mind by its being known that
the Cardinal does not dine out, than that he is an amiable
and agreeable guest wherever he goes.
" 8. Health will be promoted — and so far work — by
avoiding these dinners and their late hours.
" 9. There is no doubt in my own mind but that a con
siderable part of the three or four hours covered by these
dinners and receptions would be otherwise spent by me in
prayer, spiritual reading, and work belonging to my office,
and also in bed. I should probably become more spiri
tually-minded and therefore able to exercise a more
spiritual influence in what I say, write, and do, than if
I gave myself to the kind of apostolate which I might
exercise in dining out.
" I incline to the following conclusions : —

ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 33
" 1. Erase the rule that twice a week I am free to dine
out. " 2. Refuse all ordinary invitations.
" 3. Reserve the right to accept certain invitations,
whether of Catholics or Protestants, for exceptional
reasons, each to be judged on its own merits.
" 4. Accept certain public dinners — but not all of them
— but a sufficient number to keep in touch with such
public men as one meets at such dinners. Comparatively
few politicians of mark go to the Hospital and Charity
dinners. " N.B. — Number 3 is a very elastic clause and will need
watching." It makes one feel guilty of eavesdropping to read
words so intimate — words intended by the writer to meet
no eye but his own. And yet surely they lay bare for us
the true spirit of the man, and show us what it is very
good for us to see, and what, therefore, very certainly, he
would now wish us to see ! Possibly some hostess who
thought Cardinal .Vaughan distrait, or preoccupied, or
dull, may think more kindly of his memory when she
learns how the pauses in the talk of the dinner-table were
filled.

II D

CHAPTER II
THE EDUCATION OF THE PRIEST
ALL his life Cardinal Vaughan was intensely interested
in everything which concerned the education and
training of the clergy. It was a subject that had filled
his thoughts while still a student in Rome. He was no
sooner ordained than he set off to make a journey of
inspection and inquiry among the great ecclesiastical semi
naries of the Continent. On his return to England it was
his primary work as Vice-President of St. Edmund's, Old
Hall, one of the three ecclesiastical seminaries which then
sufficed for the whole of England. When he was Bishop
of Salford, amid all the cares of a busy life he never lost
sight of, or allowed his interest to diminish in, this
supreme question, and he found time to set forth his
matured views in an elaborate essay which he published
as a preface to the Life of the Blessed John Baptist de
Rossi in 1882. And his love of this theme lasted till the
end. When the poor, tired, cramped fingers could hardly
hold a pen he was still painfully working on a book
which as an unfinished treatise was published after his
death under the title of The Young Priest.
The first thing, then, which naturally challenged his
attention on his arrival at Westminster was the condition
of the Diocesan Seminary. But to understand the nature
34

THE EDUCATION OF THE PRIEST 35
of the problem which presented itself to him it is neces
sary to glance back briefly to the past.
The seminary system, as it now exists throughout the
Catholic world, owes its origin to an Englishman. When
Cardinal Pole came over to this country in 1556, as the
representative of the Holy See to bring about the public
reconciliation between England and Rome, he issued a
carefully drawn-up set of instructions for the training and
education of the candidates for the priesthood (Decre-
tum XI Pro Reformatione Angliae). In this document
the word " seminary " appears to have been used for the
first time to signify a school for the training of ecclesias
tical students. Both the word "seminarium" and, in
general, the rules drafted by Cardinal Pole commended
themselves to the Council then sitting at Trent, and so
a few years later were adopted for use throughout Catholic
Christendom. The Council of Trent required each Bishop to provide
his own diocesan seminary — with a proviso that poor
dioceses might combine their resources. This diocesan
seminary was intended to be under the eye of the Bishop
and confined to ecclesiastical students. "In hoc collegio
recipiantur . . . quorum indoles et voluntas spem afferant eos
ecclesiasticis ministeriis perpetuo inservituros." The note
of separation runs through the whole decree. The eccle-
1 siastical students are to be set apart not only when they
come to study Philosophy and Divinity, but from the
beginning — while they are studying the Humanities. The
age was "ad minimum duodecim annos." In other words,
from the age of twelve or fourteen to twenty-four the
ecclesiastical student was to be educated in the diocesan
seminary apart from all contact with laymen. At the

36 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
same time the Council recognised divisions within the
seminary — there was to be the seminarium puerorum
and the senior section, consisting of the students in Philo
sophy and Theology. Both sections were necessary to
the Tridentine seminary ; they were parts of one whole ;
but whether they were both housed within one building
was a matter simply of convenience. Whether brought
together under one roof or not, the two sections formed
part of one diocesan institution, and, in any case, prac
tical necessities required the more or less complete segre
gation of boys from men, of boys studying the Humanities
from young men devoting themselves to Philosophy and
Theology. And here it may be noted that the modern
French system, consisting of the grand and petit s4mi-
naire, is to this extent a departure from the ideals of
Trent, that the petits siminaires are usually secondary
schools frequented indiscriminately by lay and clerical
•students. Until within a very few years of Herbert Vaughan's
coming to Westminster no seminary ad mentem Concilii
Tridentini had ever existed in England, or been thought
of. When, after the days of Cardinal Pole, the whole
Catholic system had been swept out of England in a
storm of blood and flame, for centuries no thought of
educating English priests in this country could be enter
tained. The great ecclesiastical school at Douai sufficed
as a central seminary for England for some three hundred
years, and how well it did its work the record of its long
line of martyrs is there to tell. In some respects the fact
that Douai was situated abroad simplified matters. No
one English prelate was likely to expect to exercise any
greater authority over it than another. It was outside

THE EDUCATION OF THE PRIEST 37
English jurisdiction, and in fact the English Vicars- Apos
tolic had no direct share in its arrangements. It was a
" Pontifical College " subject immediately to the Holy See.
The President was nominated by Rome, and he was
supreme in everything that regarded the conduct of the
College. So satisfied were the English Vicars-Apostolic
with the great work that Douai had done for them, that
when the College was broken up during the Revolution
and the students forced to disperse, it was proposed to
make a new foundation in England on the same lines,
but subject in some measure to the control of the Bishops.
The constitution of the proposed college was actually
drawn up, but the scheme came to nothing, owing chiefly
to the rival claims of North and South for the site of the
proposed foundation. In the end three Colleges were
established — Old Hall, for the London district ; Crook
Hall, afterwards transferred to Ushaw, for the Northern
district ; and at a later period Oscott, for the Midlands.
None of the three was a seminary in the sense of the
Council of Trent. All took in lay students, who mixed
freely in the class-rooms and the playing-fields with those
who were destined for the priesthood.
This system lasted for over half a century, but in
1852, largely at the instance of the first Bishop of South-
wark, the English Bishops, assembled at the first Pro
vincial Council of Westminster, held up the separate
education of ecclesiastical students as the ideal to be
aimed at. " Summopere religionis augmento profuturum
putamus, si seminaria in quibus seorsim educarentur
clerici, possent fundari." Nothing was said about the
establishment of diocesan seminaries, and no steps were
taken to remove the lay boys from the three existing

38 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
colleges. It would have been a very difficult thing to
do, as they all depended, in a greater or less degree,
upon the fees paid by the parents of the lay students.
The Second Provincial Council had no reference to the
subject, but the Third Council, which met at Oscott in
1859, definitely committed the whole Hierarchy to an
active policy leading to the gradual establishment of a
seminary in every diocese. The following words were
decisive, and accurately reflect the strong views which
Cardinal Manning always entertained on this subject :
" Unusquisque episcoporum sibi proponit omni industria ac
toto corde dehinc huic studio incumbere quo meliore potent
modo, seminarium in propria dioecesi instituendi." At the
Fourth Council, held at Old Hall, the Bishops renewed
their undertaking, but in doing so noted the provision
in the Council of Trent which allowed poor dioceses to
combine to found a common seminary.
Meanwhile, Cardinal Manning had led the way and
established a separate seminary for the diocese of West
minster. Some land at Hammersmith, belonging to the
diocese and hitherto occupied by a Benedictine convent
and a large house, was utilised for the purpose, and in
July the ecclesiastical students of the diocese, who were
studying theology, were removed from St. Edmund's.
The buildings were inadequate and unsuitable, but they
sufficed for some years. It was not until the spring of
1876 that Cardinal Manning issued an appeal to his flock
for funds to enable him to erect a new building on the
old site. He describes the work as of all others the most
urgently needed for the future welfare and full develop
ment of the spiritual life of the diocese of Westminster.
" If I can leave behind me a solid, simple, and adequate

THE EDUCATION OF THE PRIEST 39
building for the Higher or Greater Seminary of the
diocese of Westminster I shall feel that the work of my
life is done." The appeal was very successful, and the
large sum collected enabled a permanent Seminary to
be built, which in due course was opened and dedicated
to St. Thomas of Canterbury. It may be asked why,
instead of bringing his theological students to a new
seminary in Hammersmith, it did not occur to Cardinal
Manning simply to send away the lay boys from Old
Hall. Then he would have had at once a true seminary
ad meniem Concilii Tridentini, a seminary in which the
aspirants to the priesthood would live apart from the
age of twelve or fourteen to twenty-four, and so learn
their Humanities, Philosophy, and Theology without
coming into contact with lay students. If that alternative
was considered it was put aside, partly, no doubt, on
account of the difficulty of supporting a college without
the help of the payments made by the lay boys, but
mainly because Cardinal Manning felt that the theological
seminary of the diocese ought to be under the eye of
the Bishop. He thought it a great advantage also that
the students should be asked to take part in the services
at the Pro-Cathedral in Kensington.
No more striking testimony to Manning's personal
ascendancy in the counsels of the English Hierarchy at
that time could well be imagined than that which is
supplied by his success in securing the adoption of his
policy in regard to these diocesan seminaries. It involved
an enormous expenditure in bricks and mortar, and
endless difficulties in providing suitable or tolerable pro
fessors for so many institutions. Not the less the new
Westminster Seminary was quickly followed by others

40 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
for Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Nottingham and
Northampton, and finally for Southwark.
A policy of this sort is very difficult to reverse even
when it is regretted, and in spite of admitted failures
Cardinal Manning's policy has always found, and still
finds, zealous defenders. Let it be described in the
words of a sympathiser and friend. Writing in the
Month shortly after Manning's death, Father John Morris,
S.J., used these words : —
" Two different systems were open to him to pursue.
One plan would have been to have had one large ecclesiasti
cal seminary for the North and another for the South of
England, resembling in each case the old and venerable
College of Douai. It could have had the best president
and staff, the best professors, the best spiritual father,
or dean, the best procurator that many dioceses in
combination could have supplied. The position of all
these, the living stones of the seminary, could have been
made so dignified and so desirable that the case would
have been rare when any one would have wished to
leave the seminary for the mission. The students of
each year would have been numerous, and while the teach
ing would have been of the highest order, there would
have been emulation as in large schools and a powerful
public opinion in favour of study. The money spent
in building local seminaries and in maintaining a staff for
each would have been expended upon a large number
of Church students, and so the product might have been
better both in quantity 'and in quality. But this was
not the Cardinal's choice ; and though a plan like this
would seem to promise a more abundant and better harvest
for the present it would have been a worse provision for
the future. First of all it would have been very difficult of
realisation. There would have been no Government grant
to build and endow such a college as was built at Maynooth
by a Parliamentary vote. All the money now spent could
not have been put by for burses. All the Bishops would

THE EDUCATION OF THE PRIEST 41
have had to contribute the funds for the erection of a vast
seminary in alieno solo, and they would have had to contri
bute their share of the maintenance of the permanent staff.
Management by a number of Bishops who would have
met but rarely might easily have had its difficulties ; and
though such a joint seminary in the days of our poverty
and our fewness would have been in accordance with the
decree of the Council of Trent, which says that poor and
weaker dioceses are to combine, yet the time would have
soon come when the undoubtedly preferable plan of a
thoroughly efficient seminary in each diocese under the
Bishop's own eye would have become evidently necessary.
And then what would have been the destiny of the large
central college, and how would it have been possible to
take from it the money each diocese had contributed
towards the bricks and mortar that pay no interest and could
not be sold piecemeal ? No ; tempting as the other plan
certainly is to contemplate, Cardinal Manning showed his
usual wisdom in preferring with a smaller present benefit a
plan more permanent in its character, where the outlay of
the present is an investment for the future."
Among the Bishops who could never be induced to
embark upon the enterprise of a separate diocesan seminary
was Herbert Vaughan.
We have seen that in the early days at Salford he estab
lished what he called a Pastoral Seminary, but it had
nothing to do with the ideals of Trent. It was simply a
house in which the Bishop sought to gather around him
his newly ordained priests so that they might live with him
for a year, revealing their capacity and characters, and being
initiated in the life of the priest on the mission. As time
went by he came to wonder whether after all the whole
policy of separate diocesan seminaries was not a futile
waste of men and money, made possible only by a disas
trous misinterpretation of the decrees of Trent. Long
before he left Salford he had arrived at the conclusion that

42 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
no diocese in England came within the rules which made
it obligatory to establish a separate seminary. He had
satisfied himself that the dioceses contemplated by the
Council of Trent were such as are to be found in Catholic
countries, where the diocesan clergy may number five hun
dred or a thousand, and the laity represent a large part
of the material resources of the district. Writing in 1882,
when ten of his twenty years at Salford had run, he said
expressly, in reference to the better education of the clergy1 :
" Proficiency will not come by multiplying theological
seminaries, but rather by increasing the number of their
students, raising the standard of their studies, and pro
longing their years of culture and training." The only
question for him, therefore, in 1892 was whether the
effective teaching and training of men was most likely
to be secured by a concentration, or a scattering, of
resources, by trying to gather the best professors into
one or two great centres, or by trying to provide an
adequate staff for half a dozen, or half a score, of little
diocesan institutions.
Apart, however, from the general question of policy,
there were special difficulties militating against the success
of St. Thomas' Seminary. When Cardinal Manning first
established it, Hammersmith was still a sort of garden
suburb. The coming of the District Railway transformed
the whole neighbourhood and made it a part of London,
and so very unsuited for the training of a number of
young ecclesiastical students. Then, too, the very success
which attended Manning's efforts to get the other Bishops
to adopt his policy as their own was fatal to St. Thomas'.
The new buildings had provided accommodation for the
* Preface to the Life of St. John Baptist de Rossi (Burns and Oates).

THE EDUCATION OF THE PRIEST 43
theological students, not only of Westminster, but also
of Southwark and Portsmouth, then one diocese. But
then Southwark began to form its own diocesan seminary,
and it was known would soon send no more students to St.
Thomas'. Those left there would be overhoused, and the
rates would become a disproportionate expense. Herbert
Vaughan's frequent visits to Archbishop's House during
the last years of Cardinal Manning's life gave him abun
dant opportunity of forming his own conclusions as to the
position of affairs. Before he arrived in London as Arch
bishop he had made up his mind that if he could win the
consent of his Chapter the Seminary should be closed, and
at once and without more ado.
It was a decision which needed some courage. Some
thousands of pounds had been collected from the
Catholic public in faith of the statement that the
decrees of Trent made such a seminary a diocesan
necessity. It had been associated with the best years
of Manning's life and was known to have represented
some of his dearest hopes, and on more than one
occasion had been publicly referred to as the permanent
monument of his rule at Westminster. Herbert Vaughan
had small regard at any time for what he would
have dismissed as sentimental reasons. He had con
vinced himself that the Seminary at Hammersmith
had become a mistake and a burden, and to abolish
it presented itself as a line of action to which there
was simply no alternative. He was enthroned at West
minster on the 14th of May, and on the 29th of December
in the same year St. Thomas' Seminary was sold. The
shock to public feeling was softened by the fact that
the lands and buildings remained in Catholic hands.

44 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Benedictine nuns had been there before the Seminary
was built, and the site is now occupied by a secondary
school conducted by the Sacred Heart nuns. Fortu
nately the price given by the new purchasers was almost
enough to recoup the diocese for the money that had
been expended in building the Seminary.
Herbert Vaughan had at this time another thing in his
mind than the simple closing of St. Thomas'. He never
at any time contemplated such a visible reversal of
Manning's policy as would have been the sending of
the Westminster students back to Old Hall, whence
they had migrated twenty-five years before. He felt
that in any case his own prospects of life were too
uncertain to justify an attempt to build up a school of
philosophy and theology at St. Edmund's. He wanted,
rather, an immediate amalgamation with some existing
seminary as "a going concern." His thoughts turned
for a moment to Wonersh, in the neighbouring diocese,
but he soon learned that no such proposal would be
entertained by Bishop Butt, who meant that his Seminary
should remain a seminary strictly ad mentem Concilii
Tridentini. It was then that Cardinal Vaughan deter
mined on a change of a bolder and more drastic sort.
He resolved to try at once to unite the resources of
a whole group of dioceses for the support of a common
Central Seminary at Oscott.
In Father Morris's defence of the system of separate
diocesan seminaries he gave a prominent place to the
difficulties and cost of acquiring a building suitable
for a central seminary. Cardinal Vaughan knew that
difficulty need not be considered. St. Mary's College,
Oscott, so hallowed with memories, intimately associated

THE EDUCATION OF THE PRIEST 45
with the most strenuous years of Cardinal Wiseman's
life, the scene of Newman's sermon on the " Second
Spring," and of the first three Councils of Westminster,
was ready, and waiting, with its ample grounds and its
beautiful and spacious courts. Three years before it had
ceased to be a lay school, and instead had become the
ecclesiastical seminary of the diocese of Birmingham.
It was now Cardinal Vaughan's hope that by arrange
ment with the Bishop of the diocese Oscott might
become a central seminary for half a dozen dioceses
in the South and West, to be supported by all their
resources in men and money.
In speaking of the hopes which led Cardinal Vaughan
to undertake this task of trying to establish a single
seminary for the greater part of Southern England, I can
speak with first-hand authority. I had many oppor
tunities of discussing the whole question exhaustively
with him, and at his request wrote for him the article
in which his scheme was first made public, and which
announced that the Westminster students were to find
their permanent home at Oscott. As the article was
read and approved by the Cardinal before it was pub
lished, it may be taken as an accurate presentment of his
views at the time. After a short reference to the sale of
St. Thomas', the article continued : —

" The only question is whether the plan ordered by the
Council of Trent is of present obligation in England, and
whether the great practical inconveniences which its strict
enforcement in England would involve do not bring a
poor and missionary country within the scope of those
exceptions which the Council foresaw and provided for.
It will assist us in determining the merits of the case to

46 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
recall some of the details of the Trent Decrees on the
subject. After a preamble, in which the inevitable
temptations which beset youth are referred to, the
Council ordains that 'all Cathedral, Metropolitan, and
other churches greater than these, shall be bound, each
according to the measure of its means and the extent of
the diocese {pro modo facultatum et dioecesis amplitudine) to
maintain, to educate religiously, and to instruct in ecclesias
tical discipline, a certain number of youths of their city and
diocese — or, if that number cannot there be found, of their
province — in a college to be chosen by the Bishop for this
purpose.' This passage may be taken to represent the
mind of the Church as regards the ordinary and normal
manner of providing for the education of ecclesiastical
students ; but a careful perusal of the clauses which
follow will serve to show that the Fathers of Trent
were contemplating a state of things which does not
exist in this country. Thus elaborate provision is made
to defray' the cost, not only of the building of the
seminaries, but of their maintenance, and for the sup
port of the professors. But the money is directed to be
drawn from sources which have no existence in England.
Contributions are to be levied upon revenues of which
Catholic England has little knowledge. Where among
us are the benefices and the prebends and the founded
chairs of theology referred to in the Trent Decrees ? The
Council supposed and legislated for a state of things
which with us has no existence. Then if we ask our
selves what is accidental, what is essential in the Decrees
of Trent, whether the important thing was that each
diocese should have a separate seminary of its own,
or that the young divines should have the advantages
of a thoroughly equipped and manned and endowed
institution, we shall hardly have to hesitate about the
answer. Indeed, there are conditions of poverty and
inefficiency of resources which might suggest that the
establishment of a diocesan seminary was not in con
formity with, but rather in violation of, the spirit of the
Decrees. The legislation of the Council was expressly
intended to prevent the creation of seminaries made unfit
for the purpose by reason of their want of resources. The

THE EDUCATION OF THE PRIEST 47
Council then expressly recommends central seminaries for
poor dioceses.
" And further, we must not lose sight of the fact that
what we call seminaries by no means represent the
seminaries for which the Council was legislating. The
seminary of the Council started with the Humanities.
The Fathers of Trent directed the Bishops to establish
what we should call colleges for Church students. It
might, therefore, be very plausibly argued that if our
existing colleges are in harmony with the mind of the
Council as far as Church students in the Humanities
are concerned, they would not offend against it in the
matter of Philosophy and Theology. In any case, it is
sure that seminaries designed exclusively for instruction
in Theology and Philosophy do not satisfy the require
ments of the Council. It is difficult to resist the con
clusion that it is idle to cite the Decrees of Trent
without at the same time making a large allowance for
local conditions and circumstances, which may be of a
kind to make important modifications necessary.
" We are on less disputable grounds when we turn to
consider the advantages which a concentration of labour
and resources into one or two central seminaries would
offer. As Catholicism is conditioned in modern England,
it is inevitable that if the ideal state of things contem
plated by the Council of Trent were allowed to prevail,
and a separate seminary were established for each of the
dioceses, these institutions would in many respects be
crippled and dwarfed and starved, both as regards human
subjects and teaching resources. Even with our present
very partial approach to the system looked for by the
Council, is it possible to say that the position of a pro
fessor of Theology carries with it the honour and dis
tinction which ought to attach to it, or that its attainment
is commonly the object of a legitimate ambition on the
part of the clergy, as it would be if its proper possibilities of
usefulness were attached to it? It will be conceded on
all hands that the intellectual requirements of the priest
hood are incomparably greater now than they were in the
time of the Council of Trent, and it is further not disputed
that the ideal thing for a Catholic land would be for each

48 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Bishop to have a separate diocesan seminary with an
efficient theological school, a full staff of properly quali
fied professors, and a sufficient and permanent endow
ment for all expenses. But are such things possible to
a struggling and missionary Church? It is matter of
common knowledge that our dioceses are small and poor.
Consequently there is danger that the handful of students
in the diocesan seminary may miss the advantages of
emulation, and the eager contact of mind with mind,
and the life and vigour which are born of numbers, and
cannot flourish among isolated students.
" Again, the multiplication of teaching centres adds
enormously to the difficulty of securing really qualified
teachers, and makes it absolutely impossible that all
should share in the services of the best. Consider what
a rare combination of moral and mental qualities is needed
to make a first-rate professor — not knowledge only, but a
genius for imparting it. What a grievous waste of gifts and
opportunities it is when a really good professor has to
teach only half a dozen students, and those perhaps not
all in one class, and then, instead of concentrating his
energies upon the one or two subjects of his choice, has to
teach as many as he has pupils. The pity is double — for
the waste at one centre and the want at others. Finan
cially the result of the separate diocesan system is, of
course, almost intolerable, and leads to a multiplication of
poor salaries given to men some of whom must necessarily
be inferior. The disadvantages of separate buildings and
a consequent multiplication of rates and taxes need not be
pointed out, for they stare us in the face. But the state
ment of the case would be incomplete if it failed to include
some reference to the subject of the multiplication of
libraries. That in itself might be a good ; but is there any
reason to suppose that when financial difficulties are so
pressing and always present, the libraries of the separate
seminaries are all adequately supplied, either with stan
dard works or with the publications of the day ? It would
be an interesting inquiry, for example, to ascertain how
many of our existing diocesan seminaries have such a
book as Migne's Patrology, though many would consider
it indispensable to the equipment of a real theologian.

> I

THE EDUCATION OF THE PRIEST 49
" We have dealt with the question only in a very general
way, but we have probably said enough to satisfy our
readers that if any action is taken by the Bishops in the
direction of a further concentration of teaching power in
the education of divines, it will have grave reasons in its
favour. If the difficulties which undoubtedly lie in the
path could be overcome, and events should so shape them
selves as to secure for England or for Southern England
a central school for the clergy, we might reasonably
expect some new sense of fellowship and community of
feeling among priests separated by distance and poverty.
Centralisation in education has its own defects, but it
binds with the bonds of friendship and intimate know
ledge, and, sometimes, with that austere love which comes
only to men who have laboured in a common cause."

But the old system was not without its defenders, and
the Tablet readily lent the hospitality of its columns to a
reply which took the form of two articles headed "Audi
Alteram Partem',' in which everything to be said in
favour of what may be described as a modification of
the policy inaugurated by Cardinal Manning was urged
with great force and persuasiveness. Perhaps at this dis
tance of time it is no indiscretion to state that the writer
of them was the present Archbishop of Westminster. In
one respect, perhaps they were written under a misappre
hension — under the idea that Cardinal Vaughan had it in
his mind to bring pressure amounting to coercion upon
other Bishops to send students to Oscott. In fact, how
ever he might seek to persuade, he would have at any
time admitted that each Bishop must be left to judge of
the circumstances of his own diocese, and that some
had already burnt their boats and had gone too far to
recede. Nothing was further from his mind than to say
dogmatically of this or that diocese that it was not strong
II E

So CARDINAL VAUGHAN
enough to support its own seminary. What he did hope
was that the example of Westminster would encourage
every Bishop to feel that he was at least free to approach
the question with an open mind, and decide for himself
according to circumstances without the hampering thought
that it had been decided for him three hundred years
ago by the Decrees of Trent. The Cardinal read the
articles "Audi Alteram Partem" with great care and atten
tion, and then sat down to annotate them with a view to a
reply. I had more than one interview with him on the
subject, and each time he insisted that the main objection
to the old system was the great difficulty of finding a
sufficient number of thoroughly qualified professors. The
following passage in the article which appeared in his own
newspaper of March 25th may be taken as accurately
representing his mind : —
"Are our dioceses so developed and endowed and in such
stable order that they can equip and man with the proper
teaching power each a separate seminary for its own need ?
Are we so rich in first-rate professors, men, not only of
learning, but with a genius for imparting it, that we can
afford to scatter them over half a dozen different centres ?
and are the young divines so numerous that with true
economy of power we can afford to limit the audience of a
really good professor to those of a single diocese ? and are
our theological libraries so ample and richly stocked and
so evenly distributed that we can count upon a really
adequate collection of books for every diocese ? Upon
the answers to these and the whole group of kindred ques
tions arrayed in our first article it would seem that a wise
decision must depend. There is no need to shout the
thing from the house-tops or even to insist upon a reply in
these columns, but we would ask our correspondent —
to take one instance only — to run over in his mind the
number of men who, to-day in Catholic England, can be

THE EDUCATION OF THE PRIEST 51
considered really first-rate Biblical scholars, men able to
inspire confidence in their pupils, and fitted cogently and
lucidly to deal with that destructive criticism which is
every day becoming more clamorous for attention. And
when he has reckoned up the very few who are eminently
suitable for this most important work, let him deduct
those who, as members of Religious Orders, or for what
ever other cause, would be unavailable, and then let him
say whether the remnant is sufficient to supply the
scattered seminaries, and whether it is wise to limit a
professor's opportunities for good to a handful of diocesan
divines." To any one considering the controversy as it was thus
set forth by both sides, three points will seem specially
noteworthy. The defenders of Cardinal Manning's policy
— or rather of a modification of it, for no one now con
tended that there ought to be a separate seminary for
every diocese — laid stress on the arguments (1) that in
the case of a missionary country it is not enough to take
the present poverty of a diocese and allege it as an excuse
for joining in a central seminary — that would be to mort
gage the future and to apply the standards of a stationary
Catholicism to lands in which it ought to be a growing
and progressive force ; (2) Cardinal Vaughan, in the
midst of a busy and crowded life, and with his mind
always filled with plans far transcending the limits of a
diocese, attached less importance than other Bishops
might do to the advantage of having the ecclesiastical
students of the diocese immediately under his eye ; (3) it
was evident that when the Cardinal and the writer of the
"Audi Alteram Partem" were speaking of ecclesiastical
seminaries their minds were not ad idem. The former
had in view a sort of central university for ecclesiastical
students in which all might find their highest mental and

52 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
spiritual equipment, while the latter contemplated diocesan
institutions which, while sufficient to provide every student
with a scientia competens, would leave the more gifted
students free to continue their studies in one or other of
the Catholic universities abroad. In the opinion of the
author of" Audi Alteram Partem" a full seminary course of
seven years was more than was necessary for the equip
ment of what might be described as a general practitioner.
He urged that all the students should have a sufficient
training, which might be given in the course of four or
five years, while selected students who were qualified to
specialise in one or other branch of the sacred sciences
should be given opportunities for extended studies abroad.
These views were further developed in a letter from
Father Bourne to the Cardinal a few months later, after a
chance meeting at St. Edmund's: — "Nov. I'jtk, 1893.
" My Lord Cardinal, — I feel that I ought to write
to you some expression of thanks for your kind words
to me yesterday. I was naturally fearful that you
might be displeased with me for defending the views
opposed to those of the paper which people generally
regard as representing your Eminence's ideas. But
your kindness to me shows that my fears were with
out ground, and that you did not doubt my good inten
tions. I am the more grateful to you as it is truly to
your Eminence's writings, the prefaces of St. John Baptist
de Rossi and of M. Olier that I am most indebted in my
work here. I trust, my Lord, that you will give us the
honour of a visit when you have time. It would be a
great encouragement to us in a work which, I honestly
believe, may do real service to God in this part of Eng
land. I believe that we shall be able to give here a really
solid course of study to fit men for the pastoral life, and
also to prepare those who have ability for a course of

THE EDUCATION OF THE PRIEST 53
higher studies. The former course can, I think, be made
equal to that offered by a Central College, while for higher
studies I do not see how we can serve our purpose better
than by making use of a foreign University, such as
Fribourg. A Catholic college might give able lectures in
philosophy and theology, but only a university would
throw open to us a wide possibility of study in all branches,
while at the same time it will bring our students into
contact with the lay educated mind — a thing which seems
to me of such vast importance to them in view of their
influence on the non-Catholic world afterwards. A cen
tral college for divines could not give us this ; a foreign
university will do it in a large measure, awaiting the time
when a university course, both clerical and lay, may
provide this opportunity fully at home. The great
strength of the Church in Belgium appears to be that
all the more able of the clergy and those who take part
in teaching or who occupy prominent positions have
passed some time at Louvain in contact with all the most
educated of the laity. They go to Louvain after the
seminary course is complete, and the fact that they are
rather older than the bulk of the lay students, that they
are already either priests or deacons, and rarely in lower
orders, and that they have already received a full and
careful spiritual training, gives them, in spite of the small
proportion in which they stand to the lay students, a
wonderful influence and position, which they could not
have if they went to the university at a younger and
more immature age. Their minds, too, are already open
and developed, so that they are able to profit by and
assimilate quickly the higher courses of studies. This
struck me very much during the time that I was able to
study at Louvain.
"With regard to the separation of clerical from lay
students, what we feel here is that once a boy can see
with any clearness that he really wishes to be a priest,
whether this comes at fourteen, sixteen, eighteen, twenty,
or later, it is an immense advantage for him to enter
a seminary where he finds all like-minded to himself, and
where he can throw himself fully into his daily life with
some of the earnestness that a youth would enter religion.

54 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
This is very difficult in a mixed college, as I know by my
own experience. We have had a striking example lately
of the difference of character in those who come to a
seminary as soon as their vocation seems clear, and those
who passed first through a mixed college. Two youths
have recently come to us — one who has been in the Civil
Service, the other in a good mercantile situation. They
have both, therefore, made some little sacrifice of inde
pendence and liberty to come here. Both are thoroughly
happy, in earnest, and doing their best. Two others have
entered after seven years in a mixed college, where they
enjoyed a good character as Church students. In their
case it seems quite impossible to get them to take a really
supernatural view of their life — they are critical, discon
tented, and hard to please. It will be almost impossible
now, at twenty or twenty-two years of age, to alter the
bent of their character or to make of them really earnest
and self-denying men. Bishop Ilsley tells me that he has
frequently had the same experience at Oscott. On the
other hand, we think it much better that, at least till
fourteen, and indeed until there are real signs of vocation,
all boys should be together in an ordinary school, and
all treated alike as good Catholic lay boys. Moreover, as
I have already said, it seems an enormous advantage for
a student, when his seminary training is complete and
he is to some extent a man, to be able again to mix
with lay thought and life in a Catholic university.
" Pardon me, my Lord, inflicting so long a letter on you,
but your well-known interest in education, your exalted
position, and your great influence lead me to think that
you will not mind my telling you at what we are aim
ing. I can assure your Eminence that we are only too
anxious to do anything to produce a devoted and learned
clergy, and that that is the only motive for the policy
followed here. I can hardly hope for your agreement
with all that I have said, but in spite of that I trust
that you will not refuse us your sympathy and your
good wishes in what is really an honest attempt to do
good work. I trust, therefore, that your Eminence will
grant to us, to the Seminary, and to those who are in
it your paternal benediction."

THE EDUCATION OF THE PRIEST 55
It may be conjectured that Herbert Vaughan read
this letter with something of the impatience with which
one listens to arguments which come too late. His own
arrangements for the Central Seminary were already
made. His reply, therefore, was very brief: — "Nov. \%th.
" Dear Father Bourne, — I hasten to thank you for
your letter and for an account of your project. What
ever it may be worth, it is another way of dividing
forces ; and if such division be desirable your plan has
some distinct merits, which I gladly recognise. Wishing
you every blessing, I am
"Your faithful and devoted
" Herbert Cardinal Vaughan." '
It is matter for conjecture to what extent these
opposing views would have been brought nearer by the
establishment, which has since taken place, of Halls at the
National Universities, reserved exclusively for the use of
Catholic ecclesiastical students, though it must of course
' In this connection it is of interest to recall the words of welcome
with which Cardinal Vaughan a few years later greeted the colleague who
was destined to be so closely associated with him for all the rest of his
life :—
"April vitk, 1896. My dear Lord Bishop-Elect, — Now that I have
certain information of your appointment as Coadjutor with right of succession
to the See of Southwark, I hasten to offer you every best wish, that God may
use you as His instrument to do great things for His glory, both in raising
the spirit and life of the priesthood, and in winning souls to salvation. I
heartily welcome you among our number. — Your faithful and devoted
Herbert Cardinal Vaughan." A year later, when Mgr. Bourne had suc
ceeded to the See of Southwark, the Cardinal wrote : " Once more welcome.
' He who has begun a good work in you will perfect it to the day of
Jesus Christ.'"

56 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
be remembered that these Halls have nothing to do
with the study of Theology. Certainly such a provision
for the further education of the more promising students
as was afterwards made possible under the terms of
Lord and Lady Brampton's bequest would not only have
delighted the heart of Cardinal Vaughan, but would
have perhaps reconciled him to a less advanced scheme
of study for the general body of the students.
St. Thomas' Seminary was sold, as was sadly noted at
the time, on the Feast of its patron saint, St. Thomas of
Canterbury, 1 892. The last lecture was delivered there on
the 14th of March in the following year, and four days
later the Westminster students were transferred to Oscott.
If any one thinks this was hasty action he may be
reminded that Herbert Vaughan was perfectly familiar
with all the circumstances of the problem before he came
to Westminster, and when he was appointed Archbishop
his mind was made up. When he went to Rome to
receive the Red Hat he laid the whole subject before
Leo XIII, begging his prayers and guidance for the
future. The Pope was the more inclined to enter sym
pathetically into the question because at the time he was
himself engaged in a similar task in Italy — securing more
efficient seminaries by getting the weaker and poorer
dioceses to combine.
On the day after he was made Cardinal, Herbert
Vaughan presented a formal memorandum setting out
his plans for the formation of a central seminary at
Oscott. On the 1st of February, 1893, the answer of the
Holy See was despatched. The salient passages were as
follows : " You inform Us that it seems good to you and
to nearly all the Bishops of the South of England to

THE EDUCATION OF THE PRIEST 57
establish a Central Seminary near Birmingham, wherein
the elder amongst the clerical students of that part of
England may be brought together and attend lectures,
delivered by the very best professors in those noble
branches of Science (Philosophy and Theology). Thus it
will come to pass that a very large number of students will
derive advantage from the experience and method of
teaching of professors enjoying a high reputation ; and
there will be little, if any, conflict regarding questions
which are mere matters of opinion ; that numbers will
kindle a love of study amongst the scholars ; and that
these will promote progress amongst themselves by mutual
emulation, no less than by friendly advice and assistance.
Since, therefore, this wise project, if carried into effect, will
secure these and other advantages, such as you have well
pointed out, it becomes Us not only to give a well-deserved
tribute of praise to you and to the other Bishops acting in
concert with you in this matter, but further earnestly to
exhort you to join forces, and with brave hearts and united
counsels to set your hands to the work, from the com
pletion of which you will reap advantageous results pro
portionate to the wisdom you have shown in starting it.
And if, indeed, it shall please God to preserve Our life for
a while, We entertain good hope that We shall be able one
day as joyfully to congratulate you on the prosperous and
happy result of work well done, as We now warmly
encourage you to begin it."
The publication of this letter from the Holy Father at
once gave new strength to the old suspicion that the
Cardinal was trying to force his own views upon the other
dioceses. He sent the following " inspired paragraph "
for insertion in the Tablet: "We learn that some

58 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
persons have drawn what we must consider an erroneous
conclusion from the recently published letters of the Holy
Father and the Cardinal Prefect of Propaganda, in which
approval is expressed of the plan agreed on by a number
of the Bishops for forming a Central Seminary at Oscott.
The letters contain, not an order, but a commendation and
an encouragement. That there is nothing in the text that
is preceptive, we think, is clear, and, in any case, may be
inferred from the fact that the Advent Pastorals of the
Bishops of Southwark and Leeds, which we publish
elsewhere, treat at length of the maintenance of their local
diocesan seminaries."
Meanwhile, Oscott had become, if not de jure, at least
de facto, a Central Seminary for a large part of the South
of England. The theological students of the dioceses of
Westminster, Birmingham, Southwark, Portsmouth, and
Northampton were already gathered there. The presence
of the Southwark students was quickly explained. They
were sent there only as a temporary measure until their
own diocesan seminary should be ready. It may be noted
that this Seminary, situated at Wonersh, and built under
the fostering care of successive Bishops, is the only strictly
Tridentine seminary that has ever existed in England.
While lay boys are not admitted, ecclesiastical students are
taken at fourteen years of age, and continue there up to
the time of their ordination. It is a seminary, that is, in
the full and exclusive sense of the term, where Church
students are taught their Humanities, their Philosophy,
and their Theology. But Cardinal Vaughan was by no
means content with having established a Central Seminary
at Oscott de facto ; he was determined that, if possible, it
should be de jure also. He wanted an institution that

THE EDUCATION OF THE PRIEST 59
should be permanent, and one in the management of
which the co-interested Bishops should have a recognised
place. Addressing his clergy in June, 1893, after adverting
to the closing of St. Thomas', he continued : " Reasons
which pointed to an amalgamation with several other
dioceses rather than a return to St. Edmund's College
were such as the following: (1) One of the principal
desiderata for a great ecclesiastical institution is a sense
of stability and permanence. The great success and
popularity of St. Cuthbert's College, Ushaw, are attribu
table in large measure to this stability, which has been
secured to it through the fact that it is under the general
government of six co-interested Bishops, whereas a
seminary which is under the control of one person
only, the Ordinary of the diocese, has no similar
guarantee of stability, but is liable to frequent changes
as one Bishop succeeds another in the government of
the diocese. Nothing could be more important to
secure confidence in an institution than a sense of its
stability, than a feeling of certainty that there will be
no sudden uprooting, or radical alteration of system
except for reasons which satisfy a corporation. When
the Holy Father has exempted corporations and other
institutions from the absolute control and jurisdiction
of an Ordinary it has usually been in order to secure
to them that stability and continuity of system which
would in the long run be jeopardised by subjection to
the absolute authority of one. This sense of security in
the permanent, in the steady and natural growth of a
public institution not only draws around it the loyalty
and confidence of those who have been educated in it,
but attracts the confidence, support, and the bequests

6o CARDINAL VAUGHAN
of those who value the objects for which the institution
was founded, and who desire to feel some security that
their benefactions will find a permanent home and form a
part of the growth and splendour of an institution which
is destined to last through its being placed under the
control of what is practically a corporation that cannot
die. Now, if it be possible to form for the Southern
part of England — for instance, at Oscott — a great Central
Seminary, governed, as Ushaw is, by its co-interested
Bishops, it may be hoped that that note of stability
with its corresponding note of public confidence will
have been secured."
A great deal of patient spade work had to be done
before these hopes could be realised. The rights of
the territorial Bishop, the owner of St. Mary's, Oscott,
had to be reconciled with those of prelates whose sole
interest in the place was the temporary presence of their
students there. There were many delicate questions and
some personal susceptibilities, and not a few financial
difficulties, to be taken into account. Herbert Vaughan,
as his way was, prayed himself out of his difficulties, and
went to Rome and laid the whole case before the Holy
See. It was not a case for hustling, but for infinite
patience, and he knew it for the work of years. A
fragmentary diary, kept while he was in Rome in 1895,
showed how warmly he was encouraged by Leo XIII.
Thus, under date January 22nd, we read : " Central
Seminary — the Pope asked how this was progressing ;
he urged me most strongly to use all my influence to
promote it, getting good studies and a learned clergy, &c,
as the best means of converting England. He pressed
this matter with great urgency." A few months later,

THE EDUCATION OF THE PRIEST 61
on April 3rd, he notes: "The Holy Father urged me
again to make the Central Seminary my great work —
a university of ecclesiastical studies. While the laity
are being educated still more must be done for the
clergy. This was the third time during this visit to
Rome that the Pope has urged this, and always ex motu
proprio, and without my leading up to the subject."
That exhortation of the Sovereign Pontiff, " the Central
Seminary my great work," was as a refrain to all Herbert
Vaughan's thoughts during these years. He worked at
this unceasingly until at last it was accomplished. On
the 15th of July, 1897, nearly five years after the first
conception of the scheme, St. Mary's College, Oscott,
became dejure as well as de facto the Common Seminary
for the dioceses of Westminster, Birmingham, Clifton,
Newport, Portsmouth, Northampton, and what was then
the Vicariate of Wales.
On that day the co-interested Bishops held their first
meeting as the governing body of the Seminary, and
signed the legal documents by which the endowments of
the professorial chairs were to be permanently secured. The
new arrangement was thus described in the Cardinal's
words : " The arrangement by which Oscott, without
putting in jeopardy the special permanent interests of
the diocese of Birmingham, has been erected into a
Central Seminary for six other dioceses, are these. The
College, with its historic buildings, splendid libraries, and
beautiful grounds, comes under the control of the seven
associated Bishops, three of whom are now appointed
as trustees for the property in addition to the three old
trustees. While the diocese of Birmingham thus supplies
the buildings and equipment for the Seminary, the six

62 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
other dioceses have contributed between them a capital
sum which, safely invested, will bring in an annual income
of ;£i,ooo. So that what may be regarded as the "plant1
of the establishment is found by one diocese ; the full
maintenance of superiors and teaching staff will be found
by the other six. Each Bishop, moreover, will pay for
as many students as he has subjects in the Seminary.
Certain measures have also been taken to safeguard the
ultimate rights of the diocese of Birmingham in the event
of contingencies which are very unlikely to arise. The
supreme government of the College is now vested in
the Board of co-interested Bishops. The Archbishop of
Westminster will act as the President of the Board,
which will meet every year in October, and as frequently
at other times as may be found desirable and convenient.
It goes without saying that the Board nominates the
Rector and the members of the teaching staff, and
regulates all matters connected with the studies and
discipline of the College and the moral and intellectual
training of the students. A new set of Constitutions
has been drawn up and is now in force in the Seminary,
pending the formal approval of the Holy Father, to whom
they have been submitted. These conditions, though they
introduce no very important changes, have been most
carefully and anxiously drawn up after comparison with
the rules observed in three of the most famous ecclesias
tical seminaries in the world."
To complete the story it only remains to add that the
Bishop of Birmingham resigned the position he had held
for so many years as Rector, and was succeeded by a man
after his own heart, Mgr. Parkinson. The College opened
under the new regime with seventy-four students, of whom

THE EDUCATION OF THE PRIEST 63
twenty-nine belonged to Westminster and twenty-six to
Birmingham.
It is not within the scope of this biography to consider
the changes that have taken place at Oscott since the
Cardinal's death. This, however, may be said with con
fidence : if it be true that towards the end of his life
Cardinal Vaughan looked back upon his work at Oscott
with perhaps a shade of disappointment, that was cer
tainly not due to any misgivings as to the soundness
of the principle to which he had tried to give effect.
If there was any dissatisfaction it was with the way in
which his plan had worked out in practice, and not with
the plan itself. Perhaps Oscott never came to be a
central seminary in as full and complete a way as he
had hoped. He had tried so hard, had accepted such
complete self-effacement for himself and the diocese he
represented in order to secure perfect harmony, and yet
success in its completeness eluded him. It cannot be said
that the Central Seminary ever came to be regarded as an
institution common to all, and at least belonging equally
to all the dioceses whose students resided there. There
were some who from the outset thought the arrange
ment by which the Westminster students were sent to
study outside the diocese derogatory to the dignity of
the Metropolitan See ; but the Cardinal, though he pro
vided as much money for the new endowment of the
seminary as all the other dioceses put together, and
though Westminster sent more students than any other
diocese, was content to claim for himself and for West
minster only one-seventh share in the government of the
Seminary, and to have no more part in its management
than was conceded to a Bishop who had perhaps only a

64 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
couple of students there. The Cardinal never forgot that
Oscott belonged to Birmingham, and that the Bishop, in
surrendering his exclusive control to share it with six
other co-interested Bishops, was giving up a great deal.
To make that sacrifice as little difficult as possible, and
to make sure of the harmonious co-operation of all in the
future, was, throughout, Cardinal Vaughan's great, and
indeed only, aim.
It was for this reason that the whole of the old staff
was re-engaged. All belonged to the diocese of Birm
ingham, knowing the needs of Birmingham but little
acquainted with those of Westminster ; and if at any
time, as the years wore on, the Cardinal felt that his
plan had not worked out to a perfect success, or that
the students from other dioceses were slow to think of
Oscott as their natural Alma Mater, probably the ex
planation may be found in this decision to retain the
services of a staff recruited wholly from a single diocese.
Moreover, this arrangement must have seemed to many
to rob of all its force one of the arguments on which the
Cardinal had greatly relied in urging the advantages
of a central seminary. It was contended that such a
seminary, commanding the resources of many dioceses,
would be able to secure the services of a teaching staff
such as no single diocese could hope for. In fact, the
staff of the Central Seminary was neither better nor
worse than it had been — it was the same.
To that decision, too, may probably be traced a graver
disappointment which came to the Cardinal in the day of
his failing strength. Towards the close of 1898 he felt
obliged to express his disapproval of a certain matter
touching the internal discipline of the Seminary. To his

THE EDUCATION OF THE PRIEST 65
surprise he found that his remonstrance was disregarded,
and that he was faced with the open and united opposition
of the whole staff. The question at issue was one upon
which admittedly opinions might legitimately differ, but
it was also one on which the Cardinal felt strongly. He
gave way, but it was impossible for him then not to know
that in founding the Central Seminary as he had done,
he, in some sort, parted with the power to control the
training of his own students.1
Herbert Vaughan's matured views as to the training
and work and ideals of the secular priesthood are most
fully explained in his preface to the Life of St. John Baptist
de Rossi. He was drawn to that saint just for the reason
that he was the only example in modern times of a simple
secular priest who has been canonised as a Confessor.
Cardinal Vaughan shared to the full Cardinal Manning's
jealous regard for all that concerned the honour and
dignity of the Secular priesthood, and he took this
¦ The present Archbishop, speaking of the policy which has once more
made St. Edmund's College the seminary of the diocese of Westminster,
said on the occasion of the opening of the new buildings, May 24th, 1905 :
"It is not necessary to rehearse all the motives which culminated in that
decision, but it may not be out of place to mention a criticism which it must
certainly evoke, namely, that it is a departure from a policy adopted after
due consideration by two most able and most eminent Archbishops. To
this criticism we may fairly make answer that the policy which has been
abandoned was not in any sense a continuous one. The course which had
appeared best to Cardinal Manning was after some four-and-twenty years
definitely relinquished, and gave place to a policy which in the first instance
was adopted merely as an expedient, and which, when it had assumed a more
definite shape, did not even then realise fully the intentions of Cardinal
Vaughan, with whom it had originated. In saying this I speak of what
I know. I do not say that my revered predecessor would have adopted the
policy to which we are now committed, but I am certain that if God had
spared him to us he would have found himself face to face with the grave
contingencies which confronted me, and that he would have been obliged
to reconsider the whole question."
II F

66 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
opportunity of explaining why there was this dearth of
canonised saints in their ranks. The Secular priest, un
like the monk, lives his life alone, works in his parish
until his strength fails, and then a new man comes.
There is no one with the zeal of comradeship to make
a record of his deeds, and no undying corporation ready,
perhaps centuries after, to work and spend for the glory
of his memory in promoting his canonisation. An apt
illustration of this difference between the Secular and
Regular clergy was supplied by the then recent publica
tion of the voluminous Records of the Society of Jesus
in England. " No such records could be produced of the
lives of the Secular clergy ; for the simple reason that the
Secular clergy have never had the custom of drawing up
a chronicle of the lives of their brethren. Secular and
Regular missioners lived side by side in the same country,
were equally pursued, hunted, and persecuted, preached
the same faith, and died the same deaths. The minute
history of the latter has been happily preserved; the
history of the former, unless some special notoriety
attached to their lives, is confined to the chronicles of
Heaven." Even so, lest any inference should be drawn
from the fewness of their saints, detrimental to the
Secular clergy, Herbert Vaughan pointed out that the
oldest and most famous of all the Religious Orders was
in much the same position — "the great Benedictine
Order has not given to the Church a canonised saint
for five centuries." While always setting a high value
upon the services of the Religious Orders, and anxious
for their co-operation as long as they realised that their
place in the Church was that of auxiliaries, he seems to
have felt that after all theirs was not the highest calling.

THE EDUCATION OF THE PRIEST 67
Writing to his brother John, then studying for the priest
hood, he used these words : " I know that young men in
their first fervour often think that the only thing to do is
to become a Religious. And I know just as well that they
often live to see that they have made a mistake. Re
member, too, as to perfection, what Our Lord said to St.
Peter — ' Lovest thou Me ? ' ; then as the test and proof and
reward of such love — ' Feed My sheep.' The proof of love
is not to desert the battlefield, nor even to seek for that
which theoretically may be more perfect for self, but to
labour with Our Lord for Souls — to suffer, work, and live
for Souls."
Something of the same feeling, that qualities of a
higher order are needed for the Secular priest, finds expres
sion in the following passage from the preface quoted
above : " The priest must live by rule — a rule based
upon the nature of the sacerdotal life, and proportioned to
his character, grace, and duties. He can draw up such a
rule under the advice of his director, and can follow it in
obedience. It must be a rule that touches his rising,
meditation, Mass, prayers, visits, and other duties. If he
think, because he is not a monk, that he may live with his
mind all abroad, by impulse and without rule, or if he
knows that he has not sufficient self-mastery to lead a life
of rule by himself, let him be well assured that he has no
vocation to be a Secular priest. He may go into a monas
tery perhaps, and live safely under the rule and surveil
lance of a holy community, or he may go into the world as
a layman and settle down."
Before taking final leave of this treatise, in which, better
than anywhere else, is found the expression of Herbert
Vaughan's deepest convictions on the subject he most

68 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
cared for, a passage may be quoted which stands for the
thought lying at the root of his ideals for the Catholic
priesthood : " Practically the diocesan clergy in England
and other missionary lands form a great mendicant order.
Nolens volens, the Secular priest must often be as poor as
St. Francis. If he is poor by necessity he will be wise to
sanctify his poverty by making it voluntary through acts
of will. More wonderful than any Midas' wand is the act
of the will which can convert the distress of earthly
poverty into a heavenly treasure. Nothing assuredly is
sadder than to see a priest fretting and repining at
poverty, treating as an unwelcome wretch her who has
been offered to him, even as a spouse, by Jesus Christ,
Let him once begin to look upon poverty as the Apostles
and St. John Baptist did, and after a little time he will fall
upon his knees and bless God for a new sense of liberty
and independence that has arisen within his soul, and for a
train of innumerable blessings. A priest is not open to
reproach if he lay by some provision for sickness and old
age, especially where there is no common fund for that
purpose ; even the Regular, when he vows poverty, knows
that he will be provided for. But to provide for a time of
illness and old age, out of the contributions and free gifts
of the flock, is a very different thing to bequeathing the
money thus collected to friends and relatives. It is a
scandal to the faithful, and a lasting stain on the name of
a priest, when money given in the service of God, or for
the use of His anointed, is hoarded and finally left
away from the Church for the enjoyment of a private
family." That his clergy should live their lives in a spirit of
detachment and be really in love with evangelical poverty

THE EDUCATION OF THE PRIEST 69
would at any time of his career have seemed to Herbert
Vaughan the best of all the blessings that God could give.
When he had founded the Central Seminary he believed
that the best that was possible had been done to secure,
besides, their intellectual fitness.

CHAPTER III
THE EDUCATION OF THE LAYMAN
ONE of the questions left unsettled, and yet clamorous
for settlement, at the time of Cardinal Manning's
death was that of the relation between the Catholics of
England and the national Universities. While there was
breath in the old Lion no one stirred — but many waited.
Certainly when Herbert Vaughan came to Westminster he
had no illusions — he knew that the truce was at an end.
An assenting party to the disastrous attempt to found a
Catholic University College in Kensington, under Mgr.
Capel, he must share the responsibility of its failure, but
the scheme was not his scheme. Among his papers is an
elaborate memorandum addressed to Cardinal Barnabo
in 1867 on the claims of Catholics to send their sons to
Oxford and Cambridge. He was not yet a Bishop,
but a simple priest, fresh from his wanderings in the
Americas. What was he doing at that time, addressing
the Holy See upon large questions of ecclesiastical policy?
It is easier to ask the question than to answer it.
At any rate the arguments against the attendance of
Catholic students at the Universities are arrayed with
great confidence, but they are familiar to us as those of
W. G. Ward and Cardinal Manning. What may be
described as the preamble of the paper is the echo of the
words of others ; but the constructive part of it is the
70

THE EDUCATION OF THE LAYMAN 71
writer's own. It was quite clear to Herbert Vaughan that
a merely negative policy could not suffice. If admission
to Oxford and Cambridge was denied, some alternative
must be offered. The plan he proposed may seem in
adequate, but at least in its large outlines it was broad
and simple, and might have been tried with the minimum
of risk. He pointed out that there were already in
existence twelve Catholic Colleges. Most of them were
what we should now speak of as secondary schools, but
some of them were something more, and in the standard
of studies and the age of the pupils approached those of
the Universities. Herbert Vaughan proposed that the
governing bodies of these schools — the Bishops and the
Religious bodies — should unite to found an Examining
University under a Charter from the Holy See. All
the twelve Colleges were to be represented on the
Examining Board, and to unite in granting degrees and
offering scholarships. Whatever else may be said of this
scheme, at least it had this merit, that it would have united
the whole of the Catholic body in one effort. What was
the fate of the memorandum, or even if it was ever pre
sented, I do not know. Cardinal Manning had made up
his mind that the Hierarchy should not be helped or
hampered by any alliance or co-operation with the
Religious Orders. The Kensington College was begun
with Mgr. Capel for Rector, and so jealously was it
guarded from any contact with the Religious Orders,
that when a young Jesuit, Father Bernard Vaughan,
presented himself as a student, anxious to attend the
course of chemistry lectures given by Professor Barff, he
was refused admission. That incident represented much
—it was typical of the disunion upon which the whole

72 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
scheme made shipwreck. Half the Catholic schools were
conducted by the Religious Orders — Jesuits, Benedictines,
and Oratorians — and to exclude them from all share in the
University College was to alienate the sympathies of a
large part of the Catholic laity. The failure to secure the
active co-operation of Cardinal Newman was in itself a
blunder for which nothing could atone. The so-called
University College would perhaps have failed in any case.
but it failed primarily because those who planned it at the
outset deprived it of any chance of success.
During the rest of Manning's life — some fifteen years
— intermittent attempts were made to reopen the question
of Catholic attendance at the Universities, but they came
to nothing in the face of the resolute opposition of the
Archbishop. And it was a bitter disappointment to the
old man when, for good reasons alleged, individual Bishops,
and sometimes even the Pope himself, granted special
permission to this or that youth to go to Oxford or to
Cambridge. Among the Bishops the leaders of the party
who in this respect played a prominent part in opposition
to Cardinal Manning were the Bishop of Clifton, the Hon.
and Right Rev. Dr. Clifford, and the present Bishop of
Newport. Among the laity the most consistently active
was Lord Braye. The attitude of the Catholic body as a
whole during the last half-dozen years of Manning's life
may be fairly described as one of sombre acquiescence.
For more than twenty years Herbert Vaughan had
stood by Manning's side in this quarrel. As recently as
1889 he had addressed the Holy See on the subject, and
with his usual directness had put his finger on the weak
spot in the Papal Admonition. As long as the prohibition
was made to rest upon the duty of avoiding the proximate

THE EDUCATION OF THE LAYMAN 73
occasions of sin, it would always be open to parents to try
to convince this or that Bishop, or the Pope himself, that
for their exceptionally gifted sons this danger did not in
fact exist. He saw that the growing system of exceptions
and special permissions had to go if the prohibition
was to be effective — that it must not be a question whether
attendance at one or other of the Universities would be
likely to imperil the faith of this or that young man, but
whether it would be dangerous for the average Catholic
youth. Something of this comes out in the following memor
andum : " (1) We need a restatement of the principles and
doctrine laid down in the Propaganda letter of August 6th,-
1867. (2) Some direction which will prevent individual
Bishops, with perhaps little knowledge and little ex
perience of the danger, counteracting the instruction of
the Holy See by giving leave to young Catholics to go to
the Universities. (3) A detailed and emphatic instruction
to provide a course of Catholic Philosophy for the laity —
pointing out that among the reasons why the national
Universities are unfit places for the education of Catholics,
is that a Catholic course of Philosophy cannot be obtained
in them, and that Catholic youths ought not to be exposed
to the dangers of rationalism and infidelity during the
course of their education. (4) It should be observed that
the instruction of August 6th, 1 867, was based upon the
intrinsic danger of mixed education, and on the necessity
of avoiding proximate occasions of mortal sin. May I
suggest that in addition to these considerations an appeal
might be made with great advantage to higher sentiments
and aspirations ? It ought not to be a mere question as to
whether the danger of perversion to an individual Catholic

74 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
in frequenting the national Universities can be made
remote. It is only too easy to find priests and even
Bishops, not to speak of parents, who will declare that
the danger for this or that individual is not proximate but
remote. As long as this is the only consideration put
forward by the Holy See the Universities are practically
open to Catholic youth. It is not merely a question of
rendering a danger remote for an individual ; the most
serious question is the effect of his example on others.
Thus parents would be moved by such considerations as
the following: (i) That the presence of Catholics of
position at the Universities becomes a danger to the
Church by the attraction which their example offers to
others ; that it is impossible to distinguish between the
moral capacity of one character and another ; that
Catholic parents must bear in mind the grave injury
they may inflict on others by their example in sending
their sons to the Universities.
" (2) That the Catholics of England have been willing
to suffer for centuries much worse privations than this
of not going to the Universities, and that their noblest
and best traditions should therefore make them willing
still to suffer some slight privation for the purity of their
faith, and to secure the immense boon of a system of
purely Catholic education ; that they should look forward
to the time, and prepare, as Catholics in. other countries
have done, for a Catholic University, or at least for a
Catholic system of higher education. An effort was
made some years ago. It failed ; but a time may come
when the Catholics of England may make a united
effort and either develop what they have or found
something new. We need encouragement from the Holy

THE EDUCATION OF THE LAYMAN 75
See, we need an appeal to be made to the noblest and
most loyal sentiments of Catholics by the Holy See.
So long as the Holy See confines itself to declaring general
principles as to mortal sin in the matter of mixed edu
cation, so long will Catholics examine and determine the
question on that ground alone. But if the Holy See
would lift the whole question into a higher region and
appeal to the highest motives, and invite the co-operation
of all to make generous sacrifices on behalf of the Catho
licity of the future, a response would be given by many to
such an appeal. Let the Holy See point out that the
Church must look to the future, and that the future of
Catholic education ought not to be jeopardised by selfish
ness or want of generosity and self-denial in the present.
These are motives which will not fail to strengthen the
public policy of Catholics in a determination to have
nothing to do with the Universities. Once more I implore
of your Eminence to take up the cause before it becomes
difficult or hopeless, and to give us a full and ample instruc
tion, so that we may not only hold in horror the mixed
education, which is so great an evil, but that we may
determine to develop Catholic Philosophy and prepare the
minds of the Catholic educated classes to resist the increas
ing rationalism and infidelity which is now penetrating
everywhere. I beg your Eminence to pardon the free
dom of my speech while I assure you that I submit
in all things to the judgment and direction of the
Holy See."
Finally, to show what it was exactly which Cardinal
Vaughan had in mind when he spoke of the intellectual
atmosphere of the Universities as likely to be dangerous to
the faith of young Catholics, the following letter from a

76 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Catholic undergraduate may be quoted because I know it
made a great impression on him at the time : —
"You have no idea how irreligious the atmosphere,
especially the intellectual atmosphere, is here at Oxford.
And it is not that men scoff or sneer at religion.
What strikes me is the number of men, both professors
and undergraduates, who simply discard the supernatural
in religion altogether, who believe in nothing but what is
material, and believe in no one but themselves. There are
others, on the other hand, who are too afraid to declare
that they have no religion, but who look upon religion as
being simply a social conventionality, by the non-observance
of which you scandalise your neighbour. Never was this
better illustrated than last night at the Union. The pro
position before the meeting was ' that the meeting does not
consider there is sufficient evidence for disbelieving in the
phenomena known as Ghosts.' The supporters held the
theory that most ghost stories were true, but were due to
natural causes not yet discovered. The opponents held
that no natural causes could be attributed to them, and
therefore they could have no existence. But you will say
that the question of belief in ghosts is not a very serious
matter. Just so, I reply. And if the matter had ended
there it might have been merely amusing. But it was dis
cussed on the basis of the unbelieving spirit of the age and
led on to a discussion as to the existence of any super
natural agency. And though according to the rules of the
Society theological discussion is not allowed, an exceedingly
thin veil was thrown over the arguments, and many of the
speeches rejected everything supernatural. One thus got
an opportunity of seeing what the general tone of the more
cultivated section of Oxford was, and my opinion is un
doubtedly that it is absolutely irreligious. For a certain
amount of irreligion, nay, for a large amount of it, I was
fully prepared, but the reality has far surpassed my ex
pectations. The danger to us does not lie in constantly
hearing open declarations of agnosticism, for the attitude of
the agnostic is repugnant from its very presumptuousness,
but in the constant and most insidious assumptions made
by all around that there is no supernatural, that therefore

THE EDUCATION OF THE LAYMAN 77
there is no need of religion, and that the world is a perfec
tible organism. You will see how all this aims at the very
root of our fundamental doctrines; but you will see how we
must be safe if only we keep our eyes open. Forewarned
is forearmed."

He had other letters to the same effect.
And yet it would be true to say that when Cardinal
Vaughan came to face the problem as Metropolitan he
approached it without prejudice. No man was ever less
hampered by his own past. He had given himself so
utterly to the cause he served that there was no room for
such poor irrelevancies as questions of personal con
sistency. What was best for the spiritual welfare of these
youths ? Nothing else mattered, and least of all whether
this or that party could claim a victory, or this or that
prelate must confess that for a quarter of a century he had
been fighting the inevitable and committing the Church in
England to a policy that was as short-sighted as it was
futile. But though he was now to advocate what he had
formerly opposed, the master motive was the same.
When the question first came to the front in the late
'sixties, the arguments used on either side were not only
opposed to each other, but were on a different plane.
The advantages of a university career were at least not
primarily religious, while the dangers apprehended were
concerned wholly with either faith or morals. It would
not be fair to say that worldly advantages were being
balanced against spiritual perils, but certainly the main
motive of those who urged the change was to secure for
Catholics the widest opportunities of achieving successful
careers, while those who resisted did so because they
believed the common life of the Universities might lead

78 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
to some weakening of Catholic faith. To Herbert
Vaughan, who cared supremely for the one set of con
siderations and hardly at all for the other, who all his life
thought success in this world was good or evil solely in
relation to the next, the question was not an open one, or,
rather, for him there was no question at all. His side was
taken at once ; the mere presentment of the case ranged
him in opposition.
Perhaps it will help to make the Cardinal's view
clearer if we take as a concrete instance his advice in the
case of his own nephew : — " Oct., 1891.
"My dear Charles, — If there were no future
state, and if Catholics in your position had no mission
as Catholics to the English people, I would say go
to Oxford or Cambridge — whichever you like. You
may learn a little there, and you will make acquaintances
and get into the ways of the world. And it won't make
much matter what happens so long as you are happy and
don't disgrace yourself. But we believe in a future state,
and I believe in Catholics having a mission to the English
people. Your influence will depend not upon your being
like and equal to the mass of Englishmen, but upon your
being of a higher type and superior to them, specially
in intellectual grasp and in an intelligent possession of
philosophical and Catholic truth. Oxford and Cambridge
can only give you what they have. They have a false
philosophy so far as they have any ; and they are
essentially in mind, heart, and influence alien to the
Catholic standards of thought and aspiration. You
cannot impress upon yourself too thoroughly the thought

THE EDUCATION OF THE LAYMAN 79
that you are now arrived at the time when you are really
beginning the most important period of your education.
Your faculties have been trained and prepared for what
ought now to begin, viz., a thorough Catholic intellectual
training in the science which will give you a command
and a sure footing over the whole region of moral and
philosophical thought. As to your view that you can get
' practical philosophy by mixing up with men in real life,'
that simply means that if you stick tight to the Catechism,
you will get through life as a Catholic and save your soul.
But this also means that you must have nothing to do
with the great world of thought and speculation which
is entering like an atmosphere into the lives of men. It
means that instead of taking up a position of strength and
influence and rendering valuable service to God, you are
willing to take a back seat and to bury your talent. It
means that you are willing to forfeit a grand opportunity
to prepare yourself to do all that you can for God's honour
and glory, in order that you may gain what? in return for
this forfeiture ? Yes, ask yourself what ? This is a matter
that you should earnestly and humbly pray for light upon.
Commend yourself to the Sedes Sapientiae, who will never
fail you if you never leave the steps of her throne until she
has led you to Her Son.
" Believe me,
" Your devoted uncle,
"H., Bp. Salford.
"PS. — Think of this as a recipe to make a loyal, leading,
powerful Catholic : ' Send him in the most critical period
of life to a Protestant University, plunge him into an
atmosphere of worldliness, prevent his having a sound

80 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
course of Catholic Philosophy, and trust to practical
philosophy issuing from familiar contact with the world,
the flesh, and the devil.' ' Queer,' you will say. Yes, it's
Old Nick's recipe without his usual gilding."
When Herbert Vaughan came to Westminster his
attitude was the same as it had been in Salford, but his
action was different — he sought the same end but with
altered means. When a little later he had to consider
a numerously and influentially signed petition on behalf
of the laity urging that Catholics should be allowed to
attend the Universities, he must have felt that much of its
argumentative matter was not to the point. All that was
said about the advantages of a university training to fit
men for public life and professional careers left him quite
cold. What did touch him was the testimony of the
Jesuits at Oxford, and of Mgr. Scott, of Baron Anatole
von Hugel at Cambridge, who, knowing the Universities
well, and having special opportunities of judging the con
duct of the Catholic undergraduates, reported most favour
ably from the point of view of both faith and morals.
Cardinal Vaughan had to face this situation ; in spite of
every official discouragement the number of Catholics at
the Universities had increased, and was likely to go on
increasing. Was it better to continue a prohibition which
had largely failed to secure its object, or to remove the ban
and at the same time to secure for Catholics attending the
Universities whatever safeguards for their faith were
possible ? Given the situation, the decision could hardly
be doubtful. Before, however, taking any action, Cardinal Vaughan
had still to be quite satisfied that what he still thought the
best was impossible. He privately took the opinion of a

THE EDUCATION OF THE LAYMAN 81
number of leading Catholics as to how far they would be
prepared to support a renewal, under happier auspices, of
the experiment which had failed at Kensington. He
can hardly have had much expectation of a favourable
response. It was his homage to a dead ideal. The
replies he received were decisive, and he at once made up
his mind that regrets for the best should no longer block
the way to the realisation of the second best. The first
person to whom he communicated what had been working
in his mind for some months was the Bishop of Newport.
Writing from Imberhorne, where he happened to be stay
ing as the guest of the late Sir Edward Blount, the
Cardinal explained his views in these words : —
"September 26th, 1894.
'' I send herewith the thoughts which have been
forced upon me by the state of Oxford and Cam
bridge, and the ever-increasing number of Catholics going
there. The laity are not likely to be withdrawn, and
I have sounded the leaders and they will give nothing
towards a repetition of the Kensington experiment ;
I have therefore been led to think that it will be wise and
statesmanlike on our part, as Bishops, to take up the
whole question and solve it in the only way it will work
(as it seems to me). We should place ourselves at the
head and not at the tail of the movement. I have not
spoken to any of the Bishops about it yet. And I should
like to hear your views on the subject. I therefore send
you the enclosed and beg you will return it with obser
vations. I shall see the six Northern Bishops on
October 14th at Ushaw. Please keep it private."
The enclosure was a memorandum drawn up for
II G

82 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
the consideration of the Bishops at their meeting on
January 4th, 1895. It first noted as a thing " ascertained "
the unwillingness of the leaders of the Catholic laity to
repeat, under any conditions, the experiment which had
failed twenty years before. " They plead that the experi
ence of thirty years has shown that Oxford and Cam
bridge do not present to well-trained Catholic young men
' the proximate occasions ' to the loss of faith and morals
which were the grounds of objection laid down by the
Holy See. They feel that for a certain class of young
men, after their school-days are over, there is no alterna
tive to this university education that is acceptable. It
is further added that the Universities have decidedly
improved in tone and character during the last thirty
years, and that rationalism and infidelity are not aggres
sive as they once were. The dangers, therefore, to Catholic
faith and morals have proportionately diminished, and are
actually less than will generally be found in many of the
professions which Catholics must enter."
Cardinal Vaughan knew that a negative policy was
impossible, and he regarded the continuance of the state of
things then existing as impossible. He wrote : " The
present position of English Catholics at Oxford and
Cambridge is intolerable. There are about fifty Catholic
undergraduates in residence at the two Universities. The
number is steadily on the increase." Then, pointing out
that neither the Irish nor the Scotch Bishops had taken
any action in regard to Oxford and Cambridge, he con
tinued : " Upon the Catholic youth of England alone
there rests, if not a formal precept actually forbidding
them to frequent the Universities, at least a strong dis
approval, amounting almost to a prohibition, on the part

THE EDUCATION OF THE LAYMAN 83
of the Holy See and the English Bishops. In a few cases
Catholic students frequenting these Universities obtain a
permission, by way of exception, from their Bishops, but
in general no permission is sought. The consequences
are — (1) That injury is inflicted on the loyalty to the
Church of these Catholics who are led to frequent the
Universities, in spite of the warnings and dissuasions of
the Holy See. (2) That the Catholic undergraduates are
left without those safeguards and Catholic educational
advantages which might be provided were the position of
Catholics at the Universities frankly recognised by the
Church. (3) That while the number of Catholics at the
Universities continues to increase the present evils will
become permanent, instead of being temporary and
transient, unless their position be duly recognised and
regulated on Catholic principles."
Accordingly at the meeting of the Bishops on
January 4th, 1895, Cardinal Vaughan urged that the Holy
See should be petitioned to withdraw the admonition
against the attendance of Catholics at the Universities,
on certain conditions. The chief of these was that
provision should be made for a resident chaplain and for
courses of lectures on Catholic Philosophy and Church
History. His pleading with the Hierarchy was successful
Writing to the Bishop of Newport the next day he says :
"Jan. $th, 1895.
" My dear Lord, — By a good majority we agreed —
(1) to petition the Holy See to remove the prohibition ;
(2) to place ourselves at the head of the movement ; (3) to
form a board of Bishops, priests, and laymen to collect
money and propose lectures, &c. The Board to act subject

84 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
to the approval of the Hierarchy. Hence, if such be the
direction of the Holy See, we are about to embark on a
new policy for the Church in England, and though we
shall find rocks and shoals, we shall, I doubt not, be
entering upon the work that God requires of His Church
in this country. "Yours devotedly,
" H. C. V."
Having once taken the matter in hand, he pressed it in
Rome with his usual energy. We get a glimpse of his
activity in the following extract from a letter written from
the English College on the 20th of March, 1895: "On
Tuesday the University question comes on at a General
Congregation of Propaganda. I have drawn up the
ponenza and Galemberti is to be present. I have no doubt
about the result." In Rome Cardinal Vaughan found his
hands much strengthened by the petition before referred
to, which was signed by nearly all the leading Catholics of
the country. The petition was dated December, 1894,
some three months after Cardinal Vaughan had opened
his mind on the subject to the Bishop of Newport. On
the 25th of April the following very cautious announce
ment was made in the Tablet: —
" In consequence of altered circumstances and of
further experience, the Cardinal Archbishop and Bishops,
in January last, drew up certain resolutions in modifi
cation of the policy hitherto pursued by the Catholic
Church towards the education of Catholics in the national
Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. These resolu
tions were duly submitted to the superior authority
of the Holy See. After full examination by the

THE EDUCATION OF THE LAYMAN 85
Sacred Congregation of Propaganda they were graciously
approved on April 2nd by the Holy Father, Pope
Leo XIII. The decision, therefore, of the Church in
this matter is as follows : That no kind of approval or
toleration can be given to the education of Catholic
youths in the national Universities unless they have
previously obtained, during the period of their primary
and secondary education, a thorough and exact knowledge
of their religion, and are of a sufficiently solid and formed
character to fit them for university life ; and unless,
moreover, they be prepared to avail themselves of such
instruction, to be offered to them during their university
course, as shall equip them with such further suitable and
adequate Catholic training and knowledge as may be
deemed requisite. A small Council has been nominated
by the Bishops, consisting of clergy and laity, to provide
for these religious and educational interests of Catholic
undergraduates, without, however, interfering with the
ordinary work of the Universities."
In September of the following year a collective letter
from the Bishops was addressed to Catholic parents and
guardians announcing the appointment of chaplains and
the formation of a Universities Board, whose duty it would
be to provide funds for the special course of lectures
which the Catholic undergraduates would be expected to
attend. It only remains to say that the experiment
appears to have been completely successful from every
point of view, and that Cardinal Vaughan lived long
enough to be able to acknowledge that the fears of those
who had resisted the change had so far been happily
disappointed. In a memorandum for the information of
Propaganda, written some five months before his death,

86 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
after alluding to the leave given first to Catholic laymen
and then to ecclesiastics to go to the Universities, he said :
" I must report most favourably of the effect of these two
permissions. Catholics have done themselves great credit
in both Universities."

CHAPTER IV
THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS
WHEN Herbert Vaughan began in Salford the
great fight for the poor-schools— which he con
tinued in London, and which he regarded as the most
important work of his life — the Act of 1870 had been in
force for a dozen years, and already its fruits were
apparent. The Board schools which had been designed to
supplement the Voluntary schools had begun to supplant
them. It was a strange system which the nation had
drifted into rather than chosen. The Voluntary schools,
with an average attendance of something over two million
children, and the Board schools, with an average attendance
of something less than one million, were doing precisely
the same work for the State. Each set of schools took
the children as their raw material, and, passing them
through the educational mill, turned out every year, as
the finished product, a certain number of boys and girls,
furnished with the required amount of secular instruction.
There was nothing to choose between the results shown
by the two sets of schools. But for equal service there
was nothing like equal reward. The 17s. per child at
that time paid to the Board schools out of the rates had
a poor equivalent in the case of the Denominational
schools in the average 6s. iod. per child supplied by
87

88 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
voluntary subscriptions. It may be asked, How was the
balance made up? It was not made up. The equipment
of the schools was poorer, and the teachers were fewer, and
they were at the same time underpaid and overworked.
So much willing suffering might have been borne and
the unequal struggle might have gone on indefinitely ; but
year after year those who had the interests of popular
education at heart called more and more insistently for a
higher level of efficiency in the schools. The new require
ments of successive Codes resulted in an ever-increasing
expenditure, which the School Boards, with their hands
in the bottomless pockets of the ratepayers, could meet
cheerfully enough, but which to the Voluntary schools
meant ruin. In 1884 already more than a thousand
Voluntary schools had given up the struggle and sur
rendered to the Boards, and there were few thoughtful
men who did not look upon the disappearance of the
whole denominational system as one of the certainties of
the near future.
Herbert Vaughan ransacked the Blue Books and official
reports, and took counsel with the Managers of the
Catholic schools in his diocese, until he made himself
master of the whole situation. He looked it steadily in
the face. There was just one fact which brought hope and
consolation. In all the thousand surrendered schools not
one was a Catholic school. He knew that the Catholics
of England represent an overwhelming share of the poverty
and destitution of the country, and the fact that they had
kept such a grip on their schools, that never one had been
let go, filled him with gratitude and gladness. Mr. Glad
stone, when the Act of 1870 was in the Committee stage,
declared that the most difficult case to deal with was that

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 89
of the Roman Catholics — " Their children form probably
a tenth, an eighth, or even a sixth of the educational desti
tution." The results of their exceptional poverty weighted
the scales heavily against the Catholic schools. The Blue
Book for 1883 showed that the Catholic schools had by
far the largest percentage of free admissions — that is, of
children who paid no fees on account of poverty. The
proportion of free children in Wesleyan schools was "84,
in Church of England schools 2'64, in Board schools
4'i6, and in Catholic 13-1 1. In the same way, and for the
same reason, the smallest amount per child collected as
school pence was in the Catholic schools. No teachers
were so ill-paid as the teachers of the Catholic schools,
and in none was so small a sum spent on educational
apparatus. Herbert Vaughan had little fear that his people would
ever give up their schools ; but as he came to understand
the nature and the extent of the sacrifices demanded of
them he was filled with pity and at the same time with a
very definite resolve to bring them relief. And it must be
remembered that every increase in the cost of education
in the public elementary schools meant a double burden
for the backs of the supporters of the Voluntary schools.
They had at the same time to pay the whole additional
cost of their own schools, and as ratepayers to share the
expense of the Board schools. Finally, to complete the
hardship, when the supporters of the Denominational cause
had built a school, that very school was at once rated for
the benefit of the rival Board schools.
The more the Bishop considered the question the more
satisfied he became that it could not possibly continue.
Under the growing pressure of the Department the

90 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
voluntary subscriptions to the Catholic schools had been
forced up from £2 5,000 in 1870 to ;£66,ooo in 1884.
And he knew what that meant — he knew how these
voluntary subscriptions were got. He knew that in his
own diocese and in all the northern cities there were
collections every week, from street to street and house to
house, and he knew that working men were waylaid on
Saturday nights — on wages nights — so that pence for the
schools might be begged from the shillings they were
taking to their wives. He knew that it was as certain as
anything could be that the cost of the schools would go
up, and how could his poor give more than they had done ?
Finally, from first to last Cardinal Vaughan resented, and
with ever-deepening feeling, the false and hateful position
into which the friends of the Voluntary schools were
forced by being made to seem the consistent opponents of
every educational advance. As the law then stood it
was inevitable that men who cared for the cause of religious
instruction in the schools should take up an attitude of
mistrust towards all educational improvements, in so far
as they had to ask themselves not only whether the pro
posed change was a good thing in itself, but also the
further question — " Can we afford it ? " It might be that a
regulation requiring so many cubic feet per dozen children
was desirable in itself; but what if that improvement
were to be bought by the ruin of the religious education
of the children ? No true friend of education, whatever
his views about religion, could in his heart justify a state
of things which made it inevitable that questions affecting
the health or comfort or educational interests of the
children should necessarily be determined for tens of
thousands of the people by considerations wholly foreign

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 91
to the questions at issue. Herbert Vaughan saw clearly
that the supporters of the Voluntary schools must always
be, represented as, and seem to be, the enemies of progress
until the inequalities of the law as it then existed were
radically and finally redressed.
He soon came to the conclusion that a new and drastic
departure must be made. Cardinal Manning had done an
immense work for Catholic education in relation to
Certified Poor Law, Industrial, and Reformatory schools,
but he had no organisation to his hand fitted to make
a direct appeal to the constituencies. He was still the
eloquent defender of the right of parents to have definite
dogmatic instruction for their children in the schools, but
the Catholic body had no programme. Every year there
was a demonstration in the St. James's Hall in defence
of the Catholic schools, but though there was agreement
as to the evil there was none as to the remedy. At the
annual meeting of the Catholic Union in April, 1884, the
Duke of Norfolk justified the passive attitude of that body
on the ground that it was not clear to them or to the
School Committee, or even to the Bishops, what the right
remedy might be : " It is no doubt the duty as well as the
wish of the Union to do all it can to forward the views of
the whole Catholic body. We are all dissatisfied with the
condition of affairs ; but in no body of Catholics, I may say
in no accidental meeting of twelve Catholics in a room,
would you find a unanimous opinion as to a certain course
of action which it would be right to take, and it is
impossible for the Union to adopt a course which many
of its members would look upon as unsafe." To end this
chapter of uncertainties, and to replace hesitations and
doubts by a definite programme which should have

92 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
all the Catholic forces of the kingdom at its back,
was the first object which Herbert Vaughan now had
in view. And so came into being the Voluntary Schools
Association. It was first established in the diocese of
Salford, but the Bishop meant its branches to extend
all over the country. Its programme, published in
February, 1884, made a reasoned appeal for the support
of every believer in the advantages of definite and
dogmatic religious instruction in the schools. It is
important to note its proposals for relief, because they
held the germ of all that followed, and enable us to
measure the success which crowned the campaign with
which the name of Herbert Vaughan must always be
associated. The fact that this militant organisation,
the Voluntary Schools Association, began by asking, not
equality, but a dole, is eloquent as to the feelings of
depression and helplessness which then paralysed the
efforts of the friends of the Denominational cause. The
new organisation, instead of boldly claiming equality of
treatment and reward, was content to ask that the amount
of the grant should be raised 25 per cent, all round. And
when a correspondent ventured to write to the Tablet to
ask why all the public Elementary schools of the country
should not be placed on a footing of absolute equality
he was at once rebuked for his inconvenient boldness,
and the Editor explained to him that it was " axiomatic "
that if the whole cost of maintenance were borne by the
public the whole of the management must be vested in the
same hands. A little later we shall find Herbert Vaughan
ready to question this or any other " axiom " which stood
in the way of the right of the Voluntary schools to be

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 93
treated on the same footing as the Board schools. At the
outset the Voluntary Schools Association was content to
ask for an increased grant, and, in addition, to formulate a
demand for the redress of four specific grievances.
As the law then stood the total annual grant, exclusive
of any special grant, i.e., grants gained under certain cir
cumstances by assistant teachers, or by scholars who
obtained honours certificates, or by the schools themselves
by reason of sparseness of population, might not exceed
the greater of two sums, a sum equal to 17s. 6d. for each
unit of average attendance, or the total income of the
school from all sources whatever other than the grant,
and from any special grant given for scholars who might
have won honours certificates. In more direct words,
however well the school might do, when once the limit of
17s. 6d. per unit of average attendance had been reached,
though additional money were merited and earned, it
was nevertheless withheld, unless the school could point
to an independent income of 17s. 6d. per unit of
average attendance. No painstaking or success in the
teaching, no care in the management, no excellence in the
results, were allowed to atone for the unpardonable sin of
poverty. It might have been supposed that a school
which, in spite of narrow means and the difficulties which
are born of them, had done superlatively well would have
received some special and quite extra reward, but, instead,
it was fined for being poor, and robbed even of the money
it had earned — to encourage the others. Excellence in
schools without respectable private incomes seemed to be
regarded as a sort of impertinence, and was punished
accordingly. The object of this strange regulation was
well understood. It was only one of the many devices

94 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
by which successive Governments had tried to make
voluntary subscriptions compulsory. It had occurred to
some calculating bureaucrat that a school which obtained
a grant on the highest scale might become comparatively
independent of private contributions. The sum saved to
the Treasury was trivial, but the resultant resentment on
the part of those who found themselves robbed of the
reward they had earned under circumstances of special
difficulty did more than anything else to embitter the
controversy. The Voluntary Schools Association now
asked that this system should end.
Its second demand concerned parents who were too
poor to pay the ordinary school fees for their children.
In the case of " indigent" parents whose children attended
the Board schools relief could be obtained in the first
instance through the teachers, who, by means of
" temporary orders," could remit the fees until the
application could be made to the Board. Fees remitted
by the Board were recouped out of the rates. Much
harsher treatment was reserved for the " indigent " parents
who sent their children to the Voluntary schools. In
their case it was necessary to apply to the authorities of
the workhouse, and to appear in person before the Board
of Guardians. The Act declared that persons so applying
should not on that account be considered paupers, but the
visits to the offices of the Union were bitterly resented
by the poor, who, in spite of all explanations, felt that in
asking for a remission of their fees from the Guardians
they were " going on the parish," and making a claim on
the charity of the workhouse. Nor was it only a question
of personal dignity or of the wasted time which was
often involved in making application to the Guardians.

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 95
Parents who could apply for relief to the School Board
went before men upon whose sympathy they could count
beforehand. The main object and first thought of the
members of the School Board, men elected ad hoc, was
naturally, and rightly, to get as many children as possible
into the schools. As an educational body they thought
chiefly of getting the little waifs and strays away from
the associations of the gutter and bringing them under
the influence of the schoolmaster. If the payment of
school fees was seen to be a difficulty, and to interfere
with the regular attendance of the children, the fees were
gladly dispensed with. The parents of children going
to the Denominational schools could count on no such
amiable prejudice in their favour. The Guardians were
not an educational but an administrative body, and their
first thought was not to gather as many of the little ones
as possible into the schools, but only to keep down the
rates — that was what they were for. It is not surprising,
therefore, if sometimes they were inclined to scrutinise
these applications for what they must have regarded
as a sort of intellectual outdoor relief with considerable
severity. The hardship no doubt varied in different
localities and at different times, but speaking generally
it may be safely said that the treatment of the two sets
of schools was unequal and unjust. The Voluntary
Schools Association asked for equality and equity.
A third grievance concerned the so-called "unnecessary
schools." If a Board school had preoccupied a district,
and had sufficient accommodation for all the children of
the neighbourhood, no other school could be recognised
or allowed to earn the Government grant. It sometimes
happened that in a district in which a Board school had,

96 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
as it were, " pegged out a claim " a new Catholic school
would find itself disqualified from earning the grant. The
Catholic community asked no help from the rates towards
their building fund ; but when they had put up the school
at their own cost, for their own children, and had done the
work of the State by teaching them in accordance with
the requirements of the Code, they contended that the
State's work should receive the State's wage. In other
words, the Voluntary Schools Association maintained that
the only thing which could ever make a Catholic school
" unnecessary " was the absence of Catholic children to
fill it.
This grievance of the " unnecessary school " worked
hardship in two ways. Sometimes it affected the sub
scribers to the Voluntary schools, and at others it hurt
the children themselves. If a school had been built and
was then refused the Government grant on the ground
that it was unnecessary, because there were vacant places
in the Board school, the trouble was only financial — the
people who had built the school for the sake of their
children's faith had also to maintain it. But it some
times happened that the Catholics of a town, while ready
and willing to build a school, yet felt unequal to the task
of bearing the additional cost of maintaining it indefinitely.
In such cases the school would remain unbuilt, and the
Catholic children were the sufferers, being called upon to
tramp long distances to the nearest Catholic school, if that
were at all within reach. A case which attracted consider
able attention about the time when Herbert Vaughan's
new Association was first getting to work may serve as
an instance. There was a question of building a new
Catholic school in South Shields. If built, it would be

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 97
put up without cost to the ratepayers, and the Government
grant earned by the children would be the same, whether
they were taught in a school of their own or in a Board
school. The thing that mattered, the hardship of the
children, is made sufficiently clear by the following extract
from the report of the speech of one of the members of
the Board: "Mr. Marshall said he had been thirteen years
at Tyne Dock, and during the ten years he had been in
the habit of going up the Garden Walks every morning he
had regularly met there poor little Catholic children plod
ding their way to St. Bede's School, and had seen them
when the frost was crisping on their bare feet, and when
they were drenched with rain. It was not a Christian
feeling to try to debar these poor unfortunate children
from having a school in their midst. The Board was not
losing anything, and for charity's sake, and for the sake
of liberty to their fellow-creatures, he asked them to re
consider their decision. Whether they did so or not, they
would never get the Catholic children to go to the Board
schools." By the casting vote of its Chairman the Board
decided that the Catholic school at Tyne Dock was " un
necessary," and so, even if built by voluntary subscriptions,
it would be ineligible for any Government grant.
A fourth demand related to the rating of the Denomi
national schools. It was bad enough that the supporters
of the Voluntary schools should be forced to pay an
education rate from the benefits of which they were ex
cluded ; but it seemed an unnecessary aggravation of the
grievance that the Voluntary schools, themselves built by
private funds for public use, should be rated for the support
of the rival system. Here also the programme of the
Voluntary Schools Association was equality.
II H

98 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
It was a simple thing enough for Herbert Vaughan to
get the new Association established in his own diocese,
but he meant to see it rooted in every diocese, and its
programme accepted as the avowed policy of all the
friends of the Denominational cause throughout the
country. Public meetings were held to inaugurate the new
movement in town after town in the North and in the
Midlands. An astonishing amount of spade-work was
also done in the constituencies, and there were few
candidates or members of Parliament who were not
made familiar with the programme of the Association
and invited to promise their support. The contagious
example of its founder seemed to inspire the members of
the Association, and within a very few months Herbert
Vaughan had the satisfaction of knowing that the first
part of the work he had undertaken was done, and that
the Voluntary Schools Association was acknowledged as
representing the whole body of the Catholics of England.
From the outset he had confidently counted on the
sympathy and co-operation of Cardinal Manning, and he
was not disappointed. In the April of 1884 the Tablet
was able to say : " We are authorised to state that the
subject of public Elementary education formed one of the
chief topics at the meeting of the Bishops, and that their
Lordships decided to establish an organisation throughout
the country to spread information among the people on
the Education question, and to form public opinion with a
view to finding a remedy for the educational grievances of
Catholics. The Voluntary Schools Association was the
form of association adopted for the various dioceses, with
a central council, for the purpose of securing unity of
action, composed of representatives of the diocesan associ-

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 99
ations, to meet in London. This is the best news we have
had to record for many a week, and we trust that this
resolve of the Bishops of England to take the case of our
schools resolutely and effectively in hand may mark the
opening of a new and happier chapter in the history of the
agitation." Cardinal Manning's sanction at once gave the move
ment an official character which it might have been
difficult for a Bishop in a provincial city to secure. The
first meeting of the Central Council of the Voluntary
Schools Association was held a month later at Cardinal
Manning's house. All the Catholic forces were now
united, and every effort was made to bring pressure
upon members of Parliament and to induce the Govern
ment to reopen the so-called settlement of 1870 by
appointing a Royal Commission to inquire into the
grievances of the Voluntary schools.
The first gleam of encouragement came in the form
of a letter from Lord Randolph Churchill, then only at
the beginning of his meteoric career. Writing to a corre
spondent in March, 1884, he said: "The time is at hand
when our national system of education must be con
sidered and dealt with by Parliament. I do not believe
that people will tolerate much longer the rigour and
injustice of the incidence of the expense of our present
arrangements. I am of opinion that the cost of proper
elementary education should be borne entirely by the
State, and that all schools, whether Voluntary or Board
schools, should be entitled to be paid in full from the
Imperial taxes expenses incurred by them for the diffu
sion of the rudiments of knowledge." Then saying he
would allow the parents complete freedom of selection

ioo CARDINAL VAUGHAN
of the schools their children should attend, he concludes
thus : " Let the Voluntary schools and the Board schools
continue their efforts in the cause of national education,
independently of and competing with each other, the
State awarding to each with the utmost impartiality those
pecuniary endowments which either may honestly and
fairly earn." This letter represented an attitude towards
the Education question which was so astonishingly in
advance of the thought of the time, that it gave the
greatest possible encouragement to the movement in
favour of equality. " An equal wage for equal work "
began to be a popular cry.
For his part, Herbert Vaughan, believing that the
vital interests of religion were bound up with the welfare
of the Denominational schools, did not hesitate to call
upon his clergy to take an active part in the struggle.
In October, 1885, he issued a circular to them in which
he said : " The Public Elementary Schools question is one
of deep religious interest. It is a question of life and
death to the souls of millions. You will therefore be
strictly within the sphere of your pastoral duties if, both
in church and out of church, you do everything in your
power to rouse your people to a sense of the vital import
ance of this question, and to induce them to use their
civil and political rights wisely and firmly in its behalf."
A month later the Catholic Bishops issued a series of
resolutions. They protested against "the use of two
measures in appraising the value of work done, and of
instruction given, by the payment of at least double the
amount of public money in rates and grant for secular
instruction given in Board schools, while for secular
instruction of the same kind and degree given in Volun-

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 101
tary schools not half that amount is given from the public
revenue. We protest against this injustice not in itself
only, but much more because it threatens the extinction
of the Voluntary and Christian schools of the country."
They dealt with the question of school fees in the follow
ing paragraph : " As the Legislature has made education
compulsory upon certain, and those the poorer, classes,
we hold that it is bound to make proper provision to
meet not only the conscientious and religious difficulty,
but the poverty also of those classes who are severally
affected by that compulsory law ; and we demand as an
act of justice that parents who are known by school-
managers to be too poor to pay for the education of their
children, and who are yet compelled by law to send their
children to primary schools, shall, upon due proof, be
provided with the means of obeying that legal compul
sion, without on the one hand submitting them to that
sense of humiliation which they have suffered of late, or
on the other hand, compelling them to use schools to
which they conscientiously object." Finally the Bishops
declared they could not trust any candidate who would
not engage himself "to do his utmost to protect liberty
of conscience and to redress the present glaring inequali
ties by providing for the just maintenance and multiplica
tion of Christian and Voluntary schools as the growth
of the people shall require."
On the eve of the elections in November, 1885, the
agitation was carried on with redoubled vigour, and the
pressure upon candidates, specially in the Lancashire
constituencies, was continuous. It was hailed as a great
concession when on the nth of November Sir Richard
Cross, in a speech at Widnes, announced that the Govern-

102 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
ment had decided "at once to appoint a Commission to
inquire into the position of the Voluntary schools and the
operation of the Act. He felt that those schools were at
present under a great disadvantage and ought to be placed
in the same position as the Board schools in this as in
other matters. The Conservatives were determined there
should be an inquiry into the whole subject, and imme
diately the inquiry had taken place the proper remedies
should be put into effect, and the Government would be
prepared to introduce a measure dealing with the subject
if the inquiry showed it to be necessary."
The appointment of a Royal Commission was received
with jubilation. The Voluntary Schools Association had
got what it demanded, but the demand was a mistake.
There was no need to inquire into the well known ; and
what was accepted as the prelude to relief proved an
anodyne. The most impatient had to acquiesce when
reminded that the questions at issue were being carefully
investigated ; and in that simple way the whole agitation
was successfully " side-tracked " for years. The Commis
sion was appointed in January, 1886, with Sir Richard
Cross as its chairman and Cardinal Manning among its
members. It sat for two years and issued ten volumes of
Reports, but the final one had five reservations, and there
was besides a Minority Report signed by eight out of the
twenty-three Commissioners. The Majority Report was
strongly in favour of the contentions of the friends of the
Voluntary schools and declared there was no reason why
they should not receive assistance from the rates "in
respect of their secular efficiency." But the Government,
with much show of reason, claimed time to consider in all
their bearings the recommendations of so important a

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 103
Commission, and they took it. Nothing was done for
years afterwards.
The first practical relief to the Catholic schools came
from a wholly unexpected quarter. It might have been
supposed that the Catholics, by reason of the poverty of
their community, would from the first have been eager
advocates of free education. In fact, they were for years
its most strenuous opponents. They saw in it the way
to the destruction of their schools. The leaders of the
Denominational party had so allowed themselves to be
cowed by their opponents that they almost took it for
granted that if school fees were abolished the relief would
be confined to the Board schools. At the time when
Herbert Vaughan's organisation was started Mr. Jesse
Collings was waiting to bring in a motion in the House
of Commons to that effect. Under the stress of this
fear many Catholics strongly opposed " free schools " and
insisted that it was a parent's natural duty, if he could
afford it, to pay for the education of his children. Here,
as elsewhere, the paramount desire was to secure equality
between the two sets of schools, and until it was certain
that the principle of free education would be applied
impartially it was necessarily repudiated. Speaking on
this subject in November, 1885, Bishop Vaughan said:
"You will be told that it means 'gratuitous' education,
but this is a misnomer and misleading ; the State can give
nothing really gratuitously — it must increase the rates and.
taxes whatever it pretends to give ; the people in the end
must pay; and in this case, instead of a parent paying
school fees for the five or six years of his child's educa
tion, he will have to go on paying an additional rate or
tax during the whole of his life. You may now fairly

104 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
inquire, 'What, then, do I ask for?' And I reply, 'Let
those who are unable to pay the fees for the compulsory
education of their children be properly relieved by the
State.' In the diocese of Salford, out of 37,000 children
on the registers, about one-third are too poor to pay
without hardship. Then let the school managers say
who ought to be paid for by the State, and let inspectors,
if need be, test the accuracy of their judgment. Cease
from making the payments of fees a degradation by
sending the parents, with loss of often two or three
days' work, to the Board of Guardians of the Poor.
School Board children are not treated thus ; why should
not ours be treated as they are ? "
Happily from the first there were many who cared for
free education apart altogether from the question whether
or not it could be used as a weapon against the Voluntary
schools. And there were others who would have liked to
harm the Voluntary schools, but saw that relief from
school pence would be difficult to gain unless it were
granted equally to all. In the famous article on educa
tion which appeared in the Fortnightly Review for January,
1884, and was afterwards reprinted as part of The
Radical Programme, the writer said : " The Denomina
tional schools, entrenched behind their new subsidies,
continue to be what they have always been in the past —
the greatest obstruction to efficient national education. . . .
On many grounds it would be deplorable that their
position should be strengthened. The forcible transfer
of the Voluntary schools is not to be looked for until
the Radical Party is able to make its own terms." The
writer, however, quicker than most of the champions
of the Denominational schools, judged the situation

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 105
rightly, and saw that all the public Elementary schools
would have to be treated alike unless the reform were
to be indefinitely postponed,
When once this began to be generally recognised there
was a swift revulsion of feeling among Catholics, and the
old individualistic arguments about the duties of parents
were heard less frequently, so that when in November,
1899, Lord Salisbury, in a speech at Nottingham, publicly
declared in favour of " free schools," or, as he preferred to
call it, '' assisted education," Herbert Vaughan's organ, for
getful of its old hesitations, welcomed the proposed change
in these words : " We hasten to congratulate the Prime
Minister upon his firm, brave, and most uncompromising
words about the value of the Denominational schools
of the country. In the days when ' free schools ' was a
foremost cry of the Radical Party it was understood to
mean free Board schools only, and was cared for chiefly
as a means of starving into surrender their Voluntary
rivals. On the lips of Lord Salisbury the phrase has
no such sinister significance. With excellent explicit-
ness he told his listeners at Nottingham that 'free'
education must be so conducted as not to diminish in
the slightest degree the guarantee we now possess for
religious liberty as expressed by the Voluntary schools.
If it were to suppress the Voluntary schools free education
would be not a blessing but a curse."
Again, when in the debate on the Address in the follow
ing year it was made clear that the Government meant to
redeem Lord Salisbury's pledge in the near future, the
Tablet commented thus : " The Debate on Free Educa
tion accentuates in a very striking way the enormous
distance which public opinion has travelled, or drifted,

106 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
in a few years. The solitary figure of Sir Richard
Temple, as he stood there declaiming against the
principle of Free Education, struck the House less as
a sort of Worcestershire Athanasius against the World,
than as a convenient milestone marking the spot where
most of them had once stood."
That the old feeling of dislike and distrust did not die
out all at once appears from the fact that in June, 1891,
when the Bill for freeing the schools had already passed
its second reading, a deputation from the Catholic School
Committee, consisting of the Duke of Norfolk, Lord
Herries, Mgr. Gilbert, and others, waited on Lord Cran-
brook at the Privy Council Office, and presented a series
of resolutions, the first of which ran thus : " That this
Committee cannot approve of the principle of Free
Education under which all parents, without distinction,
are relieved from the duty of paying for the education
of their children ; but do not oppose the Bill in so far
as it leaves Denominational schools in the same free
position they have hitherto occupied." The Tablet, on
the other hand, heartily supported the Bill, and in doing
so certainly represented the views of Dr. Vaughan. " As
a matter of practical politics, let us look this thing steadily
and straight in the eyes. Do those who, up and down the
country, choose this time for condemning the principle
of Free Education mean their action to have no political
consequence? Do they seriously want the Government
to abandon the Bill, and drop the question of Free
Schools altogether? If they do, have they thought
what that means ? It means that the question would
just be hung up for awhile, a few years or a few months,
and then be used by a Radical Government for the final

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 107
ruin of the Voluntary system. The weapon of Free
Education stands crammed to the muzzle, and the only
question is whether it shall be so directed now that it
will leave our schools unharmed, or, with the next turn
of the political wheel, it shall be aimed with murderous
precision straight into our own ranks ? If we were still
free to choose we should yield to none in opposing the
principle of Free Education, but that is not the question ;
the choice now is narrowed, and is only this — whether Free
Education shall come from friends or from those who will
use it to realise their dream of universal Board schools.
It is as certain as anything can be, that if the present
opportunity of settling the question is let go by, in the
hands of a Radical Government the principle of Free
Schools will come, and come accompanied by the control
of the ratepayers." J
An Act passed in 1891 provided an annual grant of 10s.
to all public Elementary schools for each child in average
attendance between three and fifteen years of age on con
dition that no fee should be charged for such children,
except where the average rate of fees had exceeded
10s. a year, and then the reduced fee and the fee grant
together should not exceed the former rate. As might
have been expected, the Catholic schools, as the poorest,
benefited the most from the fee grant. In the case of the
Wesleyan schools the 10s. fee grant came as a contribu
tion towards an average of 16s. id. ; in the case of Church
of England schools as a contribution towards an average
1 As subsequent events showed, the sort of control on the part of the rate
payers which was feared was control over the only thing which could
endanger the Catholic character of the schools — the right to appoint the
teachers. It was always anticipated that rate aid would be accompanied
by the financial control of the ratepayers.

ro8 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
fee of ios. 7d. ; in the case of the British schools, towards
an average of 1 3s. 2d. ; while in the case of the Catholic
schools the new grant of 10s. came in substitution for
an average of 9s. 5d. Even among the Catholic schools
the operation of the Act was very unequal. Thus in the
diocese of Newport, where the average fee was only
5s. 6d., the new grant brought substantial help, but in the
North of England, where, as a rule, the fees were higher
than in the South, the managers of the Denominational
schools saw that they would be faced with a loss, unless
they continued to charge fees in the cases in which the
Act still allowed this to be done. In the diocese of
Salford Bishop Vaughan calculated that if all the
schools were freed unconditionally the managers would
have to find an additional ^3,000 a year, while the
parents and guardians of the children would be relieved
to the extent of ;£ 15,000. A happy and very general
result of the Act was that by relieving poor parents it
greatly increased the average attendance. In one large
school in Lancashire, which the managers had declared
" free," with a prospective loss of ^200 a year in fee
money, the average attendance rose to such an extent
than the anticipated loss was turned into a profit. Speak
ing generally, there can be no doubt that relatively the
Catholic schools were largely benefited by the Act of
1 89 1. But the relief was soon seen to be insufficient,
for the cost of education continued to grow as the
requirements of the Department in regard to buildings,
staff, and apparatus became, year after year, more
exacting. Meanwhile, Catholic opinion had been steadily setting
in <he direction of a policy which rested on the broad

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 109
principle of equality as far as the maintenence or the
ordinary working expenses of the schools was concerned.
The progress in that direction was steady, but it had
periodical set-backs. Thus in the summer of 1887 Canon
Brownlow, afterwards Bishop of Clifton, had advocated in
the Tablet an allocation of part of the Education Rate for
the support of the Voluntary schools. Looked at in the
light of after-events, and the policy successfully urged by
Cardinal Vaughan, Canon Brownlow's proposals seem
almost timid, but they were thought shockingly bold at
the time. He said : —
" I do not intend by this to imply that the Voluntary
schools shall, receive exactly the same proportion of the
rates as the Board school, because the Board school is,
apart from the Government grant, entirely dependent
upon the rates, whereas the Voluntary schools have other
sources of income, but that the claim of each Voluntary
school to a certain proportion of the rates should be
recognised as a right established by statute."
A reply was soon forthcoming, and from the pen of
Mr. Scott Nasmyth Stokes, then the Senior Inspector of
Schools. There was no one whose opinion at that time
carried more weight in Catholic circles, and Mr. Stokes
uttered his warning thus : " There is but one argument
of potency for general use. The Voluntary schools are
cheaper than rate-aided schools ; the managers for their
own purposes make sacrifices to keep up their schools;
they are content with a lower contribution from the public
purse; and as the work is tested and approved, the
Voluntary schools relieve rates and confer a benefit upon
all ratepayers without injury to the children. The force
of this argument is appreciated by the average British

no CARDINAL VAUGHAN
householder; is it prudent, is it becoming, to fling it to
the winds by asking that Voluntary schools should be
made as costly to the public as rate-aided schools ? But
in the unlikely case that Parliament in an access of
generosity should offer to raise the public contributions
to Voluntary schools until they equalled the payments to
rate-aided schools, could such an offer be safely accepted?
Future events must ever be doubtful, but few predictions
could be more certain of fulfilment than that on the day
when Voluntary managers give up voluntary subscriptions
and take their support wholly from public sources, they will
sell the invaluable rights of management they now enjoy."
The Bishop of Salford read this article in his own
paper with sincere regret. A few days afterwards I had
an opportunity of talking the question over with him.
Of Mr. Stokes he spoke with inevitable respect. He
recognised Mr. Stokes's high character, his intimate know
ledge of the question at issue, and his zeal for the Catholic
cause, but, not the less, thought that he ignored the
governing factor in the situation. Mr. Stokes could in
terpret the mind of the Department, but a Lancashire
Bishop had a truer knowledge of the thing that mattered,
the temper and steadfastness of Catholic parents. I can
still recall the tone of confidence and conviction with
which he said, " There have got to be Catholic schools— for
this reason, that Catholic children will not go to any others"
That slowly reached but settled belief lay at the root of
all his subsequent action in relation to the schools. All
through the years that followed, in any time of crisis,
and in answer to any threat, he would use this simple
formula, " Catholic children will go to Catholic schools —
or nowhere." For him that thought was decisive. It

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS in
governed the whole situation and made such a statement
as that of the writer of The Radical Programme, that
the Voluntary schools " were doomed to extinction, pain
less or otherwise," the idlest of predictions. He was
satisfied that the Catholic schools represented a public
necessity and believed it was beyond the power of any
Government seriously to imperil them. The only question
was whether the Catholic body was to be subjected to a
penal fine in regard to education — whether, having built
their own schools, they were still to pay a double school
tax— as their forefathers had paid a double land tax — for
conscience' sake. But before the campaign in favour of
educational equality could be carried to a further stage
Herbert Vaughan was called to Westminster.
When he came to Westminster the Voluntary Schools
Association had been in existence for seven years. Some
notable results had been achieved, but not one of the
reforms specifically asked for had at that time been
placed on the Statute Book. Some relief had come from
the freeing of the schools, but the increasing cost of educa
tion had again brought a position of difficulty and strain.
But the situation was far more hopeful than when Herbert
Vaughan had begun the campaign in Salford. The old
helpless, fatalistic feeling that the disappearance of the
Denominational schools was inevitable had quite dis
appeared. The Catholic leaders were no longer content
to ask for a further dole for their schools — they asked,
instead, that all those giving the instruction required by
the State, under the conditions imposed by the State,
should be treated alike. The goal of equality was in sight,
and now was being definitely aimed at.

112 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Almost immediately after his arrival in Westminster
as Archbishop he presided at a meeting of the Bishops
specially called to consider the position of the Voluntary
schools. The Tablet thus stated the position : " Men
on all sides are recognising that the dual system estab
lished in 1870 cannot go on much longer. The pace,
already too fast, is being savagely pressed, and the
Voluntary schools are everywhere losing ground. Without
taking count of the Denominational schools which have
simply closed, no less than 1,200 have surrendered, and
let themselves be transferred to the School Boards. Of
these, 850 belonged to the Establishment ; while it is a
matter of legitimate congratulation and pride that up to
the present hour not one Catholic school in any part of
the land has been let go. Every other religious body
has seen its schools captured by the score, but the Church
of the poor, the Church with the scantiest resources and
the worst-paid teachers, has held her own, and never
yielded a single prize to the conquering School Boards.
Thus far for the Catholic wing the fight has been glorious
and not disastrous, but there is great reason to believe
that the whole Denominational army is being gradually
forced into a thoroughly indefensible position."
The Catholic Bishops under Cardinal Vaughan's
leadership called for a fair share of the rates as the
only remedy. Almost simultaneously the Archbishop
of Canterbury was denouncing a share of the rates as
"a most dangerous possession." He spoke of it as a
"disastrous and a dangerous remedy," and so with one
scornful sentence dismissed "what now calls itself a
policy." On the other hand the Council of the National
Society in July of the same year passed a resolution

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 113
almost identical with that of the Catholic Bishops. At
a great meeting held in Preston in September, 1894, the
late Mr. Hanbury, then one of the Members for the town,
after thanking the Catholic citizens for the " glorious lead
they had given to others," went on to express a hope
that Catholics and Anglicans would often be found on
a common platform fighting for a common cause. There
was nothing which Cardinal Vaughan desired more
earnestly than a loyal co-operation with the Church of
England. Neither as Bishop nor as Cardinal did he at
any time care to think of the Catholic schools as apart
from the general denominational cause. As he once said :
"The Catholic schools may be the iron head to the
spear, but the iron head will make but a poor weapon
unless it have the weight of the wooden shaft behind
it." Time after time he resisted suggestions which offered
separate treatment for the Catholic schools as the price
of an alliance against the schools of the Establishment.
The basis of these proposals may be found in the follow
ing words of the Minority Report of the Royal Com
mission : " The mass of the Protestant population of
this country do not desire to see the minor differences
among the various denominations emphasised in the
Elementary schools. The one exception is the Roman
Catholics. They are unwilling to go to other schools
when they can have their own, and their schools are
rarely used, and mainly for want of accommodation,
by Protestants." Cardinal Vaughan recognised the
element of truth which underlay this statement. But
he knew also that there were tens of thousands among
the members of the Church of England who did earnestly
desire for their children definite dogmatic teaching in
II I

ii4 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
the schools. He was resolved, therefore, never to be
a party to any arrangement which could make more
difficult the position of those who were fighting the battle
of the Denominational cause within the Establishment.
Unfortunately, controversies between the two Churches
were then acute, and the dispute about Anglican Orders
caused strained relations at a time when a good under
standing was most desirable. At the very time when the
Unionist triumph at the polls in 1894 seemed to open the
way to a lasting settlement, Cardinal Vaughan found him
self isolated, because the Anglican leaders had suddenly
decided to retire from the fighting-line. Perhaps it would
be more correct to say that the Anglican leaders held
back when Cardinal Vaughan went on. A decisive step
was taken when the Tablet for the first time repudiated
the term "Voluntary school." In August, 1895, the
Westminster Gazette pointed out that only three-tenths
of the cost of maintenance in the Voluntary schools was
then defrayed by private subscriptions. The Liberal
journal went on to ask with some scorn by what right
these were called Voluntary. The Tablet answered : " So
far from being depressed by the fact that only three-
tenths of the maintenance of the public denominational
schools is met by private subscriptions, we should be
delighted if such appeals to charity could disappear
altogether, and we were in a position to forfeit for ever
all claim to speak of our schools as Voluntary. We
maintain that parents who demand a denominational
education for the little ones around their knees have
exactly the same rights, and precisely the same claim for
State aid, as those other parents who prefer for their
children a purely secular education. There is no magic

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 115
about the word 'Voluntary' — rather it stands for a religious
disability which has been endured too long. The epithet
was none of our choosing ; it simply represents a fact
and records an historic injustice. It reminds us that
while those favoured parents who wanted for their chil
dren an education divorced from definite religious teaching
could get it wholly at the public cost, the less fortunate
people who desired their children to have definite religious
teaching in the schools have had to depend largely upon
the charity and generosity of private individuals. That
sort of State favouritism is doomed ; and the Unionist
Party has come to power pledged to the eyes to make an
"end of this monstrous and unfair discrimination between
the two classes of parents — those who desire and those
who reject denominational education for their children.
And when the thing has gone the name may go with it."
A few days later, on September 30, 1895, the Cardinal
sent a letter to the Times over his own name in which he
boldly urged that voluntary subscriptions for the support
of the public Elementary schools ought to cease. " Has not
the time come to deal with the education problem, not by
a tinkering legislation as heretofore, but by the adoption of
a comprehensive policy, which shall place the whole of the
elementary education of the country upon a common basis,
which shall as far as possible end or minimise all grievances ?
The Church of England and the Catholic Church have no
doubt made immense sacrifices, which must be taken as
proofs of sincerity ; but I see no just reason why they
should profess anxiety to continue these sacrifices, while
education has become a recognised legal public right, to be
had at the expense of the State. It is said that these alms
will conciliate the goodwill of the Legislature as effecting

116 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
a public financial economy ; but the friends of Denomina
tional education are not a minority pleading for their life,
but a majority. And I submit that they ought, without
hesitation or apology, to demand a full measure of justice,
and not to pray and pay for mercy. If the national life is
to be based on just principles, it is far better to fight to get
them clearly defined at the outset than to run the risk of
muddling the public mind for ever in order to gain some
present temporary expedient. When we have bought sites
and built schools, and are ready to carry on their manage
ment to the satisfaction of the State, without any charge
for officials, secretaries, offices, legal expenses, &c, the
claim for equality in payment for the actual education
(the ' maintenance ') is transparently moderate and
equitable. The basis of a popular system of national
education will never be satisfactorily laid until religion
ceases to be a bar to equality of treatment in the matter
of State payment for elementary and compulsory educa
tion." Commenting on this letter, the Times said : " We wel
come Cardinal Vaughan's letter as the first important sign
that action will be taken on a matter which is of grave
concern. We have, as he says, repeatedly urged on the
friends of Denominational schools the necessity for coming
to a common agreement, and he carries our advice a step
further by suggesting the basis for an agreement. It is
one which the friends of denominational education can
hardly fail to accept as fair and satisfactory. How it is
to be carried out in detail Cardinal Vaughan does not
distinctly show. The plan which he appears to favour
is a system under which schools of all classes would
receive aid from the rates in proportion to the number

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 117
of children whom they are educating. Such a system
seems fair towards ratepayers of every description.
Those who send their children to Denominational schools
may be taken as willing that what they pay as school
rates should be applied to the maintenance of the kind
of schools which they prefer, while non-denominational
Board schools would continue to be maintained by non-
denominational ratepayers and parents. Whether this
or some other plan is finally accepted is a matter of
comparative indifference. The essential point is that the
object aimed at shall be attained and that the friends
of denominational education shall not be subjected to
the very heavy financial burden which they are at present
compelled to bear. They are not, as Cardinal Vaughan
justly remarks, a minority pleading for their life ; they are
a majority, and as such are entitled to demand a full
measure of justice."
Again, in November of the same year, the Cardinal,
this time acting with the Duke of Norfolk as the Chair
man of the Catholic School Committee, presented a
memorial to the late Lord Salisbury. It was marked by
the same clear thinking and direct expression which
characterised all the Cardinal's utterances on the School
question : —
" We ask for no palliatives, but for a substantial
remedy to a great English wrong that has sprung up and
covered the land within the last twenty-five years. Your
Lordship and the Cabinet cannot be aware how painfully
Catholics are frequently compelled, especially in the
North of England, to spend many hours of Saturday and
Sunday in every week of the year, in the streets, gather
ing pence for the support of their schools from working

118 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
men who can ill afford this additional tax upon their
wages. We must add that these voluntary contributions,
or alms, have now become a sign of religious disability,
and are paid as a penalty for conscience' sake. A further
and inevitable result of two scales of payment for the
same public service is that our schools are often starved,
our teachers underpaid, our pupil teachers overworked,
and our apparatus inferior, as compared with Board
schools, while the private resources which might have
been spent on the improvement of buildings are absorbed
in meeting expenses that ought to be borne by the State.
In spite of this the Blue Books show that the Catholic
schools have surpassed the Board schools throughout
England in the results obtained on examination of their
lower standards in elementary subjects. But we may ask,
Have not the children who attend Denominational schools
as good a right to receive a full payment for their educa
tion from the State as the children who attend Board
schools ? Are they not all equal in the eyes of the
State ? Or, is the fact that Christian parents desire their
children to receive instruction in definite Christianity to
brand their school with a mark of inferiority and a
penalty of diminished payment for secular instruction,
labelling it charity school, supported by voluntary
contributions ? "
Unfortunately just at this time, on the 29th of
November, 1895, an important deputation representing
the Church of England waited on the Prime Minister
and presented a memorial signed by the Archbishops
of Canterbury and York in which they declared that
" it was not their wish to ask the Government to
relieve Churchmen of the sacrifices which they have

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 119
always made, and are still making, for the schools." And
the Archbishop of Canterbury enforced this declaration
in a speech reported in the Times as follows : " They
did not want at all to reduce their subscriptions ; no one
could seriously think they did. They were willing even
to have a certain proportion of subscriptions insisted upon
as a condition of grants ; but no one could seriously
think that they had any idea of diminishing, or wishing
to diminish, the subscriptions of the Church of England."
The division in the ranks of the friends of the De
nominational schools which these words revealed was a
sorry prelude to the legislation which it was known the
Government was about to take in hand. Cardinal
Vaughan was determined that at any rate there should
be no ambiguity about the Catholic position. He at
once called an extraordinary meeting of the Catholic
Bishops, and then issued A Further Declaration on the
Education Question. After citing the terms of the
Anglican memorial and the words of the Archbishop of
Canterbury, the Further Declaration said : " We therefore
are bound to make this grave statement : while offering
no objection to the work of supererogation, which the great
wealth of the Anglican Church enables the Archbishops
to undertake on its behalf, namely, to promise an annual
largess of over £600,000 (representing, at 3 per cent., a
capital of £20,000,000) towards maintenance in their
public Elementary schools, Catholics are wholly unable
to act with a like generosity ; but in their poverty they
must be content to stand upon the common ground of
justice and equity, and to demand, at least for themselves,
that the law shall declare that the same payment shall
be made for secular instruction given in their public

120 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Elementary schools as for that given in Board schools.
The suggestion by the President of the Council, in reply
to the Archbishop of Canterbury, that any additional
grant will be made contingent upon a continuance of the
promised private subscriptions, implies the application,
on a wider and more disastrous scale, of the principle
which forms the grievance in the 17s. 6d. limit. We must
therefore be permitted to dissociate the Catholic cause
from the position taken up by the great Anglican Deputa
tion, and to point out that for the larger number of
Catholic schools it is impossible to ensure continued
voluntary contributions in any fixed proportion ; and that,
in addition to the impossibility of undertaking to pay
an oppressive pecuniary penalty for conscience' sake,
the absolute injustice of such an imposition, if pressed
upon unwilling shoulders, would be a positive bar to our
acceptance of it."
The Cardinal's justification for the position he had
taken up was simple and sufficient. At the moment when
the Anglican Archbishops were proclaiming their readi
ness to continue to find voluntary subscriptions, and
Herbert Vaughan was saying bluntly that Catholic sub
scriptions must and would dry up, the Board schools were
receiving from the rates 19s. for every child, for which the
Voluntary schools had no equivalent. Instead of the 19s.
per child from the rates, which the supporters of both sets
of schools had to pay, the Voluntary schools could count
on an average of 6s. 2d. per child from voluntary sub
scriptions. The Voluntary schools had to do without
the balance of 12s., and their teachers worked for lower
salaries. In the Catholic schools the salaries paid to the
teachers were at that time 13s. per child less than the

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 121
salaries paid for precisely the same work in Board schools.
Even these starvation wages were uncertain, and in many
cases dependent upon the attractions of jumble sales or
ping-pong matches, or the success of the Managers in
arranging concerts or bazaars. And this discrimination
against the teachers in the Voluntary schools was
avowedly based on the fact that one extra subject was
taught — definite dogmatic instruction was given to those
children whose parents desired it for them.
In the Cardinal's eyes this was not a privilege, but a
right that had been bought — a right that had been
ransomed ten times over by the millions which for the
sake of it had been spent on the purchase of school sites
and buildings. In the course of twenty-four years the
School Boards had spent on sites and buildings and
other capital charges £37,000,000 sterling and another
£6,000,000 on administration. The Voluntary schools,
teaching the majority of the children of the people, had
spent the equivalent for these £43,000,000 in providing
the same things and without costing the ratepayers a
sixpence. And it was impossible not to know that while the
supporters of the Voluntary schools had paid this
tremendous fine for conscience' sake others were getting
in the schools built at the public expense just the sort of
religious instruction they desired. To quote the words of
Cardinal Vaughan : " Who paid for the Bible teaching, for
the psalms, hymns, and prayers — the religious education —
in the Board schools ? Did the gentlemen who sat on
the Boards put their hands in their pockets or make a
collection for the purpose ? Nothing of the sort
happened ; the religious instruction which happened to

122 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
suit the Nonconformist was given entirely at the public
cost." The Cardinal was satisfied that no settlement of
the School question could be permanent which was not
based on the bedrock principle of equality — equality of
educational opportunity for all the children of the nation.
He saw there could never be equality so long as the
Denominational schools were dependent even for their
daily working expenses on private subscriptions. The
refusal of the Anglican Archbishops to stand in line with
him was a bad disappointment. He knew that defection
was fatal to his hopes, at least for the immediate future.
It is unnecessary to consider in detail either the
abortive Bill of 1896 or the Bill which became law in
1897. It was certain beforehand that there would be no
recognition of the essential equality of all the public
Elementary schools. The policy of the Archbishops of
York and Canterbury had made that certain. No Govern
ment could well give more than was asked. The Cardinal
accepted the relief offered by the Act of 1897 as some
thing " on account " or as an " interim dividend," but
without any thought of finality. His feelings were
accurately reflected in the following comment in his own
journal : " We must get down to the bedrock of principle
if we hope for any enduring settlement. Short of that
admitted equality, short of that acknowledgment that
equal work deserves an equal wage, whether the work be
done in the Board or in the Voluntary schools, every new
concession must be accepted merely as a new vantage-
ground for a fresh agitation. We want to get rid of the
reproach that our schools are charity schools, dependent
upon casual alms ; we want to have done with the whole
sorry and degrading business which makes the salaries

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 123
of the teachers in the Denominational schools hang upon
the success of this or that grinning comedian, or upon the
pious audacity of the promoter of some fraudulent bazaar.
The necessity for such degrading expedients must end,
and never again must our priests, dividing the streets of
some northern city between them, have to go begging on
Saturday nights to induce labouring men and women to
give of their hard earnings to save the schools. A free
education has been declared by Parliament to be the
birthright of every English child, and yet the managers
of our Catholic public Elementary schools are driven with
the one hand to snatch at the hard earnings of the poor
and with the other to hire the antics of some friendly
acrobat as an excuse for taking shillings at a bazaar or
charity tea. And the sole reason for this disability, for
this denial of the common right of free education, is that
the Catholic school managers desire at their own expense
to teach one extra subject — religion. It was to remove
this wicked and absurd anomaly that the present Govern
ment was returned to power. Our duty now is to assist
them to fulfil their promise."
But though the Act of 1897 failed to admit the
principle of equality it gave a further dole of 5s. per child
to the Voluntary schools, thus offering approximately
£600,000 for the equivalent of £2,000,000 which the
Board schools drew from the rates. It was welcome to
Cardinal Vaughan also for the relief it gave in regard to
two grievances which had figured prominently in the old
programme of the Voluntary Schools Association : the
17s. 6d. limit was abolished and the rating of the Volun
tary schools buildings was abandoned. The Act of 1 897
brought some relief, but it rested on no principle. The

124 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Cardinal saw the work must go on. He knew his own
time was short, but he had a great confidence that sooner
or later the English public would come to understand the
essential unfairness of a system which had placed a
double burden on the backs of the supporters of the
Voluntary schools. For his own part he meant never to
cease his efforts until the goal of equality was reached.
It was nearer than he knew. A circular that was
issued by the Education Department in the spring of
1899 did much to strengthen him in his conviction that
it was useless to try to find any sort of half-way house,
or to stop at any point short of absolute equality in all
that regarded the maintenance of the two separate sets of
schools. When the Act of 1 897 was still before the House
of Commons persistent efforts were made to induce the
Government to let the new grant in aid be dependent
upon there being no falling off in the volume of the
voluntary subscriptions. It was a suggestion that the
Government should try to secure voluntary subscriptions
by compulsion. It recalled the legend of the school-.
master who, addressing a small boy, said, " I will have
you cheerful and contented, even if I have to stand over
you and flog you for the rest of the afternoon." The
proposal would have required the State to say in effect
to the private benefactor of a Voluntary school, " Because
you have contributed generously and unselfishly in the
past, I insist that you shall continue to contribute for
ever ; if you do not, your generosity in the past shall
be the precise measure of the punishment which shall
be inflicted on, the schools in the future."
Moreover, to enact that the new aid grant should
be refused in cases in which there had been a falling

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 125
off of private subscriptions would clearly have been to
put back upon the Statute Book the very principle which,
in the case of the 17s. 6d. limit, the Government was
abolishing by the Bill. It would have condemned many
a struggling Voluntary school to play a sort of desperate
game of double or quits — for the death or misfortune
of a single benefactor might entail the loss not only of
his subscription, but of the extra grant as well. But Mr.
Balfour, while declining to make any hard or fast rule,
allowed the following words to appear in the clause which
laid down the conditions under which the aid grant was
distributed — " due regard being had to the maintenance
of voluntary subscriptions." When the Act was passed
the inevitable happened — the pressure of the thumbscrew
which had produced the subscriptions being slightly re
laxed, naturally they declined. The more visible the peril,
or the inadequacy, of a Voluntary school, the easier it was
to collect money for it, and the difficulty at once increased
as soon as the urgency of the distress diminished. The
Department, therefore, found it necessary to issue a cir
cular on the subject, which the Cardinal welcomed at
the time because it seemed to be a reductio ad absurdum :
"In the case of those schools where, after due warning,
voluntary contributions are not forthcoming, or are less
than might be reasonably expected, it will be the duty
of the governing body to reduce the amount of the grant,
or even to withhold it altogether. . . . While on this
subject my Lords may remark that where local support
shows diminution this seems often to be brought about
less by a loss of individual subscriptions than by a
relaxation or diversion of local effort in the form of
collections, bazaars, entertainments, and the like." In the

126 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Cardinal's opinion this circular was the writing on the
wall which proclaimed the doom of the whole system.
He thought it was not possible that the support of the
public Elementary schools of the majority of the children
of the people could be left to rest permanently on a
basis of bazaars.
The General Election in the following year, 1900, gave
an opportunity of again bringing the Schools question
to the front. The Catholic Bishops held a meeting and
once more formulated a series of resolutions. In the fore
front of their demands was the claim that all the public
Elementary schools of the country should receive an
equal wage for equal service. The Cardinal in Sending
the resolutions to the clergy said : " It is desirable that
they should be brought before the Catholic voters and
to the candidates who seek their support." The Tablet
put the dots on the i's : " Ordinary gratitude requires
that at a time like the present the Catholics of this
country should be mindful that they owe it to Lord
Salisbury's Government that a new aid grant of
5 s. for every child is now paid every year to the
Voluntary schools ; that the hateful 17s. 6d. limit, which
fined the poverty of our schools, has been abolished,
and that our schools have been relieved for ever from
the old crippling obligation to contribute to the local
rates. If gratitude counts for anything in public affairs,
if a political party appealing to the people is to be
judged by its record in the past, the Conservative Party
would seem to have a supreme claim upon the allegiance
of the Catholic elector."
In justification for this appeal in behalf of the Unionist
Party the Catholic organ could point to a leaflet on the

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 127
Education question which was sent broadcast over the
country from the Conservative Central Office. This leaflet
described the Act of 1897 as an " instalment of justice,"
and then went on to give figures showing the extraordinary
extent to which the Board schools were favoured
financially, though the Voluntary schools taught more
children and had been erected without cost to the rate
payers. The electors were reminded that in 1896 a total
sum of £13,775,992 was raised and paid for elementary
education in England and Wales in the form of loans,
or grants, or rates : " Of this sum £10,099,966 was paid
over to Board schools which were educating 2,072,911
children, whilst Voluntary schools, which were educating
2,481,254 children, received only £3,676,926. That is
to say, the Board schools received in one year £6,400,000
more of the ratepayers' and taxpayers' money than was
granted to Voluntary schools, notwithstanding that 400,000
fewer children were educated in Board schools. And all
that Voluntary schools received in the year 1898 as a set
off to these millions was the comparatively small sum
of £617,286." The election took place in October, and when the
result became known Cardinal Vaughan felt that the
cause for equality in the schools was safe, and this time
beyond the possibility of peril. The Tablet said : " The
single thing we want is equality of educational opportunity
for all parents, whether they value definite religious
instruction or not. Catholic and Anglican and Non
conformist, we all pay taxes and we all pay rates ; and
why should those who prize religious education, who have
already saved the State millions in bricks and mortar,
be forced to pay an extra fine to get for their children

128 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
their full share in the common secular instruction of the
Elementary schools? The State already pays five-sevenths
of the cost ; what we ask for now, and it is the price of
educational peace, is that the State should pay the other
two-sevenths — that it should see that no public Elementary
school should be dependent for its efficiency upon casual
charity, and so abolish the compulsion by which ' volun
tary ' subscriptions are generated."
A few months later, in June, 1 901, the Cardinal issued
a letter to his flock, in which he said : " Changes are taking
place in legislation, which we are watching most carefully.
The Catholic Hierarchy sounded a note some years ago,
which seemed at the time to be out of tune. It has since
become widely recognised as the true and only equitable
policy, namely, that public elementary education shall
cease to be eleemosynary, and that the whole cost of
maintenance shall be defrayed by the State."
The Bill introduced in 1901 was in the right direction,
but the Cardinal rejoiced when it was withdrawn ; he saw
that something simpler and bolder, something which
carried with it the simplicity and finality of equality, was
at hand. The Bill of the following year was welcomed
at the outset because it placed all the public Elementary
schools under the local authorities, and for the first time
recognised that for their maintenance or ordinary
working expenses the Board schools and Voluntary
schools had the same claim for support. The Cardinal's
organ said : " The assertion of this great principle of the
fundamental equality of all the public Elementary schools
of the country is a matter of such far-reaching conse
quence that it dwarfs all the details of the Bill. It means
that the day of involuntary subscriptions is over, and that

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 129
all the schools will be the common care of the local
authorities. There is room for difference of opinion about
many of the details of the measure, and important work
will have to be done when the Bill gets into the
Committee stage, but its main purpose is unassailable.
There is no getting away from the fact which governs
the whole situation. Fourteen thousand schools teaching
three million children are being starved financially, and
so cannot do their work properly. If we care for popular
education at all we must make up our minds without
more ado that these thousands of starved schools must
be either mended or ended. They cannot be ended, and
the alternative is the remedy embodied in the Govern
ment Bill. Happily the facts are not in dispute. The
Board schools, in addition to the Exchequer grants, raise
from the rates £1 5 s. 6d. per child. The Voluntary
schools, when due allowance has been made for the aid
grant and private subscriptions, have to do the same work
for 15s. less per child. It cannot be done — and three
million children are the sufferers. These three million
children, the majority of the children in the public
Elementary schools, have to put up not only with inferior
buildings and poorer equipment, but with fewer teachers,
and these teachers are at the same time less qualified for
their posts and condemned to do more work for less
money. In the Board schools more than half the
instructors are fully qualified certificated teachers, while
in the Voluntary schools the percentage is only 38. In
Board schools there is a certified teacher for every 76
children ; in the Voluntary schools the proportion is only
one to 103. In Board schools the payment to the teaching
staff is 45s. 2d. per child ; in Voluntary schools it is
II K

130 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
35s. 3d. An injustice is being done both to the three
million children thus condemned to be taught in under
staffed schools and to the underpaid teachers. That
system ought not to go on and cannot go on ; and
as nobody in his senses would suggest that the fourteen
thousand Voluntary schools should be replaced, it follows
that the existing schools must be levelled up to the proper
standard of efficiency at the public cost. In other words,
we must get rid of labels and not stay to consider whether
this or that public Elementary school was originally rate-
created or built by private generosity. In future all
the schools doing the work of the nation in any particular
district will be recognised as the common care of the
locality. In other words, at last — at long last — the
principle for which we have contended for thirty years —
the principle of an equal wage for equal service — is
definitely admitted."
The Bill was introduced in March and was eagerly dis
cussed in the Commons until December. The Cardinal
had not anticipated the violence or virulence of the
opposition that was offered to the clause which allows the
managers of the Denominational schools to continue,
when giving up every other right, to appoint the teachers.
To refuse that right seemed to him like a breach of faith.
A Catholic school is a school attended by Catholic chil
dren and taught by Catholic teachers. The State was now
going to borrow our schools — schools we were still to keep
in repair — and if it took away the right of appointing the
teachers it took away everything, and deprived us of the
one thing for the sake of which the schools had been built.
Then he approached the question from another point of
view. The Catholic teachers exist, and they have to

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 131
be employed somewhere ; they are not especially suited to
teach little Nonconformists, and they are specially wel
come in the Catholic schools. It seemed a common-sense
arrangement just to put the round pegs into the round
holes, and to let the Catholic teachers be appointed to the
schools that had been specially built for them.
To the end the Cardinal believed that the opposition
to the Act was to this extent artificial, that it was founded
largely upon a misapprehension for which the drafting of
the Bill was responsible. The cost of the ordinary work
ing expenses of the Denominational schools was now
to be provided by the public, and yet it seemed they
were still to continue under private management. That
appeared obviously unjust — and yet it was only an affair
of words. The "managers" did not manage. That was the
explanation of the anomaly. If these so-called managers
had been styled " visitors " instead, half the opposition to
the Act would have been seen to be absurd. For the
whole field of secular instruction — the only thing which
the public pays for — was at once put beyond the control
of the " managers." These became the servants and the
creatures of the local authorities. At intervals of years
they might, under carefully defined conditions, select or
dismiss a teacher, but they had nothing to do with fixing
his salary or paying him. They ceased to be even the
conduit pipes for money. In the same way the inspec
tion of the schools and the auditing of the accounts, the
hours of opening, the holidays, the time-table, the school
equipment, and expenditure of every kind were exclusively
under the control of the local authority.
Cardinal Vaughan, then in the last stages of his illness,
fretted and chafed, and felt that the chances of the Bill

132 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
were being thrown away simply from a misuse of words.
The folly of retaining the word " manager," so likely to
lead to confusion and misunderstanding, was still further
emphasised when the famous Kenyon-Slaney amend
ment was under discussion. This amendment enabled the
managers — two appointed by the local authority and four
representing the denomination to which the school
belonged — to control the religious instruction. The
object of the amendment was simply to secure that a
body of laymen, and not a single clergyman, should
determine what doctrines were to be taught in Anglican
schools, as those of the Church of England. It was felt
that the common sense and moderation of a number of
laymen would be the best guarantee to parents that all
theological extremes would be excluded from the schools.
In the minds of the supporters of the amendment, which
the Government accepted, it had no reference to the
Catholic schools, but was justified in their case, not on the
grounds that it was necessary, but that it could do no
harm. It was an odd situation. It was in the last degree
unlikely that the two managers appointed by the local
authorities would be Catholics. In all probability, there
fore, two out of the six managers would be Anglicans or
Nonconformists. These gentlemen, ex hypothesi believing
the Catholic religion to be false, were expected to super
intend and direct and, to the limit of their powers,
influence the religious teaching of Catholic children. It
was argued that in practice it would be found that in such
cases the non-Catholic managers, besides being ordinarily
in a minority, would have the good sense not to meddle
in matters with which they had no concern, and of
which, presumably, they would know little. But Cardinal

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 133
Vaughan was quick to point out through the Tablet that
as far as Mr. Balfour himself was concerned that hole was
stopped, and stopped by his own words. " His one argu
ment in favour of inviting non-Catholic managers to
interest themselves in the teaching of a religion in which
they disbelieve is that otherwise they would really have
nothing else to do. The poor plea comes oddly from
Mr. Balfour's lips. Frankenstein must not complain of the
monster he has made. We quote Mr. Balfour's words :
' Remember we have taken away from these managers all
control of secular education. Their powers as regards
secular education will be simply what the education autho
rity chooses to make them. It is now proposed to take
away from them, not to give them, in the Bill which calls
them into existence, even the smallest share in the control
of the religious education of the schools in any of the
schools where the existing trust deeds give it to the
clergyman. What will the five managers have to do in
the interval before the selection of teachers ? They will
have nothing to do at all.' It comes to this, that the
statesman who invented these drones in the hive, these
managers without functions, now urges that Protestant
gentlemen should busy themselves in influencing the
character of the religious instruction given in the Catholic
schools as an alternative to having nothing to do. But it
may be said that there are often Protestant children in
Catholic schools. Quite so ; and if the managers had been
allowed to have a voice in the ordinary work of the school
the presence of a Protestant minority on the board of
management might have found its justification. It is
precisely because they have been deliberately shut out
from that sphere of activity and usefulness that they are

134 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
now called upon to interfere with the Catholic religious
instruction from which the Protestant children will
naturally be withdrawn."
Nothing could show more convincingly the folly of
continuing to court misrepresentation by describing as
" managers " men who managed nothing. Certainly sub
sequent events have fully justified the Cardinal's belief
that this misnomer would militate in the future against the
popularity and the usefulness of the Act. It has made
possible the strange misconception that there are public
Elementary schools supported out of the rates which yet
are still under private control.
The Cardinal was often in the House of Commons at
this time, and followed the debates with painful interest.
He was indefatigable in his representations to all who
were in a position to influence votes in however indirect a
way. Every clause of the Bill was considered and dis
cussed week by week with a special emergency committee
of the Catholic Education Council which had been
appointed for the purpose. As the summer wore on the
Cardinal grew visibly weaker, and it seemed as if he lived
only to see the final fate of the Bill. I saw him constantly
at that time. On one occasion I remember he spoke with
great admiration of a speech made by Mr. Macnamara
against the Bill, and then added wistfully, "If only we had
him on our side ! " And yet, in fact, in spite of his
speeches, Mr. Macnamara and the interests he represented
were a source of confidence to the Cardinal. The teachers,
who knew the life of the schools, would not be misled by
the lip service paid to " managers " who henceforth should
never manage, and they knew that the Bill stood for the
principle of equality in all the schools, and would therefore

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 135
end the discrimination which has hitherto penalised the
teachers who had the misfortune to work in the Voluntary
schools. In a widely circulated pamphlet dealing with the
Bill, Mr. Macnamara, after recalling the fact that the
teachers employed in the two sets of schools had been
to the same colleges, and passed the same certificate
examinations, was constrained thus to explain, if not to
justify, the attitude of the majority towards the Bill :
" And yet if they happen to be the headmasters of the
Board schools they get an average salary of £170 10s. 9d.
as against an average of £127 12s. 8d. for exactly the
same work and the same qualifications in the Church
schools. The same work ! In the one case the rooms
will be large and airy, the classes fairly small, the
apparatus plenteous and modern, and the assisting staff
large and duly qualified. In the other the premises will
be old and stuffy, the apparatus old, ill-adapted, and
stinted, the classes large and unwieldy, and the assistant
staff mainly ex-pupil-teachers and Article 68's. It has
been made a gibe against the recent Conference of the
National Union of Teachers that it gave something in the
nature of qualified approval of the Government Bill. If
you, gentle reader, were a Voluntary school teacher grind
ing hard against the collar at a shameful wage, and with
grotesquely inadequate aid ; or if you again were the more
favoured Board school colleague watching the work of
your Voluntary school associate with the eye of kindly
sympathy ; and if you saw the prospect of fair financial
support for the starved Voluntary school from wholly
public resources, why, what then ? "
These words gave new hope to the Cardinal, and he
felt sure the support of the great trade union, the National

136 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Union of Teachers, would sooner or later exercise a
decisive influence upon public opinion.
In October, 1902, Cardinal Vaughan wrote a letter to
Mr. John Redmond asking him to secure the continuous
presence of the Irish Members at Westminster during the
Autumn Session for the sake of the Bill. It contained
the following passage : " Were this a measure on which
the opinion of the Catholic Bishops of England was
divided, or were it a purely political question, I should
have no right whatever to address you this letter. But as
a matter of fact we are unanimous in our desire to see
this Bill passed without the acceptance of any amendment
destructive of the religious independence of our schools.
We are convinced that we are not likely ever to get a
more satisfactory settlement of the education problem ;
and we see in the triumrih of the Government over the
Nonconformist opposition as strong a guarantee as we
can ever expect to get for liberty to educate Catholic
children in the Catholic religion in our Elementary
schools." The phrase, " triumph over the Nonconformist
opposition," must in the light of subsequent events be
regarded as an unfortunate one. At least it has lent itself
to persistent misrepresentation, and the Cardinal, since his
death, has been repeatedly quoted as describing the Act
of 1902 as "a triumph over the Nonconformists." There
is the less excuse for this garbling of the Cardinal's words
because before he died he stated explicitly what he
meant. In a letter to the Times, dated the 26th of Novem
ber, he said, referring to Mr. John Morley: " He has been
a little careless, too, in misquoting as mine a sentence
which I never wrote, ' This Bill will mark the triumph of
the Government over the Nonconformist opposition,' as

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 137
though the object of the Bill were to record a victory over
— to inflict a humiliation upon — an important section of
English life. What I wrote was, ' We see in the triumph
of the Government over the Nonconformist opposition
as strong a guarantee as we can ever expect to get for
liberty.' I can assure Mr. Morley that, far from wishing
to exult over the Nonconformists, I most heartily desire
that they should have things their own way in the educa
tion of their own children, even at the cost of a consider
able addition to the public burdens. And if my use of the
word 'triumph' is to be taken in an offensive sense I
gladly substitute for it the word ' majority.' "
Preoccupied as he was by the thought of his own
schools, the Cardinal was still quite alive to the Non
conformist grievance in the villages. He not only
admitted it, but on more than one occasion urged its
redress at the public cost. Speaking at Newcastle in
September, 1 894, he said : " Nonconformists say that it is
hardly fair that they should be bound to send their
children to be educated in schools belonging to the
Church of England. I think that there is some justice in
this objection ; and I think that the Nonconformists might
very fairly be met by the people of England in this
matter ; say that, wherever they are sufficiently numerous
to have a school of their own, they might have the faculty
of erecting a Board school side by side with the school of
the Church of England." So that wherever there was any
reasonable number of Nonconformist children whose
parents disliked sending them to an Anglican school the
Cardinal would have had the whole body of the rate
payers come to the rescue and provide a new school. In
the case of Catholic children similarly situated he asked

138 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
for far less. For them he asked no penny of public money,
but only that when a Catholic school had been built for
Catholic children without cost to the State it should not
be condemned as unnecessary and so denied the ordinary
rights of a public Elementary school.
This feeling, that the Nonconformists had a real
grievance in the single-school areas, and that as they were
unable to provide a remedy themselves the State ought to
do so for them, found expression in a letter which the
Cardinal sent to the Times in October, 1895. In it he
says : " One more point : it regards the Nonconformists.
They also have a grievance, and no legislation can be final
which leaves them out in the cold. They complain that
in rural districts they are bound to send their children to
Church of England schools. You may refer them to the
Conscience Clause, but this will not reconcile them to
perpetual exclusion from the management and the tuition.
The Bishop of Chester has proposed a generous mitigation
of their grievance. If his proposal fails to satisfy them,
let them propose a remedy which shall meet their case
without injustice to ours." It is one of the ironies of life
that Cardinal Vaughan's habitual and constitutional fair
ness towards opponents should be obscured in the minds
of many merely because of his one chance phrase, " triumph
over the Nonconformist opposition."
When the Bill of 1902 finally became law Cardinal
Vaughan, though he saw seeds of future trouble in the
retention of the provocative term " managers," welcomed
the compromise it contained as on the whole a just and
permanent settlement. It left the friends of the Denomi
national system under great disadvantages as compared
with those who set no store on definite dogmatic instruc-

THE FIGHT FOR THE SCHOOLS 139
tion. The former have still to pay the interest on the
heavy debts incurred in building the existing schools, and
have still to pay for repairs and extensions and can have
new schools only at their own cost. The latter, in the
future as in the past, can have all these things done for
them at the public expense. The Cardinal knew also that
in some districts Catholic interests would suffer through
local bigotry, but he thought that trouble would be
temporary. He was sure that before long the local
authorities would come to take an equal pride in all their
schools, and not stay to consider whether originally they
had been paid for by the ratepayer or by voluntary
subscriptions, and in that belief he died.
Of his own part in the long struggle Cardinal Vaughan
made very light — it was all in the day's work, and what
he had done he had to do. One evening I was with him
at Archbishop's House shortly before he left it for ever.
His mortal illness was on him, and we both knew his last
work was done. The talk turned on the fight for the
schools, and as in slow retrospect he went back to this
phase or that from the earliest stage of the struggle,
there was an exultant tone in his words as he spoke
which was in odd contrast to his physical weakness.
When he first founded the Voluntary Schools Association
it was the common talk that the extinction of the
Denominational schools was only an affair of a few years
— now they were entrenched in the soil ; then they were
dependent, and their teachers were dependent, on the
humours of casual charity, and street-to-street collections
on wages nights — now they were the care of the State, and
their maintenance was a charge upon the revenues of
England ; one by one the claims formulated by the old

140 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Voluntary Schools Association had been admitted and the
bedrock principle of equality had been reached. Even
the clause in the Act of 1902 about" unnecessary schools"
the Cardinal thought satisfactory — not knowing how it
would be interpreted. But the flow of reminiscence that
evening stopped a little abruptly, and the Cardinal, as if
suddenly remembering something, said with a smile,
" But don't let us forget the story of the fly on the wheel
of the coach."

CHAPTER V
THE REUNION OF CHURCHES
DURING the years 1894-1897 Cardinal Vaughan's
time and thoughts were much taken up with the
controversies which arose out of the movement in favour
of Corporate Reunion, which, originating with a party in
the Established Church, came to an end with the final
condemnation of Anglican Orders by the Bull Apostolicae
Curae. The controversy was not of Herbert Vaughan's
seeking. He had full sympathy with the idea of Reunion,
but he saw from the beginning that in its corporate form
it was quite impracticable. He was not insensible to the
splendour of the hope that the Church of England might
one day become reconciled to the Holy See, and all his
sympathies were with the High Church party. He had
followed the developments of the Tractarian Movement
with eager interest, and noted with something akin to
exultation the Romeward trend of the most active, the
most earnest, and the most spiritually gifted party in the
Established Church. He was familiar with every detail
of the wonderful revolution which has so changed the
spirit of the Anglican Church, and he hailed it as every
where breaking down barriers of prejudice, as familiarising
the minds of the English people with Catholic doctrine
and Catholic practice, and as gradually preparing the way
141

142 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
for the return of the English people to their lost allegiance
and the unity of the One Fold.
When he knew that men still calling themselves
Anglicans, and professing to be members of the Protestant
Church as by law established, accepted every article of the
Catholic creed except the supremacy of the Pope, he
could but hope and pray that their influence might grow
and spread throughout the country, and that they them
selves might have the grace to see the whole truth and
embrace it. And when, too, he learned that a group of
learned and distinguished men, with the President of the
English Church Union at their head, were trying to recon
cile England, with the Holy See by means of a scheme
for Corporate Reunion, he could but rejoice at such a
visible breaking away from the traditional attitude of
British Protestantism towards the Scarlet Woman. The
mere desire for Reunion, for reconciliation on any terms,
was an unspeakable gain. None the less, Cardinal Vaughan
regarded the movement itself at first with impatience, and
later with unconcealed dislike.
The reasons for this attitude are easily stated. Im
pulsive as he was, and enthusiastic, and readily fired by
large ideas, Herbert Vaughan yet saw with clear-eyed
certainty, and from the first, that Corporate Reunion was
a phrase, and nothing more. He knew the Church of
Rome, he knew the Anglican Church, and above all he
knew the temper of the English people. To bring
England back to the Catholic Faith was the sustaining
hope and purpose of his life. But could that be done by
any process of Corporate Reunion? He knew that
Corporate Reunion could come only by the conversion of
the Anglican Church and by a public disavowal of its

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 143
past — that if it meant anything it must mean corporate
submission, and that the only way in which it could be
effected was by corporate absorption. In fact, the very
idea of Corporate Reunion seemed to him a hopeless
anachronism, and better suited to Orientals than to
Englishmen. No doubt, in more than one instance in
the past whole societies of men have been reconciled to
Catholicism by a common act of Corporate Reunion. It
was so in the case of the Maronites, the Ruthenians, and
the Chaldeans. But however suited to peoples of the
East, with whom the shepherd leading the flock is the
type of so many things, can we easily associate the idea
of Corporate Reunion with the conditions of modern
England ?
There was, of course, the great and historic precedent
of the public reconciliation of England to the Catholic
Church in the days of Mary Tudor. On St. Andrew's
Day, 1554, both Houses of Parliament, having confessed
their error on their knees and publicly professed their
repentance, begged absolution for the whole nation from
the Papal Legate, Cardinal Pole. But when these
members of Parliament declared themselves "very sorry
and repentant for the schism committed in this realm, and
dominions of the same, against the Apostolic See," they
may perhaps be fairly taken as having acted in a repre
sentative capacity. The people at large were accustomed
to the idea of religious authority, and, generally, were still
more familiar with the doctrines of the Catholic Church
than with the religious innovations of the late reign. The
theory of representative institutions has travelled a long
road since the time of the Tudors, and it is hard to
imagine by what title a modern member of Parliament

144 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
could presume to represent his constituents in a matter of
religious opinion. And even if the Bishops of the Estab
lished Church could bring themselves to accept the dis
tinctive doctrines of Rome, could they pretend to speak in
the names of the people, or to answer for the consciences
of the laity ? Cardinal Vaughan knew that a condition
precedent to Corporate Reunion is the acceptance as of
faith of the whole cycle of Catholic doctrines — Transub-
stantiation, the Intercession of the Saints, Purgatory,
the Immaculate Conception, Auricular Confession, and
Papal Infallibility. In other words, to the Catholic
Church the Decrees of Trent and the Vatican are as
sacred and as irrevocable as those of Nicaea and Chalce-
don. Was the Established Church, or any group within
it, ready to accept these doctrines as of faith?
Before Reunion could be considered by the Holy See,
the question would come, " What is the Rule of Faith of
the Anglican Church?" It is not enough to point to her
formularies, or her Prayer Book, and to contend that there
is nothing in them which is inconsistent with Catholic
doctrine. If mere signatures to formularies could suffice,
neither Nestorius nor Eutyches need ever have left the
Church. Both were willing to sign the Nicene Creed, but
the living guardians of the Truth were there to forbid their
novel interpretation. Cardinal Vaughan could not but ask
himself who would venture to speak for the Anglican
Church to-day — is there any living authority able to
declare what is the right interpretation of, her formularies?
The comprehensiveness of the Established Church has its
advantages, as we are often reminded, but it is a fatal
bar to Reunion with Rome. Cardinal Vaughan could not
recognise in the Anglican Church as it exists to-day any

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 145
living teaching voice, any authority which can effectually
declare the meaning of her formularies, or any system of
discipline by which she can expel dissentient members.
Without that discipline, and without that proclaimed rule
of faith, the Church of England is obviously not in a
position to offer that collective submission, and that
acknowledgment of the Supremacy of the See of Peter,
which is necessary to anything in the way of Corporate
Reunion. But while for these reasons Cardinal Vaughan
regarded the movement in favour of Corporate Reunion as
necessarily doomed to failure, the high regard he had for
some of the leaders of the movement made him for a long
time think very tenderly of it. It was only the proofs
that gradually accumulated in his hands as to the positive
mischief it was doing, in preventing, or retarding, indi
vidual conversions, which gradually forced him into open
hostility. The origin of the revived movement in favour of Cor
porate Reunion may be traced to an accidental meeting of
Lord Halifax with the Abbe Fernand Portal in the island
of Madeira in 1889-1890. When they had once become
acquainted the two men found they had many interests
in common. They took long walks together and discussed
the religious conditions in their respective countries. If
Lord Halifax learned something from the Abbe, what the
Abb6 learned from Lord Halifax came to him almost as
a revelation. Here was a representative of the Anglican
Church, the President of the English Ghurch Union, and
yet what a little seemed to separate him from Catholicism !
Apparently he already accepted all the distinctive doc
trines of the Catholic Church. Confession and the Real
Presence in the Sacrament of the Altar presented no
II L

146 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
difficulties. Even the supreme jurisdiction of the Holy
See and the Primacy of the Bishop of Rome were con
ceded, if not as dejure divino, at least as dejure ecclesiastico.
After this, to the astonished Abb6, all things seemed
possible, while the work of doing everything that could
be done to put the position of the Anglican Church fairly
before Catholic Europe became an imperative duty. To
bring about a reunion between England and Rome
seemed a project which required only patience and good
will. The difficulty was to know just where and how to
begin. What was wanted in the first instance was a point
of contact which might bring the parties together. It was
thought that a consideration of the question of Anglican
Orders might lead to discussion, and then to friendly
explanations, on both sides. And if an understanding
could be arrived at in regard to the validity of Anglican
Orders, other conferences might be arranged dealing with
the more difficult points of controversy.
The Abb6 Portal threw himself into this scheme with the
greatest zeal and earnestness, and shortly afterwards return
ing to France, under the pseudonym "F. Dalbus" published
a pamphlet entitled Les Ordinations A nglicanes. It was a
curious book, in this respect — that while all its arguments
seemed to point to the validity of the Orders of the Eng
lish Church, the author finally summed up against them.
But the effect of the adverse verdict was at once discounted
by the fact that it was based on the disuse of the porrectio
instrumentorum — the tradition of the sacred vessels —
which every theologian knew to be unessential. Written
in haste, and for a purpose, the pamphlet has no claim
to be considered a serious contribution to the literature
of the subject. It achieved, however, an astonishing

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 147
popularity, and attracted the attention of many scholars
on both sides of the English Channel. This was largely
due to the fact that it was reviewed by the distinguished
author of the Liber Pontificalis, the Abb£ Duchesne, in the
columns of the Bulletin Critique. The Abbe had not at
that time made a study of the history of the subject ;
but, taking the Abb6 Portal's premises, he drew a con
clusion from them that was favourable to the validity of
Anglican Orders. The following extracts from the review
which appeared in La Science Catholique indicate Mgr.
Duchesne's position with sufficient clearness : —
" M. Dalbus begins by establishing that Bishops
Parker and Barlow, from whom the whole of the Angli
can clergy derives its ordinations, were really ordained ;
or, at least, that there is no ground for contesting their
ordination. On the other hand, the ritual of the Angli
can Church is substantially similar to the ritual of the
Greek Church, and even to that of the Latin Church
down to the twelfth century. Conclusion : The ministers
of the Anglican Church are just as rightly ordained as
Gregory of Tours, Hincmar of Rheims, and other Latin
clergy of ancient times could be.
" But M. Dalbus refrains from drawing this conclusion ;
for there are difficulties in the way (1) in respect to the
intention of the consecrators at certain points of the
historical succession ; (2) with regard to the validity of
the present Anglican ritual, the Roman Church having
added to its own ritual certain appendages which are
neglected in England.
" To the first difficulty I reply that intention (within
the limits laid down by the Catholic rule, ' intentio faciendi
quod facit Ecclesia ') must be presumed till the contrary
is proved. There have been unbelieving Bishops else
where than in England. Baptism may be validly con
ferred by a person who only knows that it is a sacred
rite by which one becomes a Christian. In the same
way the Anglican ordinations have always been performed

148 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
by persons who wished to make bishops or priests, and
so on. We ought not to ask more.
"The objection drawn from the modifications in the
ritual is no more admissible than the other. This
objection only concerns the ordination of priests. The
schoolmen laid down that for this form of Orders the
essential part of the rite {materia et forma) consists in the
tradition of the sacred vessels and in the words which the
Bishop pronounces in giving them. At present this system
is abandoned ; it is too clear that to maintain it all the
Greek and Oriental ordinations, and even those of the
Latin Church before the eleventh or twelfth century, would
have to be considered null.
" The conclusion is that Anglican Orders maybe regarded
as valid. I know that at Rome the contrary opinion is,
though not theoretically imposed, translated into practice,
and that converted ministers are reordained before being
allowed to continue their functions in the Catholic Church.
But the Roman Church has the right and the duty of pay
ing regard to the scruples of its faithful children. In the
present state of opinion few Catholics would accept the
Sacraments from a minister whom they knew to have re
ceived no other ordination than that of the Anglican Church.
In these matters it is natural to multiply guarantees."
There is no need to enter into the general principles
as to intention and sufficiency of form here laid down by
the Abb6 Duchesne. He was dealing with the facts as
presented by the Abb6 Portal. But obviously a very
different state of things is revealed when it is pointed out
that the compilers of the Edwardine Ordinal took the
Roman Pontifical and deliberately eviscerated it, with the
express intention of cutting away from it every word and
p%rase which could signify the Sacerdotium, or sacrificial
power. The analogy of the existing Greek forms or the
more ancient forms in use in the Western Church at once
fails. The words of an Ordination rite must be interpreted

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 149
in the light of the circumstances of their adoption. The
Reformers wilfully mutilated the Pontifical with the object
of eliminating the Catholic conception of the priesthood,
and the words they retained must be taken to express this
intended change. As a critic in the Spectator put it with
an excellent economy of words : " Simpler words intended
in sensu Ecclesiae may suffice ; but a formula whose sim
plicity arises from the negation of the Church's full doctrine
instead of its implied affirmation, cannot have a like
meaning or efficacy. So an ante-Nicene Father may use
in an orthodox sense language which, in an Arian after
Nicsea, would be unorthodox."
In the same way with regard to the doctrine of
intention. The principle ex opere operato no doubt might
hold good in the case of an unbeliever who, using the
form of the Church, baptized a child. But who would
contend that the Sacrament was rightly administered if,
to express his unbelief, the man were to alter the essen
tial form of the Church and to pour the water in some
other name than that of the Blessed Trinity ? Again, it is
now quite certain that the lack of " the tradition of
instruments {porrectio instrumentorum)" was never at
any time among the grounds upon which Anglican Orders
were condemned. The real reasons for which these
Orders were declared to be invalid by the Holy See,
whether in the days of Cardinal Pole or Cardinal
Vaughan, were not considered in the pamphlet of
" Fernand Dalbus," and it was with that pamphlet alone
that at this period the Abbe Duchesne was concerned.
The news that so eminent an authority as the author
of the Liber Pontificalis had declared in favour of
Anglican Orders at once drew general attention to the

150 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
subject. Another French priest wrote a book on the
question, and both its arguments and its summing-
up were in favour of the Anglican claims. Cardinal
Bourret, Bishop of Rodez and Vabres, wrote to the
Abb6 Portal expressing interest in his work while attack
ing his conclusions in favour of Anglican Orders. This
led the Bishop of Salisbury to send a letter to " Fernand
Dalbus" through his publishers, in which the Anglican
position was explained and defended. This letter, which
was most conciliatory in its tone, was afterwards pub
lished. A little later two Anglican clergymen, the Rev.
T. A. Lacey, Vicar of Madingley, and the Rev. E. Denny,
published a volume in defence of Anglican Orders, De
Hierarchia Anglicana, written in Latin, presumably for
the convenience of the ecclesiastical authorities in Rome.
Meanwhile the Abbe Portal's enthusiasm grew as he
saw more and more of his High Church friends. In the
summer of 1894 he visited England, and, under the
guidance of Lord Halifax, had excellent opportunities
of seeing at least one aspect of the Anglican Church. He
was introduced to High Church Bishops and attended
Ritualistic churches ; he stayed two or three days with
the Cowley Fathers and he visited Anglican convents.
He was delighted and surprised at all he saw and heard,
and he did not conceal his belief that his fellow-Catholics
in France were suffering under the strangest illusions
as to < the beliefs and practices of the Anglican Church.
He was soon able to report that there was the greatest
desire to know more, though at present the misunder
standings were deplorable. To use Lord Halifax's words,
" He said that any recognition of the very existence of
the English Church would be an astonishment to the

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 151
French, that they knew of a Western Church and an
Eastern Church, but knew nothing of any independent
Church in the West."
It was, perhaps, unfortunate that while in England
the Abbe was so absorbed in his study of the conditions
of the Established Church that he failed to see Cardinal
Vaughan. A luncheon had indeed been arranged to
which the Cardinal had invited Abbot Gasquet and Mr.
Edmund Bishop, as experts in the subject in which the
Abb6 was interested, but he was prevented from being
present. On the other hand, he had the advantage of
an interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury. Ob
viously, if any serious steps were to be taken to bring
about a rapprochement with the Church of Rome, it would
have to be with the sanction of Episcopal authority. The
story of the attempt which was made to enlist the
sympathy, and if possible the co-operation, of Arch
bishop Benson has been told with great fairness and
candour by Mr. A. C. Benson in his admirable biography
of his father. The first interview took place at Adding-
ton in the summer of 1894. " One of those present said
that the Archbishop's whole attitude was one of the
greatest caution, and that he kept the conversation as
general as possible, avoiding any dangerous discussions
or compromising statements. To use a picturesque
French proverb, he talked ' with his paws to the air,' ready
to dart away at the least sign of any proximity to
dangerous subjects."
But meanwhile events had moved fast in Rome. A
number of influential French ecclesiastics had now taken
up the cause of Anglican Orders, and were urging their
validity with all the eagerness of partizans. The views

152 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
held by the Abb6 Duchesne were shortly afterwards
supported by the high authority of Mgr. Gasparri, Pro
fessor of Canon Law at the Catholic Institute of Paris.
Among others who were impressed by the strange stories
which now began to be afloat as to the condition of the
Anglican Church was the Papal Secretary of State,
Cardinal Rampolla. Shortly after his visit to Addington
the Abbe Portal received an intimation through a common
friend that if it were convenient for him to go to Rome,
Cardinal Rampolla would be glad to see him. The
Abbe went at once, and was received both by Cardinal
Rampolla and Leo XIII. The Abb6 appears to have
been at once delighted and astonished at the warmth of
the welcome which greeted him everywhere in the
Eternal City. To prelates who had not hitherto con
ceived the possibility of a " Catholic " party in a
Protestant and Erastian Church, the stories they now
heard of Anglican monks and nuns, of a devout laity
and devoted clergy who held Catholic doctrines about
all the Seven Sacraments and were ready to accord a
primacy of honour to the Apostolic See over the West,
sounded like a beautiful fairy tale. Consider, for in
stance, what was likely to be the effect in Rome of such
words as these spoken by Lord Halifax at the annual
meeting of the English Church Union : —
" Surely there is no one, if he thinks what it would
be to see the Western Church once more reunited, her
schisms healed, and peace once more existing amongst
her members, but must long for the day when the Church
of England, our own branch of the Church which we
love so well, should again be united in bonds of visible
communion with the Apostolic See and all the Churches
of the West. What would we not give to be able to

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 153
make our confessions and our communions abroad as
we do at home 1 Who can endure the sense of being
separated from those with whom in all essentials of
belief and sentiment we are one? We have never
renounced communion with Rome. There is nothing in
the formal teaching of the Church of England which in
the least degree implies the existence or the desirability
of such a separation ; on the contrary, it is distinctly
repudiated. Priests in Roman Orders may minister,
members of the Roman Communion may communicate,
at our altars. We desire from the bottom of our hearts
to be allowed to make our confessions to and to receive
our communions from the hands of the Roman clergy
abroad." We, in this country, can attach its right value to such
language. We understand all that is meant by the com
prehensiveness of the Church of England ; we balance such
utterances against corresponding manifestoes on the part
of other schools of thought equally representative of the
Establishment. But on the Continent these wholesome
correctives, born of long familiarity with English life, were
quite wanting. Lord Halifax's language was taken
literally, and at its face value, as the profession of faith
of a typical Protestant peer. It may be objected that
things just as extreme had been said before and without
making any impression in Italy. That is quite true ; but
the intervention of the French ecclesiastics made all the
difference. In Rome, and especially in ecclesiastical
Rome, the difference between things written in French
and things written in English is between things read and
things unread. The question arose, " Why were we not
told of this wonderful transformation scene long ago ? "
The explanation was at hand : the English Catholics,
soured by centuries of conflict and persecution, were

154 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
incapable of doing justice to the Anglican Church; with
the best of intentions, they were unconsciously influenced
by hereditary prejudice ; it was their insular temper which
made them resent as an uncalled-for interference the
researches of Continental scholars, of such representative
men as Duchesne and Gasparri.
Abb6 Portal arrived in Rome on the i ith of September,
1893. He saw Cardinal Rampolla the same evening, and
the Pope on the following day. On the third day he again
saw the Pope, and then, within a week, with a letter from
Cardinal Rampolla in his pocket, he was hurrying to
England with his news. He bore splendid tidings. He
came to announce that the Pope had been on the point of
addressing a personal letter to the Archbishop of Canter
bury with a view to the Reunion of Christendom. The
Abbess statement is faithfully reflected in the letter in
which Lord Halifax sought an interview with Archbishop
Benson. He wrote : ' I have a very important com
munication from the Abb6 Portal which I think will both
please and astonish your Grace very much. It seems to
me so important that it has caused the telegram I sent off
this morning. ... I have some very important things to
tell your Grace."
The following account of the Abbe's visit to Rome is
from notes of the interview taken by Professor Mason,
who was present : " He told Cardinal Rampolla his im
pressions of the English Church, and at the end Cardinal
Rampolla said, 'You must by all means see the Pope.'
The next day he had an audience of the Pope which
lasted an hour. The Pope made M. Portal tell him every
thing quite frankly. He told him what he had seen in
England— that the Church was at the head of the

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 155
intellectual movement, that in dealing with the English
clergy he was dealing with men of real learning ; of our
services and ritual, convents, and other features of English
Church life ; that there was a great feeling for union, that
many were praying every day for it. The Pope . . .
asked M. Portal what he could do. M. Portal said that
if he were not prepared to make the utmost concessions
that could possibly be made, it would be of no use to
take any step at all. He suggested that the Pope
should write a sympathetic letter to the Archbishops
of Canterbury and York. The Pope asked how
such a letter would be received. M. Portal assured him
that it would not meet with a rebuff. . . . The Pope said
in an impassioned manner, ' How gladly would I say my
Nunc Dimittis if I could make the smallest beginning of
such a reunion ! ' He said to M. Portal more than once,
' You know I am eighty-five years old.' The Pope told
M. Portal that he would write, and bade him come back
to the Vatican in two days' time." x
But when the Abbe" returned, he received not the
expected letter from Leo XIII to Archbishop Benson
but the promise of a letter from Cardinal Rampolla to
himself. The Abbe felt that some one had been abroad in
the night sowing cockles among the wheat, but was quickly
consoled when he was given to understand that the Pope
would commission the Abbe Duchesne to examine and
report on the subject of Anglican Orders. Both the Abb6
and Lord Halifax thought this very encouraging. The
Archbishop of Canterbury took another view. Professor
Mason continues : " Cardinal Rampolla's letter was then
fetched ; and the Archbishop said it was a nice letter, but
* " Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury," vol. ii, p. 597.

156 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
very general. It contained several expressions offensive
to us, as that the Roman Church was an ancient ' mother
and mistress,' and the ' only centre of union.' I ventured
to defend the expression 'mother' as against the Arch
bishop, and M. Portal explained ' mistress ' in the sense of
' teacher, as having taught us at the time when she
became our mother.' The Archbishop did not admit
either statement."
The interview was not a success. The Archbishop had
not understood that in receiving Lord Halifax he was also
to see the Abb6 Portal. His biographer says : " The
Archbishop was certainly justified in feeling that it was
not prudent that so momentous an interview should be
sprung upon him, and that he ought at kast to have
had a chance of deciding beforehand whether he would
receive such communications at all. At any rate, he was
deeply annoyed, and made no attempt to dissimulate his
feelings." Professor Mason's notes were afterwards submitted
to the Archbishop. One illuminating sentence serves to
show how well he. appreciated the situation, and saw its
unreality : " I said that Portal had seen only one side of
English Church life with Lord Halifax ; and that the Pope
could have had no complete view of England before him."
A few days before this interview Cardinal Vaughan
was at the Catholic Conference at Preston. He had
taken as the subject of his address "The Reunion of
Christendom." He hailed it as a sign of good omen
that England alone among the Protestant lands seemed
troubled at the divisions among Christians : —
" No similar recognition of the sin of schism, no move
ment towards the unity of Christendom, is to be found

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 157
among the French, the German, or the Scandinavian Pro
testants. A divine grace has been poured out over England,
for which we cannot be too deeply thankful. It has touched
the hearts of earnest and devout Anglicans, and has drawn
and raised the minds of a multitude of Nonconformists,
who have been led to seek some higher level, and to feel
about for some basis of reunion, if not with Catholics, at
least with Protestant Episcopalians." Then he indicated
the line in which his own hope lay — that the Ritualists in
the Church of England were blindly preparing the way,
and by gradually familiarising the people with every
Catholic doctrine and devotion would make the final step
to submission less difficult. Describing the wonderful
transformation which has come over the spirit of the
Established Church, he said : —
" Contrast the churches of the Establishment of sixty or
seventy years ago — closed from week-end to week-end, no
daily service, no festivals and Saints' Days kept, the Com
munion Service read three or four times a year, everything
dry, cold, and formal — with the present churches, which
are often distinguishable only with extreme difficulty from
those belonging to the Church of Rome. The study of
the patristic, of the theological, ascetical, devotional,
liturgical, and rubrical writers of the Catholic Church has
brought about a change in the mind, feelings, and tastes
of an ever-increasing section of the Anglican Church,
which has been simply a revolution. The doctrines of the
Catholic Church, which had been rejected and condemned
as blasphemous superstitions and fond inventions, have
been re-examined and taken back, one by one, until the
Thirty-nine Articles have been banished and buried as a
rule of faith. The Real Presence, the Sacrifice of the Mass

158 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
offered for the living and the dead — sometimes even in
Latin — not unfrequent Reservation of the Sacrament,
regular auricular Confession, Extreme Unction, Purgatory,
prayers for the dead, devotions to Our Lady, to her
Immaculate Conception, the use of her Rosary, and the
Invocation of Saints are doctrines taught and accepted,
with a growing desire and relish for them, in the Church
of England. A celibate clergy, the institution of monks
and nuns under vows, retreats for the clergy, missions for
the people, fasting and other penitential exercises, candles,
lamps, incense, crucifixes, images of the Blessed Virgin
and the Saints held in honour, stations of the cross,
cassocks, cottas, Roman collars, birettas, copes, dalmatics,
vestments, mitres, croziers, the adoption of an ornate
Catholic ritual, and now recently an elaborate display
of the whole ceremonial of the Catholic Pontifical — all
this speaks of a change and a movement towards the
Church that would have appeared absolutely incredible at
the beginning of this century. And what is still more
remarkable is that the movement has been stronger than
the rankest Protestantism, stronger than the Bishops,
stronger than the lawyers and the Legislature. A
spasmodic protest, a useless prosecution, a Delphic
judgment, and the movement continues and spreads,
lodging itself in Anglican homes and convents, in schools,
churches, and even cathedrals, until it is rapidly covering
the country. Has there ever been a more marvellous
change, and this within half a century ? "
The only reference to Anglican Orders was contained
in this sentence : " Would that our Anglican friends could
prove to us, would that we could recognise, the validity
of their Orders : not, indeed, for any benefit they could

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 159
be to them outside the Unity of the Church, but because
they believed their conversion would be rendered easier."
These words were as little controversial as possible, but
unfortunately they were misunderstood. They were
interpreted to mean that Cardinal Vaughan personally
believed in the validity of Anglican Orders, and was
anxious for their recognition. In reply to a correspon
dent who drew his attention to this misunderstanding
the Cardinal wrote : —
" Let us be quite clear as to what we mean by Orders.
Catholics understand Ordination to be the bestowal upon
men, first, of a power to change bread and wine, so that in
their place our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ becomes truly
and substantially present on the altar in His Divine and
Human natures, and to offer Him up in true Eucharistic
Sacrifice to the Eternal Father ; secondly, of a power to
forgive the sins of men with a divine efficacy. We cannot
allow that Anglican Orders possess or confer these super
natural powers, which are of the Priesthood of Christ.
And, first, am I wrong in believing that the existence
of any such powers in their ministers is as vehemently
denied by a large majority of the members of the Estab
lished Church as by ourselves ? If so, what of the
certainty professed by those numerous and devout
members of the same Communion who maintain that
these powers are bestowed and exercised within their
Church ? And where is the unity of the Anglican Church
on a doctrinal matter of such vital importance ?
"Now, apart from any desire to discuss the Barlow
controversy, I must remark that the absence of any record
of Barlow's consecration, taken with the circumstances of
his subsequent history, must necessarily make the trans-

160 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
mission of Orders to Archbishop Parker historically
doubtful. But more than this, the new forms of Ordina
tion and Consecration, drawn up by Cranmer, at a time
when he and his friends emphatically repudiated the
doctrines and practice of the ancient Church of England,
carefully exclude everything of the ancient Catholic rites
indicative of the sacrificial character. This was perfectly
consistent with the destruction of the altars and the
substitution of a table, with a rejection of the Liturgy of
the Sacrifice of the Mass, and the substitution for it of the
present Communion Service, which excludes all idea of an
actual and substantial Real Presence and of a sacrificial
act. No one who compares the ancient rites of Ordination
and the Liturgy of the Sacrifice of the Mass with the rites
substituted by Cranmer can fail to see that every idea
of a sacerdotal or sacrificing character was carefully
eliminated. This has been shown clearly enough in
Dr. Gasquet's work on The Book of Common Prayer and
in Canon Estcourt's on Anglican Ordinations.
"Systematic liturgical changes like these are the best
means extant of ascertaining the intentions of the English
Reformers. The acts and words of those who drew up
the new form of Ordination cannot be doubtful. They
intended positively to exclude the ancient idea of a
sacrificing Priesthood as they had already banished that
of the Eucharistic Sacrifice. Ordinations held by men
repudiating the Catholic doctrine of the Priesthood and
using rites designed to emphasise this repudiation must
ever be subject to, at least, the most overwhelming
doubt." It was no pleasure to Herbert Vaughan to have to
write in that uncompromising way. But he had been.

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 161
grievously misunderstood, and was bound to make his
position clear. Writing at this time to his brother
Bernard he said : " I am anxious as to the effect my
words may produce on Anglicans. To be true and
straight, and not offensive ; to rebuke and not wound, to
persuade and show sympathy, that was the problem, and
I have no notion how it will turn out. God grant that it
may do good." Certainly he had not sought this con
troversy about Anglican Orders. He was content with
the practice of the Church, which for three hundred years
and more had always required that every Anglican
clergyman wishing to become a Catholic priest should be
regarded simply as a layman, and so ordained uncon
ditionally. He knew how the Edwardine Ordinal had
been drawn up, and in what ways and for what reasons
it differed from the Roman Pontifical ; and for him that
was decisive. He was deeply impressed also by the fact
that Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, a book regularly put
into the hands of candidates for Anglican Orders, ex
plicitly tells them that " Sacrifice is no part of the
Church's ministry," and that the "Gospel hath properly
no sacrifice," and then explains that the word " priest "
may be safely used because when men hear it " it draweth
no more their minds to any cogitation of sacrifice than
the name of a Senator or an Alderman causes them to
think of old age." In other words, the term "priest"
could be retained without harm because in common
speech it had ceased to suggest anything like Sacer-
dotium. But, holding these views, Cardinal Vaughan came
to see that, in face of the campaign very energetically
carried on in Rome by the extreme High Church party
and their French allies, and the attempts which were being
II M

162 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
made to stop or delay individual conversions, a new in
vestigation into the whole subject was becoming a neces
sity. He felt also that if an inquiry were undertaken it
ought to be as thorough and final as possible. So when,
a few months later, he heard that an attempt was being
made to get the Abb6 Portal's book condemned by the
Holy Office, he took urgent steps to prevent it. If a
decision had been given, it would necessarily have been
adverse to the book, because the Court would have been
guided by established precedents. That would have
amounted only to a declaration of the well known.
Cardinal Vaughan felt that something more was needed
now, and that the time had come when those precedents
themselves ought to be reviewed and scrutinised in the
light of modern scholarship and the results of modern
research. But while many of the sympathisers with the Cor
porate Reunion movement hailed the prospect of a general
re-opening of the question by the Holy See as a great
concession to their views and as likely to alter all the
future relations between England and Rome, many
Catholics, on the other hand, regarded the proposal with
dislike and alarm. They urged upon the Cardinal that
such an inquiry, besides being useless in itself, would in
the end cause great resentment in the country. It was
useless as a step towards Corporate Reunion upon any
hypothesis. For if Anglican Orders are valid in fact,
they are not less so because Rome declines to recognise
them ; and if they were recognised as such, what would
it avail ? If the Orders of the Anglican Church are valid,
she still remains as much outside the unity of the Church
as the Arians or Nestorians of the past or the Greeks of

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 163
to-day. On the other hand, if there were an inquiry, and
a condemnation followed, while no new situation would
be created, a multitude of well-meaning people who,
perhaps, had hitherto taken not the slightest interest in
the subject, would suddenly feel aggrieved and perhaps
outraged as Englishmen. Herbert Vaughan knew the
intensity of the national feeling, and could but admit
that the average Englishman, though quite agreeing with
the Pope that the clergy of the Established Church do
not work miracles and certainly have no supernatural
power to forgive sins, was yet quite capable of being
indignant if Anglican Orders were condemned by any
foreign tribunal. Was it worth while, then, to court an
inquiry which was almost certain to result in a new con
demnation, which would leave things exactly as they were
before, except for a legacy of anger and ill-will ? These
timid counsels were urged upon the Cardinal with great
boldness and freedom. They had no effect upon him.
When the interests of religion were at stake he was
always absolutely fearless and quite indifferent to public
opinion. The issue had been publicly challenged, sincere
seekers after the truth were in doubt and perplexity, and
he now felt that the only way to put an end to mis
understandings and confusion was to ask for the answer
of Rome. In October of this year, 1894, occurred an incident
which at the time gave Cardinal Vaughan more pain,
perhaps, than anything else in his whole career. The
Protestant Archbishop of Dublin had consecrated a
gentleman of the name of Cabrera to be a Bishop of the
Reformed Church in Spain. That a Protestant prelate
should have been willing to render this brotherly service

164 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
to the struggling Protestants of Spain was not in itself
surprising, but from the peculiar point of view of the
English Church Union the action of Lord Plunket was
gravely irregular. Unable to prevent it, Lord Halifax
could at least protest against it, and he did so in the
following letter : — "The English Church Union,
"35, Wellington Street, Strand, London.
"October %th, 1894.
"To the Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lora Antolino
Monescillo, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church,
Archbishop of Toledo.
"Eminence, — I venture to approach your Eminence
in order to express, on behalf of the English Church
Union, a society consisting of many thousands of members
of the Church of England, the profound distress which
has been caused to us by the recent action of the Arch
bishop of Dublin in having presumed, without the sanction
of your Eminence and of the Bishops of your province
of Toledo, to consecrate a certain schismatic named
Cabrera, at Madrid, to the Episcopate. We desire abso
lutely to disclaim any complicity with such action, be
lieving it to be a most grievous violation of well-established
and universally recognised principles of ecclesiastical
jurisdiction and of Catholic order. We are also appre
hensive lest it might be supposed by any members of the
illustrious Church of Spain that the ancient Church of
England, of whose honour we as her loyal members are
most dutifully jealous, is in any way responsible for this
action, which we so earnestly deplore. We therefore
would say — First, that the Provinces of Canterbury and

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 165
York, which constitute the Church of England, are ecclesi
astically independent of- and can in no way control those
which constitute the Church of Ireland. Secondly, that
in the last session of the Provincial Synod of Canterbury,
held in the present year, the Primate of All England and
the Bishops of his Province repudiated all responsibility
for the step contemplated by the Archbishop of Dublin.
The Church of England has thus entirely disclaimed
responsibility for an act which is and remains simply the
private act of the Archbishop of Dublin and the two Irish
Bishops who assisted him. Nevertheless, we on our behalf
believe it to be right as members of the Catholic Church
which is the mother of us all, and as members of the
Church of England in particular, thus solemnly to assure
your Eminence and the Bishops, clergy, and faithful of
the ancient and illustrious Church of Spain of our re
pudiation of the encouragement which the action we
deplore has given to those who have withdrawn themselves
from the communion and authority of their lawful pastors.
" I have the honour to remain, with the expression of
my most profound respect, your Eminence's most humble
and obedient servant, " HALIFAX, President of the Union"
What impression was such a letter likely to convey
to the mind of a Spanish Archbishop wholly unfamiliar
with the parties and schools of thought within the English
Church? The Church of Spain has very few points of
contact with the outer world, and it may be safely said
that for the average Spaniard the Christians of the West
are still simply and clearly divided into Catholics and
Protestants. In his courteous and sympathetic letter to

166 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
the Archbishop of Toledo Lord Halifax, while condemn
ing the action of the Archbishop of Dublin, went on to
describe his fellow-Protestant, Senor Cabrera, as a schis
matic. Moreover, he spoke of himself and his friends as
" members of the Catholic Church " and of the " ancient
Church of England." The moment Cardinal Vaughan
saw the letter in the columns of the Guardian he felt
that it might give rise to grave misunderstandings. Might
not a Spanish prelate, unfamiliar with the curious reason
ing which lets certain Anglicans persuade themselves
that they are both Protestants and Catholics at the same
time, be easily deceived, and suppose that these gentle
men were what they claimed to be, members of the
ancient Church of England, and therefore in communion
with Rome ? At any rate Cardinal Vaughan thought
he ought to send a line to the Archbishop of Toledo to
put him on his guard. Accordingly he wrote a private
letter of explanation in Latin. A few days later the
Cardinal, taking up the Times, saw there given to the
public what purported to be a translation of his private
letter to the Archbishop of Toledo. The English version
was as follows : —
" Most Excellent and Most Reverend Sir —
The considerations which I am about briefly and promptly
to place before your Eminence, upon a matter of the
greatest urgency (as may be gathered from the context),
will explain the reason for my sending to you the tele
gram of this day's date.
" The English newspapers have just published a letter
by Lord Halifax with regard to the consecration of Senor
Cabrera.

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 167
" 1. This nobleman is not, and never was, a Catholic,
but the chief of one of the sects of the Anglican Church,
which claims for itself, without the smallest foundation,
the name of the true Catholic Church.
" 2. In taking such a name this sect has acted with a
view to be regarded in Catholic countries as the National
Catholic English Church.
" 3. It is extremely important that your Eminence
should be possessed of these facts, in' order that you may
treat Lord Halifax and the sect over which he presides
with prudence, not dealing with it as if it were a member
or part of the Catholic Church, but as a member or part of
the Anglican Protestant Church, subject to the civil power.
"4. The Viscount's letter is written with the object
of astutely deceiving the Catholic Bishops who may not
be as well informed as your Eminence.
" 5. Many persons of this sect, when travelling in
Catholic countries, are accustomed audaciously and
sacrilegiously to communicate in the Catholic churches.
" 6. This sect speaks of us English Catholics as schis
matics, and the Catholic Church of England as an Italian
Mission. " With regard to Senor Cabrera, who has received the
episcopal pseudo-consecration, I have to call the attention
of your Eminence to the following : —
"The Bishops and clergy of the English and Irish
Protestant Church do not possess valid Orders. The
formula of ordination composed by Cranmer, in the
time of the Reformation, was made with the object of
excluding all notion of that sacerdotal power {sacerdotium)
which pertains to ministers who offer sacrifice.
" On this point I transmit herewith to your Eminence

168 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
a letter which I have published in the English newspapers,
in which I expose briefly the reasons which exist for not
being able to recognise the validity of the Orders of the
Anglican Church.
" With regard to the manner in which the pseudo-
consecration of Senor Cabrera should be treated, whether
by your Eminence or by any one else who may concern
himself about the matter, it would be convenient not to
insist solely upon the sacrilege that has been committed,
but more especially upon the fact that the validity of
the Orders of the Anglican Church has never been
recognised by the Holy See, nor by the Catholic world,
and that as regards true Orders, understood in a Catholic
sense, neither the Protestant Archbishop of Dublin nor
the Bishops and clergy of the Protestant Church, whether
Anglican or Irish, should be considered more than as
so many laymen.
" With the object of defending the truth, I write this
letter to your Eminence.
" I am, &c, &c,
"Herbert Cardinal Vaughan,
Archbishop of Westminster."
The Cardinal read this version of his letter with
astonishment and indignation, but every other feeling
was quickly lost in the thought of the pain which one
paragraph in it must inevitably cause Lord Halifax. ' To
understand what he felt it must be remembered that
Lord Halifax was a man for whom he had a strong
personal regard. He never could understand his religious
position, but he knew him to be high-minded and earnest
and unselfish — in fact, he was the last man of whom he

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 169
would willingly have said a wounding word. He at once
wrote a letter to the Times in the course of which
he said : —
" I see in a letter of mine to the Cardinal Archbishop
of Toledo, of which you have to-day published a trans
lation, that one of my points is incorrectly rendered. I
did not intend to say, nor did I say, that Lord Halifax
wrote ' with the object of astutely deceiving the Catholic
Bishops.' I know that Lord Halifax is simply incapable
of writing with the object of deceiving any one. Point 4
was the following : ' Epistola praedicti Vicecomitis ita
scripta est ut Episcopum, qui astutiam subtilem hujus
sectae non cognosceret, sicut earn cognoscit Eminentia
Vestra, facile decipere posset.'
" My meaning, though not fully expressed in the above
point, was that a letter emanating from a body which is
able by subtle arguments to convince itself that it repre
sents the Catholic Church in this country, while it regards
us as schismatics and intruders, might easily deceive a
Bishop in Spain unacquainted with such subtleties.
" The letter was not intended for publication ; and I
regret that what was intended only as brief notes of
information upon a matter of grave importance should
have been published in a form likely to give unnecessary
pain and offence."
The Cardinal, however, felt that something more was
due to Lord Halifax than this public explanation, and
he wrote to him privately as follows : —
" 2nd November, 1894.
" It is now a week since the unfortunate publication
of the badly translated Latin letter which I thought it

170 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
my duty to send to the Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo.
I therefore venture to write directly to you to say how
grieved I am at the pain I have caused you. I need
not repeat what I said in my letter of correction to the
Times ; I am sure you will not suspect me of even think
ing that you could wilfully deceive. I am the more
pained by the publication of the private letter of brief
notes sent to the Cardinal, because I have all along felt
the necessity of charity and sympathy in dealing with
the High Church movement, whilst at the same time I
guarded myself against being misunderstood, against
holding out false hopes, against want of perfect fidelity
to the truth as I see it and to my duty. As I see things,
you are so near the Catholic Church and yet so far away.
You are so good and sincere, and yet in so singular a
position, that I am drawn in two directions : it is difficult
for one so little skilled in the use of language as I am
to combine one's thoughts and to present everything in
due proportion and relation ; but perhaps I have already
said too much, and you will think that I am making bad
worse by going on. I will therefore only add an expres
sion of my kindest regards and an assurance that I will
continue constantly to recommend you and yours to Our
Lord in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Pardon this
long letter."
Lord Halifax's reply was generous and like him : —
"Bovey Tracey,
" November 6,th, 1894.
" My dear Lord, — I received your Eminence's letter
only to-day. I am very grateful for it. I want your
Eminence really to believe that though I was distressed at

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 171
what had been written to Spain, thinking it did not help
the cause of peace, and feeling too that what I had said
did not deserve it (it had never entered into my head for a
moment that any one could misunderstand a letter which
spoke of the 'Church of England' and the Province of
Canterbury and York), I did not for an instant think,
however others might take it, that your Eminence meant
to impute to me any intention to deceive.
" I never could have thought such a thing at any time,
much less — if there can be a less or more about a thing
in itself impossible — knowing your Eminence as I do,
and after the many kindnesses I have received at your
hands. " I will only add that had there been any pain to
myself, it would be more than wiped out by the thought
that your Eminence will sometimes remember me at the
Altar — and in your prayers.
"Thanking your Eminence again for a letter which
touches me deeply, I am, my dear Lord,
" Your Eminence's very sincere and faithful " Halifax."
Writing to Mr. Wilfrid Ward, the Cardinal said :
" Strange that after writing my letter to you, which you
will get by the post which brings this, I received yours
and the enclosure which I now return. I had also written
to Lord Halifax.
" I am told that astutia in Latin does not necessarily
carry the meaning of cunning, and is often used in a good
sense — but this does not matter. I really meant that a
set of people who can honestly persuade themselves that
they are one with the ' ancient Church of England ' and

172 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
are 'Catholics,' and can write this to the Primate of Spain,
are the victims of most subtle and ingenious theories. I
am also convinced, from my knowledge of the Spanish
Bishops, that they might most easily have understood
Lord Halifax's letter to have come from Catholics in
communion with them. You may say that he spoke of
Canterbury and York, but it does not at all follow that
they would not confound Canterbury with Westminster.
It was a letter from the ' ancient Church of England to
the ancient Church of Spain' — both 'members of the
Catholic Church.' The stern rejection of a connection
with the Protestant Archbishop of Dublin and the Irish
Church would easily and naturally confirm the impression
that the letter was from a Catholic in our sense — at least
that is my mature conviction. Again, it will require much
explanation to show why, if the Church of England can
consecrate Bishops for Gibraltar with jurisdiction over
Rome, and for Jerusalem, &c, it should hesitate to conse
crate Cabrera for Spanish Protestants.
"I felt that had Lord Halifax written so as not to
have been certainly misunderstood, I should have written
nothing. But people who go so far as to communicate in
our churches abroad ought not to be astonished if one
warns Bishops against them when their language, however
honest and sincere, is so absolutely misleading. Such is
my view. The misfortune is that the private letter was
published and is translated. Again, surely Lord Halifax
must be under some strange hallucination if he imagines
there could be the slightest use in approaching the
Protestant Bishops on the subject of Reunion — the
conditions for them must be absolutely impossible. But
I shall be very glad to talk these matters over with you

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 173
and Lord Halifax, and to do what I can to smooth the
path for those who might enter upon it. But I can
quite see that there will be no kindly feeling among the
Protestants towards "Yours afftly.,
" H. C. V."
A postscript ran : " I am genuinely and deeply grieved
at having wounded Lord Halifax by what was certainly
not intended."
There is more self-revelation in the following letter in
reply to one from the Duke of Norfolk : —
" As to the Toledo incident, after having gone through
a period of sickly feeling occasioned by the publication of
a private letter, rendered twice over mischievous by the
translation, I have come to the conclusion that Providence
overrules our actions and often directs them in spite of
ourselves to a wise end. I believe that it is supremely
important for me to be perfectly clear and explicit on the
points which were put, brutally of course, in the Toledo
letter. It will not be necessary to insist very much more
on them — they are at last understood : so also as to
Anglican Orders at last! I have written to the Card.
of Toledo (1) about the Halifax misrepresentation, and
speaking highly of him ; (2) explaining the position of
religious affairs here, the working on towards the Church
of his party, &c. ... If this letter is published later
in England, I do not think there will be much reason to
regret the plain speaking, which, of course, has now placed
me in a very unsympathetic position, and I shall not be
out of it until my whole attitude is understood.
" I am very sorry for having given you and other friends

174 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
so much pain and annoyance, but I cannot take quite so
gloomy a view of the ultimate prospect as you seem to do.
Pray always write to me with the greatest freedom and
openness. I feel that I need the help of friends below
as well as from God above to keep such a one as I am at
all right and free from blundering on this critical and
dangerous pinnacle! God bless you ! — H. C. V."
The further letter to the Archbishop of Toledo was
published subsequently, but for the present reader it is no
more than a document of recapitulation.
About this time I received a friendly warning from
Mr. Wilfrid Ward that it would be only prudent if the
Tablet were to be a little less positive on the subject of
Anglican Orders. Mr. Ward thought it probable that in
vestigations then going on would shortly result in a more
or less complete change in the official attitude of the Holy
See on the subject. A few days later the Cardinal asked
me to go for a walk with him, and I took the opportunity
of telling him what Mr. Ward had said, and generally of
talking over the Reunion movement. I put the question,
"Is there any danger that Rome may be rushed into
taking any step which might afterwards be regretted?"
He replied, " I don't think so. The only thing that is
likely, and the only thing that the Anglicans are asking
for, is a reopening of the question of Anglican Orders.
But that is an issue so intimately bound up with the
history of the Reformation period in this country, and
so dependent upon a knowledge of the writings and
characters of the English Reformers, that it could never
be decided by a Commission consisting only of French
or Italian scholars, without previous reference to
English experts." He went on to say that he would

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 175
be undoubtedly consulted as to the selection of such
experts. All this time the friends of the Reunion movement had
been exceedingly active in Rome. Following up their
declared policy of treating the question of Anglican Orders
as a point of contact, as the chosen subject for a first ex
change of explanations, they were directing all their efforts
to getting the matter reopened, and now were confident
of success. Clearly the recognition of the Orders of the
Church of England could not be a matter of barter. Still,
further research might lead to the conclusion that if not
certainly valid, they were at least not certainly invalid.
That would have this practical consequence, that then
convert clergymen wishing to become Catholic priests
would be ordained only conditionally. If that decision
followed from a re-examination of the evidence it would
be perfectly legitimate, and yet could be regarded as
equivalent to a concession to Anglican views, and as
removing a fruitful source of irritation. At the same
time there was always the possibility — and at least one
distinguished French scholar thought there was much
more than a possibility — that the evidence would compel
an admission of the certain validity of the disputed
Orders. Altogether there was a contagious atmosphere
of enthusiasm in Rome, and the hopes that the English
people, or great groups of them, were about to return
to the One Fold never ran higher than in the closing
weeks of 1894.
Before the year was ended Abbot Gasquet had an
interview with Cardinal Vaughan. He brought the grave
news that, if the leaders of the Reunion movement were
well informed, Leo XIII had definitely decided to write

176 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
a personal letter to the Archbishops of Canterbury and
York. The Cardinal felt that if such a letter were written,
it could only be as the result of a complete misconception
as to the views of the Archbishops, and indeed of the
whole position of the Church of England. Such a letter
must necessarily be in substance an invitation to the
Archbishops to come and make their submission. The
Cardinal knew that to send such an invitation was useless
and could lead only to unpleasantness and disappoint
ment. He urged Abbot Gasquet, who was already due
in Rome on several pieces of important business, to start
without delay, and he himself went a week later.
The Cardinal kept no diary at this time, but he wrote
several letters to an intimate friend, and as a postscript
to one of them are the words : " Keep these letters for
me, as I keep no other notes, for further use."
The letters were obviously written in haste, but they
suffice as a rough record of the writer's impressions and
feelings at the time. Cardinal Vaughan arrived at the
English College in Rome on the evening of January 19th,
1895. He writes: "The Pope heard of my arrival at once,
and I was summoned to an audience the next day at
twelve o'clock. After an affectionate greeting, he asked
me if I could give him anything interesting from
England." The Cardinal then describes how he told
the Holy Father about the recent resolutions of the
English Hierarchy as to the presence of Catholic students
at Oxford and Cambridge. After the conversation had
lasted some time, the Pope suddenly changed the subject.
" ' But now,' he said, ' tell me about the Anglicans. The
Pope can do much for them, they desire to hear him ;
they tell me that the Catholics of London' (meaning me)

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 177
' are not popular with the Anglican dignitaries. There is
some jealousy. Leave it to the Pope. The Vicar of Christ
will be able to do something. I hear they are on the
point of coming over. They are timid, not knowing
whether to go backwards or forward. I must write some
thing.' I let him go on, and then told him that there was
no chance of Corporate Reunion — we can look only to
increasing the number of units who come over. I warned
him that a letter addressed to the Anglicans might easily
be used as a ground for keeping back conversions. They
would say, 'The Pope is by degrees coming to terms,
we must remain where we are.' I told him of the effect
produced already in this direction by the report that he
was going to write to the Protestant Archbishops. I
assured him they are anxious only to strengthen their
own position and to keep waverers from Rome ; that they
are all opposed to the supremacy of the Pope, and that
his letter could not alter that. ' Ah then, if they are
opposed to the doctrine of the authority of the Vicar of
Christ, that is different. How is it they cannot see that
the Church must have a head? &c, &c.' Finally, he said
he would issue an Encyclical on the Church and her Head
in the middle of this year, if he lived so long. I chimed
in, ' That would be excellent ; and if your Holiness would
give two or three paragraphs of such an Encyclical to the
Anglicans, kind words to them should be accompanied
with the doctrines which they have yet to learn.' He
liked the idea, and then went on to Anglican Orders, &c.
He hoped I would stay ' months in Rome.' I said, ' Only
till March 12th.' ' Ah, for St. Gregory, Cardinal Man
ning's title and yours.' He then told me to come again
as often as I liked.
II N

178 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
"After this I went up to see the Secretary of State.
We talked of Dalbus and Anglican Orders, and I pointed
out the mischief done by some of these Frenchmen
in taking up matters they do not properly understand,
The Cardinal pointed out that Dalbus had desired to
get a letter of approval from the Pope for his pamphlet
on Anglican Orders, but that that was impossible, so
he gave him a civil letter from himself, which was not
compromising. I said I had understood it so, but the
Anglicans had taken it for a half approval. He also
was very kind and polite. There are all sorts of wild
ideas in Rome as to the proximate conversion of Eng
land. People are idiotic on the subject, but Propaganda
is all right, and knows better. The Pope has a little
cold, but it is not serious. I am going to say a Novena
of Masses in the Crypt of St. Peter over the body of
St. Peter. The first will be on Monday, the second
February ist, the third on the Purification. AH for the
conversion of souls in England. So you may join with
me by your intention at eight o'clock on those days.
St. Peter must do something more for England, and we
must insist with him. It will be most easy for you to
unite in my Masses on those days. What is space to Our
Lord ? Your soul may be at the Mass in the crypt and
near the body of St. Peter. So I have invited you, and
do not say Nay."
Cardinal Vaughan's attempts to explain the real
position of parties in the Church of England were not as
immediately successful as he had hoped. The Pope had
heard so much of the Cardinal's prejudices against
Anglicans that, though he listened to him, he did so,
perhaps, with certain reservations, as to a man whose

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 179
statements on a particular subject must be taken with
an allowance for the colour likely to be given to them
by the strength of his convictions. Abbot Gasquet
arrived in Rome on the last day of January, 1895, and
shortly afterwards was received by Leo XIII. The Abbot
had already been commissioned by the Pope to prepare
a memorandum upon the traditional way in which
Anglican Orders had been regarded by the Holy See,
and as to the reasons for that attitude. As soon as the
Pope saw him he began to pour out his hopes for the
conversion of England. He told how the whole nation.
was being drawn to Catholicism, and spoke of the wonder
ful change which had come over the Anglican Church.
His rapid speech as he drew a picture which might have
been approximately true if it had had relation only to a
single group in the English Church Union, left Abbot
Gasquet no opportunity of intervention. At last pausing,
the Pope exclaimed, " Is it not true ? " The Abbot
took the opportunity of reinforcing the warnings Cardinal
Vaughan had already given and offering an exact account
of the various parties in the Established Church. The
disillusion came slowly, and the Pope repeatedly appealed
to Mgr. Merry del Val, who was present at the interview,
as to whether he could confirm what was said. Mgr.
Merry del Val, himself half an Englishman, and since then
the Cardinal Secretary of Stafe, knew England well, and
could but testify to the truth of what the Abbot had
told. The Pope then desired that Cardinal Rampolla,
who had been specially sympathetic to the Anglican
negotiators, should be sent for. When the Cardinal came
the Pope asked. the Abbot to repeat what he had said.
That interview was decisive, and the Pope knew that the

180 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
dream of Corporate Reunion was not to come true in his
time.
He was not less eager, however, still to prepare the
way for what might come some day. If there was no
use now in appealing to the Anglican Archbishops, he
could still address the English people and make perfectly
clear the conditions upon which Reunion was possible.
It would have helped Abbot Gasquet in his task if he
had been able to show Leo XIII the following extract
from a letter addressed to Lord Halifax a few weeks
before, on December 14th, 1894, by the Archbishop of
Canterbury : "And I must be pardoned for saying, what
it is only the part of friendship to say, that I am afraid
that you have lived for years so exclusively with one
set of thinkers, and entered so entirely into the usages
of one class of 'churches, that you have not before you
*the state of religious feeling and activity in England with
the completeness with which any one attempting to adjust
the relations between Churches ought to have the pheno
mena of his own side clearly and minutely before him."
In a letter — one of the series already referred to —
undated, but certainly written in February, 1895, Cardinal
Vaughan wrote : " The last two days I have had a good
deal of anxiety. There has been much talk of the Papal
letter to the Protestant Archbishops. I have come to a
clear view of matters, at least thus far. And I ask,
What does the Pope want of England? Conversion.
And what is this? A work wholly supernatural and
divine. And how is it to be brought about? Well, in
the first place and principally, and in the last place-
by God Himself. Therefore let the Pope write a letter
to us and to all in England who are seeking to know

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 181
the truth and to do the Will of Jesus Christ. And in
that letter he should appear as his Divine Master when
He taught men how to pray — 'Ask, and ye shall receive,
seek, and ye shall find, knock, &c.' In this character the
Vicar of Christ ought to present himself to the people
of England. Theological arguments, historical references,
they will try to refute — they know sufficiently of these
things for controversy. It is the will and the heart that
need to be moved more than the intellect. I have spoken
to several — some say that this is not the line for the
Pope to take ; some seem to think it rather eccentric
and useless. Two days ago I had a long conversation
on the subject with Cardinal Rampolla, the Secretary
of State. He heartily endorsed and embraced my view.
I urged upon him the need of trusting more and more
thoroughly to the supernatural in the central government
of the Church. He warmly responded. Finally he*
offered to represent and back my ideas with the Pope.
I therefore yesterday handed in a long paper on this
subject of the supernatural and prayer as the way to
obtain divine results. It was a curious incident that
yesterday we kept in Rome the Feast of Our Lord's
Prayer, and so I added those words to the date. I
had also found in Father Ignatius Spencer's journal
kept in 1844 that when he visited Belgium for the
purpose of obtaining prayers everywhere for the con
version of England, he went first to the Papal Nuncio
in Brussels to ask his aid. He promised to promote'
the Apostolate of Prayer and spoke to all the Belgian
Bishops about it. The name of that Nuncio was Pecci!
" A few weeks ago the Pope was far from disposed to
adopt this line. He said he wished to enlighten the intel-

182 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
lects of men. If, however, this line be the right one, I
doubt not but that he will take it. If he appear before
England as the Doctor of Prayer like his Divine Master,
no better preparation could be made for any doctrinal
Encyclical he may issue later on. This is a matter which
needs much prayer, because the Pope has to be guided by
Our Lord and the Holy Ghost, for of himself he is a
man, and would naturally follow mere human instincts
unless aided from above. A great work for the con
version of England is thus now in the balance, and
next week or so may determine whether I am under
a delusion or not as to some of the measures that
should be adopted by the Holy Father. The Pope's
character is to undertake nothing which he does not
first make entirely his own. It must go through his
own mind and come out as part of himself. My letter
to him has been a very bold thing to do ; but I have
done it very deliberately. Lord Halifax is expected
out here and the Pope will see him — nay, wishes to
see him. Halifax and his party are anxious to get
some kind of recognition — anything that can suggest a
hope of recognition will serve their purpose. They wish
to keep people from becoming Catholics individually
and tell them to wait for a Corporate Reunion. This
will never be till after the Last Judgment — and all
the poor souls that will be born and will die in heresy
before the Reunion must suffer in their own souls for
this chimera of Corporate Reunion. They are also most
anxious to get some kind of assurance about their
Orders, at least the statement that they are possibly
valid! But this again is to keep souls back from sub
mission to the Church. I have my hands quite full

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 183
with pressing these facts on people here. At the same
time it is most important to keep in touch with these
people, and if possible to lead them into the truth.
The Holy Father is full of charity, and full of hope,
and of a desire to accomplish a great work. I there
fore hope he may begin by the supernatural weapon of
prayer. I hope you will help in prayer during the next
week or so specially."
In this letter we may see the genesis of the Pope's
letter Ad Anglos and the great doctrinal Encyclical De
Unitate, which were the preludes to the Bull Apostolicae
Curae containing the final decision as to Anglican
Orders. The Apostolic Letter of Pope Leo XIII, Ad Anglos,
was published in England on the 22nd of April, 1895.
It was addressed, not to the Anglican Archbishops or
to the Church of England, but to the whole nation —
"To the English people who seek the Kingdom of
Christ in the unity of the Faith." It was simply an
invitation to the English people to pray ceaselessly for
light to know the truth in all its fulness. The Tablet
said at the time : —
" The Holy Father is not addressing the Anglican
body, but all the English who desire the union of
Christendom. He is not dealing with any particular
ecclesiastical organisation, but rather inviting all Chris
tians who desire a particular end to join with him in
praying for it. His method is not diplomacy, or negotia
tion, but simply prayer. It is precisely this indifference
to all the ways of human diplomacy, and the frankness
of the appeal to the supernatural, which stamps the
character of the Encyclical. Disappointment is expressed

184 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
in many quarters because the Pope is silent upon such
questions as those of Anglican Orders and clerical
celibacy. Such disappointment is born of a radical mis
conception of the Pope's purpose, and from a notion that
Leo XIII had been contemplating a sort of ecclesiastical
round-table conference, at which give-and-take and com
promise and finesse were to bring about the union of
Christendom. Some irresponsible persons were so im
pressed with this idea, that they already speak of the
Apostolic Letter as a futility. We must sweep away
and dismiss utterly from our minds any misapprehen
sion of this sort before we can begin to appreciate the
memorable appeal Ad Anglos. From end to end there
is not an allusion to any of the ordinary human means
for bridging over differences. The whole world of
diplomacy is left far away, and we are lifted into a purer
and serener atmosphere — the atmosphere of prayer."
Towards the close of the letter Ad Anglos, addressing
himself to his own spiritual subjects, Leo XIII called
upon Catholics to recite the Rosary for the conversion
of England, and granted certain indulgences for doing
so. Noting this, the Guardian said, on April 27th,
1895 :—
"Probably the fact that the religious practices which
are conspicuously mentioned in the letter — besides prayer
to God — are the granting of indulgences, the use of the
Rosary, and the practice of prayer to Mary and the Saints
will be taken as evidence that the Roman Church is not
prepared to reconsider any question of doctrine or worship.
Those who adopt this view, however, can hardly have
noticed that this part of the letter is addressed exclusively
to English Roman Catholics, and simply bids them direct

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 185
their ordinary devotions to the special object of restoring
unity. It would have been difficult for the Pope to intro
duce such a recommendation to his own special children
in any other way."
Cardinal Vaughan's paper, commenting on this pas
sage, said : —
" It would be difficult to imagine anything much more
disheartening than these words. How is any common
understanding possible when the leading Anglican journal
can seriously suppose that to soothe Protestant suscepti
bilities or to smooth the way for conversions, or for any
gain whatever, the Catholic Church would abandon the
Rosary, and renounce the intercession of the Mother of
God ? It is no kindness not to speak frankly to men who
can feed their hopes with such vain dreams as these."
Even Lord Halifax seems to have regretted these open
references to such unpopular things as the use of the
Rosary and the Invocation of the Saints. No doubt they
were calculated to chill the welcome with which many
Anglicans would otherwise have been ready to hail the
Encyclical. Something of this feeling seems to have been
reflected in a letter of this period from Mr. Wilfrid Ward,
who throughout had done all that was possible to smooth
the way for Lord Halifax's hopes. The trend of the letter
appears sufficiently from the Cardinal's reply : —
" Lord Halifax told me of his regret, and I replied
that had there been no distinctive note such as that
sounded in the address to Catholics, the Holy Father
would have laid himself open to imputations of a certain
want of openness, of dishonesty, or at least to the accusa
tion of an astute diplomatic trick. He might have taken
in and conciliated some by such suppressio veri for a time.

186 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Many papers have pointed out that the parts the Pro
testants dislike are addressed not to them but to Catholics.
I believe that the Pope was as much inspired in the last
part as in the first ; and he has thereby saved the situation
from what would have been misleading and a muddle. I
also am greatly pleased with the reception given to the
Apostolic Letter."
On this point, at least, the Archbishop of Canterbury
agreed with the Cardinal. Writing to Lord Halifax, he
said : " X. thinks the Encyclical excellent, except that it
names two things sufficient to spoil its effect — Indulgences
and the Cultus of the Virgin. I said I thought that the
Pope was trying his best to be honest, that hereafter it
might not be said that his letter had compromised
doctrine or held out any hope of modification." There is
an entry also in the Archbishop's diary of this period
quoted by his son which shows how well he had grasped
the situation : " A useful talk with Lady Crawford. Her
feeling is strong on Halifax's behalf. But she admits that
he minimises the difficulties on his own side, and minimises
the difficulties that good Romanists must feel. If the
difficulties on their side can be explained and smoothed
away, why have they made so many suffer the loss of all
things for their sakes ? " Why, indeed ! Altogether the
reception of the Apostolic Letter by the writers in the
English Press was marked by much kindliness of feeling
and was a source of much gratification to the aged Pontiff.
But, though Lord Halifax considered the Pope's
reference to the Rosary and Indulgences deplorably
injudicious, his incurable hopefulness quickly reasserted
itself, and at the annual meeting of the English Church
Union in June, 1895, he was still confident that the

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 187
validity of Anglican Orders would yet be established.
After noting that the efforts of the Jesuits and the English
Roman Catholic authorities had so far been completely
baffled, he said : —
" The failure of these attempts, which is certainly due
to the personal intervention of the Pope himself and of
Cardinal Rampolla, is a sufficient proof of what the feel
ings and dispositions of the Vatican are. These are as
friendly as possible, and if the letter addressed by the
Pope to the English nation is well received, it is certain
that Leo XIII is willing, and, indeed, is already preparing,
to take other and more direct steps in the way of further
ing a better understanding. Meanwhile, a revolution is
being effected in the way the whole question of English
Orders is being considered by such foreign ecclesiastics as
have had the opportunity of acquainting themselves with
the De Hierarchia Anglicana, in which the argument for
their validity has been admirably stated in Latin by the
Rev. T. Lacey and the Rev. E. Denny. Hardly any one
who has studied the book but admits how strong the case
is for their validity. Great admiration has been excited
by the preface prefixed to the treatise by the Bishop of
Salisbury ; and, if nothing is done to divert the present
current of feeling, there is every reason to believe that the
question will be put on such a footing that it will be safe
from the danger of any fresh attack such as has been made
within the last six months, and that the opinions published
by the Abbe Duchesne, Monsignor Gasparri, &c, will
remain in possession of the field."
All that was fairly matter of opinion, but the following
sentence was read at the time by all Catholics with some
thing of a sense of bewilderment : —

188 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
" Were the Roman authorities convinced that the
English Church really desired peace and union on the
basis of the faith of the undivided Church, and that its
theologians, without distinction of party, were prepared to
consider favourably any explanations which might be
offered — in order to see if Reunion might not be eventually
possible without any sacrifice of principle on either side—
I believe that the question of a recognition of the validity
of English Orders would present comparatively little
difficulty." After reading these words Cardinal Vaughan may well
have wondered whether there was ever to be an end to
misunderstandings, and whether these dreamers would
ever learn that the decision of the Holy See must follow
and be determined -by the evidence, and that the only
thing that was even possible in the way of concession
was to offer to examine and sift the evidence anew.
To do so much Pope Leo had already made up his
mind. Cardinal Vaughan took the opportunity afforded by
the annual Conference of the Catholic Truth Society
once more to affirm that Reunion presupposes submission,
and has nothing whatever to do with the question of
Anglican Orders : —
" The air has been full lately of ideas suggestive of
what is a useful and reasonable thing in all mere human
differences, namely, that they should be settled by mutual
concessions — in other words, by compromise. I admit fully
that it may seem hard to expect those who do not realise
with us the fundamental principle on which the Church is
built, to regard us as reasonable when we tell them that
the first condition of Reunion must be that all should

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 189
accept — accept, mind, and not merely permit us still to
hold — whatever the Church teaches and has defined on all
matters of doctrine. They can, however, all see that if
this be our firm and only standpoint, no purpose —
certainly no honest and straightforward purpose — can be
served by allowing any doubt to exist as to the possibility
of compromise on any matter of doctrine. Fortunately,
the Reunion of Christendom, so far as we are concerned,
may be reduced to one simple consideration — to the
solution of one point of difference. What, in the ultimate
analysis, is the meaning of the Reunion of Christendom ?
It means a return to the constitutional union which
existed before the break-up of Western Christendom in
the sixteenth century. Until then all the nations of
Europe, all the nations of Western Christendom, were
united to the Apostolic See of Rome. There was not one
of them which did not accept the authority of the See of
Peter and profess spiritual allegiance and obedience to the
Pope. It was a constitutional, corporate union of the
head and the members. Reunion, then, must mean a
return to the visible Union which formerly existed, when
there was but one united body under one visible Head.
Nothing else could be called Reunion without confusion of
thought. Now it is best to be perfectly frank and definite.
The kernel of the question of the Reunion of Christendom
consists in the admission of the Roman claim that the
Pope has received, by Divine right, authority to teach and
govern the whole Church, as defined, for instance, in the
Councils of Florence, Trent, and the Vatican, and as set
forth by Thomas Arundell, Archbishop of Canterbury, in
the formulary drawn up as a test of Catholic doctrine in
141 3, and approved by the Convocation of Canterbury.

190 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Or all this may be briefly summed up in the famous
axiom of St. Ambrose, ' Ubi Petrus ibi Ecclesia' "
In the same address he publicly announced that a
commission of scholars would be appointed in Rome to
consider the whole question of Anglican Orders.
The year 1 896 saw the publication of the Encyclical
De Unitate, which by the irony of things was destined to
put an end to the movement in favour of Reunion, and
also of the Bull Apostolicae Curae, which laid to rest the
vexed question of Anglican Orders. The De Unitate,
known from its opening words as the Satis Cognitum, was
published at the end of June. It was the natural sequence
to the Letter Ad Anglos. The first document had
exhorted all to prepare by prayer for the Reunion of
Christendom, and the second stated the terms on which
that Reunion might be brought about. The Encyclical
was of great length, but its effect can be stated in
a single sentence. It asserted as a first condition of
Catholic unity the acceptance as of faith of the divinely
appointed jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome over the
whole Church. Everything taught by the Councils of
Trent and of the Vatican is covered by that claim.
Whatever else might be said of this Encyclical, none
could deny that its meaning was absolutely clear. On
this point, at least, friend and foe were agreed. The
Cardinal's paper said : —
" To truth-seeking souls perplexed by the mists and
the mirage which mischievous illusions had gathered
round the path of duty and salvation, there could surely
be no more genuine or paternal kindness than this noble
frankness of plain speech in due season. With the love
of Truth, not less than the love of souls in his heart,

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 191
Leo XIII has left nothing undone to make smooth the
return-path to the fold, while at the same time never even
by a syllable has he sought to minimise or disguise from
the souls whom he invites the fulness and the sacred
rigour of the unchangeable conditions of Catholic Com
munion. No one who seeks admission at her gate can
say that the Catholic Church has hidden or kept back an
iota of what she requires of him. It is this Apostolic
charity of honest speech and plain dealing which seems to
stand out among the most salient characteristics of the
Encyclical." The comment of the Times, speaking from the opposite
pole, was to the same effect : —
" Like the epistle Ad Anglos, which Leo XIII gave to
the world about fifteen months ago, this declaration of
Papal policy is dignified, temperate, and charitable. But,
even more than the former utterance of the Roman
Pontiff, it makes clear that in no single particular, either
of doctrine or of discipline, will the claims of the Papal
See be relaxed to meet the aspirations for what is known
as Reunion among a section of those bred up in the faith
of the Church of England. The Pope leaves those who
persisted in misinterpreting his original letter no shadow
of an excuse for their delusion. The terms on which
alone reunion is declared to be possible are plain and
simple. They are complete and unhesitating acceptance,
not only of the primacy, but of the paramount and
absolute predominance, of the Roman Pontiff over all
professing to belong to the Christian Church, the entire
submission of the heart and mind, the intelligence and
conscience of Christendom to the decrees of the Papal
See."

192 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Cardinal Vaughan at once sent the following letter to
the Times : —
" The Holy Father has just published an Encyclical on
Christian Unity. Though addressed to the Bishops of the
Church, it may be useful to point out that, like the Letter
Ad Anglos, it concerns all in England who take an active
part in the movement for the Reunion of Christendom.
" A common basis of agreement is required. Some of
our countrymen think that Corporate Reunion may be
achieved on the basis of an amicable federation of indepen
dent communities calling themselves Christian. Others
are for tying up what they call the Roman, Greek, and
Anglican branches or obediences into one ; yet so that
each shall be independent of the others. Others believe
that Corporate Reunion may be attained by professing all
the doctrines taught by the See of Rome, with exceptions.
Others, again, would regard the Church of Christ as an
invisible creation, internally uniting all good men in bonds
of faith and charity, while externally all such bonds are
cruelly torn asunder. How far these and the like theories
are admissible by Catholics may be gathered from this
Encyclical De Unitate.
" In his earnest desire to promote Reunion the Holy
Father last year invited all who seek the Kingdom of God
in the unity of faith to address prayers to God for light
and guidance. This year he has carried the project a step
further by publishing an authoritative statement as to the
basis on which Reunion, whether of individuals or of
corporate bodies, with the Catholic Church is possible.
With true and considerate charity he has fully and clearly
explained the grounds, founded in revelation and reason,
of the terms or conditions which he deems essential. They

THE REUNION OF CHURCHES 193
will come with no surprise to Catholics and to the
educated, by whom they were generally known. But
some, perhaps a considerable number, have been under the
strange delusion that it was in the power of the Holy
Father to modify, or even to dispense altogether with,
the ancient terms of communion, in order to bring about
so desirable and blessed an end as the Reunion of
Christendom. " Whatever be the reception accorded to this most
important Letter De Unitate, all will admire its unreserved
sincerity and its paternal charity. It will, no doubt, dispel
vague and hazy theories, which are rich only in delusive
hopes, while, by God's grace, it will make clear the path to
all who believe they ought to walk in it."
There is no doubt that the Cardinal welcomed the
Pope's outspoken words. They put an end once and for
ever to the mischievous illusion that there was some easy
royal high-road to the Catholic Church, some way to
reconciliation apart from the way of submission.

II

CHAPTER VI
ROME AND LAMBETH: THE POPE, THE
CARDINAL, AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
SHORTLY after the announcement at the Preston
Conference in September, 1895, that the Holy See
was about formally to reopen the question of the validity
of Anglican Orders, a committee was formed in London,
under the presidency of Cardinal Vaughan, to consider all
the evidence. This committee was composed of about a
dozen leading theologians, all of them well acquainted
with English Reformation history. From these a sub
committee of three was appointed as an executive to
prepare a small treatise embodying the results of the
deliberations of the whole committee. In March, 1896, a
further step was taken, and Leo XIII appointed an Inter
national Commission to meet in Rome and examine and
report upon the question in all its bearings. Clearly it
was out of the question for the Holy See to try to find
commissioners who should be impartial in the sense that
they could approach the question without prepossessions
and with an open mind. That attitude was almost impos
sible for men who had made a study of the subject. What
was possible was to choose competent scholars who were
also fair-minded men and open to argument. At the
same time the known opinions on either side were so far
taken into account, that care was used to see that both
parties should be equally represented on the Commission.
194

ROME AND LAMBETH 195
As at first constituted the Commission consisted of six
members — Padre de Augustinis, S. J., M. l'Abb6 Duchesne,
Mgr. Gasparri, Abbot Gasquet, O.S.B., Father David
Fleming, O.S.F., and Canon Moyes. Of these the three
foreign members were avowedly so far in sympathy with
the Anglican claims, that they favoured a verdict which
should at least justify ordination sub conditione, while
opposed to it were the three English members who had
been appointed by Cardinal Vaughan.
The Commission assembled in Rome towards the
middle of March, 1896. It held its first conference on
Tuesday, 24th, in a room on the first floor of the Vatican
Palace, known as the Sala delle Congregazioni. At this
and all subsequent sittings of the Commission Cardinal
Mazella presided. He took no deliberative part in the
discussions of the Commission, but afterwards, when the
report came to be considered by the Cardinals of the Holy
Office, the fact that he had heard all the arguments on
both sides, and so had become familiar with every phase
of the controversy, was calculated to lend great weight
to his opinions. The only other person present at the
deliberations of the Commission was Mgr. Merry del Val,
who acted as Secretary. After the preliminary meeting
it was suggested that though Mgr. Duchesne and his
colleagues, who were in favour of the Anglican claims, had
the advantage of the unofficial assistance of the Rev.
Mr. Lacey and the Rev. Mr. Puller and other members of
the Church of England, they might yet be at a certain
disadvantage in not having an English representative of
their own views actually on the Commission.1
1 Messrs. Lacey and Puller came to Rome and acted throughout with the
Pro-Anglican side of the Commission, much as solicitors who work with

196 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
When this was represented to Cardinal Vaughan, and
it was accordingly proposed that Father T. Scannell, who
in this country had been regarded as sympathetic with
the Anglican claim, should be sent out, the Cardinal not
only assented at once, but volunteered to pay all Father
Scannell's expenses. The Commission was now unevenly
divided. To redress the balance a well-known Spanish
Capuchin theologian, Fr. Jose Calasanzio de Llevaneras,
was appointed to be the eighth member.1
The announcement of the personnel of the Commission
seemed to give general satisfaction in England at the
time. Lord Halifax, speaking in April at a meeting of
the English Church Union, after once more explaining
that he and his friends welcomed the inquiry, not because
they had any doubts, but as a means to an end, as a way
to that better understanding which was a necessary pre
liminary to Reunion, went on to claim that the choice
of the commissioners showed the Pope to be acting
with, the same object in view: "How completely the
Pope understands this is proved by the whole course of
his action, and by his having himself placed on the
Commission the Abb6 Duchesne, Mgr. Gasparri, Father
Scannell, and the Padre de Augustinis, a Jesuit and a Pro
fessor of the Roman College, all of whom are known
in various ways to be favourable to the claims of the
Church of England." The task of the Commission was
to consider all the evidence, to weigh it and sift it,
counsel, supplying them with information from England as required, and
searching in the Vatican and other libraries. One of them had an informal
letter from the Archbishop of York.
It is interesting to note that of those present at the meetings of the
Commission, three have since become Cardinals — Mgr. Merry del Val, Mgr.
Gasparri, and Fr. de Llevaneras.

ROME AND LAMBETH 197
and to present a series of reports. The evidence thus
collected was to be laid before the Cardinals of the
Holy Office, presided over by the Pope in person, for a
final decision.
The task of the Commission was greatly simplified by
Abbot Gasquet's discovery of certain very important
documents in the archives of the Vatican in the spring
of 1895. Obviously in any inquiry as to the validity of
Anglican Orders it would be very important to ascertain
what was the attitude of contemporary Catholics towards
the Edwardine Ordinal. Specially how did Cardinal Pole
act when he came to London with the express object
of reconciling England to the Holy See? He was
sent by Julius III as his Legate and as his "Angel of
peace and love." He had every possible motive to do
whatever he could to smooth the way to submission, and
we know that in the case of the confiscated Church
property he made wholesale concessions. We may be
sure that if, consistently with the known facts, he could
in 1555 have acknowledged or regularised the ordinations
which had taken place in the two and a half years during
which the Edwardine Ordinal had been in force, he would
have done so. From this point of view Cardinal Pole's
action is of the deepest interest. It is in fact the judg
ment and practice of the Church pronounced and applied
to the question of Anglican Orders at a time when the
issues were still fresh in the minds of all, when the chief
persons concerned were still living, when the historical
evidence which bears on the question was actual and lay
easily within the reach of all inquirers. When the con
troversy was first forced upon the attention of Cardinal
Vaughan the uniform practice of the Church with regard

198 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
to Anglican Ordinations for the last two hundred years
was, of course, well known. The question had been raised
in 1844 in the case of Dr. Ives, Anglican Bishop of
North Carolina, U.S.A. It was decided in Rome, in
accordance with a precedent dating back to 1704, when
an inquiry was held as to the validity of Anglican Orders
in the case of Dr. Gordon, Bishop of Galloway. The
question was examined historically, canonically, and
theologically, with the result that Clement XI, by a
decree dated April 17th, 1704, declared the Orders to be
invalid, " through defect of form, matter, and due inten
tion." The Gordon case itself followed an earlier prece
dent of 1684, that of a certain French Protestant, who had
been ordained in accordance with the Edwardine Ordinal.
In both cases the reasons for the decision were not special
to them, but of universal application. It may be added
that technically the case of 1684, although decided by the
Reporter of the Commission in a sense hostile to the
validity of Anglican Orders, was not carried to its issue
of formal condemnation on account of the political
troubles of the moment. With regard to Cardinal Pole,
however, although the fact that he consistently treated
the Orders conferred by means of the Edwardine Ordinal
as invalid was not in doubt, the circumstances and reasons
for the condemnation were involved in some obscurity.
In January, 1895, Abbot Gasquet, having been en
trusted by Leo XIII with the task of drawing up
a memorandum as to the traditional way in which
Anglican Orders had been regarded by the Holy See,
undertook the formidable task of searching through all
the Papal Registers of Paul IV. There were rows of folio
volumes, each of 800 or 1,000 pages, and with no index.

ROME AND LAMBETH 199
The Abbot worked for a week without success, and
might have gone on working for many weeks more but
for the impulse which led him suddenly to try his fortune
with the last volume of the series, and there he found the
Bull Praeclara Charissimi, dated June 20th, 1555.
When Cardinal Pole arrived in England he found the
clergy composed of two classes : those who had been
ordained under the Catholic Pontifical and those who
were ordained under the new Anglican Ordinal. How
were the latter to be treated ? Pole referred the ques
tion, together with less important matters connected
with the confiscated Church property, and irregular ap
pointments to benefices, to Rome. Three delegates were
sent as Ambassadors to the Holy See — Sir Edward
Came, Lord Montagu, Bishop Thirlby of Ely (Norwich).
With them they took a full and minute description of the
Anglican rites of Ordination, and this document was
found by Abbot Gasquet among the collection of docu
ments registered as despatches of Pole's Nunziature in
Inghilterra. But more important for the Roman authorities than
any document was the living witness of Bishop Thirlby.
No man of his generation was better qualified to enlighten
the Cardinals of the Holy Office as to the significance of
the changes which had taken place in England. A Bishop
under Henry VIII, he held his See under Edward VI,
throughout the schism, and had taken a leading part in
the debate which preceded the introduction of the First
Prayer Book of 1549. He knew the changes introduced by
the new Ordinal, and why they were made, and was in a
position to explain the significance of the systematic
elimination of everything referring to the sacrificial powers

200 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
of the priesthood. The Bull Praeclara Charissimi, issued
on the 20th of June, 1555, deals with all the points which
Cardinal Pole had submitted to the Holy See. In regard
to the validity of Ordinations according to the Edwardine
Rite Paul IV declares that "those who have been pro
moted to ecclesiastical Orders by any one not a Bishop or
Archbishop validly ordained are bound to receive these
Orders again from their Ordinary, and in the meantime
must not minister in the said Orders." A few months
later, on October 30th, 1555, the Pope issued a Brief, or
letter, in explanation of the Bull. To make his meaning
perfectly clear Paul IV wrote : " We, wishing to remove
all doubt, and opportunely to provide for the peace of
conscience of those who during the schism were promoted
to Holy Orders, by expressing more clearly the mind and
intention which we had in the aforesaid letters, declare
that it is only those Bishops and Archbishops who are
not ordained and consecrated in the form of the Church,
who cannot be said to have been validly and lawfully
ordained. It is for this reason that persons promoted
to Orders by such men have not received Orders, and
therefore are bound to receive such Orders from their
Ordinaries." In the official precis endorsed on the Brief we read :
" He declares that only those Bishops and Archbishops who
were not ordained or consecrated in the Form of the
Church cannot be said to be duly and rightly ordained, and
consequently the persons ordained by them ought to receive
the said Orders anew from their Ordinary. But others who
were ordained by Bishops and Archbishops who were
ordained and consecrated in the Form of the Church,
although they were schismatics and had received their

ROME AND LAMBETH 201
churches from Henry VIII and Edward VI, have received
the character of the Orders bestowed on them, and lack
only the execution, and consequently the dispensation of
His Holiness and of the Legate has rehabilitated them to
this execution."
When we bear in mind that the judgment of Paul IV
had reference to the concrete case brought before him, its
meaning is too plain to be mistaken. He was dealing with
England where there were two sets of clergy — one ordained
under the Pontifical and the other under the new Ordinal.
The Pope had before him a full description of the rites used
in the new Ordinal and then decided that recognition
should be given only to those ordained by Bishops " in
the Form of the Church." With two specific Ordination
books before him the Pope decided the case, Pontifical v.
Ordinal, and said in effect — Acknowledge the clergy made
by Bishops ordained under the first, but ordain de novo
clergy made by Bishops under the second.
Abbot Gasquet's success among the Archives of the
Vatican was supplemented a few weeks later when,
searching in the town library at Douai, he discovered a
copy of the Bull Praeclara Charissimi entered in Cardinal
Pole's register, with his attestation of having received it.
This removed the doubt which might have been felt
whether the Bull, though drawn up and entered in the
Papal register, had ever in effect been promulgated. It
will be noted that the Bull Praeclara Charissimi, con
demning Anglican Orders on account of the inherent
invalidity of the rite, was issued three years before the
date assigned to the " Nag's Head " story. The discovery
of these three documents not only shortened the labours
of the Pontifical Commission, but, obviously, was well

202 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
calculated to have an important influence on the decision
of the Holy See. Leo XIII had ordered that the whole
question should be considered anew; but it was at least
antecedently probable that the same evidence would bring
the same verdict and that the facts which had convinced
judges of the sixteenth century as to the invalidity of
Anglican Orders would also serve to satisfy the judges of
the nineteenth.1
Father Scannell arrived in Rome on Saturday, April
4th, and the second meeting of the Commission was held
on the following Tuesday. For the next four weeks
meetings were held twice and sometimes three times a
week, each meeting lasting several hours. The intervals
between the discussions were utilised by both sides for
private conferences and in preparing written refutations
of arguments already advanced. Absolute secrecy was
imposed on all the members of the Commission, and an
armed sentry stood before the doors of the antechamber
to secure the complete privacy of the proceedings. There
was at first some hesitation as to which of the two
languages which were common to all the members of
the Commission, its President, and its Secretary should
be the medium of the discussions. Some were urgent in
favour of French; but the Englishmen had a shrewd
suspicion that the use of French might tend to prolong
the debates inordinately, and so finally Latin was chosen.
1 Until the reasons which underlay the decisions of the past had been clearly
ascertained there was always the possibility of finding that Anglican Orders
had been treated as invalid on grounds which, in the light of modern scholar
ship, would be held insufficient. For instance, if it had been found that in
Cardinal Pole's day they had been treated as invalid solely because the
porrectio instrumentorum was wanting, undoubtedly the decision would have
been disregarded.

ROME AND LAMBETH 203
I am indebted to a member of the Commission, Canon
Moyes, for the following account of its procedure : —
" The method adopted by the Commission was similar
to that observed by the Roman Congregations. Each
member or group of members presented a printed state
ment of their opinion and the grounds upon which their
conclusions rested. Copies of these vota were communi
cated to all other members, and copies of theirs received
in return. Each one could further issue a reply to each,
and thus a repeated exchange of written arguments
constituted what we may call the documentary part of
the discussion. The study and preparation of these
documents occupied a considerable part of the intervals
between the sessions. The sessions were devoted to the
oral part of the discussion. A general programme, or
agenda, was agreed upon by the members, a given point
or number of points being taken for consideration each
session. The member at the right hand of the President
began by stating his opinion on the point and the argu
ments on which he relied for defending it. Each of the
other members followed in turn, meeting or supporting
these arguments, as the case might be, by such evidence
as he could adduce for the purpose. When all had
spoken, each member was free to add anything to what
he had already said, or to reply to, or throw fresh light
upon, any point that might have arisen in the course of
the discussion, or to add any independent evidence which
he might consider relevant to the inquiry. At certain
sessions, when the work of the inquiry had reached
given etapes, or well-defined stages, the Cardinal President
obtained from the Commission the ad interim results of
the investigations, not by expressing any opinion of his

204 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
own, but by dictating a few main questions, on which he
required each member to state his conclusions in writing
and deliver them for record to the Secretary. (This
process is analogous to that of a judge who at various
stages of a prolonged trial should put a series of points
to the jury, but requiring from them, not a collective
oral, but an individual written answer.) The action of
the President was thus purely confined to guiding the
orderliness of the discussion. On no occasion and in no
way did it extend to any control, in the sense of sup
pressing or shutting out any consideration that could be
offered, or debarring any point from discussion. Thus
the freedom of debate was absolutely intact. The whole
of the oral discussions, with the written answers and all
other important pieces of written evidence, were admir
ably recorded each day in what was practically a verbatim
report by the Secretary, and read for verification or
correction in the form of minutes, or acta, at subsequent
sessions. "At the close of the Commission — that is, when its
members by a unanimous vote had agreed that the subject
had been sufficiently discussed — all these acta, with all the
accompanying documents, including therefore the whole
body of the evidence, passed upwards to the Holy Father
and into the hands of the Congregation of the Cardinals,
which formed the second court of inquiry. The lines
upon which the discussion in the Commission proceeded
were as follows : It was agreed that the Commission
should first examine what was the nature and what were
the grounds of previous decisions of the Holy See upon
Anglican Orders. This investigation included an exami
nation of all the documents relating to the mission of

ROME AND LAMBETH 205
Cardinal Pole (including the Summarium of Pole's petition
which Abbot Gasquet had found in the Vatican Archives),
the documents of the case of 1684 a"d those of the further
case of 1704, with all the vota and correspondence con
nected therewith. It had for its object to ascertain not
merely the facts whether or what the Holy See had
decided, but what were the reasons upon which it acted,
and whether they could be considered accurate in the
light of theological and historical research at the present
day. The whole dossier of the documents of the Commis
sion of 1684 and 1704 was placed at the disposition of the
Commission. The evidence of the former, which was prac
tically decisive in the latter, was specially interesting, as it
had been sometimes asserted in England that the practice
of the Holy See unfavourable to the validity of Anglican
Orders was based on decisions made at a time when
Roman theologians were to a large extent in ignorance of
the Eastern forms of Ordination. The documents of the
Commission of 1685 revealed the fact not only that it was
perfectly aware of the researches made by Morinus, but
that the great Eastern 'scholar, Assemani, had himself
taken part in its labours, and amongst the documents were
transcripts of the Eastern Ordinatidn forms made by his
hands from the Pontifical used in the Greek and various
Eastern Churches.
"After this the Commission proceeded to the second
and main part of the inquiry, the consideration of the
question of Anglican Orders in itself and on its own
merits — viz., purely ab initio, apart from any consideration
of any decision or practice of the Holy See affecting it,
and devoting itself to the three main points : Have
Anglican Orders a succession from a valid minister?

206 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Have they been conferred with a valid form and
intention? Under the first heading was examined the
whole evidence for and against the consecration of Barlow.
Under the second, which the Commission felt to be the
main and decisive issue, was considered the sufficiency of
the Anglican Ordinal. In this part of the inquiry the
members had the fullest liberty to adduce any and every
evidence from the earliest times bearing upon the nature
of Holy Orders and the conditions of their validity.
Finally, the Ordinal was examined in the light of its origin
and history, according to the liturgical purpose for which
it was constructed."
Visits of courtesy were interchanged between the
members of the two camps into which the Commission
was divided, and there were opportunities for informal
conversation at the end of the sessions. That the four
members of the Commission who favoured the validity of
Anglican Orders not only fought every inch of the ground,
but did so with the zeal and energy of eager advocates, is
beyond doubt. Contemporary evidence as to the impres
sion created by their conduct of the case is supplied by
the references to them scattered through a series of letters
written by one or other of the Commissioners to Cardinal
Vaughan. The following extracts tell their own tale :
" Here our conferences are going on just as usual. We
had a long one this morning of more than two hours, and
we are all well satisfied with the result. The opposition
for the most part is not one which can be easily convinced,
but we have fully stated our case, and our arguments go
into the Acts, and we have full confidence that they will
be appreciated when the case goes before the Holy
Office. Our meetings take place now twice a week, and

ROME AND LAMBETH 207
the intervals are taken up in preparing statements and
replies. N. called upon us and stayed for nearly an hour
discussing the several issues. He is very frank and genial,
but one who will evidently do his utmost in the cause he
has undertaken." " The Opposition are evidently bent on
a sub conditione decision and are not of a kind open to
conviction, so that all we can do is to put our arguments
as effectively as we can and stand firm in our voting. I
hear on the other side that B. has said he is very well
satisfied with what he has done, and that if the Archbishop
of Canterbury only knew how he has fought for him he
would give him a gold medal." " That the Opposition will
leave nothing undone or untried is certain."
In the same letters we get a glimpse of Mr. Lacey and
Mr. Puller, who not only visited all the Cardinals of the
Holy Office under the guidance of the Abbe" Portal, but
seem to have visited almost every convent in Rome.
Their descriptions of the spiritual life of the Church of
England, and particularly of its monastic revival, appear
to have impressed the nuns immensely, so that whole
communities were engaged in prayer that any decision
might be averted which was likely to hinder the move
ment in favour of Reunion.
As soon as the minutes of the discussions at
each meeting of the Commission had been transcribed
and put into order they were taken to the Holy Father.
Leo XIII very quickly saw the direction in which
the weight of evidence was tending. The growing cer
tainty that Anglican Orders could not escape con
demnation must have come almost as a disappointment
to Pope Leo. He had so hoped that before he died
he might see some step taken which would bring the

208 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Reunion of Christendom visibly nearer. He began to
see that Cardinal Vaughan's estimate of the situation was
the right one.
On the other hand, the supporters of the Anglican
claims in this country, as the work of the Commission
drew to a close, were more and more confident that the
result would be a change in the attitude of Rome, and that
henceforth Anglican clergymen would be only condition
ally ordained. Above all they were satisfied that an
absolute condemnation was out of the question — that
the Holy Office would simply remain silent if unable
to affirm the validity of the impugned Orders. There
are many passages in the confidential letters above cited
which witness to the untiring energy with which the
Anglican cause was pressed, and specially to the attempts
which were made to ward off an adverse decision by
persuading the Pope that it would have a fatal effect upon
public opinion in England. Such sentences as these may
serve to show what was believed in Rome at the time :
" The whole group, with the Anglicans, will do their
utmost to frighten the Pope, on the plea of hindering Re
union, either into giving a sub conditione decision, or into
giving no decision at all." " N. tells me that the other
side are bringing a great deal of influence to bear upon
the Pope, and that he has received letters from many
quarters impressing on him that if he gave any decision
against Anglican Orders he would effectually close the
door upon any hope of Reunion, not only now, b\&for ever
in the future"
Quite in this strain is the famous letter which was
written at this time — May, 1896 — by Mr. Gladstone.
Addressed to the Archbishop of York, it was at once

ROME AND LAMBETH 209
published and translated into Italian for the convenience
of the Holy See. It created a deep impression in Italy,
and was everywhere accepted as a manifesto representing
the wishes of the High Church party. At the outset the
writer made it clear that he took it for granted that there
would be no decision adverse to Anglican Orders : " It is
to the last degree improbable that a ruler of known
wisdom would at this time put in motion the machinery
of the Curia for the purpose of widening the breach, &c."
Mr. Gladstone only glances at the calamity of an un
favourable decision, because he has been assured that such
a thing is out of the question. " But the information
which I have been allowed, through the kindness of Lord
Halifax, to share altogether dispels from my mind every
apprehension of this kind, and convinces me that, if the
investigations of the Curia did not lead to a favourable
result, wisdom and charity would in any case arrest them
at such a point as to prevent their becoming an occasion
and a means of embittering religious controversy."
Then was held out before the dazzled eyes of Rome
the picture of the transformation which the Church of
England had undergone. The following lines may be
compared with the passage dealing with the same subject
in Cardinal Vaughan's address .at Preston in September,
1894:— "The writer has viewed [continued Mr. Gladstone]
with profound and thankful satisfaction, during the last
half century and more, the progressive advance of a great
work of restoration in Christian doctrine. It has not been
wholly confined within his own country to the Anglican
Communion ; but it is best that he should speak of that
which has been most under his eye. Within these limits,
it has not been confined to doctrine but has extended to
II p

210 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Christian life and all its workings. The aggregate result
has been that it has brought the Church of England from
a state externally of halcyon calm, but inwardly of deep
stagnation, to one in which, while buffeted more or less by
external storms, subjected to some peculiar and searching
forms of trial, and even now by no means exempt from
internal dissensions, she sees her clergy transformed (for
this is the word which may advisedly be used), her vital
energies enlarged and still growing in every direction, and
a store of bright hopes accumulated that she may be able
to contribute her share, and even possibly no mean share,
towards the consummation of the work of the Gospel
in the world. Now the contemplation of these changes
by no means uniformly ministers to our pride. They
involve large admissions of collective fault. This is not
the place, and I am not the proper organ, for exposition
in detail. But I may mention the widespread depression
of evangelical doctrine, the insufficient exhibition of the
person and work of the Redeemer, the coldness and dead-
ness as well as the infrequency of public worship, the
relegation of the Holy Eucharist to impoverished ideas
and to the place of one (though doubtless a solemn one)
among its occasional incidents ; the gradual effacement of
Church observances from personal and daily life. In all
these respects there has been a profound alteration, which
is still progressive, and which, apart from occasional
extravagance or indiscretion, has indicated a real advance
in the discipline of souls, and in the work of God on behalf
of man. A single-minded allegiance to truth sometimes
exacts admissions which may be turned to account for the
purpose of inflicting polemical disadvantage. Such an
admission I must now record. It is not to be denied that
a very large part of the improvements has lain in a direc
tion which has diminished the breadth of separation
between ourselves and the authorised teaching of the
unreformed Church, both in East and West, so that, while
on the one hand they were improvements in religious
doctrine and life, on the other hand they were testimonials
recorded against ourselves and in favour of bodies outside
our own precinct; that is to say, they were valuable
contributions to the cause of Christian Reunion."

ROME AND LAMBETH 211
Here was Mr. Gladstone echoing the words of Cardinal
Vaughan, and both proclaimed in the face of the English
people that the Established Church had been transformed
within the last seventy years. And should the Pope be
the man to check this great movement leading a whole
people back towards Rome ? Then Mr. Gladstone went
on to hail Pope Leo as a great peacemaker and to express
his own belief in the competency and fairness of the
investigating tribunal. The aged Pontiff had shown his
yearning for peace "first in entertaining the question of
this inquiry, and secondly in determining and providing,
by the infusion both of capacity and of impartiality into
the investigating tribunal, that no instrument should be
overlooked, no guarantee omitted for the probable attain
ment of the truth." Finally, Mr. Gladstone conjured up a
splendid vision of what might be if no untoward decision
came to dash the hopes of reconciliation. Alluding to the
" laying on of hands " and the consecration of the priest
hood, he said : " It is surely better for the Roman, and also
the Oriental Church, to find the Churches of the Anglican
succession standing side by side with them in the assertion
of what they deem an important Christian principle, than
to be obliged to regard them as mere pretenders in this
behalf, and pro tanto to reduce ' the cloud of witnesses '
willing and desirous to testify on behalf of the principle.
These considerations of advantage must, of course, be sub
ordinated to historic truth, but for the moment advantage
is the point with which I deal."
That point of " advantage " was the sole theme of the
letter. It offered in effect a magnificent bribe, and it was a
bribe that presented itself to Pope Leo in the guise that of
all others was fairest to him. And the bribe may well

212 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
have seemed greater and nearer than it was. It was
difficult for Italians, so long accustomed to regard Mr.
Gladstone as the representative Englishman, to under
stand that on this occasion he was the spokesman not of
the nation, but only of one section in the Established
Church. But in fact the whole dream was based on a
misunderstanding, and a misunderstanding that under all
the circumstances was most natural and even inevitable.
For those who had taken the initiative in seeking a further
investigation into the question of Anglican Orders had
not sought that for its own sake. Lord Halifax has told
us that what was wanted primarily was some point of
contact, some subject which might give an opportunity
for an exchange of explanations, and for the promotion
of a better understanding. From that point of view an
adverse decision would not be merely a calamity but also
an absurdity. For the purpose which Lord Halifax and
his friends had in view the question of Anglican Orders
was most unfortunately chosen. There are questions upon
which it is at least conceivable that the Church might
make concessions, such, for instance, as the celibacy of the
clergy or the practice of Communion under one kind.
When the Church is asked to modify her own laws it is
legitimate to point to the advantages which might be
expected to follow. But the validity of Anglican Orders
is largely a simple question of fact. Nor, once raised,
could the question be easily left without an authorita
tive answer. For it was a serious question affecting the
ordinary life and practice of the Catholic Church in this
country. Every year there are convert clergymen who
wish to become priests. In such cases it imperatively
concerns the Church to know whether the convert is truly

ROME AND LAMBETH 213
a priest or only a layman. If he is a validly ordained
priest he cannot, without sacrilege, be reordained. If he
is a layman, he cannot, without worse than sacrilege, be
sent to minister at the altar. Here, then, was a question
of everyday practice, a question of domestic concern,
which once raised had to be determined one way or
another. If further proof were wanted of the unfortunate mis
conception which at that time coloured the hopes of the
leaders of the Reunion party, it may be found in the
publication of the pamphlet De Re Anglicana. The
Commission in Rome had finished its work — the last
sitting had been held on May 7th, the reports of the case
had been sent to the Holy Office, Father David Fleming
had already left for England, and Mgr. Moyes and Abbot
Gasquet, who had lingered on owing to some work which
could be done only in the Vatican library, were preparing
to follow, when a new move on the part of their opponents
was sprung upon them. In the first days of June they
were surprised to receive, through Cardinal Mazella, copies
of a Latin pamphlet, De Re Anglicana, which had been
written by Mr. Lacey and was being circulated among
the Cardinals, and purported to give a true account of the
past history and present condition of Anglicanism. The
work was, of course, too late to affect the labours of the
Commission, but it was hoped that it might still influence
the higher tribunal which now had the arrayed evidence
before it. The object of those who circulated this state
ment is apparent on the face of it. It was designed to
persuade the Roman authorities that the Golden Apple of
Reunion was within their reach, if only they were not
imprudent. It insisted that the Church of England had

214 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
never ceased to be Catholic and was never so Catholic in
its tendencies as at that moment. As showing how near
she was to coming to Rome, the writer made this remark
able statement : " The multitude of nuns vowed to poverty
chastity, and obedience, who devote their lives to the
various works of charity, is so great that there are now
more vowed to religion than there were at the time of the
Reformation in England." J
Of course, it had to be admitted that sad things had
happened to the Church of England since the schism,
but the Catholic leaven had been there all the time and
now it was moving the whole mass. The pamphleteer
boldly explained that the Puritan party had been
" conquered " though it had not disappeared. And it
would be a mistake to suppose that the Anglican Church
was any longer the slave of the State.
" Against the Civil Power we have won rather a real
than a splendid victory, so that the liberty we enjoy is
greater than it appears. In the year 1856 it was obtained
that the provincial Synods, which had been silenced for
more than a hundred years, should resume their sittings.
The definitions concerning faith and doctrine, which the
Royal Council had dared to put forth, and which at first
indeed disturbed the minds of some, are now contemp
tuously treated with neglect. But when the Civil Power
attempted to intervene in matters concerning worship
it was openly resisted with all available strength. It
was a question of observing the rubric in a Catholic sense.
The Puritan party, fearing this specially, and seeing their
cause daily declining, had recourse to the law courts, and
when the ecclesiastical courts defended the Catholic sense,
1 " Monalium inclusarum nonnulli conventus erecti sunt ; religiosarum votis
paupertatis, castitatis et obedientiae adstrictarum, quae in variis caritatis operi-
bus vitam degunt, tanta est multitudo ut jam plures religioni devotae sint quam
quae tempore reformationis in Anglia extarent."

ROME AND LAMBETH 215
they appealed to the Royal Council. By the judgment
of this [tribunal] the Catholic sense was condemned : but
when the greater part of the clergy refused to obey this
the civil rulers, by a new law made in Parliament (in the
year 1874) attacked those whom they called Ritualists.
Thence arose a great commotion. Several priests were
cast out of their churches, and five, named Tooth, Dale,
Enraght, Green, and Bell Cox, were confined to prison
until they would make their submission ; all of these were
either by error of the courts or lapse of time set at liberty
without making submission, and the Church finally settled
down to peace from these tumults. Now it seems almost
incredible that such things should have taken place.
Concerning the same matters, a trial was instituted
against the Bishop of Lincoln, and the Archbishop of
Canterbury, ignoring the judgments of the civil tribunals,
decided the matter by his own authority in a Catholic
sense." x
In conclusion the pamphleteer makes use of these
significant words : " We have entered into the question
of Anglican Orders, not indeed that we suppose that the
whole root is contained in it, but that we trust that
thereby a way may be opened up for the conciliation of
minds." The whole argument of the pamphlet came to
this — the Church of England is ripe for Reunion ; we
have broached the question of the validity of her Orders
as a step towards the " conciliation " of men's minds, and
so as to make easy the final step ; an adverse decision
now would put an end to the prospects of Reunion
and prevent the recapture of the British Empire by the
Church of Rome.
Abbot Gasquet and Mgr. Moyes felt that the picture
of the Church of England presented in De Re Anglicana
' " ArchiepiscopusCantuariensis edictis civilium tribunalium neglectis, rem
propria sua auctoritate, in sensu Catholico determinavit."

216 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
was so misleading that, after communicating with Cardinal
Vaughan, they decided to prolong their stay in Rome
and to issue a reply. Within eight days this reply, known
as the Risposta, was written, printed, and circulated among
the Cardinals. It pointed out briefly that though certain
Catholic doctrines were devoutly held by a fraction of
the Church of England, known as Ritualists, they were in
no sense representative of that body as a whole. As to
the statement that the majority of the Anglican Bishops
were Catholic in their opinions, the Risposta said :
" Amongst forty Bishops only three show some favour
for Ritualistic doctrines, namely, the Bishop of Lincoln,
the Archbishop of York, and the Bishop of Salisbury.
But even these three deny the doctrine of Transubstantia-
tion. They admit the Sacrifice of the Mass in the sense
of a commemorative Sacrifice. They teach the Real
Presence in the Eucharist in a Lutheran sense, holding
that the matter of bread and wine remains, and main
taining with heretical terms a spiritual presence which
cannot well be defined." And even the Ritualist
minority, though they talk of Reunion, never contem
plate the only Reunion that the Pope could consider.
They are not prepared to accept the supremacy of the
Pope dejure divino or the decrees of the Vatican Council.
The Risposta continues : " It is plain to every one that the
same conclusion must be drawn from the celebrated
letter of Mr. Gladstone to the Archbishop of York. In
it, although expressed in a multitude of words, the author
has always before his mind the Anglican Church as
independent, and, as an equal and integral part of the
Church of Christ, on a par with the Greek and Roman
Churches. ' He invites the Roman Pontiff to join this

ROME AND LAMBETH 217
triple alliance, in order that these three Churches may
defend against the unbeliever the dogmas of the Trinity,
the Incarnation, the Apostolic Succession. He wishes
to persuade the Pontiff to recognise a certain equality
between these Churches ; and to accomplish this
dream he employs the language of deferential adulation
to obtain the recognition of Anglican Orders. The
illustrious Liberal leader, who sought to destroy the
work of the Vatican Council under Pius IX, would seek
to-day, under Leo XIII, to render it meaningless."
Having placed a copy of this Risposta in the hands of
the Holy Father, and after having been received in final
audience on June 18th, Abbot Gasquet and Mgr. Moyes
returned to England.
The next three months was a time of uncertainty and
doubt, and the wildest rumours were afloat as to what
the ultimate decision of the Holy See was likely to be.
Lord Halifax's friends, obsessed by the idea that the
inquiry had been undertaken as a measure of conciliation
to smooth the way to Reunion, were confident that the
result would be in accordance with their wishes. On the
other hand Cardinal Vaughan was satisfied that any
careful consideration of the circumstances attending the
creation of the Edwardine Ordinal must necessarily be
fatal to Anglican Orders. Meanwhile, the conviction that
the whole movement for Corporate Reunion, while futile
in itself, was also doing great harm, by preventing
individual conversions, received curious confirmation from
an incident which occurred about this time. On the 14th
of July, 1896, a meeting of the Society for Promoting
the Reunion of Christendom was convened for the purpose
of listening to an address from the Abbe Portal.

218 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
The Abbe could unfortunately speak only in French,
but at the close of the address Lord Halifax repeated
the substance of it in English. Other speakers on the
occasion, besides Lord Halifax, were the Rev. Mr. Puller
the Rev. Mr. Lacey, Mr. Athelstan Riley, and the late
Dr. F. G. Lee. The meeting was strictly private, so that
all might speak with perfect freedom. One of those
present, however, took down a very full report of all the
speeches, and afterwards sent it to Cardinal Vaughan.
This report differs considerably from the one which
afterwards appeared in the Guardian, but whichever
version of the Abbe's remarks we adopt, they appear to
have been sufficiently remarkable. Referring to the
subject of individual conversions, he contrasted that
method of bringing England back to Catholicism with
the movement in favour of Corporate Reunion and
declared a strong preference for the latter: —
" And this is not only because it is the only method
likely to lead to any large practical results, but also be
cause it is most in harmony with our principles. Our
fundamental principle is the principle of authority ; more
over, this method of Corporate Reunion is more in confor
mity with the principle of authority, because it saves the
individual from the torture of doubt and other risks incurred
by a personal investigation of the faith. You say to a soul
which by its past, by its education, by the graces it has
received, is bound by all the chords of its being to this or
that Church — you say to such soul, ' You are in error, and
outside the true Fold.' Who does not feel the suffering
and doubt which is thus produced? It is not, however,
the suffering on which I wish to dwell. Who does not
see the danger of such a shaking of the whole roots of
the spiritual life ? We hear much of conversions ; but
we are not told so much of those converts who have gone
back to their original faith, or have lost their faith alto-

ROME AND LAMBETH 219
gether. One might name instances of men who were
first Anglicans, then Catholics, and have finally ended in
the most absolute scepticism. Such cases are the con
sequences of the method of procedure which may be neces
sary, but which is often dangerous in itself. And this
is the only method which in the opinion of some people
is to be adopted for the Restoration of Unity. All souls
are to be subjected to this torment of doubt and deadly
disquietude. They have to ask themselves whether the
graces they have received are real graces, or the illusions
of the devil — whether the Holy Ghost has been acting
on the soul or whether the soul has merely been the play
thing of its own imagination. And if it must be owned
that these distresses have been a necessary lot of
Anglicans in the nineteenth century, at least, if it be
possible, let the Anglicans of the future be spared such
torments." Cardinal Vaughan read these words with indignation
and regret. He saw in them the confirmation of his worst
fears as to the secret tendencies of the movement, and a
revelation of the secret hopes of its promoters. Here was
a Catholic priest who had been so led astray by his
association with this group of Anglicans that he was
actually deprecating, and on principle, any further
attempts to bring individuals into the Church. The
audacity of the position was its most obvious note, but
for the Cardinal every other consideration was lost in the
knowledge that it was also plainly heretical. To make
conversions of individual souls to the unity of the faith
is part of the very life and function of the Catholic Church.
The most sacred work of the Church is to press the claims
of her message upon the conscience of every individual
she can reach and get to listen to her teaching. It is
equally the duty of the listener, at the peril of his soul,
to follow the call of conscience and of Truth whatever

220 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
may be the difficulties through which he may have to
pass to the possession of it. When " the Master calleth "
there is no alternative but to " arise and go quickly."
Any opinion, therefore, which goes to deny the duty of
doing that work, of seeking conversions, or disparages the
need of its being done, or implies that such work is not
desirable, or that it makes for evil rather than good, is
simply heretical, and he that holds it, or utters it, offends
against Catholic faith. All that was at once set out, and
with the utmost possible plainness, by the Cardinal's
earnest wish, in the columns of the Tablet. And even if
it could be contended that the Abbe Portal's disparage
ment of individual conversions was only relative, and the
result of his preference for wholesale methods, the case
would not be greatly improved. Not even the wildest
of the dreamers can have supposed that Corporate Re
union was going to be accomplished at once, or even
within the lifetime of the present generation. So that,
taking the most favourable view of the Abbe's words, they
were a cruel disservice to any among his audience who
were honestly and anxiously seeking for the unity of the
Faith. He had condemned the only means whereby that
which, from the Catholic point of view, and therefore his
own, was a supreme good, could be accomplished. Nor
did the Cardinal regard the Abbe's address as less mis
chievous because it was very illogical. The process of
individual conversion was objected to because it involved
renouncement of old beliefs, and so "a shaking of the
whole roots of the spiritual life." But what would happen
in the case of Corporate Reunion? The Church which
had been in schism, and every individual composing it,
would have to disavow its past, and renounce sundry of

ROME AND LAMBETH 221
its beliefs, just as completely as if the reunion and sub
mission were taking place by units instead of collectively.
There was only one way out of this dilemma, and that
was not open to the Abb6. If he had contended that the
Anglican Church is not a sect but an integral part of
the Catholic Church, his reckoning with Rome could not
have been long delayed. Such a plea is, of course, plainly
untenable by a Catholic The confused thinking which
underlies the Abbe's main argument cannot be better
laid bare than it was at the time in the Cardinal's
organ : —
" Let us suppose that the dream of the Reunionists has
come true. It is the Sunday after the general recon
ciliation of the Anglican Church with the Church of Rome
by the method of Corporate Reunion. Let us place
ourselves in the position of one of the Anglicans thus
reconciled, and endeavour to enter into his feelings.
What does he believe ? He now conscientiously believes
that Christ gave to St. Peter and to his successors, the
Roman Pontiffs, jurisdiction over the whole Church.
Unless he accepted that truth reconciliation for him and
his fellow-Anglicans would have been impossible. But
this being so, what is he to think of the Reformation ? By
the very logic of the belief just mentioned he must regard
it as a detestable revolt against the word and the work of
Christ ; and by every sentiment of loyalty to Christ he
must abhor in the future what he called ' blessed ' in the
past. What is he to think of the Established Church as
founded on the basis of this revolt ? He could not, without
treason to Christ, think or speak of such a system, as a
system, with affection or approval. His love for the friends
he had known there, his gratitude to God for the whole
chain of graces which, in his spiritual past, had been given
to his soul, would indeed remain unchanged, if not enhanced.
But his religious past, in so far as it is associated with
a heretical and schismatical body, would stand condemned
in his conscience as a thing to be abjured and repented

222 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
of in whatever degree he wilfully and wittingly took part
in it. "If this be so, what becomes of the plea that Corporate
Reunion would spare the convert the breaking with the
past and the sundering of the ties that bound him to the
religious system to which he previously belonged ? Will
the sundering of the ties, or the shock ' to the roots of his
spiritual life,' be less because he knows that the sundering
and the shock affect not only himself but his whole com
munion ? "

It may be thought that Cardinal Vaughan's sense of
proportion failed him when he attached importance to
the irresponsible utterances of a foreign ecclesiastic so
obviously ill-informed as to the religious difficulties of this
country. He attached importance to the address of the
Abb6 Portal because he saw in it the reflection of the
wishes and views of the whole Reunion party. If a
Catholic priest could be found to see in the Corporate
Reunion movement an argument for stopping and con
demning individual conversions, how natural it was
for sincere Anglicans to take the same line ! In other
words, he took the Abba's address as additional
evidence that the talk about Reunion was being
designedly used to prevent individual secessions, and
to silence the scruples of persons who were beginning
to feel that their position as members of the Established
Church was untenable. The whole position made a very
unpleasant impression upon the Cardinal, and this should
be borne in mind when we are considering what the
Archbishop of Canterbury, a few months later, described
as " Vaughan's insolent scholia."
The Cardinals of the Holy Office, after a month's
consideration of the evidence placed before them by the

ROME AND LAMBETH 223
Pontifical Commission, assembled on Feria 5, the 16th
day of July, 1896, to deliver their judgment. It may be
explained that ordinary meetings of the Supreme Council
for the ratification of Decrees usually take place on
Wednesdays and are marked Feria 4. The rare and
solemn sessions which are held for exceptionally important
business, and in the presence and under the presidency
of the Pope himself, are held on Thursdays, and are
marked Feria 5. No such Court had assembled in the
Vatican for more than a hundred years. The importance
of the session was marked by the unusually large
attendance of Cardinals. Even the aged Cardinal Martel
was carried into the Council-room in his armchair. The
decision was unanimous, and declared that Anglican
Orders are absolutely invalid. From the Council of the
Cardinals the case passed to the Sovereign Pontiff. After
a further interval of some weeks, the Bull Apostolicae
Curae was published on the 13th day of September, 1896.
It confirmed the decision of the Holy Office, and con
demned the Orders of the Church of England as certainly
null and void. After referring to the decisions of Julius III,
Paul IV, and Clement XI, as conclusive as to the mind of
the Church in the past, the Bull went on to consider anew
in detail the question of the Anglican Ordinal. It was
declared fatally defective both as to form and intention. In
other words, the Pope decided that the English Reformers
had succeeded in doing what they certainly intended to
do — in compiling a form of Ordination from which the
idea of sacrifice, of consecration, and the Sacerdotium
should be wholly excluded. As Mgr. Moyes at the time,
summing up the case, said : " The Holy See could not
ignore the Fact of Exclusion — the fact that the authors

224 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
of the Ordinal systematically eliminated all parts of the
Catholic rite which contained the signification of the
Sacrificial Office. It sufficed to take the Ordinal in one
hand and the Sarum Pontifical in the other, or the Com
munion Service in one hand and the Missal in the other,
and put the two side by side, and the fact of exclusion
stood glaringly revealed, not once or twice, but in no less
than some forty-nine parts throughout the whole ritual
structure. The Holy See, with the best will in the world,
could not accept that fact as unintentional. The mere
juxtaposition and comparison of the two liturgies would
by itself have sufficed to refute such a theory. But, if
need be, there was the testimony of Cranmer, of Ridley,
and of those who were themselves the chief authors of the
Ordinal and Prayer Book in 1552, and of those who
adopted and revised it in 15 59. And further, if need be,
there was the testimony of the whole religious literature
of the Anglican divines for a hundred years after the
accession of Elizabeth. And, if need be, there was the
testimony of the traditional Protestantism of England
to-day, to bear witness to what their fathers thought and
did with the Mass and the altars at the time of the
Reformation." And it is to be noted that as the Orders of the Church
of England were condemned — that is, declared to be not
Catholic Orders — solely on the ground of the insufficiency
of the .Ordinal, nothing at all was decided about the
doubtful consecration of Barlow.
In Mr. Gladstone's letter to the Archbishop of York
it was suggested that, as something towards conciliation,
the Holy See should put on record any finding favour
able to the Anglican claims under any one of these three

ROME AND LAMBETH 225
heads : (1) The external competency of the consecrators.
(2) The external sufficiency of the commission they have
conferred. (3) The sufficiency of intention. "Even the
dismissal from the controversy of any one of these three
heads would be in the nature of an advance towards
concord, and would be so far a reward for the labours
of His Holiness, Leo XIII, in furtherance of truth and
peace." Such a suggestion was natural enough from
the standpoint of those who valued the investigation
chiefly as an opportunity for friendly intercourse and
mutual explanations. But that was not the Pope's point
of view. He had before him a supremely practical ques
tion. He was not writing a treatise on Anglican Orders,
but giving judgment as to their validity, and his decision,
therefore, did not trouble itself with doubtful grounds,
but confined itself to the certain grounds of invalidity,
namely, the defect of form and intention. In this respect
the Bull Apostolicae Curae does but follow the precedents
set in 1685 and 1704. The archives in each case show
that Anglican Orders were then condemned for precisely
the reasons which form the basis of the decision con
tained in the Bull of Leo XIII, so that if any Catholic
wishes hereafter to write a treatise on the whole subject
he will still have to note and reckon with the doubts
connected with Barlow's consecration just as if the recent
Bull had never been issued. In other words, the objections
to Barlow's episcopal character remain after the Bull
precisely what they were before.
A week after the publication of the Bull the annual
Catholic Conference was due to take place at Hanley.
A large part of Cardinal Vaughan's inaugural address
on the occasion was naturally devoted to the question
II Q

226 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
of the hour. He was still under the impression left
by the extraordinary utterance of the Abb6 Portal and
his allies at the private meeting of the Society for
Promoting the Reunion of Christendom on the 14th
of July, 1896. He now regarded the Corporate Re
union movement as an evil thing, and one that was
being used to delay or hinder conversions. And what
he saw clearly he was resolved to say clearly. Dealing
first with the question of Orders, he said : —
"The Holy See, having taken everything into con
sideration, acted in the only way that was possible, namely,
upon the evidence and the merits of the case. It has
never had difficulty in recognising as valid the Orders
of the Greek and other Eastern Schismatics, because
the evidence of their validity is sufficient. And now
it has not condemned Anglican Orders because they
were Anglican, or given in heresy or schism. It has
condemned them simply v because the evidence has con
clusively proved them to be null and void. Some of
our Anglican friends have declared that this denial to
them of Apostolical Succession and Orders closes the
door against the Reunion of Christendom so far as they
are concerned. But if they be true to their former
professions this can only be said under the effect of
pardonable irritation and disappointment. The validity
of Anglican Orders could never form even a single plank
in the platform for either Corporate or Individual
Reunion. "Reunion means submission to a Divine Teacher.
When men have found the Divine Teacher and deter
mined, at whatever cost, to submit to Him, there will be
Reunion. And Reunion with the Catholic Church can

ROME AND LAMBETH 227
never take place on any other terms. This was well known.
The question of Anglican Orders, therefore, was never
in it. Others had already confided to the public months
before judgment was delivered that they intended not
to care for the Papal decision, if adverse : that they had
quite made up their minds to rest satisfied with such
Orders as they have. To this I reply, Be it so. They
are responsible to their Judge, not to us, for their words
and acts. As usual, in their misfortune they reproach
the Apostolic See. But with their mouth full of re
proaches, they must face this fact : that neither Jansenist,
Russian, Greek, nor any of the Eastern sects who possess
valid Orders have ever been able or willing to recognise
the validity of Anglican Orders. These stand alone,
shivering in their insular isolation — and worse ; for they
are disowned within their own Communion as well as
by the immense majority of the English people. ' Securus
iudicat orbis terrarum.'
"But there are grave and earnest men and women,
not standing in the front line, who are more independent
and weigh matters for themselves. They realise all that
is at stake. How can they any longer trust in a sacra
mental system which is condemned as null and void by
the Catholic Church ? How shocking to adore as very
God elements that are but bread and wine, and to bend
down after auricular confession in order to receive a
mere human and useless absolution ! "
No one after that could say the Cardinal had hidden
the truth in a cloud of words, or given excuse for the
illusion that there is any road to Reunion except by the
way of submission. He dismissed the question for ever
in these words : —

228 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
"Tarry not for Corporate Reunion. It is a dream, and
a snare of the Evil One. We have all to be converted to
God individually ; to learn of Christ, to be meek and
humble of heart individually ; to take up our Cross and
follow Him individually, each according to his personal
grace. The individual may no more wait for Corporate
Reunion than he may wait for Corporate Conversion.
The obligations of Faith and submission to the Church
are as peremptory and as binding upon the individual
as are the obligations of Hope, Charity, and Contrition.
And who that waits can promise himself a continuance
of time or of grace ? ' Work while it is day ; the night
cometh when no man can work.' "
Those who remember Cardinal Vaughan at that time
know that he went to Hanley in a stern mood. Not the
less, he had a very tender feeling in his heart for those
of the High Church party for whom the decision of the
Holy See meant pain and distress. No one who was
sincere in his seeking for religious truth was ever wholly
outside the pale of his sympathy. Something of this
feeling struggles to find expression even in the passages
in which the position of his opponents is described with
the most uncompromising plainness : —
" But many will reply, and have replied, ' We cannot
disbelieve in the efficacy of Anglican Orders, because we
have experienced sensible proofs of the grace which they
have wrought in our souls. We cannot disown the breasts
that nurtured us. Is not the tree known by its fruits?'
To this I answer, We have no difficulty in believing that
you have received these visitations of grace, and that you
have received them at the times when you frequented
Sacraments that were absolutely null and void. That

ROME AND LAMBETH 229
you, being in perfect good faith and sincerity, should have
received grace from God is no more proof of the validity
of Anglican Orders than it is of the truth of the Anglican
system. I am quite ready to believe that Anglicans and
others outside the Church may receive many graces while
in good faith and devout dispositions they frequent even
fictitious Sacraments, administered by men who are
equally in delusion as to the validity of their Orders."
The address ended characteristically with an appeal
to the people for prayer and an invocation of the aid of
the Mother of God.
In one respect, at least, the way in which the Bull
Apostolicae Curae was received in this country was a
pleasant surprise to the Cardinal. It caused far less
offence and gave rise to far less misunderstanding than
he had feared. He attributed this in some measure to
two sanely tolerant articles which appeared in the Times,
and explained the position taken by the Holy See with
great clearness. It was with reference to these two
articles that the Archbishop of Canterbury in a letter to
the Bishop of Winchester, dated 1st of October, said :
"But what do you now say about the Times? Surely there
can be no doubt now that it has an undeniable Roman
Catholic tone — the article on the Encyclical and the
article which accompanied Vaughan's oration are abso
lutely Roman, only the fingers that write are covered
roughly with the skin of the kid."
When once it was understood that the aggressive
words "Condemnation of Anglican Orders" meant that
Orders given in the Church of England are not Orders
in the Catholic sense of Orders, conveying the power of
the Catholic priesthood, and that it was only in this sense

230 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
that they had been pronounced invalid, any feeling of
soreness, as far as the general public was concerned,
quickly disappeared. There seemed even a general dis
position to agree with the Pope. The ordinary layman,
who had never dreamed of crediting his clergyman with
anything in the nature of miraculous powers, was not
concerned when he understood that it was only these
which were denied him. In fact, it was soon apparent
that, if the Holy See had proclaimed that the Anglican
clergy were indeed " sacrificing Mass priests," with power
to forgive sins, and even to change bread and wine into
the Body and Blood of the Living God, the national
dissent would have found unmistakable utterance. The
Cardinal waited for any expression of opinion on the
part of the individual Bishops of the Establishment or
groups of them. He was confident that no collective
reply from the Anglican Hierarchy would ever be
attempted.1 1 The Bull Apostolicae Curae elicited a reply, not from the collective body
of the Anglican Bishops, but from the two Archbishops of Canterbury and
York. It endeavoured to meet the indictment of Leo XIII that the Anglican
Ordinal did not signify a Sacerdotium, or sacrificing priesthood, by maintaining
that in the Anglican rite there was a sacrifice of " thanksgiving," an offering
of gifts, and of the souls of the worshippers, &c, all of which clearly fell
short of what the Catholic Church means by the Eucharistic Sacrifice. In
response to this the Catholic Bishops at once issued a rejoinder — A Vindica
tion of the Bull Apostolicae Curae— -in which they brought the whole issue to
a crucial point by inviting the Anglican Archbishops to say publicly and
plainly and frankly, in view of this argument, whether they did or did not
mean that in the Anglican Eucharist there was a true Sacrifice of the Body
and Blood of Christ really and objectively present on the altar.

CHAPTER VII
THE TERM "ROMAN CATHOLIC" AND THE
ROYAL DECLARATION
CARDINAL VAUGHAN took the opportunity of
the Annual Conference in Newcastle to say a
word as to the use of the term " Roman Catholic."
In themselves the words are dear to every Catholic.
They stand for the affirmation that the Catholic Church
is the Church which is in visible union with the
Roman See of Peter. They are familiar to us through
their use in connection with the army and the navy,
the prison administration, and the public elementary
and industrial schools. But recent developments of
ecclesiastical controversy have done something to make
them equivocal. Cardinal Vaughan knew that they were
being used in two senses. While Catholics used them to
signify the members of the one Church of Christ which
has Rome for its centre, Protestant controversialists were
using them to convey the suggestion that there are other
Catholics — Catholics who are not in communion with the
Holy See. According to their theory, there are various
sorts of Catholics, differing in doctrine — Roman Catholics,
Greek Catholics, and Anglo-Catholics.
In view of this double meaning which had come to
attach to the term " Roman Catholic," Cardinal Vaughan
231

232 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
felt it was very undesirable that it should' be used except
in circumstances which made ambiguity or misunder
standing impossible. When, therefore, in 1897, on the
occasion of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, it was pro
posed to present an Address of Congratulation from the
Catholic Hierarchy on behalf of the Catholics in England,
Cardinal Vaughan, in submitting a draft Address for the
approval of the Home Secretary, Sir Matthew White
Ridley, avoided the words " Roman Catholic," and instead
used the form " The Cardinal Archbishop and Bishops of
the Province of Westminster." The Home Secretary at
once took exception, and on two grounds. He contended
that the proper form was " The Roman Catholic Cardinal
Archbishop and Bishops in England and Wales ; " and,
secondly, that in any case the Home Office could not
recognise " territorial titles which have no validity, though
the penalties for assuming them have been repealed."
A subsequent letter stated that the correct style was " The
Roman Catholic Archbishop and Bishops in England."
The Cardinal tried to meet the difficulty by dropping all
territorial allusions, and suggested the phrase " Bishops of
the Catholic Church in England." This also was objected
to, and in the end the Address was not presented at all.
There was the less difficulty in withdrawing it because it
appeared that Catholics were not in the privileged list,
so that their representatives would not in any case have
been received by Her Majesty in person.
At the beginning of the new reign Cardinal Vaughan
received an intimation — or perhaps in fairness to others
I should say, what he regarded as an intimation — that if
the Catholic body wished to present an Address to the
King, no difficulty would be raised as to their way of

"ROMAN CATHOLIC" 233
describing themselves. The Cardinal's view of what took
place appears with sufficient clearness in the following
extract from a letter to the Home Secretary, Mr. Ritchie :
" Permit me to recall certain facts connected with the
address to the Queen on the occasion of her Jubilee in
1897. Seeing that the Queen was receiving many deputa
tions, I inquired whether it would be agreeable to Her
Majesty to receive one also from her loyal Catholic
subjects. The answer was, No, that we were not on the
privileged list. Nevertheless, we ventured to draw up an
Address to be presented on behalf of the Catholic Bishops
in the ordinary way. We at first described ourselves in
the usual style, 'The Cardinal Archbishop and the Bishops
of the Province of Westminster.' This was sent back to
me from the Home Office erasing the words ' Province
and the title of ' Cardinal,' for which were to be substituted
the words ' Roman Catholic Archbishop and Bishops in
England.' I ventured to amend the Address thus : ' The
Cardinal Archbishop and the Bishops of the Catholic
Church in England,' and to express the hope that, all
territorial allusions, Roman and otherwise, being thus
omitted, the Address might be accepted. But instead of
this, I was again requested by the Secretary of State to
adhere strictly to the terms that he had dictated. The
^consequence was that we were unable to present our loyal
address to the Queen. After this experience we were not
likely to court further failure by suggesting another
deputation. And when two or three weeks ago I was
approached to know whether I should be willing to head
a Catholic deputation to the King and present an Address,
I at once raised the difficulty as to episcopal dress and
our designation. Upon an assurance that the past objec-

234 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
tions would not be raised, the Bishops met and heartily
adopted the Address which you have now declined to
allow." How the misunderstanding arose I do not know.
It is certain, however, that Mr. Ritchie proved even more
intractable than his predecessor had been. He objected
even to the words, "We, the Cardinal Archbishop and
Bishops of the Catholic and Roman Church in England."
He urged that these words "would still imply our
recognition that your Church was the one Catholic Church
in England, whereas it is our contention that this is the
correct designation of our Church. In all the statutes
which exist dealing with the subject your Church is
described as the Roman Catholic Church, and this is the
description you yourself used in the Address of 1894
and the one I am afraid I must adhere to." This letter
was dated from Sandringham, and written on the 28th of
April, 1 90 1. The Cardinal accepted it as final, and so
had to decide either to accept the dictation of the Home
Office or to refuse to present the Address. He was very
unwilling at the beginning of a new reign to spoil the
general harmony by a note of strife. The term " Roman
Catholic " was not only quite unexceptionable in itself,
but one every Catholic is necessarily proud of. The
objection to its use was in the possibility of a mis
understanding on the part of others. He thought
the danger might be guarded against. He wrote to
Mr. Ritchie:— " April 2,0th, 1 901.
" Dear Mr. Ritchie, — In reply to your note let
me say that I have no objection to the term 'Roman
Catholic,' provided it is understood.

"ROMAN CATHOLIC" 235
" Catholics used it as early as the fifth or sixth century,
and the African Bishops wrote that ' to be Roman is to
be Catholic' Our theologians understand by the ' Roman
Catholic Church' the Catholic Church which has the
Roman See for its centre, and by ' Roman Catholics '
Catholics in communion with the See of Peter. This we
hold to be the Catholic Church.
" But your note confirms my objection to the use of
the term. By it you mean one thing, and we another.
It therefore becomes an equivocal term, and if I
deliberately use it as such I equivocate. If you tell me,
as you do, that the expression ' Roman Catholic Church '
does not mean the Catholic Church, I find myself unable
to use that expression in the sense which it conveys to
your mind. And if I should use it in my own and in
the Catholic sense, and not in yours, I owe it to you
and to myself to state frankly that we are using the term
in two different senses. I should be otherwise chargeable
with equivocation.
" There is, however, more than one way of avoiding the
difficulty : namely, that we should style ourselves 'Bishops
of the Province of Westminster,' or 'Bishops of the
Catholic and Roman Church in England.' But if we
again adopt the term used in English law, ' Roman
Catholic,' it will be necessary that I should take some
public occasion to state the meaning that we attach to
the term, so that all may know it is used by us in a
different sense to that in which it is used by you.
" I confess that I should regret our inability to present
an Address to the King just now, all the more because
I desire it should be seen that, without condoning in any
way the language of blasphemy and offence dictated by

236 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
the State to the Sovereign, we know how to maintain
loyalty in spite of insult and provocation.
" Believe me, dear Mr. Ritchie,
" Yours sincerely,
" Herbert Card. Vaughan."
Three days later, the Cardinal read an address in the
presence of the King, of which the following is the
concluding passage : " Our prayers are constantly offered
up for your Majesty, especially after the principal Mass
on each Sunday ; and we venture to assure you that
none of your subjects pray more fervently or more
frequently that your reign may be long, beneficent, and
adorned by every Christian virtue, that you may be
ever victorious in war and prosperous in peace, that
He who is the Way, the Truth and the Life may guide
and bless our King and Queen and their Royal Family
in this world and may open to them hereafter the gates
of the Eternal Kingdom."
Nothing at any time of his life made Herbert Vaughan
so restive as the feeling that he was in an equivocal
position. He looked forward to the Newcastle Conference
to make his position clear. Meanwhile, his correspondence
shows that he was very anxious to make sure of his
ground and to be neither too lax nor too rigid in his
view. A well-known Roman canonist in whom the
Cardinal had great confidence gave his opinion thus:
" There can be no doubt that we can speak of the Catholic
Church throughout the world as the Roman Catholic
Church. This way of speaking since the sixteenth century
has become quite common among our theologians, and
is found consecrated in the Profession of Faith which

"ROMAN CATHOLIC" 237
converts are bound to make when received into the Church
— ' I profess that I believe the Holy Catholic, Apostolic,
Roman Church to be the only and true Church established
on earth by Jesus Christ.' Here the term ' Roman '
plainly applies to the whole Church, and not merely to
the local Church of Rome, 'the Mother and Mistress
of all Churches.' In the schema of the dogmatic consti
tution of the Church, prepared by the Vatican Council,
there is the following canon : ' Si quis dixerit veram
Christi Ecclesiam, extra quam nemo salvus esse potest, aliam
esse praeter unam sanctam Catholicam et Apostolicam
Romanam, A. S.' . . . But as there are some in England
who give the term ' Roman Catholic ' a false meaning,
it should not be used by us without clearly stating the
meaning we attach to it. The term ' Roman ' added to the
term 'Catholic' is not to be taken in 'un senso restrittivo,'
but in ' un senso dichiarativo' In the former, the
expression ' Roman Catholic ' would be both contradictory
and heretical ; in the latter, it simply means that that
Church only is the true Catholic Church which is Roman,
namely, which acknowledges and submits to the primacy or
jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ,
Successor of St. Peter. Thus, by calling ourselves ' Roman
Catholics,' we proclaim that we belong to the one Church
which Christ founded on Peter and on his successors, the
Bishops of Rome. It seems to me that of the term
' Roman ' added to the term ' Catholic ' might be repeated
to-day what of old was said of the term ' Catholic ' added to
that of ' Christian.' Our forefathers used to say, ' Christian
is our name, Roman is our surname.' In both cases the use
of the surname is justified and required by the use made of
the name by those who were or are not of the true fold."

238 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
In his address at Newcastle in September, 1901,
Cardinal Vaughan pointed out the two meanings which
may attach to the term " Roman Catholic." He ex
plained, in the simple, popular language adapted to the
great audience he was addressing, how the term is
sometimes used by Protestants to signify that the Catholic
Church is divided into sections, which are doctrinally at
variance — Roman Catholics, Greek Catholics, and Anglo-
Catholics. On the other hand, the term "Roman Catholic"
is unobjectionable when it is understood that the first
word is simply declaratory of the second — affirming that
the Roman See of Peter is the centre of Catholic unity,
"As Christ built His Church upon Peter and his successors
in the Roman See, and as every other Church, according
to St. Cyprian, must everywhere conform to the teaching
of the Roman Church and be united in communion with
it, so it follows that Rome is the centre of the Catholic
religion." He concluded this part of his address with
some words of practical advice and guidance : —
" I would now say to you all, Use the term ' Roman
Catholic' Claim it: defend it: be proud of it; but in
the true and Catholic sense. As the African Fathers
wrote some fourteen centuries ago, 'To be Roman is to
be Catholic, and to be Catholic is to be Roman.' But I
would also say, Like your English forefathers and your
brethren on the Continent, call yourselves habitually —
and especially when the word ' Roman ' is misunderstood
— simply Catholics, members of the Catholic Church.
* The name of the Catholic* Church,' says St. Augustine,
in the fourth century, ' keeps me in the Church — a name
which, in the midst of so many heresies, this Church
alone, not without cause, so held possession of that, though

"ROMAN CATHOLIC" 239
all heretics would gladly call themselves Catholic, yet to
the inquiry of any stranger, Where do the Catholics
meet? no heretic would dare to point to his own place
of worship.' " I therefore say, Let others call themselves, let them
call us, what they please. What they think and say is
their affair. But let us assert equal liberty for ourselves
— 'Roman Catholic' or simply 'Catholic,' just as we
please, for both mean the same thing.
" Always ask for the ' Catholic Church,' address your
letters to the ' Catholic Presbytery,' speak of the ' Catholic
Priest,' the ' Catholic Bishop.' Stand on the old way,
hold to the old name: everybody understands it. Why
use two words when one will do? In dedications, pre
sentations, and addresses of a formal and ceremonious
kind, call yourselves ' Catholics ' or ' Roman Catholics,'
whichever you please. But if you use the latter term,
let it be seen that you use it in the Catholic and true
sense, and that you have not chosen a word of double
meaning for the purpose of equivocation.
" Indeed, it is important in this country that we should
call ourselves 'Catholics,' rather than 'Roman Catholics,
because a false meaning is more often attached to the
latter term than to the former. Should any one object
to your use of the name ' Catholic," it is a sign that the
time has come to assert your right to call yourself what
you like. Of course, for legal purposes and to secure for
ourselves a distinctive appellation which no one else will
dare to appropriate, the term ' Roman Catholic ' is perfect.
It is theologically correct and absolutely exclusive."
Meanwhile, the Cardinal found that he had exposed
himself to criticism from another quarter. When pre-

240 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
senting the Address he and the other Bishops, conforming
to the ceremonial usage of the English Court, had genu
flected before kissing the King's hand. The London
Correspondent of the Freeman's Journal commented as
follows : " Very natural amazement has been expressed
that his Eminence, Cardinal Vaughan, as a Prince of
the Catholic Church, should have presented an Address
on his knees yesterday to the King. In no other country
in the world would a Cardinal make this act of obeisance
to a Sovereign, not even in Spain, where the Sovereign is
a Catholic. It is certainly the acme of humility that a
Prince of the Church which the King has sworn to be
idolatrous and superstitious should waive his sacred
dignity to do homage to the Sovereign who holds his
throne by virtue of that offensive declaration."
It is true that in kneeling before the Sovereign the
Cardinal was acting contrary to the custom and etiquette
which govern such matters abroad. Neither in Vienna
nor in Madrid would such a form of homage be thought
of. And this remark applies as much to Bishops as to
Cardinals. The attention of Cardinal Vaughan was drawn
to the point only at the last moment, when it was too late
to seek the advice of the Holy See. He ascertained that
any proposal to depart from the established usage of the
Court of St. James would be very unfavourably received,
and then, after thinking the matter over very carefully
and finding no principle at stake, decided to do in London
as London does. At the same time, for his justification,
he drew up a memorandum of the reasons which led him
to depart from what is the recognised custom in other
countries. In the first place, the precedents from foreign
Courts could hardly be considered conclusive. The Court

'ROMAN CATHOLIC" 241
of St. James has its own traditions and ceremonial, and
certainly no subject of the King could appeal from them
to the usage of Courts abroad. Nor could it be said
that in genuflecting and kissing the hand of the Sovereign
the Cardinal had done anything in derogation of his rank
of a Prince of the Church. This is the only form of civil
homage which is known at the English Court, and is
performed not only by the Princes of the Blood, but
also by the Heir-Apparent to the Throne. Then, too,
the Cardinal felt that for him to refuse to conform to the
established usage of this country, and to support that
refusal by an appeal to foreign custom, would have a
deplorable effect upon public opinion. Certainly nothing
would have been more likely to lend colour to the old
calumny that Catholicism is essentially anti-national in
its character. Finally, the Cardinal felt that some con-
sideration was due to King Edward himself — a refusal,
at the very last moment, to perform the ordinary act of
civil homage would have been a poor return for the
kindness and good feeling which had led his Majesty to
set aside all precedent and to receive into his presence
the whole Catholic Hierarchy in full ecclesiastical dress
after three hundred years of proscription. To those who
are familiar with the conditions of English public life the
reasons here arrayed will probably seem amply sufficient.
There is no doubt, however, that the Cardinal's conduct
on this occasion exposed him to a good deal of unfavour
able criticism in Catholic circles abroad.
It was one of Cardinal Vaughan's regrets at this time
that at the very moment that he was doing all he
could to meet the wishes of the Court, he should have to
spoil the graciousness of his act by sending to the Home
II R

242 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Office a written statement that neither the Address to
the King, nor the deputation, was to be taken as in any
way condoning the language of the Royal Declaration —
rather they were intended to show that the Catholics of
England are loyal to the Throne in spite of insult and
provocation. In the Cardinal's view that had to be said
to prevent any possible misunderstanding. The whole
subject of the Royal Declaration was one on which he
felt deeply and strongly. It was a subject he often spoke
of, and always in a way which made one feel that the
words came straight from his heart. During the lifetime
of Queen Victoria he made more than one attempt to
get the Government to alter the law which requires the
Sovereign at the outset of his reign to offer a deadly
insult to twelve millions of his subjects. Neither he nor the
Catholic peers whom he consulted realised that when the
new reign had commenced protest would be too late. It was
more than sixty years since the offensive words had been
spoken. At that time it was generally felt that to insult
Catholicism was an obvious way to strengthen the Con
stitution. Even then a dignified protest had come from
the pen of Dr. Lingard. He says of the Royal Declara
tion : "It is not a mere profession of belief in the doctrine
of one Church, and of disbelief in the doctrine of another :
it goes much further ; it condemns ini the most solemn
manner the worship and practice of the greatest body of
Christians in the world, and assigns to them, without any
redeeming qualification, the epithets ' superstitious and
idolatrous.' ... Of all the insults which can be offered
to a man, in his character of Christian, the most offensive,
by far, is to brand him with the infamous name of
idolater."

THE ROYAL DECLARATION 243
At the beginning of the new reign the Catholic peers
sent a letter to the Lord Chancellor, asking whether it
was possible to find any means, within the Constitution,
to bring about a modification in the terms of a declaration
so offensive to Catholics all over the Empire. The
Chancellor could answer only that it was too late. Only
Parliament could alter or abolish the Declaration, and the
law required that the Declaration should be made before
Parliament could begin to legislate. By the words of the
Statute (1 William and Mary, Sess. 2, c. iv.) the Declara
tion must be made by the Sovereign on the first day of
the meeting of his first Parliament, sitting on his throne in
the House of Peers, in the presence of the Lords and
Commons, or else at the Coronation, whichever shall
happen first. If the King had been crowned before the
meeting of Parliament the Declaration would have had
to be taken at the time of the Coronation, but, in any case,
the Declaration is required by the Statute to be taken
before the Session begins. The deadlock therefore was
complete. The Cardinal, baffled at every point, then
made a last despairing appeal to the King. He wrote a
personal letter to His Majesty, imploring him to refuse
to take the Declaration. It was asking him to forfeit
the Throne.
When nothing availed, Cardinal Vaughan issued a
Pastoral Letter to his flock, in which he said : " For us
it is not so much a question of personal pain and of
gratuitous insult received, as of deep and lasting grief
for the outrage committed against Our Lord Jesus Christ,
in that mystery of His love and compendium of all His
merciful dealings with men, and against that Blessed and
Immaculate Mother who, here as everywhere, shares in

244 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
the opprobrium and sorrows heaped upon her Son, as
well as in His joys and in His glory. The evil that
we deplore is no doubt the result of an anachronism,
and of a barbaric law that has remained exceptionally,
and we may believe accidentally, unrepealed, and has
not been deliberately planned by modern legislators.
At the same time, it must be remembered that the
whole responsibility for an act and for its consequences
must rest upon those who either demand or acquiesce
in its repetition, and who, having the power, have not
the will to repeal it." He concluded by ordering a
general Communion of Reparation throughout the diocese.
And here it must be noted that the Cardinal deplored
the Declaration, not only as a Catholic, but also as an
Englishman and as a loyal subject of the King. He
regarded the Declaration as blasphemous in itself and
as wounding to the deepest and most sacred feelings of
millions of Catholics, but he knew too, and better than
most, the mischief it would do to the best interests of
the Monarchy. He knew that all the softening and
attenuating circumstances would go unheeded, and that
the fact that the Declaration was only a fossilised formula,
which, born of the panic caused by the perjuries of Titus
Oates, had got embedded in the Constitution in the
resentment of the moment, would be quite forgotten.
He read in the newspapers with regret, but without
surprise, how Mr. Healy had gone at once to Ireland
and had addressed a great gathering of Irishmen as
"Fellow Idolaters," and told them the King had made
no declaration against the religions of Mohammed or
Buddha. "Turk, Jew, and Atheist are left unscathed in
these foul words, and the only creed outraged is the

THE ROYAL DECLARATION 245
creed that honours the Virgin Mother of God and the
Divinity of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. I suggest
that by way of encouraging an intelligent loyalty in
Ireland we get the King's Declaration printed in large
letters, and, if the King's Ministers refuse to repeal it,
that we paste it on the front of every Catholic church
in Ireland and on the wall of every National school, so
that the humblest and least intelligent may see the words
by which the King demands the allegiance of Catholics."
A little later, Cardinal Logue, speaking with an
authority with which no one else in Ireland can speak,
said : " This Declaration is charged with blasphemy and
charged with insult from beginning to end ; charged with
blasphemy, because it blasphemes against the most sacred
Mystery of our Holy Religion, and speaks against her
who is the highest and holiest of God's creatures — the
ever Blessed Mother of God Himself; and it is charged
with insults branding the most virtuous amongst the
subjects of His Majesty as idolatrous and votaries of
superstition. Not only that, but there was an insult
which perhaps was greater still — the supposition which
was clearly expressed that the head of the Catholic
Church, the Vicar of Christ, the guardian of morality,
thought so lightly of the sanctity of an oath that he
would privately, and for insidious objects, give to a
Monarch ascending the Throne of England a dispensa
tion to take that blasphemous oath." In the same
address the Irish Cardinal advised his people to refuse
to enlist in the King's Forces " as long as that insulting
Declaration remains on the Statute-book of England."
Cardinal Vaughan knew, too, that these unhappy con
sequences would not be limited to the United Kingdom.

246 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Nearly half the people of Canada are Catholics, and with
what feelings would they hear that the King, as the first
act of his reign, had described their religion as idolatry
and denounced their dearest beliefs as superstitious? As
the Cardinal foresaw, the feelings of the Dominion quickly
found expression. The Commons at Ottawa, by 125 votes
to 19, on March 1st, 1901, passed the following resolution :
" That such Declaration is most offensive to all Roman
Catholics ; that the staunch loyalty of His Majesty's
Roman Catholic subjects in Canada, comprising about
43 per cent, of the entire population of this Dominion,
and throughout the British possessions, should exempt
them from any offensive reference to them by their
Sovereign ; that in the opinion of the House the Declara
tion referred to in the Act of Settlement should be
amended by eliminating therefrom all those expressions
which are especially offensive to the religious belief of
any subjects of the British Crown." The resolution was
supported by the leaders of both the great Canadian
parties. The Prime Minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, meeting
a suggestion that in passing such a resolution the Parlia
ment of Canada was acting extra vires, pointed out that a
few years before the Home Government had welcomed a
resolution from Ottawa condemning the treatment of the
Outlanders in the Transvaal. Yet how slight was the
interest of Canada in the fate of the Outlanders, which
affected her only through a handful of her emigrants.
The Royal Declaration touched the dearest interests of
half her people.
The Catholic Hierarchy of Australia drew up a form
of protest which was couched almost in the language of
menace, and then called upon the Government of the

THE ROYAL DECLARATION 247
Commonwealth to transmit it to England. "Devotedly
and joyfully our Catholic people throughout Australia
have proclaimed their loyalty to the Throne and to its
present august occupant ; but they will not endure from
any source words of insult hurled against the truths of
the Divine Faith which they profess." Then, recalling
that a third of the Australian troops fighting in South
Africa were Catholics, the protest went on : " With them
religion and freedom and loyalty go hand in hand. It
cannot be prudent, or honourable, or wise to repay their
heroism and patriotism by wanton insult, and to brand
their most sacred convictions with a stigma of infamy
from which the beliefs of other subjects of the Empire,
even of Buddhists and Hindoos and Zulus, are exempt."
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth, in promising
to forward the document, added that his Government had
already expressed a hope that the language complained of
might be revised.
But though the Cardinal regretted, both as a Catholic
and an Englishman, the unhappy consequences he saw
must result from a retention of the Royal Declaration in
its present form, he had no wish to lessen in any way
the security of the Protestant Succession. On that point
he took a very practical view. The great majority of
the people were Protestants, and he thought they were
entitled to take any steps they thought necessary to
secure that their Kings should be Protestant also. Only
surely that might be done without selecting specific
Catholic doctrines for public reprobation. He had not
the slightest objection to a form of Declaration which should
require the Sovereign to maintain the Protestant religion
or even to express his personal belief in the doctrines

248 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
of the Church as by law established. He thought it odd
that people who are always denouncing religious tests
should be so anxious to fit one for the King — but that
was their affair. Certainly no one, in spite of his con
stant ill-health, could have worked more untiringly, or
with more single-hearted devotion, than Cardinal Vaughan
did all through the spring and summer of 1901 to bring
about a settlement that should satisfy all parties. And
if, in the end, the effort failed, and the Royal Declara
tion remains, what Lord Salisbury described it, " a stain
on the Statute-book," this sorry result was certainly not
due to any want of moderation or any unreasonableness
on the part of Cardinal Vaughan.
The credit of the initiative in trying to secure a
revision of the terms of the Royal Declaration belongs
to Lord Braye. At the outset he met with small en
couragement from the Government. Lord Salisbury said
everybody " deplored " the language in which the De
claration was framed, but held out no hopes that it
could be reconsidered. A few days later, however, he
consented to the appointment of a Joint Commission of
both Houses to see what could be done. The Cardinal's
hopes then ran high. He could not conceive that it passed
the wit of man to devise a formula which, while affirming
the positive Protestantism of the King, should leave the
religion of Catholics alone. The history of the Commis
sion is the story of a comedy of errors. At the outset
Lord Herries, who moved the appointment of the Joint
Commission, said, in a spirit of conciliation, that he
saw no reason why the Catholic peers should ask to be
represented on it. " Their purpose was not to prevent the
members of the Church of England from obtaining gene-

THE ROYAL DECLARATION 249
rally that the King should remain a member of the Church
of England, but that the offensive words of the Declara
tion should be removed ; and he trusted entirely to the
impartiality and good-feeling of their Lordships to ensure
that result." No words could have better expressed the
hope and temper with which English Catholics approached
the subject. Then difficulties began. Catholic members
in the House of Commons begged to be excused from
serving on the Commission. They were in the same posi
tion as the Catholic peers, and it seemed best to let the
Protestant members settle a domestic question among
themselves. But then it was found that the Liberal
members also refused to serve. No explanation of this
refusal was given to the public — it was probably felt that
there was no popularity to be got out of what might easily
be represented as an attempt to tamper with the Protestant
Constitution of the kingdom. The idea of a Joint Com
mittee of both Houses had to be abandoned. Instead, a
Select Committee of the House of Lords was appointed to
inquire whether the language of the Royal Declaration
" can be modified advantageously, without diminishing its
efficacy as a security for the maintenance of the Protestant
Succession." In moving the appointment of the Select
Committee Lord Salisbury said, " I cannot think, if we can
possibly avoid it, we ought to allow an enactment so little
creditable to our Statute-book to remain on it without
some modification." The following were the members of
the Committee : The Lord Chancellor, Lord Salisbury,
Lord Aberdeen, Lord Tweedmouth, the Duke of Argyll, *
Lord Spencer, Lord Crewe, and Lord Dunraven. It
might have been supposed that as not a single member of
the Committee was a Catholic, and as its whole object was

250

CARDINAL VAUGHAN

to meet the wishes of Catholics, some pains would have
been taken to ascertain what would satisfy them, or at
least to find out what they believed. This was, how
ever, thought unnecessary. No witnesses were examined,
and the whole business was disposed of in the course of a
single short sitting. It may be convenient to put side by
side the original Declaration and the Amendment proposed
by the Committee : —

Old Formula.
I do solemnly and sincerely,
in the presence of God, profess,
testify and declare, that I do
believe in the Sacrament of the
Lord's Supper there is not any
transubstantiation of the elements
of Bread and Wine into the Body
and Blood of Christ, at or after
the consecration thereof by any
person whatsoever ; and that the
invocation or the adoration of
the Virgin Mary or any other
Saint and the Sacrifice of the
Mass, as they are now used in
the Church of Rome, are super
stitious and idolatrous. And I
do solemnly, in the presence of
God, profess, testify and declare
that I do make this declaration
and every part thereof in the
plain and ordinary sense of the
words read unto me, as they
are commonly understood by
English Protestants, without any
evasions, equivocation, or mental
reservation whatsoever, and with
out any dispensation, already
granted me for this purpose by
the Pope or any other authority
or person whatsoever, or without
any hope of such dispensation
from any person or authority,
whatsoever, or without thinking
that I am or can be acquitted
before God or man or absolved

New Formula.
I, A. B., by the Grace of God,
King (or Queen) of Great Britain
and Ireland, Defender of the
Faith, do solemnly and sincerely,
in the presence of God, profess,
testify and declare, that I do
believe that in the Sacrament
of the Lord's Supper there is
not any transubstantiation of the
elements of Bread and Wine
into the Body and Blood of
Christ, at or after the consecra
tion thereof by any person what
soever. And I do believe that
the invocation or adoration of
the Virgin Mary or any other
Saint and the Sacrifice of the
Mass, as they are now used in
the Church of Rome, are con
trary to the Protestant Religion.
And I do solemnly, in the
presence of God, profess, testify
and declare, that I do make
this declaration and every part
thereof unreservedly.

THE ROYAL DECLARATION 251
of this declaration or any part
thereof, although the Pope or
any other person or persons or
power whatsoever should dis
pense with or annul the same
or declare that it was null or
void from the beginning.
If the two forms of Declaration had been set side by
side, with nothing to indicate the circumstances of their
origin, the new form would undoubtedly have been
welcomed as less gross and less offensive than the old.
But it was impossible to judge them in that way. The
old formula might claim a sort of tolerance as the product
of panic, and as the frantic device of men terrified out of
their senses by the perjuries of Titus Oates. The second
formula could claim no such indulgence. Devised in a
time of profound peace, it submitted itself to the calm
judgment of the nation, and Catholics were forced to ask
themselves why Parliament, exercising its deliberate
judgment at the end of the nineteenth century, should go
out of its way to single out doctrines professed by the
majority of Christians for denunciation by the Sovereign
from the steps of the throne. But the new formula was
open to criticism of another sort. Take the following
sentence : " And I do believe that the invocation or
adoration of the Virgin Mary, or any other Saint, and the
Sacrifice of the Mass, as they are now used in the Church
of Rome, are contrary to the Protestant Religion." The
sole object of the Committee in inventing this formula was
to devise something which no Catholic could repeat.
When Cardinal Vaughan read the sentence just cited he
fairly laughed out and exclaimed, " Why, Pope Leo would
be delighted to make that statement every morning before
breakfast ! " The Committee would have solemnly com-

252 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
mitted the King to the statement that Catholic doctrines
are not Protestant doctrines. He might just as usefully
have been asked to point out that black is not white.
Again, from any point of view, it was undesirable that the
Sovereign should be called upon to misrepresent the
doctrines he was going to deny. The Committee
evidently believed that Catholics " adore " the Virgin
Mary and the Saints. When it was afterwards explained
in the House of Lords that Catholics " adore " neither the
Saints nor the Mother of God, Lord Salisbury readily
undertook that the formula suggested by the Committee
should be amended to meet the objection. Eventually
the Committee's amended formula ran thus : —
" I, A. B., by the grace of God, King (or Queen) of
Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, do
solemnly and sincerely, in the presence of God, profess,
testify and declare, that I do believe that in the Sacrament
of the Lord's Supper there is not any transubstantiation
of the elements of Bread and Wine into the Body and
Blood of Christ at or after the consecration thereof by any
person whatsoever ; and that the invocation of the Virgin
Mary or any other Saint and the Sacrifice of the Mass, as
they are now used in the Church of Rome, are contrary to
the Protestant Religion, in which I believe. And I do
solemnly in the presence of God profess, testify and
declare, that I do make this declaration and every part
thereof unreservedly."
This was so far an improvement that it did not mis
represent the beliefs of Catholics, and required of the
Sovereign a positive declaration that he believed in the
" Protestant Religion." Still, it was open to the objection
that it obliged the Sovereign to select the most sacred
article of the Catholic creed for public denial. When the
Bill giving effect to these changes got into the Committee

THE ROYAL DECLARATION 253
stage the Earl of Kilmorey moved an amendment, which,
if it had been carried, would have at once satisfied the
Catholics of the Empire and yet have effectually safe
guarded the Protestant Succession. The operative words
were : " I solemnly and sincerely declare, without evasion,
equivocation, or mental reservation whatsoever, that I ever
have been, and am, and ever will remain, a steadfast
member of the Reformed Church of England, as
established by law, and that as such I do and will
continue to disbelieve in, and dissent from, and reject all
such doctrines of religion as are at variance with those of
the Protestant Faith which I profess, and swear to support
and maintain." In that formula Cardinal Vaughan was
quite willing to acquiesce as one which, without offence to
others, was calculated to give the majority in the country
the security they desire for the Protestantism of the
Sovereign. Somewhat shorter and simpler, but similar in
effect, was the amendment put forward by Viscount
Llandaff in the name of the Catholic peers. In view of
the curious misunderstandings which afterwards arose as
to the position which had been taken up by the represen
tatives of the Catholic body, it is important to note the
exact terms of this amendment : " I, A. B., by the grace
of God, King of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of
the Faith, do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of
God profess, testify and declare, that I do unfeignedly
believe in the doctrines of the Church as by law established
in this realm, and I do reject all doctrines opposed to, or
inconsistent with, the tenets of that Church." Here
was a Declaration which obviously no Catholic could
take, and which effectually secured the Protestant Suc
cession — why, then, was it not accepted by the Govern-

254 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
ment? During the discussion Lord Salisbury had seen
a ghost. Behind the amendments of the Earl of Kilmorey and
Viscount Llandaff he had seen the fateful question, " Might
the Sovereign be a Methodist ? " As it stands, the Royal
Declaration commits the Sovereign to nothing except to a
public denial of Catholicism. For instance, it is quite
unnecessary for him to be a Christian. What Earl Grey
said of the formula proposed by the Committee is equally
applicable to the Declaration it was designed to supplant.
" Any Buddhist, any Kaffir, any Mohammedan, any
Atheist, even the Mahdi or the Empress of China, might
make this Declaration without the slightest violence to
their consciences or their beliefs. If the object of the
Declaration was to secure that this Protestant Kingdom
should be governed by a Protestant King, a form of
declaration that might honestly be made by the Empress
of China or the Mahdi did not strike one as being
especially suitable for the purpose."
Clearly, therefore, the amendment which obliged the
Sovereign to profess belief in the Church "as by law
established in this realm " was introducing a new limita
tion — it was for the first time requiring the Sovereign
to be a Christian, and not only a Christian, but a member
of the Established Church. In other words, it was im
posing a new disability upon the religion of the Non
conformists. One of the Bishops contended that at any
rate the Coronation Oath showed the King must be
a member of the Established Church. It was a proposi
tion difficult to maintain. Cardinal Vaughan's organ
said at the time : " At his coronation the King will
promise to 'maintain the true Protestant Reformed

THE ROYAL DECLARATION 255
Religion established by law,' but he does not promise
to believe in it. That the distinction is important
becomes apparent when we remember that His Majesty
had already sworn to maintain the Church of Scotland
' as established by the laws made there in prosecution
of the Claim of Right' If, therefore, to 'maintain' a
religion is to be taken as an equivalent for belief in it,
the King will find himself committed to believing con
tradictory propositions. As an Anglican he must believe
that episcopacy is part of the divinely appointed plan
of the Church, but if he also believes in the Established
Church of Scotland he must hold that episcopacy is
merely an abuse of which the country is well rid. Thus
the Claim of Right which the King has sworn to maintain
asserts that ' prelacy and the superiority of any office
in the Church above presbyters is, and hath been, a
great and insupportable grievance . . . and ought to be
abolished.' If we understand the word ' maintain ' in its
natural sense, not as implying belief in any doctrine but
as implying a readiness to uphold whatever is established
in either country, there is no difficulty in reconciling the
English and the Scotch Declarations." The King thus
simply swears to see the law kept in both countries.
At any rate, when the question had once been raised,
Lord Salisbury was not likely to run any risks. He
could not have it said that, for the first time in our
history, it had been made impossible for the Sovereign
to be a member of one of the Free Churches. When the
Earl of Kilmorey's amendment had been withdrawn,
Earl Grey proposed a new amendment, based on the
words of the Coronation Oath, and so omitting all
explicit reference to the personal beliefs of the King :

256 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
" I will, to the utmost of my power, maintain the laws
of God, the true profession of the Gospel, and the
Protestant Reformed Religion as established by law."
This was opposed by the Government, and so at once
defeated. A little later came the turn of Lord Llandaff s
amendment, which all the Catholic peers were willing
to support with its unequivocal words : "I do un
feignedly believe in the doctrines of the Church as by
law established in this realm, and I do reject all doctrines
opposed to or inconsistent with the tenets of that Church."
At the instance of the Government this was negatived
without the formality of a division. The Government
was now in this position — they would not accept any
form of Declaration which affirmed simply belief in the
doctrines of the Church of England, lest inconvenient
questions should be raised in connection with the Free
Churches. And the only alternative seemed to be a
negative Declaration, a repudiation of some distinctly
Catholic doctrine. It was suggested that a Declaration
of faith in the doctrines of " the Protestant Religion "
might suffice. But the Bishop of Worcester had objected
that the term was too vague. At least it would be
effectual to exclude a Catholic, and after all that is the
main thing ; and, viewed from the positive side, the
words " the Protestant Religion " are certainly not so
vague as the present Declaration, which commits the
Sovereign to nothing.
Under these circumstances Lord Salisbury, to whom
the whole business appeared to be most distasteful,
decided to abandon the Bill. Lord Llandaff had made
it clear that Catholics preferred the gross, archaic form
of the present Declaration to an amended form which

THE ROYAL DECLARATION 257
would select anew the most sacred articles of Catholic
faith for public condemnation. Lord Salisbury said that
if that were so, it was no use to go on with the Bill.
He added that, " We now know that they [the Catholic
party] do not wish these offensive words to be withdrawn
unless, at the same time, there is withdrawn that Declara
tion for the security of the Protestant Succession which
we never for a single moment indicated that we had any
intention of dispensing with." In view of the fact that
Lord Llandaff's amendment explicitly required the
Sovereign to profess his belief in the doctrines of the
Church of England, and to repudiate every doctrine
inconsistent with hers, Lord Salisbury's statement must
be dismissed as quite incorrect. The next day the Times,
commenting on the withdrawal of the Bill, and accepting
Lord Salisbury's gloss upon his opponents' words, said :
" Lord Llandaff has completely confirmed the view held
by many from the first, that it is no mere matter of
language or of form which the Roman Catholics aim
at changing. The difference between them and the
people of this country is far deeper and more vital. The
law of this country excludes Roman Catholics from the
succession to the throne, and the Royal Declaration is
the touchstone necessary to determine whether any given
candidate is a Roman Catholic or not. The Roman
Catholics want to abolish the legal and regular means
of deciding whether the natural heir to the Throne is,
or is not, disqualified, knowing that if they succeed in
this they go far to render the law nugatory. Since they
have not been able to get what they really want, they no
longer profess to value what they pretended to want."
The following letter appeared in the Times of the 8th
II / S

258 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
of August, 1901, from the Duke of Norfolk. It may well
be put on permanent record as an authoritative statement
of the position taken up by the Catholic peers. Dealing
with the double accusation that they had changed their
ground during the discussion and had shown that what
they really objected to was any sort of Declaration
securing the Protestant Succession, the Duke replied : —
" In regard to the first point we have not departed
from any early expression of our hopes. The Com
mittee, for some reason, did not make the least attempt
to ascertain what our hopes or wishes might be. It is
not our fault if, in their self-imposed ignorance of our
anticipations, they leaped to conclusions for which there
was no justification. So far as I am aware, not one
single effort was made by the Committee, either directly
or indirectly, to ascertain what were the points in the
Declaration to which we objected, or what were the
alterations for which we prayed. When it is remembered
that we fully endorsed the arrangement by which no
Catholic peer was to be on the Committee, this course
of action on the part of that body appears all the more
inexplicable. I feel it incumbent on us to put on record
that we have not departed from any of our earlier
statements on this subject, and that not only have we
not declined to accept any Declaration assuring the
Protestant Succession, but that we ourselves submitted
such a Declaration to the? House."
Cardinal Vaughan had fohu>we(j everv stage of the
discussion with the closest ihte\rest, and noted the
muddling and mismanagement of ft*., Rouse of Lords,
Committee with growing exasperation.' The fiflal break_
down of the attempt to modify the Det^^ ^ g

THE ROYAL DECLARATION 259
source of the keenest distress to him. At the same time,
he never doubted that Lord Llandaff, and the Catholic
peers who had acted with him, had done what was
best. When afterwards his own conduct was criticised
by some of his friends, he pointed to the fate of another
famous Protestant Declaration, the inscription on the
Monument. That inscription owed its origin to the
panic which also led to the placing of the Royal Declara
tion on the Statute-book. In 1681 the following legend
was carved on a panel on the base of the Monument:
" This pillar was set up in perpetual remembrance of that
most dreadful burning of this Protestant city, begun
and carried on by the treachery and malice of the Popish
faction, in the beginning of September, 1666, in order to
the carrying of their horrid plot for extirpating the
Protestant religion and old English liberty and the intro
ducing of Popery and slavery." After a time, no doubt,
the saner portion of the nation began to recognise that
this cruel calumny against the Catholics was something
to be ashamed of, came to regard it, that is, as the
ordinary Englishman of to-day regards the language of
the Royal Declaration. Perhaps even at the time when
Pope wrote " The Man pf Ross " the more educated part
of the community was ready to acquiesce in the substan
tial truth of the lines —
"Where London's column, pointing at the skies,
Like a tall bully lifts its head and lies."
But if it had been proposed early in the eighteenth
century to erase the calumny, can we doubt that the
suggestion would have been met with an offer to modify
the more offensive phrases? We can imagine some

26o CARDINAL VAUGHAN
tolerant peer of the time solemnly explaining that his task
was not to make a new inscription, but only to modify the
old one, so that, for instance, in future the passer-by might
be told that the City was burned, not " by the treachery
and malice of the Popish faction," but by " the activity and
energy of the Catholic party." Happily no such miserable
modification was attempted. The old inscription stood,
in all its grossness, until at last all men knew it for a lie,
and Protestantism grew ashamed of it, and in 1831 utterly
erased it. The Cardinal died in the belief that the same
fate will some day overtake the Royal Declaration. He
thought it too offensive to be endured, and believed that
some day the country would grant liberty of conscience to
the King, or else be content with some simple subscription
to the Protestant creed.

CHAPTER VIII
RESCUE WORK IN LONDON
WHEN Herbert Vaughan came to Westminster
straight from his struggle with the great
proselytising societies in the North of England, he had
the hope that he might be spared that sort of trouble in
London. In one respect the field had been splendidly
covered. In nothing was Cardinal Manning more com
pletely successful than in his efforts to provide the diocese
with a network of Certified Poor Law Schools. Writing
in 1899, Cardinal Vaughan said : " Formerly thousands
were lost to the Faith in London by the Workhouse
system. Through the zeal and perseverance of my
eminent predecessor and by the enlightened sense of
justice that has inspired the Guardians of the Poor, this
cause of leakage has been stopped. No less than fifty-
eight different Unions and Parishes within and beyond
the Metropolitan area now give up all Catholic children to
be educated in our Catholic Certified Poor Law Schools.
They pay maintenance, while we are pledged to supply
suitable buildings, training, and accommodation, at a
heavy yearly charge which tends to increase rather than
diminish." Unfortunately, Cardinal Manning was less successful
in his attempts to cope with the leakage which is the
direct result of destitution. If he had been in a position
261

262 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
to provide a place in a Catholic Home for every Catholic
child, possibly the difficulty with Dr. Barnardo might not
have arisen. As it was, conflict was inevitable. Dr.
Barnardo's position is best stated in his own words : —
" Frequently when a child of Roman Catholic parents
has been brought to me for admission, I have expostulated
with the poor relative who has pleaded on its behalf, and
urged that application ought to be made, in the first
instance, to his or her own religious adviser, in the person
of the priest. In nearly every such case the reply has
been made, ' I have done so ; he says he cannot help me ;
the priest has advised me to go to the workhouse myself
or to send my boy or girl to the workhouse, and I won't
do that.' In some instances such parents have told me
that the priest has even been angry with them and ordered
them off as beggars. The consequence has been that I
have, although reluctantly, admitted a considerable number
of children of Roman Catholic parents, or the offspring of
mixed marriages, into the Homes. Let it be observed,
however, that / have never received one such without first
stating to the relative, plainly and clearly, in effect, ' This
Home is a Protestant Home. Your child, if admitted, will
be brought up in the Protestant Faith, and will not be
allowed to attend a Roman Catholic chapel or to be visited
by a Roman Catholic priest. It will be taught to love the
Word of God and prayer, to trust Christ, and to serve and
honour Him, but none of the distinctive tenets of the Roman
Catholic Church will be taught' Again and again have
poor Roman Catholics with whom I have remonstrated
thus, said to me, ' Anything is better than the life we are
now leading, and any place better than the place we are
stopping in. Do take the child, for God's sake.' " *
No doubt such things happened. Poor men and
women, with the light of hunger in their eyes, would go to
Dr. Barnardo with their children and say, " For God's sake,
take them ! " That is one part of the story. But it often
1 Memoirs of Dr. Barnardo, by Mrs. Barnardo and James Marchant

RESCUE WORK IN LONDON 263
happened that those poor Catholic parents afterwards
found work, and were able to earn enough to keep their
little homes together. Then came the miserable thought
that they had given away their children, and that these
were being brought up as Protestants and strangers. If
they begged to have their children given back, they were
shown the agreement they had signed. That agreement
gave the Managers " of the said Protestant Homes " the
right to detain the children until they became twenty-one
years of age, to remove them without notice from Home
to Home, or to board them out either in England or in
the Colonies — also without notice. The parent was made
to sign away his right to regain his children except with
" the willing consent of the Managers," and even then he
could get them back only when he had paid for their
maintenance at the rate of six shillings a week for the
whole time during which they had been in the Homes.
Under these circumstances the unfortunate parents would
go to their natural adviser, the priest. The priest, of
course, would know that in English law such an agree
ment was absolutely void as against the inalienable right
of the father to control the bringing-up of his children.
But that knowledge helped very little. With Dr.
Barnardo it was a settled principle never to surrender a
child on the ground of religion. Uncertain whether his
lost child was in Europe or in America, the ordinary
working-class parent was absolutely powerless. Even
when some Catholic took up his case and appealed to a
Court of Justice, it was an unequal contest. Dr. Barnardo,
with an income which his biographer tells us approached
£200,000 a year, would face the most protracted litigation
with equanimity, but for his opponents the cost even of

264 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
a successful suit was crippling and almost prohibitive.
Even when the decision was in favour of the parent, it
sometimes remained inoperative.
It may be thought that, dependent as he was on the
public good will, Dr. Barnardo, for the sake of his work,
would have dreaded anything like a public censure in a
Court of Justice. He was a man ready to run great risks
when he thought that he was in the right, and his attitude
towards the Catholic Church at all times commanded the
enthusiastic support of an influential section of his
supporters. He has left it on record that some said,
" Why should you give up any children, even for an hour,
to the custody of a tyrannical, usurping, and heretical
Church, whose doctrines are anti-scriptural and whose
progress of late years in this kingdom is fraught with
danger to our dearest liberties ? " Again, he states that he
knows many earnest Protestants " who would even con
sider it almost better that the children should remain in
their forlorn and outcast condition than that they should
become attached to the dangerous errors of Romanism."
There is no doubt that at one time Dr. Barnardo honestly
thought that Catholics could never be relied on to keep
faith with Protestants. It is fair to say that in his
dealings with Catholics he had some unpleasant and
disappointing experiences. During Cardinal Manning's
lifetime an arrangement was come to by which the doctor
undertook to refer Catholic applicants in the first place to
the Catholic authorities. Unfortunately more was under
taken in Cardinal Manning's name than at that time it
was possible to carry out. Great efforts were made, but
the Catholic Church has in proportion to her numbers
such an overwhelming share of the poverty of London,

RESCUE WORK IN LONDON 265
that the work could not be undertaken all at once : there
was no machinery in the diocese equal to the tremendous
task of dealing with every case of child destitution that
might present itself. The managers of the Catholic
Homes had to distinguish between the urgent and the less
urgent cases. For the former, accommodation was found ;
but what of the less urgent cases ? Were Catholic parents
who could not get admittance for their children into
Catholic Homes to be at liberty on that ground to hand
them over to Dr. Barnardo, to the certain loss of their
faith? Certainly not. And if the alternative was to
send them to the workhouse, to the workhouse they must
go. That may seem a hard saying, but there is no
getting away from it ; it was a fundamental Catholic
doctrine, and it was the plain duty of any priest who was
consulted to say so. Here was abundant occasion for
friction with Dr. Barnardo.
Then, too, when the Catholic Homes were crowded to
make room for younger and more helpless children, the
older boys were sent out to start life for themselves.
Some of them drifted to Dr. Barnardo. No priest who
understood that it is a condition of the Barnardo Homes
that all the inmates should be brought up as Protestants
could help doing his utmost to prevent a Catholic boy
from going there. And again there was an opportunity
for friction, and, in Dr. Barnardo's opinion, an instance of
bad faith. Dr. Barnardo's point of view comes out very
clearly in the following letter written to Lord Kinnaird
on the 29th of July, 1899 : —
" I am as ready now as I have been at any time
during the last fourteen years to send every Roman Catholic
candidate for admission to these Homes to Cardinal

266 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Vaughan or to any person he may appoint ; but I will
only do this on condition that I receive a pledge, to be
honourably kept, to the effect that if the Roman Catholics
are unable or unwilling from any cause to assist a destitute
case whom I send to them, they will not use any
moral or spiritual influence to deter the candidate from
applying to me again ; for in the past this has been done.
A Roman Catholic mother with three children applied to
me for assistance. I sent all to Father Seddon. Three
months after the woman and her children applied for a
night's lodging at one of our all-night refuges, and then
she told the matron that she had applied to me for the
admission of the children, that I had referred her to
Father Seddon, and that on some ground or other the
latter had refused to admit the children ; but before she
left he solemnly warned her, under a threat of excom
munication, that she should not apply to me again, or,
under any circumstances, allow her children to be admitted
to my Homes. I firmly believe that this sort of thing has
been going on for years. Is it to be wondered at that I
can be no party to any arrangement with the Roman
Catholics while they deliberately and as a matter of
conscience, as Cardinal Manning called it, break faith
with me ? "

In these lines the opposing points of view are well
contrasted. Dr. Barnardo takes it for granted that he is
entitled to change the religion of these children because
he has fed and clothed their bodies ; the Catholic priest,
while admitting his inability to succour, has to steel his
heart to tell the mother she must face the workhouse, with
liberty of conscience, rather than take help which is con
ditioned by apostasy.
Negotiations for a concordat with Dr. Barnardo were on
foot very soon after Cardinal Vaughan came to London,
but they were not brought to any definite issue. Probably
the Cardinal felt that in the long run all negotiations must

RESCUE WORK IN LONDON 267
prove futile until he was in a position to declare his ability
to provide for all the abandoned little ones of his own
flock. It was open to him to tell poor Catholic men and
women that they must choose the streets and the work
house rather than the comforts which could come to them
only when bought by the price of their children's faith.
Even to the Catholic poor that was sometimes a hard
saying — to Dr. Barnardo it was an impossible saying.
His position was in itself simple enough : " Help your
own children if you can and will ; but if you cannot,
then stand aside and let me do the work in my own
way." A nobler type of philanthropist may one day
arise who, seeing poverty, shall say to it, " I want to
help you only because you represent destitution, and I
will not make the fact that I have relieved that destitution
a reason for robbing you of your religion." Whether that
sort of disinterested charity would ever have made intimate
appeal to Dr. Barnardo is doubtful : it is not doubtful
that it would have been wholly alien to the ideas current
in those circles of Evangelical piety to which all his life
Dr. Barnardo made successful appeal. To such people
the thought of little brands saved from the burning was
an unfailing stimulus in generous giving.
In his usual methodical way Cardinal Vaughan, at
the outset, set himself to ascertain as nearly as possible
the size and nature of the problem he had to deal
with. In 1894 he organised a Religious Census for
the diocese, and two years later, with the ascertained
and tabulated results of the census before him, he
appointed a strong board of inquiry, or Leakage
Committee, to probe the problem further. This Com
mittee, which did its work very thoroughly, reported

268 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
that, apart from the workhouses, the main causes of
loss were the police-courts, certain non-Catholic benevo
lent Homes, and destitution. The first part of the
problem, that relating to the practice of the magistrates
in the police-courts, was comparatively simple. In a letter
to his flock in' the following year the Cardinal put the
case simply and clearly. Speaking of the work of the
Committee, he said : " They began by employing a paid
officer to attend the police-courts and to report on the
fate of Catholic children and juveniles brought up before
the Bench. He attended nineteen different police-courts,
making 125 visits in all, and was present when 130 cases
of children and juvenile offenders were dealt with. He
found the Protestant missionary always in attendance,
and Catholic as well as other children given over to his
care, in default of any Catholic agency to receive them.
No kind of hostile animus towards Catholics is attributed
either to the magistrates or to the Protestant missionaries.
But it is obvious that, if Catholics do not busy themselves
to look after their own in such cases, they can hardly
complain if other agencies express a readiness to do so.
It is impossible to say how many Catholic children have
lost their religion in this way. But here is a common
stream of waste, remediable only by the regular employ
ment of Catholic agents to attend the courts. The
magistrates have nothing but good will for those who
engage honestly in such humanitarian and charitable
work, and would give to our agents the same facilities
they grant to the Protestant missionaries."
The obvious remedy was to secure the services of
Catholic agents in the police-courts who should be always
in attendance and ready to claim the custody of Catholic

RESCUE WORK IN LONDON 269
children. The other two branches of the question, prose
lytising benevolent societies and sheer destitution, were
obviously and closely related. It was the existence of
the latter which gave opportunity to the former. This
was fully recognised by the Cardinal : " We must hesitate
before we reproach our Protestant fellow-countrymen for
these losses. Many of them have spoken to us with
sufficient plainness, if not with sufficient satisfaction.
They have told us that it is not their intention to
proselytise ; but that as long as the Catholic community
in London makes no adequate provision for the Catholic
waifs and strays who infest our slums and appear before
our police-courts, they, at least, must open the doors of
their institutions and give them hearty welcome." Then,
after insisting on the importance of family life in keeping
the home together, in however humble a way, he con
tinued : "But what in the case where the home has
irremediably collapsed ? where the children are orphans,
where Destitution is seated in her most appalling garb,
where vice and crime in human form are embracing
young children with both arms ? What in the case
where tempting invitations place before the starveling
child the comforts of a warm home and a decent train
ing, to which no drawback is attached but the certain
loss of that Catholic faith which is necessary for salvation ?
In some of these cases the State, as guardian of Society,
comes in with ample provision ; but in a large number
of cases the State and public opinion expect us, and the
Church of God bids us, to take up the cause of our own
destitute and orphan children ourselves, if we would not
be privy to their becoming criminals or apostates. To
do this, even at a cost, ought not to be reckoned by a

270 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Catholic a burden, but a privilege, inasmuch as 'What
ye do to the least of these little ones, ye do it unto Me.'
" Though the annual accessions to the Church ab extra
are to be counted by thousands, our losses ab intra are
not so much like an oozing or trickling out of drops
through a leak as a continuous stream of poor Catholic
children borne into the great widening English sea of
indifferentism and unbelief, or into Homes in which their
faith is finally wrecked. It is impossible to estimate
with accuracy the number of our losses. Thousands and
thousands of Catholic children have been robbed of their
faith in past years ; they have been emigrated ; they have
been spirited from one place to another ; they have been
cut off from all Catholic influence ; their very names have
been changed, and they have been sent out into the world
aliens to the religion of their baptism. The same agencies,
and probably the same means, are at work to-day, and our
losses continue. How far are we responsible for this
waste before God? Who can say? Much has been done,
but much remains to be done. It is clear that we are
all answerable for what we might do, but don't do ; that
we are responsible for neglect, if there be any. First the
Archbishop as Chief Shepherd is responsible, if he does
not find out what he ought to find out, if he does not
discover the losses and endeavour to stop them. That
shepherd is a hireling who flieth when the wolves attack
and devour the sheep ; he must sound the alarm, he must
call to arms, he must give, if need be, his life. To be
silent and listless is the same as to * fly.' The Archbishop,
the Rectors, and their assistant priests are all responsible
in their measure before God for the necessary care of
the Flock. But if they are not alone responsible, who else

RESCUE WORK IN LONDON 271
is? You are each and all responsible, dear children in
Christ. ' God hath given to every man a commandment
concerning his neighbour,' and no man can angrily object,
when his brother is dying in need, ' Am I my brother's
keeper ? ' without branding himself with the mark of
the race of Cain."
In 1899, as a result of this appeal, a Crusade of Rescue
was organised, and the Cardinal saw that in the last resort
he must be prepared to make provision for every destitute
Catholic child in London. In the autumn of 1901 the
Crusade of Rescue was amalgamated with an older
Society, the " Homes for Destitute Catholic Children,"
and placed under the management of Father E. Bans.
These Homes had done a great and successful work in
the past, but a work may be both great and successful and
yet remain inadequate. A new spirit was infused into the
administration of these Catholic Homes, and their
methods were to be revolutionised. Hitherto only boys
had been admitted, but the Cardinal insisted that charity
knew no sex line, and that girls and infants must also be
provided for. Up to that time the Homes had been
carried on in a thoroughly business-like way, the managers
doing their best to avoid debt and acting on the principle
that a man should try to cut his coat according to his
cloth. The number of children taken into the Homes
varied with the amount of the funds available for their
support. The Cardinal sent prudence to the winds, and
gave the Rescue Society these words as a motto to be
lived up to : " No Catholic child who is really destitute,
or whose faith is in danger, and who cannot be otherwise
provided for, is ever refused."
The Society has been true to its trust, and steadily

272 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
refused to lower the flag which the Cardinal had done
his best to nail to the mast. After his death, at the
beginning of 1907, there was a moment of wavering,
but the generosity of the Catholic public was equal to the
occasion. The year had closed showing a deficit of nearly
£10,000, and the bank was clamouring that the overdraft
should be reduced. At a General Meeting of the Society
it was accordingly proposed that the motto of the Society
should be conditioned by the words " Funds permitting."
The Report says : " Some held that for a great Catholic
charity like ours to live systematically beyond its income
was bad business and doubtful morality. Further, it was
not a wise policy. We might cry ' Crisis ' once too often,
and people might tire of giving thousands to pay off a
huge deficit. The plan suggested was this — Let children
be taken up to the last penny of our available income.
When funds were running short, announce to the public
that no more children could be taken until further funds
were provided. That would be • a fairer way of dealing
with the charitable than to run up a debt of £10,000 and
call upon them to pay it. The income provided by the
charitable must be the measure of the work of this
Society. If we are provided with a life-boat capable of
holding only one hundred, no one can blame us for not
saving two hundred from the wreck. Let those who find
fault help to furnish a larger boat."
But Father Bans had been chosen by Cardinal
Vaughan to preside over this work, and the Cardinal
knew his man. Father Bans at once moved the rejection
of the amendment, and urged the members not to limit
the good the Society was doing, but to go on boldly and
to trust to Providence. Father Bans carried the meeting

RESCUE WORK IN LONDON 273
with him, and the fatal words, " Funds permitting," were
rejected. It was all sublimely unbusinesslike, but there
was nothing at all unbusinesslike in the steps which were
then taken to bring the appeal for help right home to
the hearts of the Catholics of England. Within sixteen
days the whole of the £10,000 was subscribed. The
Society has now to face an annual expenditure of
£14,000, and its income is " purely providential " — but
it comes. In the autumn of 1899 Cardinal Vaughan had the great
satisfaction of knowing that at last a friendly arrangement
had been entered into with Dr. Barnardo, by which
Catholic children applying for admission to his Homes
should be offered to the Catholic authorities. The credit
for bringing about this long-hoped-for concordat belongs
to Mr. Richard Huth. After talking the matter over
fully with Cardinal Vaughan, Mr. Huth volunteered to try
to bring about the desired settlement. Rightly judging
that Lord Kinnaird would be glad to play the part of the
peacemaker, and knowing that he stood high in the
confidence of Dr. Barnardo, Mr. Huth determined to
try to secure him as an intermediary. Lord Kinnaird
did all that was asked of him, and it was largely owing
to his influence and kind offices that an arrangement was
ultimately arrived at. Dr. Barnardo was even more
exacting in his demands than he had shown himself at
the time of his first abortive negotiations with the
Cardinal five years before. Then he had been willing
to consider a proposal to surrender on terms any Catholic
child who had been in his Homes for not more than three
years ; now he declared that he would not treat at all
about any child who had been received into a Home — the
II T

274 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
negotiations must refer only to children applying at the
Receiving Wards. " Once a child, whether Roman
Catholic or not, has been admitted to these Homes, I
absolutely decline, under any circumstances whatever,
except in obedience to the Judges of the land, to dismiss
any such child from our Homes on the ground of religious
belief." The negotiations were in danger of breaking
down at the very outset. It was felt, however, on the
Catholic side, that the chance of recovering any con
siderable number of children from the Barnardo Homes
was in any case very remote. Every case would be
fought out in the Law Courts, and experience had shown
that even a judgment of the High Court had not always
availed to effect a rescue. It was felt that if all Catholic
children applying at the Receiving Wards could be
secured, the Homes would in a short time automatically
empty themselves of Catholic children. Authorised to
make this concession, Mr. Huth found his path made
very much smoother. A good many interviews with
Dr. Barnardo were needed before the agreement took
definite shape, but eventually, on the 9th of August, a
settlement was arrived at, subject to the ratification of
the Cardinal. The following memorandum was drawn
up the same day by Mr. Huth : —
Summary of Dr. Barnardo's Offer
He will send on to us all Catholic children who from a
given date come into his Receiving Wards.
But on condition —
1. That they shall in fact be received, and not turned
into the streets or sent to the workhouse.

RESCUE WORK IN LONDON 275
2. That in the event of any case not being so
received, that case shall be returned to Dr. Barnardo
with the reason of its rejection.
3. That no moral or religious pressure be used to
prevent any such rejected case returning to Dr.
Barnardo. Dr. Barnardo adds that once a child has passed into
the actual Homes (i.e., out of the Receiving Wards) he
absolutely declines to give that child up ; and if, and in
consideration of his so doing, he gives up children coming
into the Receiving Wards, he expects not to be molested
on account of children in the actual Homes, and that his
Eminence will discountenance and, so far as may be,
prevent such molestation.
After careful consideration the offer was accepted by
Cardinal Vaughan. The following letter speaks for
itself:— " Archbishop's House,
" September ^th, 1899.
"Dear Sir,
" The Transfer of the Catholic Children applying to your
Homes.
" Referring to the proposals which you have been
good enough to entertain that you should send on
to us Catholic children and young people of both
sexes applying or brought to your Receiving Wards,
I have reported to the Cardinal the gist of our con
versation at our meeting on August 9th last, and I am
directed by his Eminence to convey his assurance that
you shall be duly and fully informed as to the treatment
of each case of a Catholic child or adolescent sent by you

276 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
to the persons appointed by him to receive such. I have
also reported to his Eminence that you do not include in
the proposed arrangement children already admitted into
and become inmates of your Homes, and that — to quote
your letter addressed to Lord Kinnaird — you decline to
part with any such child on the grounds of religious belief
except ' in obedience to the Judges of the land.' And I
am to say that the Cardinal hopes that such regrettable
occasions of litigation may cease to arise. His Eminence
adopts your suggestion that the proposed arrangement
should apply to all England, and not merely to his own
diocese as originally contemplated. He will communicate
as soon as practicable with the other Bishops on the
subject. " I am, dear Sir, faithfully yours,
"Richard Huth."
Note. — This letter was authorised by H.E. on
October 7th, 1899, at Derwent Hall.
A final interview between Mr. Huth and Dr. Barnardo
took place on October 22nd, 1899, at which the former
acknowledged the letter of September 8th as a satisfactory
acceptance of the terms he had offered. The settlement
thus arrived at, on the face of it, presented many oppor
tunities for misunderstanding and conflict, but happily
good will and good faith have prevailed on both sides,
and no serious difficulty has arisen.

CHAPTER IX
CROSSES BY THE WAYSIDE
AN entry in Cardinal Vaughan's early diary runs :
"The School of Suffering is the Schdol of Christ,
and happy they who study in it." And that sentence
stood not for vague lip-service to a maxim of theology,
but for an active and energising faith which through a
long life shaped conduct and governed thought. Again
and again in the diaries and his familiar letters this
thought recurs — that suffering is in truth a blessing for
those who know how to use it and to accept it willingly
for Christ's sake. It crops up in all sorts of unexpected
places in his correspondence. Thus, sandwiched away
among letters full of business details to his secretary,
Mr. Austin Oates, are passages of this sort : " Sorry to
hear of your neuralgia, but not surprised. Get rid of it
as soon as you can ; but while it is on, a good Deo gratias
in response to each twinge does wonderful good. I have
tried it with immense advantage. For I also have had
neuralgia and toothache since I have been here, off and
on. Now it is off; but don't forget the Deo gratias.
We are here to suffer, and the pain of the Cross must
find us somewhere. People are such fools and so blind
that they think suffering an evil, and do not know its
real and eternal value." Another letter runs : " Keep
nursing quietly. I hope — and I am sure — that you have
277

278 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
tried to turn all these weeks of sickness into everlasting
joy and merit. We cannot do anything better than Our
Lord's Will, though we should have ever such fine
schemes on hand. And to love and rejoice in doing
His Will is almost an anticipation of Heaven : at least
it is coming very near to Heaven. You have had
more to suffer than I because you have had sharp pain,
whereas I was not, perhaps, fit to be tried in that way."
To a great friend he wrote : " Our Lord is doing His
work in your soul. He always humbles us when He
desires to raise us to Himself. Humility is the first
condition — or rather St. Augustine says it is the first,
second, and third. So, too, suffering — the Passion and
the Cross — is the Royal Highway to Heaven, and there
is no other so safe. So you see you are being specially
favoured by Our Lord Himself, who does not leave it
to you to seek which Cross and which mortification, but
gives these bitter medicines and causes these smarting
wounds, which in the end bring strength and peace."
Again, we shall find him in later life writing in one
of his letters that he always thought the humiliations
and mortifications he had put up with during his great
begging tour through America had more to do with the
success of the Missionary College at Mill Hill than all
the thousands of dollars he had collected for it. The
" little crosses " came and he had tried to bear them for
Our Lord's sake, and so his work had been blessed.
Sometimes crosses came that were not little. One at
least must be mentioned here, because it affected him for
years afterwards. His brother Roger, the Archbishop of
Sydney, returned to England in the summer of 1883, after
an absence of ten years. When the vessel reached Liver-

CROSSES BY THE WAYSIDE 279
pool the Archbishop at once sent a note to his aunt,
Mrs. Weld-Blundell, announcing his arrival and saying
he would be at Ince-Blundell the following day. Had
he some strange premonition of what was to come ? He
wrote, " I am coming to Ince for a long, long rest ! I got
little sleep on board, for the berth was as short and as
narrow as the coffin for which I shall soon be measured ! "
At Ince there was a family party to meet him, which
included the Bishop of Salford. On the evening of his
arrival the Archbishop, though he seemed very worn and
tired, was bright and cheerful. It was arranged that he
should go to bed early and say a late Mass the next day.
Herbert Vaughan went with his brother to his room, and
said good-night at the door. The next morning the
family assembled in the chapel at nine o'clock ; the vest
ments were ready and the candles on the altar were lit.
The minutes slipped away, and still the little congregation
waited. At last, after a whispered consultation, it was
decided to go to breakfast and let the tired traveller sleep
on. After breakfast Herbert Vaughan went to the bed
room, but to his loud knocking there was no answer, and
the door was locked. A ladder was then fetched, and
Mr. Charles Weld-Blundell climbed into the room through
the window. The Archbishop was dead in his bed, and
already stiff and cold.
Herbert Vaughan was shocked and distressed, with
a sort of stupefying wonder at the mystery of the ways
of God. It seemed unintelligible, this cutting off of
a life upon which the spiritual welfare of so many
appeared to depend. Writing a few days later to Sister
Laurentia, a daughter of W. G. Ward, he said : " Many
thanks for your affectionate words of condolence under

280 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
this mysterious dispensation of Our Good Master. We
can only adore His Holy Will." But it was not in his
nature to grieve long over the ending of a life he knew
had been well spent. He thought of the good that was
already garnered, and felt sure the worker had gone to
his reward. But there was a shock of quite another sort
to come. During his ten years as Archbishop, Roger
Vaughan had done a great work in Sydney, and it may
be safely said that no public man in Australia ever com
manded more general respect. Among his own flock he
was regarded with feelings in which affection seemed to
vie with reverence ; and both found tumultuous expres
sion at a great farewell meeting, one of the most crowded
and enthusiastic ever held in Sydney, on the eve of his
leaving for England. On the same occasion a large sum
of money was presented to him for his personal use in
Europe and in token of his people's love. And when,
a few days later, he left the city, a little fleet of vessels
stood out to sea crowded with people anxious to catch
the last glimpse of the liner that was taking him away.
That the Administrator of the orphaned diocese should
therefore cable to England to express the general wish
of clergy and laity that the body should be brought
back to Sydney was only what was anticipated ; and it
was at once decided by his family that the coffin con
taining the remains of the Archbishop should be placed
in the vault at Ince-Blundell as in a temporary resting-
place until suitable arrangements for its removal could
be made. The arrival of the Sydney papers a few weeks
later confirmed all that Herbert Vaughan had heard
of the extraordinary affection with which his brother
had been regarded. The Sydney Echo gave expression

CROSSES BY THE WAYSIDE 281
to the common grief in these words : " ' Our Father is
dead ! ' Like a flash of light the terribly sudden news
swept through the land last night. It sent a wild throb
of pain through the great heart of the Roman Catholic
community ; preachers faltered with the fearful announce
ment on their lips, church services broke down, and
the house of prayer and praise became the scene of an
outburst of grief such as the death of few men ever
caused." The Morning Herald, with greater detail, told
of the scene when the news was broken to the people
in St. Mary's Cathedral : " The bells rang out a muffled
peal. The High Altar of the Cathedral was draped in
black. After some prayers had been said the Very Rev.
Dean Mahoney, who was much affected, ascended the
pulpit. He said : 'The hand of the Lord is heavy upon
us to-night.' After a pause he added with much emotion,
' We are orphans.' The congregation seemed utterly
incapable of realising the cause of the speaker's emotion,
and the import of the announcement. After another
pause the Dean essayed to make his meaning a little
clearer, and said, ' Our Archbishop, our father  ' but
the two closing words of the sentence remained unsaid,
and the people burst into loud cries. When the manifes
tations of grief had somewhat subsided the Dean added,
'A telegram conveying the sad intelligence reached us
this afternoon from his brother, the Bishop of Salford.
The Archbishop died suddenly yesterday in Liverpool.
You will not expect me to say more. Even though you
do I cannot.' "
In the light of subsequent events it must be regarded
as unfortunate that the reply to the Administrator's re
quest, that the burial should take place in Australia, was

282 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
not sent by cable but in the ordinary way, by post. Those
weeks of silence, perhaps, made all the difference.
It was some months before the vacant See was filled,
and from one cause or another no immediate steps were
taken to send the body of its Archbishop back to Sydney ;
and, in the interval, the people, it seems, had changed
their minds. Their enthusiasm had so cooled that at last
it became the duty of the Administrator to explain to
the new occupant of the See, Cardinal Moran, that nobody
in Sydney wanted to hear any more about bringing the
body back. And so Herbert Vaughan had to be told
that his brother had better be buried somewhere in
England — that there was no room in Australia for his
grave. Then it became known that the dead man had
left all his fortune; — including the sum given in token
of everlasting affection — for the service of those who
now refused him burial in Australia. The following
correspondence, published first in Sydney and afterwards
in London, completes a story which ought to find a place
in any future history of the Australian democracy : —
"Venice, August \2th, 1885.
" My dear Lord, — I received your kind letter yester
day, just before I left Rome on my onward journey ;
and I hasten to thank you for the congratulations which
it conveyed. " As regards the translation of your brother's remains to
Sydney, it is quite out of the question. The administrator
of the diocese vacante sede, who was Vicar- General of
the late Archbishop, assured me that no one in Sydney
would wish the matter spoken of, and not one penny
would be contributed towards that purpose ; and, in the
unfinished state of the Cathedral, I don't see how I could
give my approval to it. The diocese has nobly done its
part in erecting a memorial window to commemorate

CROSSES BY THE WAYSIDE 283
the late Archbishop. Its cost will be about £2,000, and
its erection has entailed on the Cathedral committee the
additional expense of about £5,000, in order to prepare
the north gable to receive it. The whole matter of the
translation of the remains to Downside or any other site
now rests entirely in the hands of the family of the
illustrious deceased and the Religious Order to which he
belonged. As regards the large sum of money which he
bequeathed to his successor in the See of Sydney, I am
happy to inform you that every penny of it has been
already devoted by me to various religious purposes. I
expect to sail from London in the Liguria on September
16th, and have already engaged the berths for myself,
six nuns of the Little Company of Mary for assisting
the sick, and seven or eight priests. My address in the
meantime will be Holy Cross College, Clonliffe, Dublin.
" Believe me to remain your most devoted servant,
" © Patrick F. Card. Moran,
" Archbishop of Sydney."
"Bishop's House, Salford, August 31st, 1885.
" My dear Lord Cardinal, — In reply to your letter
of the 1 2th inst, I beg to point out that your Eminence
has misunderstood the purport of my communication.
You speak of the reasons why the remains of the late
Archbishop should not be removed to Sydney, of the
cost of the memorial window, and of your having already
spent every penny of the money which he bequeathed
to his successor in the See on various objects. Your
Eminence will see from reference to my letter that I
expressed no wish whatever upon any of these subjects,
and that they do not touch the point.
" Let me then put the point more plainly. The remains
of the late Archbishop are yet unburied, and the first
charge upon the personalty of a deceased person is
for his funeral service and burial. You are good enough
to say that you leave the expense of his burial (which
you call a translation) entirely to his family and the
Religious Order to which he belonged. This proposal
cannot be accepted. The expenses must come from the

284 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
legitimate and regular source — i.e., from the personalty.
Your Eminence will hardly insist on the fact that you
have already spent the personalty as a reason for declining
this obligation, when I call to your memory that before
you had entered into actual possession of it, you had
promised to examine into the question upon your arrival
in Sydney as to whether the remains of the second
Archbishop of that See were to be buried in England
or in Australia, and to let me know. I need not say
that, although I received no intimation, the obligation
of providing for the decent burial of the corpse still rests
upon him who has succeeded to everything he left behind.
" I very much doubt whether the people of Australia
will be gratified if they learn that of the magnificent sum
they gave him for his personal use on his journey to
Europe, his successor, to whom he bequeathed everything,
declines to be at the expense of the burial of his remains.
" Pray excuse the plainness with which I have ven
tured to express myself, and believe me to be, my dear
Lord Cardinal, your faithful and devoted servant,
"5< Herbert, Bishop of Salford."
"Bishop's House, Salford, September Wi, 1885.
" My dear Lord Cardinal, — I should like to receive
from your Eminence a final decision respecting the claim
upon the personalty of the late Archbishop for the
expenses of his burial, about which I wrote in reply to
your letter from Venice.
" I add a few details which, if not already known to
your Eminence, will make the case clearer perhaps than
it has appeared to you to be.
"In consequence of the desire in Sydney that the
remains of the Archbishdp should be buried in that city,
the burial service was altogether omitted at Ince-Blundell
after the usual Absolutions, and the corpse was removed
to a place under the sacristy till it should be conveyed
for burial to Sydney. This was announced in the Catholic
papers at the time, as well as the reception of a telegram
from Australia begging that the remains might be sent
to Sydney.

CROSSES BY THE WAYSIDE 285
" An unfortunate delay in replying to the telegram
occurred through a misapprehension ; but after the reply
had been sent, together with the notice that the corpse
was about to be translated to Sydney, a second telegram
from Dr. Sheridan was received, saying that another
resolution had been come to, and that it would not be
convenient to receive the corpse of the late Archbishop
in Sydney. The other incidents of my communication
with your Eminence, when you were in Salford, are before
you. It is, of course, obvious that the remains of the late
Archbishop cannot be allowed to lie much longer unburied
in the place where they were laid for a time in order to
carry out with less expense the desire which had been
expressed from Sydney, and which had suspended their
actual interment in England.
"The expenses incurred up to that time, including
a sum for Masses, were recognised and paid through a
communication made by Father Gillett out of the late
Archbishop's personalty. There is now the duty of giving
interment to the remains, and consequently the duty of
paying the charges which will be made by the undertaker
for their decent removal and burial in Herefordshire ; for
we may presume that the Archbishop's desire would have
been to be buried in Herefordshire had he known that he
would die and be buried in England. Your Eminence
will not fail to observe that had not the desire been
expressed that the burial' should take place in Sydney,
the remains would have been buried at once in England,
and that the additional cost would have been paid like
the rest out of the personalty. The subsequent resolution
passed in Sydney did not relieve the personalty from
the charges for the burial, still less could it throw the
charge for interment upon any of his brothers, or upon
the Religious Order with which he was connected. I will
only add, that there is no question now of the cost going
for the religious ceremonial, still less of the cost of a
monument, which would naturally be borne by those
who might wish to erect one. The claim is simply for
undertaker's and workmen's expenses in effecting the
decent and proper burial of the corpse of the second
Archbishop of Sydney, which still remains uninterred,

286 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
and I submit that those ordinary and proper expenses
should come out of the personalty.
"Believe me, my dear Lord, to be your faithful and
devoted servant, " © Herbert, Bishop of Salford.
"To His Eminence, the Cardinal Archbishop of
Sydney." " 17, Mountjoy Square, Dublin,
"September lotk, 1885.
" My dear Lord, — In reply to your Lordship's letters
I really have but little to add to what I have already
written. The public papers announced the fact, which
every one knew to be correct, that Dr. Vaughan's remains
were interred with due solemnity in the family vault.
If there had been any mistake in the matter the blame
must rest upon somebody's shoulders. It certainly does
not rest on mine. It appears to me that there can be
no more appropriate place for the late Archbishop's repose
than the family vault at the mansion where he died. If
the family desire to transfer his remains elsewhere, I have
no objection to their doing so, but it certainly will not
be done at my expense.
" Believe me to remain yours faithfully,
" Sj< Patrick F. Card. Moran,
"Archbishop of Sydney."
The lesson of that correspondence bit deep. Herbert
Vaughan thought it was a warning which ought to cure
any one of a wish for popularity. There is little doubt
that the whole painful incident helped to strengthen
that singular independence of temper and indifference
to public opinion which so marked the later years of
his life. It was a heavy cross, and hard to bear at the
time, but he turned it to account.
A strange form of prayer which the Cardinal favoured
was that of a petition to God to send him some public

CROSSES BY THE WAYSIDE 287
humiliation if such were good for his soul. It was
the Cross in the guise which perhaps of all others seemed
the most painful to him. At one moment in his career
as Archbishop he may have thought that that prayer had
been heard. It is of interest to see how he bore himself
when for a moment he seemed betrayed into a false
position and even held up to public ridicule.
It was in the days when he was still busy with his
plans for the building of Westminster Cathedral. His
attention had been called to the fact that in the great
Basilica of St. Sernin in Toulouse there were treasured
relics for centuries reverenced as those of St. Edmund,
the royal martyr of England. In 1893, the Rev. J. B.
MacKinlay had published a volume entitled St. Edmund,
King and Martyr- The book had run the gauntlet of the
criticism of the Press, and none had challenged the
statement, which seemed to rest on the tradition of ages,
that the body of the Saint had been taken from its shrine
at St. Edmundsbury by the French Prince who afterwards
became Louis VIII when he came to help the Barons
in their quarrel with King John. The story ran that
the French Prince, being called to the South of France
to crush the Albigensian Rebellion, had taken the body
of the English Saint with him to Toulouse, and there
deposited it in the famous Basilica of St. Sernin. Accord
ing to the compilers of the Mdmoires de la Societe" Archeo-
logique du Midi de la France, an inventory of the treasures
of the Basilica taken in 1489 recorded the fact that the
"corpus Sancti Aymundi regis Angliae quondam" was
at that time in a marble coffin (vasd) in the crypt of
St. Sernin. It is beyond dispute that in 1630-1631,
when Toulouse was being ravaged by the Plague, the

288 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
townsmen vowed a shrine to the relics of St. Edmund
the King. In fulfilment of the vow, in July, 1644, the
Archbishop of Toulouse opened a tomb inscribed "Id
repose le ve"nirable corps de St. Edmond Roy d'Angleterre,"
and with great pomp and ceremony transferred the bones
to a shrine of silver given to the town. One of those
who took part in this act of thanksgiving was one of
the Canons of the Basilica, Pierre de Caseneuve. In his
Vie de St. Edmond Caseneuve accepts without question
the authenticity of the relics, and notes the tradition
that they had been brought to Toulouse by Louis VIII.
" On croit que ce fut le Roy Louys huitiime qui en fit
prisent a cette vinirable Eglise."
When Cardinal Vaughan heard of these things, that
far away in the South of France there had been erected
a glorious shrine to an English Saint, and that the
relics it contained had been an object of veneration to
the people of Toulouse for centuries, his heart was at
once filled with a great desire. In his impulsive way
he resolved to do what a man might to recover the bones
of the Martyr for England and to bring them to West
minster Cathedral. The difficulties in the way might
well have daunted him, but he laid his plans boldly and
skilfully. His mind was so preoccupied with the problem
how to get the Basilica of Toulouse to surrender its
treasure, that it may be doubted whether any question
as to the authenticity of the relics ever presented itself
to his mind. The very fact that the memory of the
Saxon King had been held in special honour for
so long in this out-of-the-way corner of Europe
in itself seemed to raise a strong presumption in
favour of the truth of a tradition attested by so many

CROSSES BY THE WAYSIDE 289
witnesses for so many years. From the outset the
Cardinal was shut off from advice which might have
helped him, by the necessity of acting with the greatest
secrecy. He took counsel with Cardinal Mathieu, who
had formerly been Archbishop of Toulouse, and other
distinguished French ecclesiastics, but only as to the
possibility of securing the relics for England. Their
replies were not encouraging. It is true that in the
time of another Archbishop of Toulouse, the late
Cardinal Desprez, a small fragment of the bones be
lieved to be those of the English Martyr had been given
to St. Edmund's English Benedictine House at Douai.
But to ask that the whole body should be transferred
to London was a very different thing. Even if the
ecclesiastical authorities in Toulouse could be persuaded
to part with the relics, it was thought very unlikely that
the French Government would allow them to go to
England. Cardinal Vaughan paid very little heed to the views
of the French Government, but to facilitate the negotia
tions in Toulouse suggested that the gift of the relics
should not be directly to him or the country he repre
sented, but to the Sovereign Pontiff. This, largely
through the kind offices of Cardinal Mathieu, was even
tually arranged. The authorities in Toulouse presented
the remains to the Pope, well knowing that he in turn
would sooner or later give them to England. Early in
July, 1901, the relics were taken to Rome and deposited
in a chapel in the Vatican. Some weeks later Mgr.
Merry del Val was commissioned to take them to
England and deliver them into the care of Cardinal
Vaughan. While these arrangements were being made
11 u

290 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
the strictest secrecy was enjoined on all parties. It was
only after Mgr. Merry de Val had actually started on
his journey that the news of what was being done reached
the ears of a well-known English canonist then staying
in Rome, who knew Toulouse well and also something of
the history of many of the relics preserved in the Basilica
of St. Sernin. He felt at once that the remains believed
to be those of St. Edmund ought not to go to England
to be offered for public veneration without a much more
critical inquiry as to their authenticity than any that
was likely to have taken place in Toulouse. He gave
urgent warning, but the relics were already on their way
to Arundel Castle, where they were to wait until a shrine
was ready for them in Westminster Cathedral.
The Tablet of July 27th, 1901, contained the first of a
series of articles entitled " The Return of St. Edmund."
It told how the remains of the body of the Martyr had
reached Newhaven on the previous Thursday, and had
temporarily been placed in the private chapel at Arundel
Castle. The writer of the articles was the Benedictine
Father, the Rev. J. B. MacKinlay, who, as the author of
the work on the life of St. Edmund, was an acknowledged
specialist on the subject. So far all had gone well, and
Cardinal Vaughan had accomplished all that he had
planned. He had overcome the only difficulties he knew
of. A day or two later, however, a storm of controversy
broke loose in the public Press. It very soon became
clear that though the bones which had been deposited in
the chapel at Arundel were undoubtedly those of some
one who for ages had been venerated as a saint, it was
practically certain they were not those of the Saxon
King. The evidence on this point was cumulative and

CROSSES BY THE WAYSIDE 291
overwhelming. It was shown by Sir Ernest Clarke and
others that in 15 15 there was in circulation in Toulouse
a book written by an advocate of local distinction,
Nicholas Bertrand, in which the body in the Basilica was
described as " corpus beati Aymundi confessoris regis
Angliae." Two years later a French translation of this
work appeared, and the description of St. Aymund is
given as " confesseur du Roy d Angleterre." Forty years
later the volume was republished with a declaration on
the title-page that the work had been revised and
augmented. In this edition the same words are used,
"confesseur du Roy d 'Angleterre." Again it was shown
that "in August, 1256, forty years after the alleged
stealing of the body by the French, Pope Alexander IV
confirmed statutes made for the governance of the
Monastery of St. Edmund at Bury, which provided :
"First, that the monks are to eat and drink in the
refectory, and sleep in one dormitory, two persons
watching the body of St. Edmund and two the Church
Treasure and clock night and day."
But it was the English evidence which made the case
hopeless. More than two hundred years after the alleged
seizure of the body of the Saint by the French Prince we
find William Paston, in 1429, admitted to the privileges
of the Confraternity of St. Edmund in consideration of
" the devotion which you have to God and our Monastery,
in which the most glorious King and Martyr, Edmund,
corporally and incorruptibly reposes." Several extracts
from the Patent Rolls of Edward III were also cited to
show that beyond all doubt at that time the body of the
Martyr was believed to be still at Bury St. Edmunds.
To Cardinal Vaughan the whole correspondence came

292 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
as a bad disappointment. He read the letters in the
Times morning after morning with the saddest sense of
frustration. He had worked so hard and succeeded so
well — and all in vain. He had persuaded Toulouse to
present its cherished relics to Rome, and Rome to give
them to London ; now it was discovered that there was
nothing certain to give. He was due to speak at the
annual Catholic Conference which was to be held that
year in Newcastle on the 9th of September. That gave
him the opportunity he wanted. Unless he were assured
that the relics were genuine, he could not allow them to
be exposed for public veneration. That was certain, and
he would say so. He thought the best way out of the
difficulty would be to explain that he had appointed
a committee of scholars to consider the question and
report. Writing to the Bishop of Newport a few days
before, he said : " I am going to say a sentence or two at
Newcastle to the effect that the authenticity shall be
looked into by historical experts." On the eve of the
Conference, speaking to a friend, he said that he meant to
dismiss the matter with a few words, just saying the whole
question would be considered by a Commission whose
conclusions would be accepted as final.
But when he retired for the night Herbert Vaughan
sat down with Sir Ernest Clarke's letter before him. He
was alone with the truth. When he rose from reading it,
it was with a new resolve. Was it right to shuffle on to
a Commission a responsibility that was his own? Was
not the appointment of a Commission a suggestion that
he himself was still in doubt? The reasoning in Sir
Ernest Clarke's letter seemed irresistible, and the Cardinal
accepted it. It was a moment of difficulty. If it had

CROSSES BY THE WAYSIDE 293
been a question only of " saving his own face " there would
have been no hesitation ; but he had to think of his friends
in Toulouse who had given their treasure to him, and he
had to think of the authorities in Rome. He thought of
it all, long and anxiously, but when the dawn came it
found him with his mind made up. He would not pretend
that he was waiting for the verdict of a Commission when
he knew already. He was satisfied that the bones were
not the bones of the English Martyr, and so, in all
simplicity, he would say so.
Standing on the platform at Newcastle that evening,
to the astonishment of friend and foe he threw over the
whole case for the genuineness of the relics with both
hands, and publicly thanked the iconoclast who had
destroyed his illusions : —
"You have heard of St. Edmund, the Martyr and
King of East Anglia, and of the controversy that has
arisen as to his relics. I am going to make a very
open confession to you. Having built a Cathedral,
the thought and desire occurred to me of enriching it
with the relics of St. Edmund the King, which the
tradition of Toulouse said were held as a precious trea
sure in the Church of St. Sernin. To me, who am, I
regret to say, entirely without experience in studies of his
torical research, the matter seemed to be certain. I there
fore petitioned the Holy Father to obtain this treasure
for the Cathedral of Westminster. And his Holiness
desiring to gratify the Catholics of England, and believ
ing that Englishmen in general would be pleased to see
the remains of a Saxon King brought back to England,
obtained for us from the Archbishop of Toulouse what
we all believed to be the bones of St. Edmund the
King. Shortly after their arrival in England two learned
authorities, Dr. James, of Cambridge, and Dr. Bigg, of
Oxford, wrote letters to the Times calling in question
their authenticity. They did not seem to be absolutely

294 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
conclusive, but upon the suggestion of the Bishop of
Clifton and of Abbot Gasquet and others, I determined
to submit the whole question to experts in England and
France, so that we might by means of their researches
clear up difficulties and turn a pious belief into a positive
certainty one way or the other. But last Thursday
Sir Ernest Clarke published the report of what appears
to be an exhaustive and careful examination into the
question of the authenticity of the relics, so that the
Committee of experts I have referred to will have their
task, I should think, very much lightened, if they do not
find that it has been already accomplished. I confess
that Sir Ernest Clarke's evidence seems to me, who am,
however, very far from being an expert, overwhelming
and conclusive ; and I therefore, subject to further
examination and verification by experts, hasten to
express to him my hearty and sincere thanks for the
services he appears to have rendered."
There are letters among Cardinal Vaughan's papers
which show that there were some abroad whom his
language on this occasion gravely displeased. In
Toulouse especially there were many who thought that
he had acted with unnecessary haste, and perhaps even
with less than due regard for his own dignity. I think
his own countrymen were wiser.
Of another sort were the " crosses " which came to the
Cardinal in the simple execution of his duties as Defender
of the Faith in his diocese ; for though a Bishop is, pre
eminently, a man of blessings, at times it is his bounden duty
to ban. In the early Salford days Bishop Vaughan had
to pass judgment on the writer of a letter in the Times,
which seemed incompatible with a full acceptance of the
doctrine of Papal Infallibility. The fact that the offender
bore an historic name, and was a local magnate, could
not deter the Bishop from decisive action. He asked for

CROSSES BY THE WAYSIDE 295
a Profession of Faith, and was refused, and thereupon he
publicly warned the clergy not to allow the offender to
approach the Sacraments. Herbert Vaughan had done
only what seemed his plain duty ; but many tongues were
let loose against him. Even good Catholics were per
plexed — and for this reason, that while a comparatively
obscure man had been selected for condemnation, a far
more conspicuous offender, as they supposed, was let go,
apparently without rebuke, in another diocese. One of
the greatest scholars of the age, the first Lord Acton,
with his knowledge of all the history of the Middle Ages
at his back, was telling in the Times of the follies and the
crimes of the Popes ; and, to many outsiders at least, it
seemed that by him the doctrine of the Papal Infallibility
was overtly questioned. Even Catholics who knew better
what is meant by the Infallibility of the Pope were
scandalised. And when nothing happened, people asked
in perplexity why Herbert Vaughan had struck when
Manning held his hand — why the one had rushed in
where the other had feared to tread. Then the facile
answer came that the Bishop was young and inex
perienced, and narrow-minded, and a bigot ; and in
certain circles it was common to contrast his blundering
zeal with the large charity of the convert Cardinal.
Herbert Vaughan took up the cross and said never a
word in reply or extenuation ; and at last the dust of
years covered the thing. It was one of the great silences
of his life.
Only when they had all gone to the grave — Manning
and Acton and Vaughan — were the true facts made
known. In a letter written to Richard Simpson in
January, 1875, Lord Acton says: —

296 CARDINAL VAUGHAN "Aldenham.
" Manning, in a letter which you will receive with my
comments enclosing it, says he must leave the thing in the
hands of the Pope, as everybody tells him I don't believe
the Vatican Council. He means, it seems to me, that he
simply asks Rome to excommunicate me — a thing really
almost without example, and incredible in the case of a
man who has not attacked the Council, who declares that
he has not, and that the Council is his law, though private
interpretations are not, whose Diocesan has, after inquiry,
pronounced him exempt from all anathema."
He then asks Simpson for suggestions as to the best
form of reply. Simpson's answer, dated January, 1875,
lets us see clearly what had taken place : —
"You have now a right to state your own case, and
to demand that the statement should go with the other
papers to Rome. (1) You published your letter in the
London Times. (2) Manning thereupon asked you two
questions : (a) your intention in the letter ; (b) your
private belief. (3) You distinguished his right and autho
rity as having published the letter in his diocese. You
(a) disclaimed all schismatical meaning in the letter ; (b)
you evaded all reply to the second, since he, not being
your diocesan, had no right to ask it. (4) Manning pro
fessed himself glad to receive the reply (a), but insisted on
a reply to his second question. (5) Meanwhile you had
satisfied your own Bishop as to your orthodoxy. (6)
Manning, having ascertained this, begins with a new
charge, that you have given public scandal in his diocese,
and must publicly retract it. (7) Your reply to this might
be : (1) You have publicly, in your second letter to the
Times, repudiated the only explanation of your letter
which could justly give scandal. (2) That if scandal still
exists, it is either reasonable or unreasonable. If the
former, let the passages be produced on which the reason
is founded, and you will either explain them, or, if neces
sary, retract them. (3) But having had it already acknow
ledged by Manning that he believed you had no

CROSSES BY THE WAYSIDE 297
schismatical intent in the letter, and having satisfied
your own Bishop and other theologians that your letters
do not in any way attack the doctrine of Papal Infalli
bility, it is absurd to ask you so to confess that doctrine,
as by that confession to repair any alleged scandal arising
from your letters."1
Manning, therefore, had done just what Herbert
Vaughan had done in a similar case — required a declara
tion of faith in the decrees of the Vatican Council. But
Lord Acton had replied that "the Council was his law,"
and that he had already given assurances which his own
Bishop, Dr. Brown, had accepted as satisfactory.
The sequel has its own interest. When Herbert
Vaughan came to Westminster the incidents of 1875 had
for the general public largely passed out of mind, but for
many of his fellow- Catholics Lord Acton was still an
object of suspicion and distrust. What the world had so
easily forgotten, Herbert Vaughan had good reason for
remembering. He knew that in the crisis of the storm
Lord Acton had satisfied his Bishop, and had unquestion-
ingly accepted the decrees of the Vatican. Perhaps, also,
the Cardinal remembered the noble words with which
Lord Acton had ended the most memorable of his letters
to the Times (November 24th, 1874) when, after speaking
of the teaching and authority of the Church " whose
Communion is dearer to me than life," he continued : —
" Our Church stands and our faith shall stand, not on
the writing of men, but on the surer ground of an insti
tution and guidance that are divine. Therefore I rest
unshaken in the belief that nothing which the inmost
depths of history shall disclose in time to come shall ever
bring to Catholics just cause of shame or fear. I should
1 Lord Acton and his Circle, edited by Abbot Gasquet (Burns and Oates).

298 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
dishonour and betray the Church if I entertained a
suspicion that the evidences of religion could be weakened
or the authority of Councils sapped by a knowledge of the
facts with which I have been dealing, or of others which
are not less grievous or less certain because they remain
untold." It was, therefore, one of Cardinal Vaughan's cherished
hopes, as Archbishop, that he might find an opportunity
to do something to rehabilitate Lord Acton in the esteem
of any of his doubting co-religionists, and to show him to
the world as a loyal and consistent Catholic. Early in
1895, when Lord Acton was appointed Regius Professor
of History at Cambridge, the Cardinal saw his opportunity
and took it. He wrote from Rome : —
" My dear Lord Acton, — I was proposing to myself
a few days ago to write to congratulate you on your
appointment to the Regius Professorship of History at
Cambridge, but as usual here a multiplicity of affairs delays
the execution of good intentions. But this morning I have
received an article from the Irish Catholic which has
simply infuriated me, and I write to congratulate you on
your appointment, and to say how I rejoice in your
nomination to the distinguished post, and how confident
I feel in your goodness and fidelity to the Church. I
know and understand something of the awful trials you
must have gone through in years past, and I cannot but
thank God that you are what I believe you to be — .faithful
and loyal to God and to His Church, though, perhaps, by
your great learning and knowledge of the human in this
same Church, tried beyond other men. Pray accept,
therefore, my affectionate congratulations and greetings,
and be assured that you shall have a share in my poor

CROSSES BY THE WAYSIDE 299
prayers that you may unflinchingly do God's work during
the career at Cambridge which is opening before you.
" Believe me to be,
"Your faithful and devoted servant,
"Herbert Cardinal Vaughan."
A few days later he had this reply : —
" Munich, April 30th, 1895.
" My dear Lord Cardinal, — I was down with con
gestion of the lungs when I received from your Eminence
the kindest and most touching letter that it has ever been
my happy fortune to possess. If I was not afraid of being
presumptuous, I would in reply assure you that you have
judged me rightly as well as most graciously, and I beg
that you will believe in my sincere gratitude for all you
say. I see that you have returned to England, and I hope
that my thankful acknowledgments of your encouraging
good wishes will reach you before you start on your
historic expedition to Orleans. My Cambridge office is
full of interest and promising opportunities ; but the danger
is that it is almost more a platform before the country
than a cathedra with serious students under it.
" I remain,
" Your Eminence's most faithful and obedient servant,
" Acton."
If the Cardinal's letter seemed to Lord Acton the
" kindest and most touching " he had ever received, his
reply, it is safe to say, gave even greater pleasure. It
seemed the answer to many prayers, and for Cardinal
Vaughan it sweetened all the years that came after it. At
the greatest event of the Archiepiscopate, the laying of

300 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
the foundation-stone of Westminster Cathedral, Lord
Acton was present at the Cardinal's special invitation,
and as an honoured guest replied for one of the toasts
at the public lunch which followed the ceremony.
There was another "cross," in some ways the most
perplexing and painful of all — an episode in which, years
afterwards, Cardinal Vaughan appeared very publicly as
the Defender of the Faith against one who, during a long
life, had himself gloried in his inclusion among the most
fervent of the Faithful.
Dr. St. George Mivart, as a man of science, had a
fame not inferior to that achieved by Lord Acton in the
department of history. A convert at so early an age
that Oscott, not Oxford, completed his formal education,
he entered with unbounded zeal and enthusiasm on the
task of readjusting those apparent discrepancies between
dogma and science which recent discoveries and specu
lations had brought in view. Men on each side acknow
ledged his eminence. The value of his contributions
to the Evolution controversy was attested by Darwin
himself; he was a Fellow of the Royal Society and a
Master in Biology ; and, besides receiving a Doctor's
Cap from the Pontiff, he held Chairs in the University
of Louvain and at the Kensington College which was
the hoped-for beginning of a Catholic University in
England. Great, therefore, was the general consterna
tion and distress when, at the beginning of the twentieth
century, articles appeared over the signature of St.
George Mivart, now an old man, contradicting, and that
flagrantly, the doctrine and the discipline of which during
the last fifty years of the departed century, and through
out the whole period of his full and undeplenished

CROSSES BY THE WAYSIDE 301
maturity, he had been the constant champion. One article
in the Nineteenth Century of July, 1900, was too plainly
perverted not to call for an immediate condemnation.
Personal friends said privately that a complete explana
tion might be found in the failing health of the writer ;
but there was, as is common in such cases, the baffling
virility and balance of judgment in other departments of
life and thought. If they were right, the conditions of
the controversy were patently unjust ; they were even
grotesque ; for whereas a man, at the close of a career of
abounding vitality, may seek to take his own life, and may
be foiled in that frenzy by guardianship, none can inter
fere to prevent him from maiming the reputation he has
hitherto held most dear. If his playthings are not ex
plosives that come within the Act, none the less surely is
he handling moral and intellectual dynamite, and hand
ling it in a delirium of rejection of the old control.
Obviously Authority could deal only with the outer
proclamation ; it could not enter into the sick-chamber,
still less into the sanctuary of the soul. A painful corre
spondence followed between the Cardinal and the Pro
fessor, afterwards published in the Times, with omissions
generously made in the interests of one of the combatants,
and that one not the Cardinal. Then, suddenly, Death
came to put a close to the fantastic chapter which was a
contradiction to all the life-history that had preceded it ;
and this passing away was also an explanation. For one
of the portents of the disease from which St George
Mivart died is in fact a very reversal of a man's veritable
self; so that the miser beneath its thrall becomes a
spendthrift, the spendthrift a miser, and the man of faith
faithless, as if indeed the valve of self-control most in use

302 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
in health was the very one to give out when the illness
came. Sir William Broadbent, the medical adviser of
St. George Mivart, after his death gave an unhesitating
certificate to this effect; and those nearest and dearest
to the dead man, assured that his aberrations were those
that lay beyond his will, would not accept as final the
ban that had followed on his refusal to make a profession
of Faith, a ban that now consequently decreed for him
a non-Catholic burial.
The Cardinal's position was a peculiarly painful one.
But, as he explained at the time to the present Arch
bishop, then Bishop of Southwark, it was clear and simple.
He did not dispute the sufficiency of the medical testi
mony ; at the same time he felt that there had been a great
public scandal, and that therefore before burial with
Catholic rites could be sanctioned an equal publicity must
be given to the reasons for believing that the estranged man,
during the last period of his long life, was not morally
responsible for all his acts and words. There was some
hesitation about the sanction for this publication, and
even, perhaps, some misunderstanding as to what was
required. The Cardinal was very ill, and in bed ; and
negotiations had to be carried on through intermediaries.
But whatever the reason, the condition the Cardinal
insisted on was not accepted in the way in which he
thought it ought to be accepted, and the Catholic burial
did not take place.
Dr. Mivart was happy in his friends, and these, satis
fied that in the event a practical injustice had been done,
decided some months later to approach the Cardinal with
a view to a reconsideration of the whole question. The
Cardinal replied that he was quite willing that the case

CROSSES BY THE WAYSIDE 303
should be reopened, but pleaded that he personally was
no longer in a fit state of health to undertake anything
like a judicial inquiry. Let them wait — it would not be
for long — and then his successor should decide. Thus it
was that when, soon after the appointment of that suc
cessor, the case was again taken up by Dr. Mivart's
friends, with a view to having the body transferred to a
Catholic place of burial with the rites of the Church, the
new Archbishop could but repeat the condition he had
received from his predecessor's own lips. The condition
was accepted ; the Archbishop was authorised to make
the facts publicly known, whenever he thought well ;
and the interment took place very quietly in St. Mary's
Cemetery, Kensal Green, on January 1 8th, 1904. Those
who knew Dr. St. George Mivart best will feel most
confident that in this instance the way of peace was
also the way of justice.
It was a lighter cross, but still a cross, when the
Cardinal found himself called upon to trouble about and
give time and thought to matters which, in themselves
trivial, had yet a certain official significance. For instance,
how could he bring himself to care whether he went into a
room first or last ? Yet circumstances made it his duty to
seem to assert claims which could not easily be admitted.
We learn from the biography of Archbishop Benson
that that prelate used to regard the question of Cardinal
Vaughan's precedence "with an amused irritation-." It
cannot be said that the subject caused Herbert Vaughan
either amusement or irritation. To few men could the
subject of social precedence in its personal aspects have
mattered less. In whatever assembly he found himself
he was necessarily a Man of Men — Nature had arranged

304 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
that; and whether he passed first or last mattered very
little. At the same time, it was a subject of grave concern
to him lest the dignity he bore, his rank as Cardinal and
Prince of the Church, should suffer any derogation in his
hands. As successor of Cardinal Manning, he seemed
to have inherited an assured position. Cardinal Manning,
when he was appointed to serve on the Royal Commission
on the Housing of the Poor in 1884, was given a prece
dence, under the Queen's sign-manual and with the assent
of the Heir to the Throne, which, on that occasion, placed
him immediately after the Royal Family. The Commis
sion was signed by Sir William Harcourt as Home
Secretary, and the order of precedence it set forth must
be regarded as the official act of the then Prime Minister,
Mr. Gladstone. It would be difficult to imagine a more
formal or official or binding precedent. At the moment
the question seems to have passed almost unnoticed, and
certainly without challenge. Six years later, however,
two years before Cardinal Manning's death, the subject
was brought before the public by a correspondent in the
Times, and a lively controversy was the result. Mr.
Francis Heath had drawn up a Memorial to the Post
master General in favour of the establishment of an
express letter service. In due course the Memorial was
published in the Times, and appended to it were the
following signatures in the order given : —
Henry E. Card. Manning,
Henry A. Isaacs (Lord Mayor),
Randolph S. Churchill
John Lubbock,
F. Londin.,
Wolseley.

CROSSES BY THE WAYSIDE 305
A day or two later an indignant correspondent wrote
to ask who was the first citizen of London — Cardinal
Manning or the Lord Mayor? He recalled the legend
that a bold Lord Mayor had once asserted his right of
precedence, within the City limits, even against the Heir
to the Throne. And yet Sir Henry Isaacs had given
way to a Roman Cardinal. The correspondent felt that
the British Constitution was in danger, and wrote accord
ingly. Mr. Heath at once replied, and did his best to
pour oil on the troubled waters. He only was responsible.
Cardinal Manning's name appeared first because he had
been asked first. Mr. Heath had the pleasure of his
acquaintance, and knowing his readiness to help every
good cause, Mr. Heath had applied to him first — voila
tout. Mr. Heath would have strengthened his case if he
had pointed out that the order of the other signatures
ought to have made it clear that they had been arranged
without regard for the ordinary rules of precedence. It
was proper that the signature of the Bishop of London
should be placed below that of Lord Randolph Churchill —
for Bishops rank after the younger sons of Dukes, and
even after the younger sons of Marquesses — but why
after that of Sir John Lubbock ? Unfortunately, however,
Mr. Heath forgot to communicate with the Lord Mayor.
Sir Henry Isaacs, at a Committee dinner of the Corpora
tion of the City of London, on the 9th of June, 1890,
referred to the subject, and sweeping aside the coincidence
story, and perhaps unaware of it, boldly justified the
precedence he had yielded the Cardinal upon the pre
cedent created by the Royal Commission in 1884. The
following rather unsatisfactory summary of the Lord
II X

306 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Mayor's remarks is taken from the report supplied to
the Times : —
"The Lord Mayor then referred to the fact that
Cardinals had been regarded all over the Continent of
Europe, except in England, since the loss of the tem
poralities of the Pope as deposed Princes. This position
was recognised in England in 1884, when Cardinal
Manning was appointed a member of the Committee of
the Housing of the Poor. Mr. Gladstone then carefully
considered the bearings of the case, and, with the full
concurrence of Lord Salisbury, recommended the Queen
to place the Cardinal's name immediately after that of
the Prince of Wales and before that of the present Premier
(Lord Salisbury). The Lord Mayor said that the greatest
stickler for old customs would agree with him that if
Cardinal Manning could, by consent of the Prime Minister,
place his name immediately after that of the Prince of
Wales, surely no reasonable man would tax the Lord
Mayor with want of loyalty to his office because he
appended his name to any document after the name of
such a man as Cardinal Manning."
This defiant speech was naturally fuel to the flames.
Dr. Preston, Vicar of Holy Trinity, Runcorn, at once
determined to get to the bottom of the mystery and to
ascertain who was responsible for the precedence con
ceded to Cardinal Manning in 1884. With this object
in view he wrote to Lord Salisbury, Mr. Gladstone, and
the Prince of Wales. Lord Salisbury hastened to explain
that he was not in office at the time, and so was certainly
not guilty. Mr. Gladstone declined all responsibility, and
intimated that in his opinion the Cardinal had no tem
poral rank of any kind. The answer of the Prince of
Wales, now King Edward VII, was of another sort.
With characteristic generosity and courage, he took the
whole responsibility for what had happened, and avowed

CROSSES BY THE WAYSIDE 307
that it was by his advice that the Cardinal's name had
appeared immediately after his own. This letter, written
by Lord (then Sir Francis) Knollys, ran as follows : —
" SIR, — I am desired by the Prince of Wales to
acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 20th inst.,
and to inform you that it is quite correct that, on being
consulted as to the precedence which Cardinal Manning
should occupy on the Royal Commission for the Housing
of the Working Classes, his Royal Highness expressed
an opinion that, as a matter of courtesy, the name of the
Cardinal should appear immediately after his own.
" I have the honour to be, Sir,
" Your obedient servant,
"Francis Knollys.
"Marlborough House, July 22nd."
This, of course, was final and decisive ; but the Times,
in summing up the controversy, took the occasion to rub
in the fact that, whatever the Prince might have recom
mended out of the goodness of his heart, the official
precedence assigned to the Cardinal was the official act
of the Prime Minister who sanctioned it — Mr. Gladstone.
The question still remained how far this official precedence,
granted under the sign-manual of the Queen and by the
authority of the Prime Minister and at the instance of
the Heir to the Throne, could be considered a binding
precedent. Some alleged that it in no way governed
the future and was merely an act of courtesy, and personal
to Cardinal Manning, It was a position difficult to
maintain. In a sense it is true to say that all questions

308 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
of etiquette and precedence are matters of courtesy. But
they are matters which in all Courts are governed by a
code of rules so strict that their interpretation has become
almost an exact science. By far the most interesting
letter which appeared during the discussion was one
published in the Morning Post, a contribution from
the brilliant pen of Mr. J. E. C. Bodley. Mr. Bodley had
been the Secretary of the Royal Commission, and so was
in a position to speak with full knowledge of all the facts.
He wrote : —
"On the completion of the list of distinguished names the
first question which arose was the precedence to be given
to Cardinal Manning. His Royal Highness, the Prince
of Wales, had consented to become a member of it — an
unprecedented honour accorded to a temporary commis
sion — and naturally jhis Royal Highness was without
delay consulted upon the interesting question. The
Prince of Wales, I believe, pronounced the opinion,
against which no objection was ever raised within the
Commission (which included eminent men of all parties
and of all shades of religious belief), that, subject to the
assent of Lord Salisbury, Cardinal Manning's name should
be placed on the Commission immediately after that of
his Royal Highness. Lord Salisbury's assent was neces
sary, not so much on account of his high personal and
political position, but because he was the foremost in
rank of the remaining Commissioners, and therefore
chiefly concerned in the matter."
Mr. Bodley then went on to deal with Mr. Gladstone's
contention that Cardinal Manning had no temporal rank,
and that the precedence allowed to him was purely by
courtesy. Mr. Bodley said : —
"It would seem to be an act of presumption to attempt
to join issue with Mr. Gladstone on any matter connected
with official tradition, upon which his knowledge is pro-

CROSSES BY THE WAYSIDE 309
found and unrivalled ; but I would submit that on a Royal
Commission the ' precedence accorded by courtesy ' is
unknown. The order of the names is decided by the most
formal rules, and no courtesy rank is accorded to vener
able years, to high personal character, or to conspicuous
public services. If Mr. Gladstone had honoured the
Royal Commission by taking a seat at its board, though
combining all these qualifications in his person and though
then filling the office of First Minister of the Crown, he
would, I presume, have been merely placed after Lord
Carrington and before Mr. Goschen, whose names followed
one another on the Commission. Had Lord Beaconsfield
been alive and consented to serve, he, in the same way,
would have ranked after Lord Brownlow and before
Lord Carrington. The reverence with which Cardinal
Manning is regarded by his fellow-countrymen un
doubtedly facilitated the concession of place to him by
his distinguished colleagues ; but when it was once
granted, and confirmed under the Queen's sign-manual,
it became no longer a matter of courtesy, but one of
official precedence."
It may be added that even while this controversy was
going on in the public Press, the official list issued from
Marlborough House of the guests who had been invited
to the Prince of Wales's garden-party on June 14th
placed Cardinal Manning's name above those of all the
Peers and immediately after the Archbishops of the
Established Church. The question was not again mooted
in public in Cardinal Manning's time.
When Herbert Vaughan became Cardinal, for some
years at public meetings or dinners he was usually allowed
the precedence which had been accorded to his pre
decessor. Towards the end of 1896, however, his right to
take precedence even of Suffragan Bishops of the Estab
lished Church was formally challenged. The following
letter from the then Bishop of Stepney speaks for itself: —

310 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
" December lolk, 1896.
" Dear Cardinal Vaughan, — I am glad to see from
the Times that you are out again. As we may meet at
the Guildhall next Monday (Hospital Sunday Fund), let
me make an explanation on a matter which is personally
small, but in other respects has importance. When we
met at the People's Palace in the summer I found that it
had been arranged that I should receive the Prince and
Princess of Wales, but I had the pleasure of informing
your Eminence that we had placed a chair on the plat
form for you above mine. This led to some inquiry by
secular authorities. As the result, I was informed by the
Archbishop of Canterbury that all Bishops appointed to
English Sees, whether diocesan or suffragan, under Letters
Patent of the Crown, have precedence in England in
respect of other ecclesiastics ; and the Archbishop told me
that I must observe this on public occasions. I make this
explanation in order that you may not regard my future
course as fitful and inconsistent with that which I so
gladly took on the occasion referred to, and should on all
personal grounds so gladly take again.
" Your Eminence's very faithfully,
"G. F. Stepney."
It may be admitted that if the thing had to be done, it
could hardly have been done more considerately. To
Cardinal Vaughan anything like controversy on such a
subject was intensely distasteful. He had no difficulty
in entering into and appreciating the point of view from
which the Bishop's letter was written ; but the rank of
Cardinal in this country is so absolutely sui generis that he
had hoped its right of precedence might continue to be
acknowledged without offence to any one. A Cardinal
may count as a stranger in London to-day ; and yet what
associations his title carries with it! The very words "My
Lord Cardinal " have their own indestructible place in
English literature, as well as in English history. As long

CROSSES BY THE WAYSIDE 311
as the names of Langton, Beaufort, and Wolsey are
remembered, the style and title of a Roman Cardinal
must remain familiar to our countrymen. The single fact
that seven Cardinals have held the Great Seal of England
is significant of the part which the Princes of the Church
have played in the past of the nation. Cardinal Vaughan
replied to the Bishop of Stepney as follows : —
"Archbishop's House, nth December, 1896.
" My dear Lord, — I have an engagement that must
hinder my being at the Guildhall on Monday. But I
must thank you most cordially for your great delicacy and
courtesy in writing to me as you have done bn the subject
of precedence. I can assure you that, like yourself, I have
no personal feeling in such matters. But apart from this
I cannot but think that the late Archbishop, to whom you
refer, must have been thinking of precedence among
Bishops, and that he could not have meant to say that the
historical and universally recognised rank of a Cardinal is
below that of a Bishop.
" I am quite sure that your Lordship will appreciate the
fact that our Catholic fellow-subjects, who number nearly
ten millions in the British Empire, would feel it most
keenly were a Cardinal to be received in future with less
recognition in England than in the other countries of
Christendom. But I do not write to argue the matter,
but simply to thank you heartily for your great personal
courtesy and kindness.
" Believe me to be, my dear Lord,
" Yours faithfully,
" Herbert Card. Vaughan."
The Bishop's answer runs thus : —
" nth December, 1896.
" Dear Cardinal Vaughan, — Let me thank you
earnestly for your kind and welcome letter. I, too, do not
argue the matter ; indeed, it would be unseemly in me to
do so. There is a very strong feeling on the subject in

312 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
England adverse to the view so naturally expressed by
your Eminence. Historical associations, especially of the
times before the sixteenth century, appeal to my personal
sense in an almost abnormal degree. But the feeling to
which I have referred is a serious modern fact ; and I hear
so much of it that I cannot join in the proposition which
you so pleasantly suggest.
" Your Eminence's very faithfully,
"G. F. Stepney."

As Herbert Vaughan fully recognised that any pre
cedence granted to him as Cardinal in this country could
be the result only of spontaneous courtesy and good feel
ing, he felt that argument on the question would be quite
out of place. Yet had he made no protest it might have
seemed that the loss of the precedence formerly allowed was
due to his indifference or default. But while he regretted
the apparent slight to his rank as a Prince of the Church,
he felt that the action of the Archbishop of Canterbury
was very natural under the circumstances. A prolonged
controversy such as that as to the validity of Anglican
Orders was bound to have incidental consequences, and
certainly the moment was not a favourable one for putting
forward claims which could not be sustained in law. He
hoped that the precedent set in the case of Cardinal
Manning might again prevail, by universal consent, in
some happier time.

CHAPTER X
THE BUILDING OF WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL
THE project of building a Cathedral in Westminster
had been before the Catholic body for many years
before Herbert Vaughan came to London. It had been
more or less vaguely mooted in Cardinal Wiseman's time,
and at his death it was decided that a Metropolitan
Cathedral should be his permanent memorial. A little
later, in May, 1865, Cardinal Manning, then Archbishop-
Designate, presided at a public meeting called to approve
and ratify the scheme. A subscription list was opened
and trustees and treasurers for the fund were appointed.
In his address to the meeting Cardinal Manning spoke of
the enterprise as being not only a work of affection
towards his predecessor, but also a work which was
absolutely needed for the archdiocese and for the
Catholic Church in this country. " The whole project,"
he added, " was in accordance with his wishes, with every
suggestion of his public duty, with every affection of his
heart towards the greatest and best friend he had ever had
in his life ; and his earnest desire was to further its success
in every possible way. He gladly, therefore, took up the
great burden of labouring for the rest of his life to carry
out what had been decided.
" Fifteen years had passed since the restoration of the
Hierarchy in England. Many of the Suffragan Sees were

314 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
already provided with Cathedrals, while the Metropolitan
See of Westminster had only a Pro-Cathedral. The See
of Westminster needed a Cathedral proportionate to the
chief diocese of the Catholic Church in England, and to
the chief city of the British Empire ; and to raise such
a Cathedral, the Catholics of England, in gratitude for the
signal graces and blessing they had received, ought to
make a generous effort." Yet, in accepting the heavy
burden of responsibility and labour which he had been
asked to take upon himself, he did so on one condition.
He said publicly at the meeting that, before he could lay
a stone upon a stone, the foundations of the spiritual
Church in the diocese must be completely laid. By this
he meant chiefly that the many thousands of poor
Catholic children in the diocese — especially those whose
faith was in the greatest danger through their being in
non-Catholic workhouses, industrial and reformatory
schools — must be spiritually provided for ; and that to this
most urgent spiritual need all precedence must be given,
The first difficulty was to find a site. For many
months it seemed a difficulty which could not be over
come. It was not until two years later that an oppor
tunity presented itself of securing a piece of land which
was even worth considering for such a purpose. In the
autumn of 1867 there came into the market a plot of land
in Carlisle Place, Westminster, which was 488 feet in
length, but only 85 in its greatest width. The price asked
was £16,500. The plot was inconveniently narrow, but,
as there seemed no alternative, it was bought. Shortly
afterwards Mr. Henry Clutton designed a Cathedral
which, while of great length, was only about 70 feet in
width. But before any decisive steps were taken an

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 315
adjoining piece of freehold land on the other side of
Carlisle Place was advertised for sale. It was 430 feet by
108 feet, and as the roadway which separated it from the
land already in the possession of the Cardinal had never
been opened to the public, the owner of both plots would be
able to unite them and be entitled to build upon the road
itself. Cardinal Manning took counsel with a few friends
and then offered the price that was asked — £20,000. Of
the price of the two purchases, £36,000, only £14,000 was
paid in cash — £10,000 on the first and £4,000 on the
second ; the balance remained on mortgage and carried
interest which came to about £1,000 per annum. Mr.
Henry Clutton then set to work on new designs suited to
the new site, which now extended to two acres and a third.
But though sufficient in area the new site was still very
inconvenient in shape. The land first purchased extended
beyond the second plot by about 130 feet. A year or two
later the " Guards' Institute," the great structure afterwards
for so many years known as Archbishop's House, and
situated at the south side of the Cathedral site, was offered
for sale. Cardinal Manning bought it with his own money
as a temporary residence. He lived there until his death
but always had the consolation of knowing that his pur
chase had greatly improved the land intended for the
Cathedral, for, if necessary, a new house could at any time
be built at the other side of the site. Again Mr. Clutton
redrew his design and adapted the scale to the new
opportunity. He presented Cardinal Manning with plans
for a vast Cathedral, something after the style of the Dom
of Cologne, a huge mass of masonry 450 feet in length
and 250 feet in width. It would have been just as useful
to plan the building of a new Tower of Babel. But Mr.

.316 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Clutton had been very kind, and generous as well, and
there were no funds, and so Cardinal Manning approved
the designs. He had done his part and safeguarded the
future by securing the site.
In the autumn of 1882, however, there came to
Cardinal Manning a new hope, and a hope that he
might live to see a Cathedral at Westminster, not only
begun, but finished. He received assurances which led
him to believe that a wealthy gentleman, who was not
himself a Catholic, was yet ready to come forward and
build a Catholic Cathedral at his own sole cost. It was all
a beautiful dream, but it lasted over a year, and played an
important part in the story of Westminster Cathedral as it
stands to-day. In December, 1882, the Tablet announced
that this anonymous benefactor had selected as a model
" the splendid Votive Church in Vienna which was built to
commemorate the escape of the Emperor of Austria from
assassination in 1853." The name of the munificent
unknown was for the moment withheld. He was
described as a man remarkable for his " unworldliness,
simplicity, and detachment from riches." To help its
readers to some idea as to what the new Cathedral would
be like the Tablet thoughtfully provided them with a full-
page illustration of the Votive Church in Vienna.
The prospect of having a Cathedral built for him in
the immediate future had a wonderfully vivifying effect on
Cardinal Manning. Early in 1883 he managed to free the
site of the Cathedral from debt, and confidently looked
forward to laying the foundation-stone before the year was
out. It is true the Cathedral now proposed was smaller
than that designed by Mr. Clutton, but then Mr. Clutton's
Cathedral would probably have taken a century to build.

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 317
Everything seemed to go so satisfactorily that in July of
the same year the journalist, recording the death of the
well-known Austrian architect, Baron Heinrich von
Ferstel, was able to add : " We understand that Baron
Ferstel has left the plans for the new Cathedral at West
minster complete, and that his eldest son, who is also an
architect, and had intended, if his father had lived, to
come to reside in London and superintend the work, is
prepared to carry out his father's designs." Fortune that
year seemed to continue to shine on Cardinal Manning.
The site he had bought — two and a half acres — was good,
but it might be better. And now, when his heart was
warm with the thought that the plans for his Cathedral
were ready waiting in Vienna, came a sudden and wholly
unexpected chance of acquiring an ideal site of four acres
close at hand. Opposite his windows, and adjoining the
land he had already purchased, stood the Middlesex
County Prison of Tothill Fields. He now heard that the
prison and its grounds were for sale.
Cardinal Manning at once called to his aid his legal
and financial advisers, and in a very short time a small
company, called the Westminster Land Company, was
formed ad hoc. The Company bought the prison and its
grounds for £115,000. The part of the property thus
acquired by the Land Company which Cardinal Manning
coveted for the Cathedral was assigned to him at the cost
price of £55,000. In payment Cardinal Manning con
veyed to the Company the old Cathedral site at a
valuation of £35,000, and the balance (£20,000) he paid
by money raised upon a mortgage upon the new site.
The success of the transaction was complete, and the
Land Company, after having disposed of the surplus land

318 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
at a handsome profit, dissolved in the autumn of 1886.
Meanwhile the Tablet, in announcing the acquisition of
the new site for the Cathedral, referred to Sir Tatton
Sykes "as the man who was about to build the Cathe
dral," adding : " Its foundations are not likely to be laid
before next year. The new site, when handed over by the
proposed company in exchange for the present site, will be
500 feet in depth and 300 feet in width. Accordingly the
plans of the Votive Church in Vienna, which is only 292
feet in length, will, we understand, be departed from, so as
to render the Cathedral more spacious within, while, to
meet the exigencies of our climate, it will be less minutely
elaborate in external detail. The new site will have to be
purchased from the proposed company in order that Sir
Tatton Sykes' magnificent promise may be met by the
provision of as fine a site as it would be possible to obtain
in Westminster. The plans have been left complete by
the late Baron Von Ferstel and are in the custody of the
deceased architect's son in Vienna, whither, we understand,
Sir Tatton Sykes is about to proceed. We can only wish
prosperity and health and every blessing to this noble
benefactor, and that he may live to see his splendid
designs accomplished."
Cardinal Manning's gladness at the completion of the
purchase breaks out in a letter to Herbert Vaughan dated
February 23rd, 1 884, thus : " We are now legal owners of
the Prison land. I went over it yesterday — I can hardly
believe that the Middlesex magistrates are out and the
Catholic Church in. Now do not put that into the Tablet,
or we shall be in a storm a week after."
It does not come within the scope of this biography
to tell how Cardinal Manning was slowly undeceived

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 319
or to attempt to decide to what extent misunderstandings
or a change of purpose led to the failure of his hope.
It is enough to note here that it was that delusive hope
which directly led to the purchase of the site occupied
by the Westminster Cathedral to-day. To Cardinal
Manning the disappointment was a bad one, for it came
as that "worst of all the forms of disappointment, the
disappointment which presents itself as final." He was
too old ever to hope again, and for the rest of his life the
question of the Cathedral was in abeyance.
With the coming of Herbert Vaughan a new chapter in
the story of the Cathedral began. He came resolved to
build at once. He was not content solemnly to lay a
foundation-stone and then to slip the burden of building
on to the shoulders of another generation. He was not
thinking of posterity, nor of a Cathedral that would take a
century to build. He wanted one that would be begun
and made fit for service well within the ten years of active
life he thought might yet be left to him. And he was
so eager to begin, because he believed that the Catholic
revival had reached a stage when a Metropolitan Cathe
dral had become a necessity if Catholic life in this country
were to be allowed its free and full and natural develop
ment. He thought of a Cathedral primarily, perhaps, as
a House of Prayer, but also in a very real sense as a living
organism from which should radiate all sorts of spiritual
influences. To use a phrase which was often on his lips
during the last years of his life, he wanted " a live
Cathedral." He wanted a Cathedral which should be the
head and the heart of the life of the Church in England,
and the vivifying centre of its spirit and worship. It was
to be the home of a companionship of priests, the example

320 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
of whose lives should colour all the ideals and activities
of the diocese. He thought of it as a Catholic arsenal
from which lecturers and missioners should go forth to
preach and evangelise, as the meeting-ground for sodali
ties and confraternities and workmen's guilds, as a school
of sacred eloquence, and as a place where the perfection of
Church music should be heard. He hoped that its library
would be a help to ecclesiastical students all over the
country, and that its manner of conducting the ceremonies
of the Church would serve as a model and as an example
to every one. Above all, this hard, practical Lancashire
Bishop thought of his unborn Cathedral as providing a
splendid and fitting shrine for the Sacred Liturgy.
That was nearer to his heart than anything else. He
looked at the Catholic lands abroad, and thought of the
daily round of public prayer and praise and sacrifice
which prevailed in the English Cathedrals before the
Reformation, and then longed with a great longing to
bring back the daily singing of the Liturgy to West
minster. He knew that in practice the singing of the
Divine Office had ceased to be part of the public worship
of the Church in this country, and that nobody missed
it. The average Catholic never gave it a thought, or was
aware that anything was wanting. To quote his own
words : " Here and there, indeed, a Convent or a Monas
tery, at a safe distance from the busy haunts of men, has
said or sung Divine Office in their domestic choir ; but
so completely has the idea of the public celebration of the
Divine Office, as the normal form of public worship pre
scribed by the Church, faded from men's minds, that even
Catholics have come to consider it as a curious survival, and
the peculiar heritage of ancient orders of monks or nuns."

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 321
Abbot Gasquet confirmed this statement when, in
special reference to the Cathedral, he wrote : " Since the
days of the persecution of Catholics in England passed
away, circumstances have combined to render the public
celebration of the full Liturgy impossible, and very seldom
now have the Faithful an opportunity of attending more
than the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice and the occa
sional singing of Vespers and Compline. Of the greater
offices of Matins and Lauds, of the most beautiful morn
ing prayer of the Church — Prime — the consecration of
daily work, to say nothing of the lesser hours of Tierce,
Sext, None — the recurrence of which, as St. John Chry-
sostom says, perpetually recalls us to the throne of God
— the Catholics of England of to-day, as a rule, know
absolutely nothing. Indeed, so completely has the notion
that the Christian Church has any such official public
service of praise and thanksgiving passed away, that some
now gravely draw a sharp distinction between Liturgical
services, which they treat as private and as intended for
monks and ecclesiastics, and Congregational services,
which they regard as intended for the people."
Here was a point upon which the work of the Refor
mation had yet to be undone. The Cardinal saw, in his
still unbuilt Cathedral, an opportunity for in this respect
completing the work begun by the restoration of the
Hierarchy. To him, therefore, the Cathedral was at once
the symbol of the passing away of the sort of stunted and
maimed life which was the heritage of the Persecution,
and the means of bringing back the proper presentment
of the Sacred Liturgy as the daily and public worship
of the Church. And by the proper presentment he meant
a presentment that should be at once integral and reve-
11 Y

322 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
rent. At no time, and under the stress of no difficulty,
would he ever listen to any talk of compromise as to the
wholeness of the Liturgy, and he regarded any suggestions
to mutilate or abbreviate the Divine Office as treason to
the Cathedral. His busy, intensely practical mind was
for ever engaged with new schemes for getting the utmost
service and value out of the Cathedral, but first and last
he prized it most because it made possible the most per
fect and devotional rendering of the great Prayer of the
Church. As always, the supernatural came first, and his
delight as he saw the walls of the Cathedral rising was
chiefly because he seemed to see the dawn of the day
when the Divine Praises should be sung there unceasingly
from year's end to year's end, "a solis ortu usque ad
occasum laudabile Nomen Domini."
But Herbert Vaughan had no illusions as to the diffi
culties of the task that was before him. He had so often
been told that the age of Cathedrals was over, and that
it would be impossible to get people to subscribe large
sums for what they would regard almost as ostentation
and waste. Even if he were successful, he would be
thought to have robbed the poor, and to have starved
more practical charities. Sometimes the objections took
the plausible form of admitting that the building of a
great Metropolitan Cathedral was a thing greatly to be
desired, but then came the question, If means were
admittedly limited and it was necessarily a case of
choosing between one good work and another, might
not the Cathedral be postponed until more pressing
needs had been satisfied ? Up to a certain point and
under certain conditions the Cardinal would readily have
admitted the validity of this objection, but he felt that

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 323
it had been urged long enough and that there were some
who would press it indefinitely. He was well aware that
one of the strongest tendencies of the time was to treat
the Service of Man as though it were an all-sufficient
substitute for the Service of God, and to identify religion
exclusively with the corporal works of mercy. He knew
the extent to which the literature of the period is saturated
with the feeling that practical piety should express itself
in terms of sanitation, and that to spend on a Cathedral
money which might be used to provide almshouses for
the poor was the sheerest waste. Clearly to people hold
ing these views, to build to the glory of God, to spend vast
sums for the beauty of His House, must indeed seem
a foolishness and a vain thing. It was because the build
ing of a magnificent Cathedral was^so alien to much of
the thought around him and, in some sense, a rebuke to
those who would narrow down what he meant by religion,
until it was indistinguishable from philanthropy, that
Herbert Vaughan came to value Westminster Cathedral
as a public profession of faith on the part of his people.
He felt that the sum of the sacrifices represented by the
money to be spent to the glory of God on the new
Cathedral would be in some sort the measure of the faith
of the Catholics of England, the test of their belief in
the reality and value of a purely spiritual good — of a
gain that had no relation to this world.
But the most serious opposition the Cardinal had to
encounter was one that lay rooted in a doubt. People
were sceptical as to his ability to finish what he was about
to begin. If it had been possible fourteen years ago
to foresee what has happened since, to imagine the
Cathedral as it was, for instance, during the time of

324 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
the great functions of the Eucharistic Congress of 1908,
Cardinal Vaughan's way would have been made very
smooth for him. Such prevision was quite wanting to the
majority of those to whom he had to make his appeal.
They thought of some enormous fabric which it would
take generations to build, and which meanwhile would be
a perpetual drain upon the resources of the Catholic body.
It was so easy to count up examples of churches that had
been begun in hope and haste, and then suspended for
years for want of funds. Was it wise to pour money
down a drain, for the sake of a good which no one living
should see? And yet when it was known that Herbert
Vaughan had nothing of this sort in view, that, on the
contrary, he was minded to see his Cathedral roofed in
and fit for service within five years, there seemed the
oddest revulsion of feeling. The very people who before
were inclined to protest against the folly of beginning
a work of which no man could see the end, now asked
each other whether anything could be more unsatis
factory than a jerry-built Cathedral, run up to suit a
Cardinal in a hurry? Looking at the world through a
haze of mediaevalism, some of the most confident of his
critics were now inclined to deprecate excessive haste,
and to wonder aloud, "What are we that we should
presume to build a Cathedral in a few years when our
devout forefathers sometimes took a century ? "
The Cardinal's large patience was equal to every strain
upon it. His supreme care was to get a Cathedral well
begun and safely finished. And so he suffered captious
critics gladly. He armed himself at all points to meet all
objections, and spared no personal pains to conciliate
opposition, or to explain away difficulties. He pointed

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 325
out that perhaps it would be a mistake to offer special
reverence to what were, after all, only the defects
and limitations in the achievements of our ancestors, and
urged that modern conditions had made speed compatible
with the most solid workmanship. He pointed out that,
given the requisite amount of capital, there is no more
difficulty in building a Cathedral in a couple of years than
in erecting a single pier of it, or a single chapel. It was
only a case of multiplying the means, the men, and the
materials. He instanced the case of the Imperial Insti
tute, which had been completed in three or four years. At
other times he would urge that, even if it were relevant, it
would not be true to say that the old Cathedrals of the
land had always taken many years to build. Sometimes,
no doubt, want of funds, or the distracted state of the
times, or bickerings or jealousies among the ecclesiastical
authorities, caused the work to be interrupted and to
drag through generations ; but in other cases, in spite of
poor mechanical appliances, the great Cathedrals were
built with astonishing rapidity. Salisbury Cathedral was
built within less than thirty years, the Norman part of
Durham in less than twenty, and the greater part of
Canterbury from the transept to the end of the choir in a
single decade. No doubt there were later additions and
alterations in all these cases, but they suffice to show that
when circumstances were favourable our Catholic fore
fathers, in spite of their rude methods, could build with
considerable speed. If we looked overseas there was the
great Church of Sancta Sophia, built in the same style as
the Westminster Cathedral and completed in five years. It
is true that Justinian employed ten thousand workmen —
but how many of them would he not have exchanged for

326 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
one modern engineer? In conclusion the Cardinal would
insist that we are not conditioned as our forefathers were ;
and that if the new Cathedral were to drag on in the
building for twenty or thirty years, very surely the delays
would not be due to any zeal for thoroughness of work
manship, or because we were minded to build for eternity,
but because we were too poor-spirited, too lukewarm, and
too indifferent to subscribe the necessary funds.
But the fundamental difference between the Cardinal
and those who, for want of a better term, I may speak
of as his opponents, in the matter of the Cathedral, was,
that while they for the most part were profoundly
sceptical of his ability to collect the enormous sum re
quired, he had no doubts at all. His confidence in God
represented the dynamics of Herbert Vaughan's life, and
the secret of his success. He was satisfied that to build
a Cathedral in Westminster would be to promote the
glory of God and the cause of His Kingdom on earth.
If God wished the Cathedral to be built surely the money
would be forthcoming. If He did not wish it, why should
any one want it to be built? And in that case there
would be a public humiliation which might be made very
profitable for a Cardinal's soul. I can remember now, as
if it were yesterday, how sometimes, in those first years
of his stay in London, some chance remark would often
leave me in silent amazement at his absolute confidence
that all the money he wanted would be given to him.
Of all his anxieties and perplexities about the Cathedral
certainly that about the money to finish it with was the
least. There was another point upon which the Cardinal
acted with the decision of a man who knows neither

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 327
doubts nor hesitations. He knew exactly what he wanted
a Cathedral for. In a notebook which he kept towards
the end of his life I found a newspaper cutting with the
words, " Just my views," written beneath. The views in
question governed his conduct when preparing to build
Westminster Cathedral, and may be quoted here : " It
has been well said that churches are buildings, not merely
in which, but with which, we worship God. But, after all,
the primary purpose of every building, which is not a
mere monument, is that something should be done inside
it. Thus every church is essentially a place of worship.
And a cathedral or parish church is, moreover, a place of
assembly and instruction and a place of common prayer.
To these inward needs the outward form should be sub
ordinated ; and while the utmost beauty of construction
that is consistent with their full satisfaction should (so
far as material resources allow) by all means be aimed
at, it would clearly be an inversion of the right order of
things to allow the secondary purpose of a church, or a
building to worship Gpd with, to dominate its primary
purpose as a building to worship God in"
The Cardinal wanted a Cathedral for congregational
use, and therefore wanted a great open space, capable of
accommodating a large number of people in sight of and
in front of the altar. That requirement seemed to rule
out at once styles of architecture fitted mainly for monastic
uses. He thought Gothic architecture well adapted for
thinly populated districts — for mediaeval York or Durham
or Salisbury, but less fitted for such imperial cities as
Rome or Constantinople or London. What was in his
mind will be understood at once by any one who con
trasts Westminster Cathedral with the neighbouring

328 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Abbey, considered simply as a meeting-place for a multi
tude, where a large party of people can follow a service
at the altar, or listen to a sermon from the pulpit
Familiar as he was with every stone in Rome, his thoughts
went out naturally to the old Basilicas — to the splendid
spaces of Sta. Maria Maggiore or S. Paolo fuori le mura.
These were beautiful, and yet how admirably adapted to
serve the primary purpose for which the Cathedral at
Westminster was wanted ! In a private circular sent out
in July, 1894, to a number of persons who were likely to be
interested in the project Cardinal Vaughan said : " Our
actual need is a Cathedral that shall be large enough for
carrying out with splendour the Liturgy of the Church and
for accommodating (without charge) large audiences in
front of the pulpit. But it need not be such a building as
would drain and exhaust all our resources to erect it,
starving and stunting growth in all other directions. Nor,
when our need is actual and urgent, should it be of such
costliness as to render its erection impossible for genera
tions to come. It is proposed, therefore, to utilise without
delay, in the following manner, the site acquired in West
minster by the late Cardinal : (1) To build the shell of
a Cathedral that shall be spacious enough for all practical
purposes, viz., that shall be between 300 and 400 feet long,
by 120 or 130 feet wide, with a nave 60 feet wide by
240 feet long, being the proportion of four cubes.
(2) To adopt the ancient Basilica style, taking Con-
stantine's Church of St. Peter in Rome as the model,
without, however, servilely following its defects. The
advantages of this are : that the Cathedral will not appear
as an attempt to rival the neighbouring Abbey or any
other large church in London ; that the shell of the

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 329
building can be erected at less cost than if any other style
were adopted ; that the only external ornament would be
upon the facade, such decorations as may be added by
the present and future generations being concentrated
upon the interior — no unwise arrangement surely, taking
into consideration the London climate and the surround
ings of the actual site. Nor will the reproduction in
Westminster of the main features of the ancient Roman
Basilica of St. Peter, as they were reproduced in Canter
bury of old, be without devotional, artistic, and historic
interest to the general public and to the Church at large."
The choice of Constantine's Basilica as the model of
his proposed Cathedral in Westminster commended itself
to Herbert Vaughan, not only because its style fulfilled
his main condition, but because it was dedicated to the
Prince of the Apostles, while its associations with Canter
bury seemed to recall a happy link between England and
Rome. Having thus settled the plan of the Cathedral,
the Cardinal then began to think of selecting an architect.
Here was a question about which he felt diffident and
uncertain. He was anxious for advice, and sought it
from all sorts and conditions of men. He knew a great
deal about architecture in a practical way. It would be
impossible, for instance, to wish for a more delightful or
instructive guide to the ancient churches of Rome. He
had their history at his fingers' ends and he was familiar
with the literature of the subject, but he recognised his
own artistic limitations, and distrusted his own judgment
in matters of taste. His first idea was to invite public
competition and allow a jury of experts to decide —
subject, of course, to certain controlling conditions as to
what the Cathedral was to be like. But as he pressed

330 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
his inquiries he was struck by the frequency with which
the name of Mr. John F. Bentley was recommended. It
often happened that when some other architect was being
suggested Bentley would be mentioned as that of an
alternative man. He noted, too, that among his fellow-
architects Bentley's name was always mentioned with
special respect. The Cardinal had known Mr. Bentley
for years and admired his work, and knew him for a man
after his own heart. But now he found that it was a
settled principle with Bentley never to enter for any
public competition, and that he was unwilling to make
any exception, even though the opportunity of his life
were at stake. To Bentley the rivalry of a competition
was intensely distasteful — he had no heart to seize a good
which came to him only as a triumph over others. On
the other hand, there was something in the idea of an
open competition which appealed very strongly to the
Cardinal's sense of fairness, and he was for a long time
very unwilling to abandon it. The question seems to
have been in the balance until the last moment. In a
letter to his private secretary, Mr. Austin Oates, dated
July 5th, 1894, he says: "The Finance Board and others
want me to appoint the architect without competition —
in that case I shall choose Bentley, I think. But there
will be many heart-burnings." Ten days later he says
he has considered the question of a competition very
anxiously and carefully. " The ultimate result is to
appoint Bentley — all agree on Bentley."
It has been hastily said that Bentley was a stranger
to the architectural style in which he now proposed to
build, and that he hurriedly went abroad " to get it all
up." As a matter of fact, in revisiting some of the great

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 331
examples of Byzantine architecture he was but returning to
an early love. He had always had a profound admiration
for Byzantine art, and in his younger days had designed
a church in that style. The work of his life had neces
sarily been on other lines, and he would undoubtedly have
preferred to design a Gothic building, but he gradually
came to acquiesce in the Cardinal's decision and to think
that he was in the right. Among the Catholic public
generally the idea of a Byzantine Cathedral in London
was at the outset very unpopular. They thought it in
congruous and un-English. Comparatively few had ever
seen a Byzantine church and many condemned the style
as " Italian," and therefore likely to give point to the gibe
about the " Italian Mission." The Cardinal was indefati
gable in his efforts to meet misrepresentations and clear
up misunderstandings. He pointed out that though Byzan
tine churches may be found anywhere between Sicily and
the Euphrates — in France and in Germany, in Dalmatia
and by the Bosphorus — almost the only examples in Italy
are those of San Marco, in Venice, and San Vitale, in
Ravenna, both built by Easterns. Then those who feared
that too much money would be spent upon the Cathedral,
or that it would remain an architectural white elephant,
unfinished for want of funds, were reminded that economy
in initial expenditure is one of the advantages which the
Byzantine style has over Gothic. He was never tired
of pointing out that you cannot build the shell of a Gothic
church and leave the ornamentation to be done as time
and opportunity allow — you must finish as you go :
columns must be clustered, arches and ribs must be
moulded, tracery and general details must be worked at
the time, and when the shell is finished the work is almost

332 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
done. So that, even if it had not been so desirable to
avoid any appearance of rivalry with Westminster Abbey,
the question of cost would have weighed heavily against
a Gothic design. A Gothic building of the same size
would certainly have cost two or three times as much.
Meanwhile, the Cardinal had not waited /or the ap
pointment of an architect — he had been busily at work
for some months. The possession of a mortgaged site
would hardly in itself have justified the appointment of
Mr. Bentley. The letter of July 5th, already referred to,
contains the following allusion to the results of his
vigorous begging : " The Cathedral is doing fairly well,
promises are nearer £50,000 than £45,000." It was a
work into which he threw himself heart and soul, and
with no reservations. He knew that if the enormous
sum required were to be got, it must come through him,
and in answer to his personal and direct appeal. He wrote
hundreds of letters with his own hand, and paid scores of
calls. It was a work' that was intensely distasteful to him;
he did it without flinching. It brought him plenty of morti
fications and rebuffs. But he would fortify himself, when
at times the shame or the shrinking of the beggar was
strong upon him, by repeating the words, " I must have the
courage of my cause." It used to be said that very often
his letters and personal solicitations showed want of tact.
It is likely enough that he blundered sometimes. But if
you ask a man to give you £1,000 it is always possible
that he may think it would have been more tactful if you
had been silent. Happily, whatever the humiliations of
those days, they also brought great consolations. People
met him with extraordinary kindness and contributed with
extraordinary generosity. Among his papers is a little

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 333
scrapbook containing a fragmentary record of the letters
he wrote in the interests of the Cathedral. Against each
name is a mark showing whether the person in question
had promised a donation or refused, or given a half-
promise, or failed to give any answer at all. The great
majority gave, in sums varying from the £10,000 given
by the Duke of Norfolk to £5 ; some made half-promises ;
others solved the difficulty by not replying, but very few
indeed refused. The total sum noted as promised in this
undated record came to over £75,000. Certainly among
the assets of the Catholic Church in this country during
the closing years of the nineteenth century the personality
of the Cardinal Archbishop was not the least important.
When Mr. Bentley returned from his tour of study
among the Byzantine churches of the Continent, he
worked with astonishing swiftness, so that the founda
tion-stone of the Cathedral was ready to be laid within
twelve months of the day on which he received his
appointment as its architect. The following is Bentley's
own description at the time of the accepted design :
" The arrangement is not that of an Eastern church
of the Justinian period, but rather an example of what
might have been unfolded, had not the decadence of
the Roman Empire terminated the growth of congrega
tional requirements in the East. From a glance at the
plan of SS. Sergius and Bacchus, Constantinople, or
S. Vitale, Ravenna, both of about the same age, it is
evident that they were arranged from a liturgical, rather
than a congregational, standard, while the Church of
S. Marco, Venice, erected nearly four centuries later,
indicates a marked advance in the latter direction,
showing clearly the course the development was taking.

334 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
On approaching the precincts of the Cathedral from
Victoria Street, at the angle of the site will be seen the
Campanile rising to an altitude of some 300 feet ; and
alongside the Western entrance included in a composition
extending 65 feet and embracing in the great arch of the
central portion three entrance doors, the outer ones for
the laity and the middle for the Archbishop and clergy.
These entrances open into porches, to be attached to a
narthex running the entire width of the church, termi
nating at one end with an entrance from the side street,
and with a Baptistery at the other, and in front, open
ing into the nave. The nave, 60 feet wide and 234 feet
long from the insides of the great door, will be divided
into three bays of 67 feet each, covered with saucer-shaped
domes, rising out of pendentives that will spring imper
ceptibly from the sustaining arches resting on enormous
piers. Each bay will be subdivided by another pier, and
again by columns, forming an arcaded aisle with a gallery
over. Laterally to the aisles are four chapels on either
side. From the last bay transepts, measuring 152 feet
across, will project, in which additional entrances will be
provided. Eastward, and opening into the transepts, the
Chapels of the Blessed Sacrament and of Our Lady will
be placed, each with aisles to the north and south. The
inner aisles will connect these chapels with the Sanctuary,
and the outer will be passage-ways from the body of the
church to the Sacristies. The Sanctuary from the High
Altar to the nave will be 65 feet by a width of 50 feet ;
and the raised Choir beyond, terminating in an apse, will
extend the length 49 feet more. The High Altar, under
the baldacchino, will be reached by thirteen steps above
the level of the nave floor."

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 335
I have to thank the Rev. Herbert Lucas, S.J., for the
following account of the reasons which led Bentley to
abandon the idea of a central dome: "Mr. Bentley
seriously considered the question whether or no his
Cathedral should have a great dome, comparable — in pro
portion — to that of St. Peter's ; and he deliberately decided
in the negative. His decision was determined, not merely
by the conflict which a great dome invariably introduces
between the claims of ' form for form's sake ' and the
practical exigencies of congregatioual worship, but also
by another consideration. A central dome whose space
is greater than the width of the nave, of necessity requires
an open transept. And this Mr. Bentley would not have.
Profoundly convinced of the capabilities of the Byzantine
system of construction, he was not less impressed by the
wisdom shown by the early Roman church-builders in
designing their Basilicas. He was not alone in perceiving
that one of the most characteristic and admirable features
of the true Roman Basilica is that all the lines of the
perspective converge upon the altar, which, surmounted
by its civory or baldacchino and framed, as it were, in the
terminal apse, was plainly intended to be the focus of
sight as well as of worship. Now this perspective effect
is to a great extent destroyed by an open transept, and he
would have none of it. Nor was he content merely to
screen off the transept, as in old St. Peter's and in San
Paolo fuori, by means of a projecting wall, but, like the
architect of Pisa, he would carry his colonnade and his
gallery across the transept openings, would place his
sanctuary one bay further towards the west end, would
make it narrower, by some 10 feet, than the nave, and
would shut it in on either hand by a double range of

336 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
superpoised columns. It would be an aditum, a sacrarium,
a holy place, open indeed to the view of the faithful in the
nave, but enclosed on either hand ; visible to the con
gregation of worshippers, but not the open centre of a vast
crowd. Perhaps it is not too much to say that old St.
Peter's came nearer to his ideal of what a Christian
church should be than the monument of Renaissance
architecture raised by the genius of Bramante or Michael
Angelo. But old St. Peter's, like every other Roman
Basilica, was constructively imperfect and insecure by
reason of its timber roof ; and the synthesis which Bentley
has so successfully effected at Westminster is a combina
tion of the idea of a Roman Basilica with the constructive
improvements introduced by the Byzantine architects."
The foundation-stone was laid on the 29th of June,
1895, by Cardinal Vaughan, assisted by Cardinal Logue,
Archbishop of Armagh, in the presence of a large
gathering of clergy and laity. At the lunch which
followed the ceremony Cardinal Vaughan spoke of the
great pleasure with which he had heard that the Benedic
tine monks were ready to respond to his call and to take
charge of the daily singing of the Sacred Liturgy in the
Cathedral. Then he touched upon the question of funds.
He said that at one time he had thought with anxiety of
the large sum required. He put the whole matter in the
hands of St. Joseph. " From the moment he did so he
found his task made quite easy ; he wrote a few very
simple letters, calling the attention of a certain number of
his friends to the proposal. Without any persuasion on
his part, only using the simplest words in his power, those
friends at once, of their own accord, responded with all the
generosity which had brought about the state of things

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 337
concerning the Cathedral which had been witnessed that
day, when the promoters had in their hands £75,000
towards the building."
It may be safely said that that was a time of great
happiness to Cardinal Vaughan. He knew that his dream
was certain now to be realised. And surely it was no
mean achievement to have secured for English Catholicism
in so short a time a Cathedral of which generations unborn
shall be proud. The Cardinal had the dimensions of all
the great English Cathedrals and of many abroad at his
fingers' ends, and knew that in scale and in stateliness his
own might compare with the best. Something of the
gladness and exultation he felt as he watched the walls
slowly rising is reflected in an article written under his
inspiration : " The style of the new Cathedral happily
makes any invidious comparison with Westminster Abbey
out of the question. Westminster Cathedral will join
hands with an older time. The latest of the great
ecclesiastical structures of the world, it will recall the
earliest phase of directly Christian art. But though we
cannot compare the new Cathedral with any building of
the same type in this country, we may usefully contrast its
general scale and dimensions with some of the historic
fanes which are still the glories and the memorials of
English Catholicism. In total area the Westminster
Cathedral is upon much the same scale as Durham and
Salisbury ; and of course far larger than Hereford or
Lichfield or Gloucester or Worcester or Peterborough.
But in its impression of vastness it is likely to surpass
even the few old Cathedrals which exceed it in actual
superficial area. The length of the nave is exactly that of
Durham. Those who recall the magnificent proportions
II . Z

338 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
of the great northern Cathedral will be able to form some
adequate idea of the scale of the building which is now
rising at Westminster. Only with this thought of Durham
in his mind, let the reader also reflect that while at
Durham the width of nave and aisles together is 82 feet,
the width of nave and aisles at Westminster will be
150 feet. The length of the nave of the new Cathedral
will be exceeded only in the cases of York, Winchester,
Ely, and Salisbury. In width it far exceeds them all,
being 27 feet wider even than the great span of York. If
we consider the total area of the nave, we shall find that
not one of the old Cathedrals can compare with the new
one. The total area will be twice that of the neighbour
ing Abbey, and more than twice those of Salisbury,
Worcester, and Gloucester, and three times the size of
those of Lichfield and Hereford. If we take the span
of nave and aisles together, again we shall find nothing
among the old Cathedrals to compare with the scale of
the new. York measures 1 10, Lincoln 78, the Abbey 68,
Ely 74, Salisbury 73, Lichfield 66, and the new Cathedral
150. If we are to consider height, we find nothing so
near to Heaven as our own Cathedral shall be. Its height
of 109 feet may compare with the 93 of York, the 81 of
Lincoln, the 105 of the Abbey, the 81 of Durham, or the
61 of Gloucester. As far as scale goes, at any rate, the
last of the English Cathedrals may well challenge com
parison with anything that has gone before."
From the day of the laying of the foundation-stone in
June, 1895, the work of the Cathedral went on with
unresting haste until it was opened for the first time for
public service eight years later in the presence of the dead
body of its founder. The Cardinal himself was in-

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 339
defatigable in his public and private appeals for help to
the end. He sent others to seek aid across the seas.
Mgr. Fenton, now Bishop of Amycla, went to Italy and
brought back a gift of £1,000 from Leo XIII. The
Cardinal's brother, the late Father Kenelm Vaughan, was
sent to beg in Spain and then in Spanish America. After
years of wandering he brought back a sum of over £18,000
for the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament. Then the
people were invited to build bits of the Cathedral, to
defray the cost of a chapel, or a marble column, to pay for
ten thousand bricks, or, if that were too much, for a
hundred bricks or even for ten bricks, or a single stone.
The building was delayed at times through one difficulty
or another, but never once for want of money. At the
beginning of 1898 foundations, firm as the everlasting
hills, had been laid and the walls had risen to a height of
26 feet, and £48,000 was in hand. A year later, in
February, 1899, the outer walls stood at 85 feet above the
pavement and the arches for the domes were being turned.
But the progress had not been as rapid as had been hoped.
There was great difficulty with the bricklayers. To men
accustomed to running up the ordinary modern house or
blocks of flats the massive thickness of the Cathedral walls
presented itself as an unpleasant surprise. Instead of
being able to work comfortably in an upright position and
without stooping, they found themselves obliged to bend
over, and even to kneel on the wall itself, to put the centre
bricks in the right position. The result was that time
after time whole gangs of men threw up the work with the
remark that " they thought they had been engaged to do a
building job and not to lay a bloomin' pavement." Never
theless, ten million bricks had been laid and the walls of

340 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
the Cathedral waited only for their crown of domes. At
that time £90,000 had been collected and £7,000 remained
in hand. Three months later, in May, the subscriptions
had reached the noble total of £100,848. Before the
end of 1899 the Church of St. Mary's, Moorfields, which,
through the dwindling of the population in Central
London, had become a church almost without a congrega
tion, was sold for a large sum. After all local and
personal claims had been met and a sum had been set
aside for the erection of a smaller church, a considerable
margin remained. After £20,000 had been applied to the
redemption of the mortgage on the site of the Cathedral,
a further sum of £48,000 was placed, with the sanction of
the Charity Commissioners, to the credit of the building
fund. During all his appeals of those years the Cardinal
always insisted that if only the generation of Catholics
he was addressing would provide the fabric of the
Cathedral that sacrifice should suffice, and they should
never be called upon to find money for its upkeep.
There should be no church-door payments ; no dress-
circle or stalls for the rich, no free pews in which the
poor should be penned. He calculated that of the site
of four acres a strip could be let or sold for a sum which
would provide a sufficient endowment for the permanent
support of the clergy attached to the Cathedral and to
provide a fund for repairs. There is no doubt that this
prospect of finality contributed largely to the success of
the Cardinal's appeals. With the opening of the new
century Cardinal Vaughan's health began to fail visibly,
and the work of the Cathedral became less rapid. Still
it went on steadily, and before his death he had the

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 341
supreme satisfaction of seeing it roofed in, ready for
public worship. In June, 1902, just a year before his
death, the Cardinal issued his last appeal. At that time
the building fund was exhausted and £16,000 was still
wanted. The Cardinal recalled what had been achieved :
" The shell of a spacious, massive, and imperishable
Cathedral has been built upon a site absolutely free."
It would be opened as soon as it was possible to give
it over in fee simple to God by the liturgical act of
consecration. But before it could be consecrated it must
be free from debt — in other words, the giving of another
£16,000 was an indispensable preliminary. The appeal
ran on: "With confidence, therefore, I now invite Catholics
to consummate the work which has so nearly reached
completion. Of the founders — the record of whose Catho
lic faith will be sent down the centuries to be an
example and encouragement to their children's children
— some may be prepared, without further personal soli
citation, to add to their past generosity. There may
also be other persons both able and willing to inscribe
their names upon the noble Roll of Founders. And
there is, I doubt not, a multitude of men and women
who, though not as Founders, will rejoice to bear a
substantial part in completing a majestic Cathedral
reared to the honour of the Most Precious Blood. Nor
can it be necessary to add that the shillings and pence
of the poor will be gratefully received, for the eyes of
the Lord are upon the poor, and He blesses the widow's
mite. It is no longer the question of the morning, ' Is
it prudent to set out upon the gigantic task of building
in Westminster a worthy Metropolitan Cathedral ? ' You
have answered the question. You have built the Cathe-

342 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
dral. The question now is, ' Shall a last effort, a last
sacrifice, be made to complete and consecrate it to God
before the night fall ? ' Founders and friends must decide.
It is needless to labour an appeal with a string of
motives that are all too obvious. Suffice it to say that
this is my final appeal for the Building Fund — that there
will be no further call upon you for the Building Fund
in our lifetime, if the sum now asked for be obtained."
The tired Cardinal knew that his work was nearly
over and that the last appeal was made ; but during
the months of sickness and suffering that followed he
had the gladness of knowing that the money he asked
for continued to come and that the finishing of the
Cathedral was assured.
The Cardinal and his architect were so funda
mentally at one as to the purpose which a Cathedral
should serve that anything like serious and permanent
disagreement between them was out of the question.
But there was friction at times. The Cardinal was
ready to spend to the last farthing, but no further. He
was resolved not to leave his successor a Cathedral in
debt. In his Salford days he would have left some
thing to chance, but in his last years at Westminster
he felt that the margin for uncertainties, and therefore
of hope, was so narrowed down that he was unwilling
to count on more than a few months ahead. This
made him anxious to be reassured at short intervals
that the building was not outrunning the funds in hand.
When Bentley's calculations as to the cost of the work
actually done did not come as promptly as he wished,
the request for information was repeated and there was
sometimes impatience on both sides. Then again it is

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 343
difficult to imagine any sphere of life in which Herbert
Vaughan would have played successfully the r61e of
sleeping partner. He had promised, and in all sincerity,
to let Bentley have a free hand, but an architect would
surely be glad of suggestions ! So the suggestions came,
and with disconcerting frequency. A sample of many,
the following letter may serve to show what Bentley
had sometimes to endure : — " COLLEGIO INGLESE, ROME,
" January 1st, 1901.
"Dear Mr. Bentley, — (i) Before any inscription
is worked please to let me have an exact copy of
what is proposed, so that I may submit it to experts
in Rome. (2) I have noticed the effect of strong
golden glazing in churches in Italy and Paris, and see
how warm and comfortable they make the parts affected
by this summer and sunny light. I hope you will try
it in the dome — and not with roundlets, which, not being
of even surface, collect dirt and become dark. A plain,
strong, golden glass in the dome will give the right
effect, and no one looks up to see whether the glass is
in roundlets or in plain squares. (3) The Norwegian red
granite — if only slightly polished — would make admirable
steps into the church and into the chapels and would
look almost like porphyry. I am very much afraid of
the dull, sad English taste, due to climate and Protes
tantism, which delights in black and brown and every
thing non-cheerful. A black-edged bordering to the
Cathedral would be quite like our English mourning
paper and so far in character. God bless you.
" Yours faithfully,
" H. C. Vaughan."

344 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
But in fairness to the Cardinal it must be remembered
that these suggestions of an eager and unresting mind
were balanced by a compensating and ingrained humility
which on any merely artistic question would have made
sustained opposition to Bentley's settled opinions im
possible. It was more serious when what was in issue was
not the random preferences of the Cardinal himself, but
his regard for the feelings of generous givers. Thus more
than once incongruous gifts came, and were accepted with
out reference to Bentley. When an old friend offered a
pulpit of a particular design and workmanship, or when a
group of Suffragan Bishops subscribed for a throne which
was to be an " exact facsimile " of the Papal throne in
St. John Lateran's, the Cardinal thought far more of
the intentions of the givers than of the appropriateness or
the artistic value of what they gave. In each of these
instances Bentley's remonstrances proved ineffectual.
And yet that they were not unheeded is shown by the
fact that in the last letter he ever wrote, a letter delivered
only after his death, the Cardinal begged his Vicar-
General to try to see that the affairs of the Cathedral
should be controlled by a consultative committee of
priests and laymen, and so saved from the weaknesses
or impulses of any single individual.
Mr. Bentley died in March, 1902. The following tribute
to his memory, written at the time by Cardinal Vaughan,
throws a pleasant light upon the relations between the
two men : " The Cathedral will be his monument. For
myself, I have a gratification in the thought that I gave
him a free hand. Having laid down certain conditions as
to size, space, chapels, and style, I left the rest to him.
He offered me the choice between a vaulted roof and

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 345
one with saucer domes ; I chose the latter. He wished to
build two campaniles ; I said one would be enough for
me. For the rest, he had a free hand. A Metropolitan
Cathedral is not a mission or a parish church, and the
economies and limitations which I think ought in a
missionary country with small resources to prevail, as a
rule, in our ordinary buildings, would defeat a general
religious object were they enforced upon the architect of a
Cathedral. Mr. Bentley was a poet ; he saw and felt the
beauty, the fancy, the harmony and meaning of his
artistic creations. He had no love of money, he cared
little for economy ; he had an immense love of art, a
passion for truth and sincerity in his work. He was
not ambitious to get on ; he was not self-assertive — but
he coveted to do well. He went in search of no work,
but waited for work to come in search of him. He was
exquisitely gentle and considerate in dealing with
suggestions and objections ; but he would have his own
way whenever it was a question of fidelity to his own
standard of artistic execution. I would not have singled
him out to build cheap churches and schools, but he
was the best of architects for a Cathedral, or for any
work that was to excel in artistic beauty. He was no
mere copyist, or slave to tradition ; whatever he produced
was stamped with his own individuality ; it was alive and
original, and he had a genius for taking infinite pains with
detail. His reverence for God, for Our Lord, His Blessed
Mother, and the Saints pervaded everything he did for the
Church. In his judgments on art and style there was
a critical but kindly humour ; one always felt that
there was an elevation, an inspiration, in his character
that was due to his religious instincts and to his un-

346 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
worldly standard of life. It seems to me that it will
be necessary, for the perfection of the work Mr. Bentley
has left behind him, to retain his mind as a guide to its
completion, as far as we can know it. We know what
happened to St. Peter's and other buildings in which the
plan and the genius of the original architect were departed
from. Let us maintain the main idea and the unity of
Bentley's work to the end."
The pledge then given has been faithfully kept.
It had always been part of Cardinal Vaughan's plans,
even in the days when the Cathedral was still a project, to
entrust the daily singing of the Divine Office to a choir of
Benedictine monks. The idea of the return of the Bene
dictines to Westminster appealed strongly to his historic
sense, and he believed there was no other body of men in
the country so capable of rendering the Sacred Liturgy
with reverence and stately splendour. The coming of the
Benedictines seemed to him so natural an arrangement,
and, as it were, so essentially a part of the fitness of
things, that he seemed somehow to take it all for granted,
and to assume that difficulties had only to be stated to
be overcome. So that, a year before the foundation-stone
of the Cathedral was laid, he had no hesitation in
announcing that the English Benedictines would one day
keep daily choir in its stalls — although no definite arrange
ment had been concluded, or even considered. In his
speech at the public luncheon on the occasion of the
laying of the foundation-stone he used these words :
" His anxiety with regard to the Cathedral was allayed
by the readiness with which he found the English Bene
dictine Fathers, full of life and energy and numbers,
were willing to come back to Westminster. This had

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 347
removed from his mind another great anxiety." At that
time the Cardinal had in his mind, while safeguarding the
position and rights of the Chapter, to hand over the whole
working and management of the Cathedral to the monks.
The Benedictines were to man the fabric. This was quite
in accord with old English custom. Thus at Canterbury
the Cathedral was entirely served by a Benedictine com
munity, who were governed by a Prior, the position of
Abbot being held by the Bishop. The system had some
obvious advantages. Under it there was no double
body of clergy, and so no danger of overlapping spheres
of work, with consequent opportunities for friction and
misunderstandings. It at one time certainly represented
what the Cardinal meant when he spoke of the Benedictines
coming back to Westminster. On one occasion, in con
versation with Abbot Gasquet he expressed his intention,
when his plans were a little more matured, of handing
over to the Benedictines the two missions in Westminster,
which would ultimately be incorporated in the Cathedral
parish, so that they might become familiar with the
district they would have to work in when the Cathedral
was opened.
But as time went on, before any definite arrangement
had been made, Cardinal Vaughan began to see the grave
inconveniences of the scheme. This was not a case of a
remote Cathedral set down in a third-rate country town,
but of a Cathedral in the heart of the Empire, making its
appeal to a vast multitude and destined for the service,
of a whole people. It seemed incongruous that such a
national centre of spiritual and far-reaching activities as
he hoped the Cathedral would become, should be under
the control of any single Religious Order, however ancient

348 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
and however distinguished. Having once come to the
conclusion that his proposed arrangement would not be
for the good of the Church as a whole, there was an end
of debate as far as he was concerned. It was perhaps
like him too that, absorbed in this one thought of what
was best for the service of God, he failed to reflect upon
such a detail as how far his change of view would be
likely to commend itself to the other party to the plan.
For his wish to entrust the singing of the Divine Office
to the Benedictines was as strong as ever. There was no
higher or holier work any body of men could be called
upon to undertake, and he still unhesitatingly counted on
the co-operation of the monks. Only he now thought of
them as confining themselves to the service of the Liturgy,
leaving to the clergy of the archdiocese the whole
management of their own Cathedral. He knew there
were precedents for such an arrangement in Catholic
lands in the past, and he thought that in the case of
Westminster Cathedral there was a special justification
for it.
The negotiations which followed were so largely
informal and viva voce that no connected record of them
remains. A letter from Abbot Ford, of Downside, to the
Cardinal, dated December 12th, 1898, lets us see how far
the two parties had come together. The Abbot begins
by saying that he would leave each Archbishop of West
minster free to employ the monks or not, as he pleased.
Thus a new Archbishop would be at liberty to discon
tinue any arrangement made by his predecessor. On
the other hand, a monastery was to be built to house the
monks, and they were to have the use of one of the
chapels in the Cathedral for their private offices in

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 349
perpetuity. In other words, part of the Cathedral was
in effect to become the freehold of the English Bene
dictines. In addition to the singing of the Divine Office
the Archbishop was to be entitled to call upon the monks
to perform certain specific duties — as to say so many
Masses daily, and to attend so many confessionals. An
agreed sum was to be paid for these services. The control
and the responsibility for the maintenance of the Cathedral
were to remain with the Archbishop.
It may be doubted whether, under any circumstances,
Cardinal Vaughan would have consented so far to bind
the hands of his successors in the See as to hand over
to a Religious Order the possession of a chapel in the
Cathedral in perpetuity. But a more formidable difficulty
presented itself. Whatever the liberty reserved to the
Archbishop in selecting the sort of parish work to be
done by the monks, it was hardly to be expected that
they would acquiesce in any arrangement which might
permanently exclude them from missionary work alto
gether. Yet the more the Cardinal considered the
problems incidental to the activities of a double set of
clergy, serving under separate superiors, and yet engaged
upon a common work in the same place, the more insoluble
they seemed.
A way out of his difficulties seemed to have been found
when he thought of another Benedictine Congregation,
which, unlike the English Benedictines, had no missionary
character, and so was prepared to devote itself exclusively
to a life of prayer and the work of singing the Divine
Office. He visited the monks of Solesmes, and soon
came to a provisional understanding with them. It then
became necessary to break the news of this abrupt change

350 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
of plan to the English Benedictines. The following letter;
dated December, 1900, was accordingly addressed to Abbot
Gasquet : — "Archbishop's House.
"Right Reverend Father Abbot President,—
I am anxious to take advantage of the meeting of the
General Chapter, over which I hear you are to preside
on the occasion of the final settlement of the Anglo-
Benedictine Constitution, to place before you and those
whom it may directly concern the question of the service
of Westminster Cathedral. Every one who knows what
I said when the project of building the Cathedral
was first announced is aware that I considered the
daily singing of the Divine Office and of High Mass
to be an essential part of the scheme. A Metropolitan
Cathedral without the daily choral service would fail to
meet the chief object we are aiming at. At the same
time, my mind turned naturally to the Anglo-Benedictine
Congregation as to the only body amongst us capable of
undertaking the full Choir Service. The long connection
of the English Benedictines with the Church in England,
their unsurrendered claim to the Abbey of Westminster,
not to speak of my own personal and affectionate rela
tions with the Order since I first went to Downside in
1848 or 1849, pointed out your Congregation as the one
whose co-operation I was anxious to secure. These
thoughts and desires having been expressed several
times by me, both in public and in private, I feel that I
owe you an explanation of the position in which I now
find myself.
"As the time approached for the realisation of the

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 351
desires I had expressed, difficulties arose on both sides
that seemed to be insurmountable. I may summarise
them in a few words, and, indeed, they may be practically
reduced to one — viz., the difficulty of so adjusting the
rights, the life, and the action of two independent bodies
— such as a body of Regulars who, by their Constitution,
are also missionaries, and a body of Secular missionary
priests within the same Cathedral — as to preserve intact
the rights of each, and yet maintain that perfect peace
and harmony which is the first condition in a work of
co-operation. " On the one hand, I am bound to make the Metro
politan Cathedral and the adjoining Archbishop's House
and buildings, as it were, the centre of the Hierarchy as
well as of the diocese. The training of the young priests
of the diocese should be carried on by the Secular clergy
attached to the Cathedral, and this would evidently require
that the parish and the parochial and the popular devo
tions in the Cathedral should be under their control.
This, on the other hand, would at once confine the action
of any religious body attached to the Cathedral to the
daily choral rendering of the Liturgy.
"Now it has been pointed out to me, and I must
admit with undeniable reason, that I could not expect a
Religious Congregation like yours to sacrifice the mis
sionary character of their Constitution by confining its
members to the choral service of the Cathedral, to its
exclusion from all active work in the ministry. And
yet to employ two bodies, under separate Superiors, on
one and the same work, in the same Cathedral, would
involve too great a risk for either of us to consider it
prudent or wise to make the attempt.

352 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
" While revolving in my mind this apparently insur
mountable difficulty, I chanced to become acquainted with
the Benedictine Congregation of Solesmes. I found that,
unlike the Anglo-Benedictine, the Cassinese, the Beuron,
and some other Benedictine Congregations, their Con
stitutions confine their vocation to the solemn singing
of the Office, and forbid them to take part in the work
of the ministry and other external work, such as the
foundation of Colleges, &c. Here, then, seems to be a
solution of the difficulty that has arisen. The points of
contact, and therefore of friction, between the two bodies
working in the same church are reduced to a minimum,
and the reasonable prospect of peace and harmony is
raised to the maximum. The Solesmes Benedictines
would be asked to forgo no part of their vocation or
Constitutions, while they would give to the Cathedral
the Liturgical character which is needed, spending the
rest of the time in study, prayer, &c, and according to
their practice elsewhere. So far, however, nothing has
been decided : nor would it be my wish to settle anything
in this matter without a previous reference to the body
with which I had already been in communication. I
have, however, visited Solesmes, and discussed the pos
sibilities with the Abbot. And I have received from him
a reply full of generous sentiments, and of respect for
his Anglo-Benedictine brethren, with the sketch of a
plan that is perfectly satisfactory to myself as a basis
for a tentative agreement.
" I may add that their foundation in England would
in due time become independent, and not continue as a
dependency on the Mother House abroad, while for the
first years the arrangement would be merely experi-

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 353
mental. I am therefore anxious to lay this matter before
you as Abbot President of the English Benedictines, and
to act in such a manner with you as shall render it
impossible for any one to feel that an affront has been
offered to the Anglo-Benedictine Congregation, or that
they have been treated by me without consideration and
courtesy. I have therefore ventured to send you this
letter, and to say that if you see any other practical
arrangement that would be more satisfactory to you, I
shall be much pleased to examine it with you. Mean
while, believe me to be, Right Reverend Father Abbot
President, "Your faithful and devoted servant,
"Herbert Cardinal Vaughan."
Enclosed with this letter was one from Pere Paul
Delatte, Abbot of Solesmes, in which he stated the con
ditions on which his Congregation was prepared to become
responsible for the rendering of the Liturgy at West
minster Cathedral. It is unnecessary to set out the terms
of this letter, because it was afterwards subjected to
considerable revision, with the result that the Abbot of
Solesmes was able to assent to the following set of
regulations suggested to him by the Cardinal : —
" 1. The Abbot of Solesmes will send a number of
monks, about  in number, to reside at Westminster
Cathedral. " 2. The work of the monks will be to sing or chant
the daily Liturgical Office at hours to be regulated by
the Archbishop.
" 3. It is agreed, at the wish of the Abbot of Solesmes,
that the monks shall remain at the Cathedral and dis-
II A A

354 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
charge their duties there on a tenure ' at will ' and in
title of services rendered, and that the connection may
be terminated on either side, if the working of it should
fail to give satisfaction either to the Cardinal Archbishop
or the Abbot of Solesmes.
"4. The Anglo- Benedictine Congregation shall be
notified of the arrangement, and their co-operation soli
cited. "5. In the selection and admission of monks, an
object to be kept specially in view will be the desirability
of the community of monks gradually becoming one of
native origin.
"6. During the course of the year September, 1900-
190 1, the Or do Vivendi of the monks of the Cathedral
shall be drawn up and arrangements made for their
material support.
"7. The Ordo Vivendi, including the hours of the
Liturgical service, shall not take effect until it has re
ceived the sanction of the Archbishop.
"8. In the building of the monastery a monastic
architect shall be consulted as to the plans and as to
the arrangements which concern the internal life of the
monks. "9. The monks at the Cathedral will retain St. Michael's,
Farnborough, as a country house or Villeggiatura.
" 10. As the Cathedral of Westminster will be used
not only for the daily Liturgical services, but also for
Archiepiscopal and Capitular functions, and for parochial
and congregational services, in order that such services
may not collide, an Horarium, weekly or monthly, shall
be drawn up by a small commission consisting of the
monastic Prior, the Parochial Administrator, a member

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 355
deputed by the Chapter, and the Archbishop's Master of
Ceremonies. The Horarium shall receive the sanction
of the Archbishop, whose judgment on any point of dif
ference shall be decisive.
"n. In the regulation of the various classes of functions
the following order shall obtain :
" A. Archiepiscopal functions shall be under the charge
and direction of the Cardinal's Master of Ceremonies.
"B. Capitular functions shall be under the direction
of the Master of Ceremonies of the Chapter.
" C. Purely Liturgical services shall be under the direc
tion of the Monastic authority.
" D. Parochial functions shall be under the direction of
the Parochial Administrator.
" 12. The use of the Choir shall be reserved to the
monks during the hours appointed for the celebration
of the Divine Office.
" 13. The use of the High Altar and the Sanctuary for
the functions shall be regulated by the commission of
the Horarium or directly by the Archbishop.
" 14. The regulation of such charges as those of heating,
cleaning, police of the Cathedral, as well as the charge,
and custody, of the library, shall be decided by arrange
ments to be made with the Archbishop.
" 15. There shall be a separate Sacristy for Monastic
vestments and Liturgical objects connected with the
Monastery." Unfortunately, however, for the Cardinal's plans, these
articles had hardly set out the whole facts. If it was
to be of any real use the help of Solesmes was depen
dent upon co-operation from Downside. The Abbot of
Solesmes had not enough men at his command to enable

356 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
him to undertake the work unaided. He proposed to
send four or five monks from the Mother House and
twice the number from St. Michael's, Farnborough, but
he counted on the English Benedictines to let four or
five of their subjects associate themselves with the new
community at Westminster. Moreover, in the frankest
way the Abbot of Solesmes warned the Cardinal that
of the monks he could supply some might have no voices
or ear for music, so that much would depend on the
efficiency of the Choir school and a body of hired
singers. The answer of the English Benedictines was decisive.
It must be remembered that this was a matter in which
they had never at any time taken the initiative. When
at the outset it had been the Cardinal's earnest wish that
they should undertake the daily choral service in the
Cathedral they had been ready to place all the resources
of their Congregation at his disposal. But this new
scheme was quite another thing. What had seemed
to the Cardinal just an act of fellowship between
men working for a common cause, to the English
Benedictines presented itself, and not unnaturally, in a
very different light. They thought it an impossible pro
posal — much as though the authorities of Notre Dame
in Paris, publicly despairing of the resources of French
monasticism, had decided to call to their aid the services
of the German Beuron congregation of Benedictines to
carry out the Liturgy in the principal Cathedral of France.
Moreover, it was pointed out that while the French
community were to provide only a dozen monks, some
of whom might be useless for choir purposes, the English
Congregation was invited to supply all the rest. Yet the

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 357
Frenchmen were to supply the Superiors, while the
place of the rank and file would be filled by
English monks. The plan was set aside as quite
unworkable. Those who were much with Cardinal Vaughan in
those days know that he received the reply of the
English Benedictines without disappointment. Freedom
from the proposed contract was, in fact, not unwelcome
to him. He thought the Solesmes monks had acted
towards him with great generosity and a perfect devotion
to the cause. He remembered with gratitude those words
of Pere Delatte : " The day we cease to give satisfaction
to the Archiepiscopal authority it will be our duty to
retire." At the same time it was clear to him that the
assistance which Solesmes could offer was wholly in
sufficient without help from Downside — and that help he
now saw could hardly be expected. And he no longer
regretted it. He understood as he had never done the
difficulties which must arise from a fourfold jurisdiction —
the opportunities for friction which must come when
in the management of a single Cathedral there met
the authority of the Ordinary, the Chapter, the Choir
monks, and the Parochial Administrator. I have said
he learned of the breaking off of his negotiations with the
French and English monks with equanimity, but perhaps
the truer word would be " relief." He was resolved to
fall back upon a simpler and bolder solution, and, to
the huge delight of the whole archdiocese, decided to
entrust the rendering of the liturgy of the Cathedral
to the Secular clergy. It was a decision he was long
in coming to, but it was one which answered his every
hope, and the experiment has since been crowned with

358 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
a splendid and unequivocal success. The only wonder
now is how any other arrangement could ever have
been contemplated.
With Cardinal Vaughan least of all men could the other
plan have succeeded. He was far too fond, in his out
breaks of zeal, of what he called " prodding his neighbours "
to be a comfortable companion, and his dealings with
monks, who had Superiors of their own to appeal to,
certainly would not have made for harmony. The de
cision to call in the Secular clergy was thus announced
in the Tablet in June, 1901 : "Much public interest has
for some time past centred in the question how and by
whom the solemn Liturgical Offices of the Church are to
be rendered in the new Cathedral. We understand that an
important communication on the subject was made to
the clergy on the occasion of the recent Synod. Having
briefly referred to the unforeseen difficulties which had
arisen when it had been proposed to call in the services
of a Religious Order for the daily religious chant of the
Liturgy, the Cardinal Archbishop announced that he
gladly availed himself of the readiness of the Secular
clergy to take up the work. At the same time he in
timated that the attainment of a really high standard
of efficiency must be taken as a condition precedent
of the arrangement. He went on to express his con
fidence that with the resources at his disposal, and the
loyal co-operation of those around him, such a standard
can be both secured and maintained. The announcement
that the responsibility for this most important branch of
the work of the Cathedral is to be entrusted to the Secular
clergy of the diocese has been received with feelings of the
liveliest satisfaction. The whole subject has already been

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 359
taken seriously in hand, and, happily, funds are avail
able for the purpose, though we doubt not the Cardinal
would welcome every addition to them, for officers of
the standing of Minor Canons or Prebendaries can be
supported only at considerable cost.
" The best of arrangements sometimes leaves room for
regrets, and we confess we should have been glad if it had
been possible to see the cowls of the Benedictines back in
Westminster, and to know that there were opportunities
for joining in their religious chant. We must take com
fort in the thought that Religious Orders live long, and
that the Benedictines are the custodians of the great
reversion — the reversion of Westminster Abbey. And yet,
apart from the old associations which cluster around
the site of Westminster, is it not after all better, and
more in accordance with the fitness of things, that
the Secular clergy should themselves render the Liturgy
in the new Cathedral ? It would have been somewhat
anomalous and somewhat inconvenient for both priests
and people had the Roman Office, which is in common
use throughout the Church, been excluded from the
Metropolitan Cathedral to make way for a Breviary
limited to the use of a Religious Order. Nor is it at all
certain that this natural arrangement which entrusts the
chant of the Cathedral to the clergy of the diocese will
carry with it any penalty of comparative poverty in musical
resources. Obviously the Secular clergy, at home and
abroad, is a larger body to draw on in case of need than
any other. At any rate, whatever advantages may be
claimed for this or that ' might have been,' the arrange
ment which has in fact been adopted has its own large
compensations."

360 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
On the same occasion the immediate foundation of a
Cathedral Choir school was announced. Among the com
pensations just referred to was the power reserved to
the Archbishop to terminate the engagement of any
member of the Choir at will. In the case of a monastic
choir that could have been done only for reasons assigned
and also for reasons commending themselves as sufficient
to a monastic Superior. Nor in this connection need it be
pointed out what an instrument of obstruction a "holy
Rule " may become in the hands of a really determined
Superior. On the 7th of May, the Eve of the Feast of the
Ascension, 1902, the Divine Office was sung for the
first time by the new Cathedral choir, and now for
eight years it has been sung day after day without the
omission of a single sentence, and in a way which in all
essentials may compare with that of any Basilica in Rome.
The Cardinal's scheme has been amply realised, and in the
manner he desired. There is now a College of eighteen
Chaplains, by whom the complete Liturgy is celebrated
in the Choir of the Cathedral every day in the year.
Westminster Cathedral, in every sense of the phrase,
was built for eternity. Its future is part of the history of
London ; but it is not too soon to say that the wish
which was nearest to the Cardinal's heart — a Live
Cathedral — has already been fulfilled, and beyond his
dreams, since his death. Every Sunday morning the
great spaces of the Cathedral are filled with people
at service after service. To have added to the architec
tural glories of the Empire was an incidental good ; but,
as Cardinal Vaughan would have said, "It is the Mass
that matters."

CHAPTER XI
CHARACTERISTICS
IN trying to sum up the chief characteristics of such
a life as that of Cardinal Vaughan it is impossible
not to feel the essential limitations of all biography.
Whatever words are used there is much that is vital to the
man which, after all, must be left unexpressed. How, for
instance, shall I convey to strangers any adequate idea of
the constant and fatherly care with which, not only during
the days of his splendid strength in Salford, but also in
the failing years at Westminster, he watched over and
cared for his missioners from Mill Hill ? They were
scattered through the wildest lands in the world — in
Africa and Asia and the Isles of the Pacific. And where-
ever they went Herbert Vaughan's thoughts went with
them. The hope of winning souls to God among the
crowds of the Heathen was always close to him ; it lived
with him ; it was his first love, and it was the last. How
ever busy and tired and harassed he was, and amid what
ever difficulties and perplexities, the thought of the work
of which St. Joseph's College, Mill Hill, was the centre
came back to him and always as a source of refresh
ment and gladness. There are heaps of letters that might
be printed — but how few would read them ! They are full
of geographical details, of advice as to the financial
361

362 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
support of the missions, of inquiries as to the best place
for locating stations or centres, and of suggestions as
to the best way of dealing with this or that influential
person — manager of a Chartered Company or important
Savage. Other letters are full of inquiries and sugges
tions as to the possibility of training a native clergy, of
the treatment of converts and of exhortations as to health,
and insistence on a knowledge of medicine for all his
missioners. Spiritual advice is comparatively rare in these letters
to his missioners. Perhaps he felt he was addressing men
already in the fighting-line. One letter in this respect is
an exception. It was addressed to a young priest, now
dead, when he was about to leave Mill Hill for the Foreign
Missions :—
"My dear Father, — Here are some memoranda:
Look upon your voyage across the Ocean as an image of
your passage through life. There will be nothing but a
thin plank between you and Eternity. At any time a
tempest or accident might bring your voyage to a sudden
termination — such is life. But you are in the hands of
a most loving Father who has numbered even the hairs
of your head. How much more has He at heart the
welfare and happiness of the soul which He created in His
own image because He desired it to live with Him in
Eternity! Make every day a preparation for death as
though each day were to be your last. Death will not
come a moment earlier than the time fixed by God
because you prepare most carefully to meet it. Do not
fear, therefore, to look at death and to become familiar
with it. You are in the hands of a heavenly Father.
Let your life, whether on board the ship or on the land,

CHARACTERISTICS 363
be the life of one who will soon have to account for every
thought, word, and deed. Every morning place yourself
under the special protection of the Blessed Virgin and St.
Joseph, and often renew the offering of yourself during the
day. Ejaculatory prayer must become habitual. You
will need to practise much patience — patience with others,
patience with yourself, patience with God. Silence and
an offering of trials to God is the true way to practise
patience. Be much on your guard against temptations
of the flesh. You are going to a land where such tempta
tions will be numerous, and where falls may be easy.
Grace alone can save you — no one, not even your own
desires, can save you — only God's holy grace can do this
for and in you. Your Father will not abandon you if you
never abandon your Blessed Mother. Be very careful
in keeping a guard over your eyes — death enters through
those windows. If there be modesty in the eyes there will
be modesty in the heart. Familiarity must be avoided,
and a certain sacerdotal and apostolic reserve must be
practised. If you would surround your heart with a wall
of protection against the most insidious enemies to your
soul, beg of Our Lady to protect your purity and say three
' Hail Marys ' daily to her for this object. Never believe
yourself to be strong or safe against such a temptation ;
the moment this kind of pride asserts itself take it as a
warning that you may be near a fall, unless you become
humble and fly from danger. Fix all your affections on
our Father and our Mother in Heaven, and your affections
will then become sanctified and perfect. May God bless
you, my dear Father, and may He accept your generous
offer of yourself to His service. May He grant you
the reward of an Apostle and may your noble and

364 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
generous aspirations grow never less than they are
now !
" Your devoted Father in Jesus Christ,
" Herbert, Bishop of Salford,
" Superior-General."
Of a later period, August 14th, 1896, is the following : —
"My dear Children, — On this Feast of the great
Apostle the glad news comes to me of the departure for
the Foreign Missions of three young sisters from Nazareth
House. I assure you that this is a most joyful announce
ment. Whenever I hear of souls devoted to Our Lord's
service and love giving up home and country to spend
themselves in distant lands that lie in darkness, I feel as
though God had given me a special consolation and an
inward joy. I shall not be able to see you and bless you
ere you go, but I bless you with my whole heart now and
I send you the message, 'God speed you.' I shall say
Mass for the three of you on Saturday next ; not, indeed,
that you may be, like St. John, beheaded on that day, but
that you may be, like him, a bright and shining light and
lamps hung in a dark place, giving light and joy to all
within your influence. In the oil that is there to burn
pour out all your self-love ; the more completely that is
burnt up, the brighter and purer will be the light. And
now may God bless you all. May Mary and Joseph keep
you always closely attached to Him, who is their Son, as
well as the Son of God."
In another connection, but also a very "human
document" illustrating the habitual attitude of the
writer towards the world, is this letter to a near kins
man who had suffered a sudden reverse of fortune : " I
have just received your letter telling me of the ruin you

CHARACTERISTICS 365
are involved in through the panic which got so complete
a possession of the American and English Stock
Exchanges. I need not say how sorry I am to hear
of it. It is no use examining into the past, the only
thing to be done is to set to work at once, and start life
again on such conditions as are. brought about by your
misfortune. That is what an American who fails twice
or thrice in his lifetime does. He accepts the new con
ditions, cuts his coat according to his cloth, and works
cheerfully away at whatever business he enters upon. Do
not do anything hastily, but weigh things well, and then
act deliberately and cheerfully. I am very glad that you
and N. take your misfortune so calmly and patiently. A
great temporal trial is certainly intended by God to be
used by us for a spiritual gain. You will, therefore, I am
sure, try to put it to the best account. It matters little
whether we are rich or poor, prosperous or unfortunate in
this world, provided we are * minting money ' for Heaven
by the practice of patiepce, resignation, honesty, and the
love of God. Life is soon over ; it is just worth what it
will fetch in the next world. Nor do cheerfulness and
content depend upon riches. God bless you, and let me
hear from you soon again."
If you asked Cardinal Vaughan's advice on any matter
you knew he would give it with frankness and directness,
but you had to reckon with the point of view. There
would be no adroit balancing of worldly advantages
against a spiritual gain. The interests of your own soul
and the wider interests of God's Church would come first,
and "the rest were nowhere." Consulted by a nephew
who had thought of going into the army, he replied : —
" I put down in the briefest form my reasons against

366 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
the Army : (i) You will end your education where the
most important part of it should commence. This will be
a lasting and irreparable loss. (2) You will certainly not
make the Army a lasting profession — it will be a pastime
for a few years only. (3) The Army leads to nothing in a
country like England. (4) The Army is an expensive
kind of life, and whereas it may suit young men with
plenty of money, it would not suit you. (5) The glitter
of it may attract you at the present moment, but I believe
you are of much too serious a character and are capable of
too high aspirations to be satisfied with such a life. On the
other hand, I think it highly advisable that you should learn
(1) how to retrieve the fortunes of Courtfield by obtaining
useful knowledge such as may enable you to look after
and make the best of landed property. Otherwise you
will be always in the hands of others and dependent.
Knowledge of this kind will become more necessary
even than it is now. (2) The Catholic Church needs at
the present time in England more than at any former
period the presence and influence of a Catholic gentry.
Now a Catholic gentleman's influence and power depend
chiefly upon his mental and moral education and cultiva
tion. He ought to be well trained in Philosophy, to have
been well disciplined by study between his eighteenth and
twenty-fourth year, and to have acquired some special
knowledge, whether professional or otherwise. At the
present time we are lamentably and disgracefully
deficient, and cut a miserable figure before the country,
because our Catholic youth either have no ambition to
do anything or have not been educated to do anything
that is serious and earnest. On the other hand, the field
of public service, whether on the County Councils or

CHARACTERISTICS 367
in other spheres, is large ; Catholics never had a more open
field, and it becomes simply their own fault or that of their
advisers if they do not aim at the nobler lives of public
usefulness and service. (3) We have the Holy Father
appealing to Catholic youth to study Philosophy (and all
who know the world as it is outside — not inside — Catholic
homes and colleges know how profoundly right the Pope
has been in this appeal). And what do we behold on
the part of teachers and scholars in Catholic colleges
almost everywhere? An utter ignoring of this highest
appeal that can be made to Catholic youth on earth.
" I quite understand that there are many cases in which
this appeal cannot be responded to : men must eat and live
before they can study Philosophy. But this is not your
case. You can give the time to higher education ; nothing
stands in the way. You have the opportunity given
you by God to train yourself into a man who may render
great service to Heaven. But there comes the temptation,
the glitter, the attraction which may fatally allure you
from such a higher path. As to the conversation with
Cardinal Manning, it is easy to understand that if it were
a mere choice between drilling your toes and drilling your
acres, he might prefer the former. But that is not by
any means a fair presentment of the case as I conceive it.
I have written without delay and simply per summa
capita, and I hope you will be able to make it out.
Your affectionate uncle, HERBERT."
Did ever the question whether or not a boy should go
to Sandhurst seem to involve such far-reaching issues ?
Some years later, whether or not he came to think more
seriously of the Army as a career, or because his nephew
was some years older, the Cardinal seems to have changed

368 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
his mind, and certainly it was largely through his instru
mentality that Mr. Charles Vaughan obtained a com
mission in the 7th Dragoon Guards.1
The note of Herbert Vaughan's whole career was Faith
and those readjustments of values which Faith involves.
And obviously such readjustments of values follow of
necessity. If this life is only a preparation for Eternity
its successes and failures are small matters, on which
it would be foolish to spend much emotion. And as with
life, so with death. The Cardinal had looked death in
the eyes for years, and he never could think of its coming
as a calamity. " From one room into the next — what
time is there to be vexed ? " People perhaps were some
times chilled, or disconcerted, by the calm way in which
he listened to their stories of bereavement ; but truth and
simplicity were a second nature to him, and he had no art
to pretend more sympathy than he felt. If the death
were a good and holy one it was what he would have
welcomed at any time for himself. In the case of
children, taken while their baptismal innocence was still
unstained, the duty of saying comforting things to the
relatives was specially difficult. I well remember once
going into his room with my mind filled with the thought
of a death that I knew had left a home absolutely desolate.
I forget what I said on the subject, but I shall never forget
the reply; turning iri his chair, he said almost with a
laugh, " Best thing that could have happened." Then
with a quick change of tone he added, "What chance
would that child have had in after-life? You know his
father's opinions and to what he is drifting — would
1 Major Vaughan served in the South African War, and was dangerously
wounded.

CHARACTERISTICS 369
that boy ever have been brought up as a good Catholic ?
God has taken him in his day of innocence — and depend
upon it God knows best." There was nothing to say —
I could only feel that I was in the presence of a Faith
that was a reality.
Herbert Vaughan, as saints of God before him, had
his own dark hour of temptation before the end. It
was an episode that had no apparent relation to any
thing that went before. All his life was lived in view
of the Eternal, and must be judged from that standpoint.
Naturally he was a man of strong impulses and high
ambitions, a man who liked to drive and climb and
grasp. He has been described as an ecclesiastical Cecil
Rhodes, as a spiritual Empire-builder, which means only
that his natural qualities were not transformed when they
were deflected into the service of God. What it cost him
to give up his hopes of distinction in a secular career
no one will ever know. That battle had been fought
in the long ago, on the Herefordshire hillsides, when
he resolved to consecrate himself and his energies and
the whole purpose of his life to the service of the Church
and the salvation of souls in the Catholic priesthood.
The renouncement was complete, and whatever it cost
there was never any looking back. If he had ambitious
hopes, or yearning for the common joys of men, such
aspirations were resolutely and finally shut away. They
were locked up in a cupboard into which he never looked,
and stood for a chapter in his life which was closed for
ever. This extract from his early diary, already cited, and
kept while he was still a student in Rome, gives us a
glimpse of him as he was when he first gave himself to the
Church : " My line is to arrive. I cannot walk, but I
II BB

370 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
must run. Seldom do I walk slowly, seldom do I look
where I must put my feet, or pause to see what may
be the obstacles in the way. How many times a day
am I not within an inch of being run ever ? How often
in the streets do I put my hand to a horse's head to let
myself pass by before him ? Everything savours of im
patience, of hurry, of love of the object to be attained and
of recklessness as to the means." Yet the time came
when the cataract was harnessed, and when all these
natural energies were trained to bear the yoke of the
Church. He knew there was much to unlearn as well
as to acquire. He was aiming high, and his consecra
tion of himself to the service of God implied a perfect
detachment from all earthly ties.
For years after he left home his heart was at Court-
field and with the dear ones it sheltered, but he gradually
schooled himself to write to" them seldom and to speak
of them not at all. Those sweet distractions had to
be forgotten if the devotion of his life was to be com
plete. People who knew him then, and indeed long
afterwards, thought him indifferent to home ties, and
even spoke of him as though the fountains of his affections
had dried up. Had they ? Take this instance. Among
his friends at this time was Mr. Aubrey de Vere, who
was constantly writing home to his sister at Curragh
Chase. Mr. Wilfrid Ward, in his Life of de Vere, says :
" The Cardinal once told me that the affectionate Irish
man who wrote constantly to his mother and sister, and
talked daily with lingering love of his Irish home, could
not understand — could scarcely believe in — the phase
of ' ascetic detachment ' in the Englishman, which made
him at this time speak of family tigs as of no interest

CHARACTERISTICS 371
to him. At last Aubrey became convinced by further
intimacy that Vaughan had given an accurate account
of his sentiments. ' I really believe,' said the poet in
exasperation, ' that if some one told you that your father,
mother, and brothers had been burnt to death in the
next room, you would simply ring for the servant to
clear away the ashes.' " Nature was not so easily con
quered. In his diary, kept at that time, and possibly even
written that very night, after a chance reference to the
family at Courtfield, stand the words, " Ah, how I love
them ! " No doubt as the years went on, and he became
more and more absorbed in the work of his choice,
family and friends came to have a subordinate place in
his thoughts — or rather were resolutely kept in a sub
ordinate place-— but they were never forgotten.
All his life Cardinal Vaughan had a hatred and a
horror of nepotism. He used to say he saw that word
written large across the page of ecclesiastical history and
through all the ages. He was resolved that at least
nothing in his own life should ever give colour to the
charge. He had near relatives in the sanctuary, and
it was impossible that they should not sometimes feel
the effects of this reaction against the ordinary claims
of kinship. On one occasion, when he was Bishop of
Salford, he went to some sacred concert in Manchester
in company with his brother, Father Bernard Vaughan.
During an interval in the concert the Jesuit watched
his brother moving among the town councillors and the
commercial magnates of the city with a friendly word
for each — a gracious presence that everywhere seemed
to flatter and to please. Struck with this unwonted
affability, Father Bernard, on the way home, ventured

372 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
on a remonstrance and asked why these courtesies were
reserved for " export " and never shown to those of his
own family. "If there is not enough to go around, why
not occasionally start at the home end, and let out
siders starve — as we generally do ? " The Bishop paused
in his walk and said, " There is this difference — you know
me and those men do not. You do not require to be
assured of what you know is your own,"
Herbert Vaughan had consecrated himself to God
without reserve, and that meant a lifelong effort to
destroy and kill out self-love and even the very thought
of self. His was an eager, striving, and strenuous life,
but it was directed with a rare simplicity and singleness
of purpose to one end. Health and strength and fortune
and reputation were thought of just as things to be used
up as required for the saving of souls. In the rarefied
atmosphere in which he breathed there seemed no room
for the thought of self. It was sometimes almost un
canny in hours of intimacy with him to note how infinitely
remote was any thought or care for what people would
say or think of his public actions. Such a side-issue
as popularity had simply no interest for him, Writing
to an intimate friend in 1895 he said: "I offer Him all.
I ask to be allowed to surrender every fibre, He alone
being the Master of every string and note belonging to
me. He may take away my health and capacity, send
me failure and public dishonour— dry up my soul like the
dust, if only He will support me, and let me love Him
and serve Him." In the early diary he notes that it
is part of his nature that he should want to stamp him
self upon everything he touched. He cries out that
God has made intensity part of his nature. But the

CHARACTERISTICS 373
discipline of years had so told that in the end personal
claims seemed to forget to assert themselves.
From the very beginning of my acquaintance with
him, far back in the Salford days, I came to the con
clusion that he was one of the most genuinely humble
men I had ever met. And this impression grew as I
knew him better. But it was a humility that was of
grace rather than of nature. In view of the fact that
he afterwards became successively Bishop, Archbishop,
and Prince of the Church, the following memorandum on
ambition and the seeking for ecclesiastical honours is
of interest ; " Among the passions which assert them
selves within me none seems stronger or more pervasive
than ambition. Ambition shows itself in a great love
of power over the things I care for. So that I am
tempted to feel dissatisfied at the thought of the
possibility of occupying a subordinate or insignificant
position. This love of power causes a love of honours.
Any honour which appears to increase this power becomes
acceptable and desirable. But the honour is loved also
for its own sake — it gives one an importance in the eyes
of others, gratifies natural vanity and love of living in
the view of the world. These two passions are so strong
and so natural that they are very subtle, and consequently
very pervasive. I only see and know myself in part ; self-
love as well as ignorance and sin hide from my eyes
a great deal of my real self. The whole of my life I
have been learning this, and I have again and again found
out that where I thought I was innocent and without
fault, there I was only washed over with a thin coat of
whitening. My temptation now is to esteem position,
honour, and dignity as a means to increase my power

374 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
of serving God, by giving me an increased influence for
good, means of access to persons, of obtaining a place
in their consideration, &c. — and all this apparently with a
good motive. I see, moreover, that self-love is, if not
stronger than my love of God's honour and glory, very
strong and perhaps next to it. This is the knowledge
which I have of myself; and now what is the knowledge
that I have of the supernatural life with special reference
to honours and position of authority and command?
There are three positions a soul may take up in the
presence of such possibilities : (i) To desire honour as a
means to power, and power as a means of promoting
simply the honour and glory of God. I know many
saints who have striven to obtain power; I know no
instance of a saint striving to obtain honour or dignity
even for a good purpose ; (2) to be indifferent to honours
or dignity — neither to ask for them nor to refuse them.
This was the position taken up by St. Francis of Sales.
N.B. — To make this the end of one's efforts seems to
require (1) a great control of self-love, (2) an amount of
solid virtue which I cannot pretend to, and (3) such a
knowledge of self and an intellect and will so well
balanced as to be proof against self-deception. More
over, it is harder for an impetuous or vigorous nature to
try to attain indifference to a thing than to obtain an
abhorrence of it. It is easier to fly from honour and
consideration and respect than to hold one's self in
different and immobile in their presence. To fly honour,
position, esteem of man, &c. — this has been the resolution
and the practice of thousands of saints. It has been
considered by them as easier, safer, and more fervent —
e.g., St. Ignatius and his Order as to honour and dignities

CHARACTERISTICS 375
— vide thousands of others. What shall my resolution
be— the last?"
On one occasion, when he was still a young man
studying for the priesthood, he was spending some days
with his uncle and aunt at Ince-Blundell, and a discussion
arose at luncheon as to some question in geography. The
governess had given her opinion and it was questioned
with some heat by Herbert Vaughan. That afternoon
the schoolroom door was opened and the tall form of
this youth of twenty appeared. He had come to apologise
to the governess in the presence of all the children for his
rudeness in contradicting her.
Long afterwards, when I was editing the Tablet for
him, it sometimes happened that we took opposite views
as to what was likely to be the effect of something that
had been said, or some line of policy that had been
adopted, in its columns. He was always anxious in such
discussions to shut out of view the fact that he was the
proprietor of the paper. They often ended by his saying,
" Well, you won't go far wrong if you take me as your
' foolometer ' — a safe measure of what the man in the
street is saying." He was the only person I ever had to
deal with who thought his contributions to a newspaper
were improved by editorial attentions. When he occasion
ally sent an article to his own paper he never seemed really
pleased unless it were altered and put into shape in the
office. Sometimes, after he had come to Westminster, he
would read over the draft of some communication to the
Times or a Pastoral Letter and ask for criticisms. It
often happened that I honestly thought that he had said
what he wanted to say quite excellently, but I never
expressed that opinion without feeling that I was expos-

376 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
ing myself to a momentary suspicion of being indifferent,
and not wanting the trouble of suggesting improvements.
He seemed to assume that any friend could take his
work and knock it about to its great advantage. That
his work was good as it stood and difficult to improve on
was the last thing to occur to him.
On one occasion we had been discussing the relations
between English and Irish Catholics. He felt that we
were constantly calling upon the Irish members to safe
guard Catholic interests in this country, and yet had
no opportunity of rendering any service in return. He
then suggested that the Catholics of Great Britain might
help their Irish comrades by signing and presenting to
Parliament a petition in favour of a Catholic University
for Ireland. A few days later he handed me the draft of a
petition he had drawn up, and asked me to take it home
and let him have it back with any suggestions in the
course of a day or two. I put it in my pocket without
looking at it, but when I got home it was missing. I
must have dropped it in the street. My first impulse was
to go back at once to Archbishop's House to explain the
mishap. On second thoughts, as I was perfectly familiar
with the Cardinal's views on the subject, it seemed simpler
to sit down and draft a new petition. This I did. A few
days later I read what I had written to the Cardinal. He
was greatly pleased, and when finally it seemed that I
had erased every single line he had written, his satisfaction
knew no bounds. Such zeal called forth his cordial
thanks. I felt I had to tell him what had happened, and
then his enthusiasm seemed suddenly to fade, and he
began to examine the terms of the petition much more
impartially. However, the petition was approved, and

CHARACTERISTICS 377
in due course was signed throughout the country and
presented to Parliament.
Cardinal Vaughan's habit of depreciating his own
literary work had little warrant. There are passages in
his writings which might serve as models of a simple and
noble prose. On the other hand, his sense of the values
of words would sometimes fail him in the oddest way.
Thus he was quite unaware that he had written anything
which could give offence when in an article in the
Nineteenth Century, already referred to, he declined to
consider the last years of Cardinal Manning's life, on the
ground that he was then already suffering from " senile
decay." He was genuinely astonished when he found
that the phrase was bitterly resented, and by many among
his own clergy. He appealed to me to tell him frankly
if I thought the phrase open to objection, and when I
answered that the word "senile" had such unpleasant
associations that one would not willingly use it of a friend,
he said simply, " Well — I don't understand ; I suppose we
shall all be senile if we live long enough." Some years
later, shortly before his death, I heard him apply the
epithet to his own case without flinching.
His drives across London at night to attend public
meetings, or to preach at this or that church, were
frequent, and priests who used to accompany him have
told me that it was his invariable custom to spend the
time in silence and prayer. He would lean back in a
corner of the carriage, and would have seemed to be
asleep except that every now and then the light of a
street lamp falling on his face would show that his lips
were moving.
It was the same when he was travelling abroad.

378 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Whatever the discomforts of the road, and however
tiring the journey, there was time for prayer many times
in the day, and often in the night. A friend who knew
him well, Mgr. Dunn, says : " I remember well a journey
I made with him from Genoa to Rome. We were spending
the night in the train and had been fortunate enough
to secure a compartment to ourselves. He bade me turn
in on one side of the carriage and he made as though to
do so himself on the other. After some hours — possibly
when we were at Pisa — I was awakened by some shunting
operations on the line. I opened my eyes, but there was
very little light in the carriage, for the Cardinal had
drawn the cover over the lamp as we were leaving Genoa.
When, however, my eyes had become accustomed to the
darkness, I saw the form of the Cardinal kneeling on the
floor of the carriage, and I am persuaded that he took no
rest at all — like his Master, ' Erat pernoctans in oratione
Dei.'" Writing to an intimate friend, the Cardinal, in a
letter of July, 1896, says: "I have to-day attended a
smart luncheon, with all the best musicians performing
after it. The whole thing was ashes to me ; I was far away
in spirit from it all. I am far more drawn to my Chapel
than to any of the activities I am obliged to engage in."
Two months later he says : " I have come to this conclusion :
It is impossible thoroughly to harmonise visits to country
houses, when filled with guests, in which festivities, luxury
of the table, and a variety of innocent frivolities constitute
the life, with an abiding sympathy with the 'Stabat Mater.'
It is also impossible properly to realise the destruction of
souls going on — souls to whom one has a divine mission —
along with this kind of life. I only regret that I am

CHARACTERISTICS 379
engaged to go to N. I shall make that visit very short.
I can do very little good indeed by such visits and am
better without them."
That this was not a passing mood appears from an
entry in his diary two months later. On September 24th
he writes : " On this Feast of Our Lady peace came into
my soul with this thought. It is impossible for me to go
voluntarily into social gatherings in country houses, where
guests, feasts, and frivolities prevail, often, too, in my
honour as chief guest. Why ? Because I am intent
on the ' Stabat Mater' and all it contains of faith, love,
and sorrow. Because I am the father of millions of souls
in London who are living in sin and are being hurried
towards Hell. These are souls I ought to be working
to rescue through prayer and solitude and an active
apostolate. Then there are the multitudes of Catholics
who are spiritually dead, ill, or miserable. To be
thoroughly devoted to all this work, and to be immersed
in all these sorrows, needs all the time I can spare to
be with them and with God. Let me see how in a
month's time these thoughts will strike me." Some ten
days later he writes : " How speedily He seems to have
heard this prayer — ' To live always with Thee ' ! For
the rest of my life this must be my aim and occupation ;
with Him as He shows Himself here, i.e., (1) on the
Crucifix ; (2) silent, humble, adoring, praying in the
Tabernacle ; (3) sorrow for my own sins and for the sins
of my flock and of mankind ; union with His Soul in the
Garden and during the thirty-three years on earth. His
life on earth is my example, and union with Him — that is,
' to live always with Him ' while here in this exile and
time of probation. If I carry this out I shall win graces

380 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
for souls far more than by greater activity and going into
society. This seems like the end of my social life. I
have to live with Jesus Christ in future. This will fill
me with His mind, His aim, His sorrow, His love. There
will be but rare visits to people in their homes in the
xountry, but many more to St. Joseph's, Mill Hill."
When he came to Westminster he had to choose
a new confessor, and he selected his private secretary,
Mgr. Johnson. He astonished the priest the first time
he came to confession by bending and kissing his feet
at the end of the confession, and when the embarrassed
confessor tried to remonstrate the Archbishop said
gently, " Let me — it does me good ; " but when that
was ineffectual he cut short further expostulations by
the pointed remark, " It is not you I am reverencing,"
One day, towards the end of December, 1894, some
one told him that he had given scandal by the way in
which he rushed through ecclesiastical ceremonies. To
use his own words, " He looked into himself and had
a revelation." It seemed to him that all his life as
Bishop he had been insulting God by " sinful irreverence."
" I went at once to confess it ; I confess it every time
I go, and shall do till the end. I have purposed amend
ment and some form of public reparation." For some
time afterwards he often completely broke down when
saying Mass and could not go on for tears and loss of
voice. " Less activity and more prayer in future " was his
resolve. Mgr. Dunn, writing of a period which was some
months later, says : " Very shortly after I had joined his
service, in 1895, we were in Rome at the English College,
when one morning he suddenly called me into his room.
He was evidently much distressed and I wondered what

CHARACTERISTICS 381
could have occurred. He told me in all simplicity that
he had come to realise how much scandal and disedifica-
tion he had caused by being too hasty and impatient
at public functions. I endeavoured to pass the matter off,
and said that I did not think any scandal had been
taken — although his hastiness had given rise to the
nickname of the ' scarlet-runner.' But tears welled up
in his eyes, and before he had completed his self-
accusation he completely broke down. He ended by
charging me in virtue of obedience to check him at
once if ever I saw him manifesting impatience in the
future. I was deeply impressed, but I need not say
that I had never any occasion to carry out what he
had enjoined upon me. Had such arisen I should
certainly not have hesitated — but he had gained a
knowledge of his fault and it was never repeated. It
must be remembered that at the time this incident
occurred his Cardinalitial honours were still fresh upon
him, and that I was little more than a boy who had
been in his service less than a year."
Few men ever collected more money from the public
than Cardinal Vaughan did, and by many he was regarded
as a particularly bold and brazen beggar. It was a very
mistaken notion. He was a successful beggar, but only
because he had schooled himself to do with all his heart
what, with all his heart, he disliked. We have seen that
when, as a young man, he was setting out on his great
begging expedition through Central and South America,
he let his first opportunity — that of collecting from his
fellow-passengers on board ship — go by, simply because
he had not the courage to ask. To the end begging was
always " hateful work." Once, when talking of the large

382 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
sums he had received for Westminster Cathedral, he told
me that sometimes when going to call at a house, where,
perhaps, he hoped to get a large donation, he would
hesitate to ring the bell, and, instead, would walk around
the square, or up and down the street, before going up
to the door. Even when he had been admitted, and
found himself in the presence of his intended victim,
his heart would sometimes fail him, and he would leave
without referring to the real object of his visit. In such
cases, however, a second call would usually follow.
In begging for the great causes he had at heart
Cardinal Vaughan naturally often had recourse to people
beyond his own circle of acquaintance. Unfortunately,
he had a very bad memory for faces, and a very unpleasant
impression would sometimes be created when a man who,
perhaps, had given him a considerable sum of money
afterwards found himself treated by the unconscious
Cardinal as a stranger he had never seen. This difficulty
in recognising people he knew only slightly, or had not
met recently, was a serious disability to a man in his
position. Much of his supposed haughtiness and aloof
ness of manner was due to this cause, and it often gave
great offence. He used to hold receptions-at Archbishop's
House on certain afternoons in the summer, which were
largely attended by the Catholic laity. No one who had
ever met Cardinal Vaughan was likely to forget him —
it was not so easy for him to remember others. Some
times at these receptions a lady would go up all eagerness
to greet him, and would be met with a friendly stare and
the words, " And what is your name ? " The light would
die out of the woman's face as she knew he had not even
recognised her. He had no art to pretend to know

CHARACTERISTICS 3»3
people, or by putting a leading question to try to find
out to whom he was speaking. If he failed to remember
a face he ought to have known he was frankly sorry — but
it could not be helped, and that was all. And yet this
inconvenient candour, which led him into so many
difficulties, had its redeeming side and its own great
compensations. It was just this transparent simplicity
and sincerity which made intercourse with Herbert
Vaughan so delightful. You consulted him on any
subject and you knew the opinion he gave stood for
the truth, and that there were no reservations. Cardinal
Vaughan had many lovable qualities, but sincerity was
at the root of them all. Certainly few men have had
friends more loyal and devoted than he had, and very
few have known so well how to make others share in
their own high and holy enthusiasms.
Among those who had intimate opportunities of
knowing Cardinal Vaughan's inner life was Father Joseph
Rickaby, S.J. On two occasions, once at Stonyhurst,
when Bishop of Salford, and once at St. Edmund's, when
Archbishop, the Cardinal attended retreats conducted by
Father Rickaby. The Jesuit writes : " On both occasions
he edified me greatly, speaking to me of his soul with as
much simplicity, candour, and humility as ever you could
expect of a novice addressing the Master of Novices. I
should sum up his character as I knew him by saying that
he was a singularly direct man. He took means to his
ends straightforwardly and fearlessly, not 'regarding the
person of men and not caring for anybody,' so long as the
action was right before God. Hence many thought him
unfeeling — and something of this was hinted at his death
— which was a great injustice. I reflected at the time

384 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
how men misunderstood him, and how I had known him
better in those two retreats. He had an intense loyalty
and tender personal love for Our Saviour, according to
the chivalrous conception of Our Lord's character as laid
down by St. Ignatius in the Kingdom of Christ. In fact,
in his spiritual formation he was a Jesuit — certainly not
in the vulgar English sense of the term — but in all I
consider a Jesuit should be, knowing what life is given
us for, and living up to that end directly, straightforwardly
and on principle. Of course I did not see the Cardinal
in his relations with others, but I suspect that a slug-
gardly and self-indulgent priest, a man of low ideals
or no ideals at all beyond selfish purposes, would not get
on with him. His ardent, generous nature looked for
generosity in others — at least in priests. I shall always
consider it a privilege to have known Cardinal Vaughan's
soul as I did."
That the Cardinal was not popular, at least in the West
minster days, with the whole of his clergy is certain. Nor
can all those who disliked him fairly be counted among the
" sluggardly " and " self-indulgent." It must be remem
bered that for fully half his time as Archbishop his work
had to be adjusted to a lowered vitality. Incapacitating
weakness of health, joined to the heavy demands made
upon his time by the great public controversies in which
he was engaged, and such enterprises as the building of
the Cathedral, left little opportunity for the ordinary work
of a Bishop in the diocese. This devolved largely on
others : on his Vicar-General and on his Auxiliary Bishops,
first on Bishop Brindle, now Bishop of Nottingham, and
then on Bishop Stanley. Inevitably to many of his priests
he was a stranger. On this subject the Bishop of Amycla,

CHARACTERISTICS 385
who, as his Vicar-General, did more than any man
else to keep his way smooth for him, says : —
" It must be remembered that he never was a mis
sionary priest in London in the proper sense. The every
day life of a priest with its trials and its hardships and
the dreadful and constant struggle to collect and gather
money to keep the mission and the schools going — of all
this he had had no practical experience ; and therefore he
did not understand the great difficulties of the priest's life
on the mission, and would order collections, for the most
worthy objects, and be very severe if they did not pro
duce good results. On this point he was very exacting,
and the priests thought it a great hardship ; they said,
' He seems to forget while he makes so many appeals
for new works, that though these works are very admir
able, still they cause money to be withdrawn from other
charities, because people have only a certain amount to
give, and if they give it to the new the old must suffer.'
They felt that if the collections for his new works were
small he was displeased, and thought they were lacking
in zeal. Again, he saw very little of his clergy, and he
would tell them to see his Vicar- General. This led
often to what was not very pleasant. Meeting some
of his priests, he would ask them where they were,
what was their mission — in some cases they had been
two or three years at the same mission, and were rather
taken aback to find that the Cardinal did not know
where they were, and they thought, ' Is this all the
interest he takes ? ' "
These occasions of offence were to some extent in
cidental to the Cardinal's conception of his duty as
Archbishop to the Church and the English people.
His days were so filled that it was difficult for him to
see much of his priests individually. On the other
hand, many a priest could tell how quick he was to
take an opportunity to do a kindness. On one occasion,
at the time of Mr. Gladstone's second Home Rule Bill,
II CC

386 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Cardinal Vaughan paid a visit to the clergy-house at
Willesden. It was on an occasion when the Liberal
leader was a guest at Dollis House. The assistant
priest, aflame with the love of Ireland and regarding
Mr. Gladstone as her Heaven-sent deliverer, told the
Cardinal how he had waited for hours in the roadway
on the off chance that he might see the great man
pass. The hope had died away in disappointment.
The Cardinal listened, perhaps wonderingly, at the en
thusiasm of the naive youth, but said nothing. Later
in the day his carriage was ordered round, and the
young priest was invited to accompany him for a
drive. When the order to the coachman, " Drive to
Dollis House," was given, the curate understood — the
English Cardinal was taking him to see the idol of his
dreams. When' they arrived at their destination and
were invited into the garden, the Cardinal managed to
pair off with the host, and so left the Irish curate to
wander through Paradise — alone with Mr. Gladstone.
As a rule Herbert Vaughan got on very well with his
Irish priests. He was very tolerant of political opinions
that were not his own. He wanted good and zealous
priests, men willing to devote their lives to work among
the London poor ; and if he could get that nothing else
mattered very much. One eager and devoted priest,
when he knew that Herbert Vaughan was to come to
Westminster as Archbishop, decided to return at once
to his own diocese in Ireland. The Archbishop sent
for him and begged him to stay, and as a last
argument said, " In Ireland they are all Home Rulers —
stay here and work for Westminster, and you may
have the whole of the diocese to convert."

CHARACTERISTICS 387
The Cardinal's acts of kindness were sometimes as
impulsive as they were unconventional. The following
incident relates to the time of his last visit to Rome
in the spring of 190 1. It was brought to his knowledge
that an old man, an Irishman, whom he had known
well years before, was lying seriously ill in the Nursing
Home kept by the English Sisters of the Little Com
pany of Mary in the Via Castelfidardo. The Cardinal was
warned that the case was a distressing one, because, owing
to some financial worry, the patient's mind was wandering
— he would lie for hours in a sort of stupor crying out at
intervals for money. When the Cardinal stood by the
bedside the sick man seemed hardly to know him, and
refused to be comforted, and instead, as he tossed from
side to side, kept moaning out the words, " Money, money
— twenty pounds ! " The Cardinal tried to reason with
him, told him that as long as he was in the Home he
could have no use for money, that the nuns would gladly
nurse him back to health without payment. It was
all to no purpose, and the same impatient cry for
" twenty pounds " went on continuously. When at
length the Cardinal returned to the guest-room he
learned that, on the whole, the doctors took a hopeful
view, and thought the case would gradually yield to
time and treatment. But Herbert Vaughan wanted a
quicker way. He listened, and for answer asked for
pen and paper. He then wrote out a cheque for £20
and told the nuns to give the gold without delay to
the sufferer. It is pleasant to be able to add that the
remedy was so far efficacious that the patient fell into
a refreshing sleep that night, and was afterwards able
to leave the Home.

388 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
The Cardinal was frequently a guest at Llanforda
Hall. Mr. Longueville writes : —
" Nothing could exceed his gentleness and kindness
to laymen, but I always used to think that priests
seemed afraid of him. Once when he was staying with
me when he was Bishop of Salford, I asked the parish
priest during luncheon when he was going to take his
holiday. The poor man blushed violently, looked very
uncomfortable, and muttered vaguely. After luncheon
he came to me and said in a tone of tearful reproach,
'What made you ask me when I was going for my
holiday ? Don't you know that Dr. Vaughan thinks that
priests ought never to take holidays ? ' s And yet Dr.
Vaughan was not his Bishop. At one time or another
many priests have honoured me with visits, but never have
I known any priest to spend so much time in the Chapel
before the Blessed Sacrament as did Cardinal Vaughan.
As long as he had that he wanted nothing else. In my
humble and uncomfortable little iron chapel, and, like
other iron chapels, very hot in summer and very cold in
winter, he used literally to spend hours. He cared
nothing whether peer or peasant or any one else were
invited to meet him ; it was nothing to him whether
interesting books or the latest newspapers, or any books
or papers at all, were provided for him ; and as to food,
he cared not what it was ; it even seemed as if he did
not care whether he had any. His one want was to
kneel or sit before the Blessed Sacrament, generally
without any book in his hand and for as long a time
as was available from necessary duties."
Mr. Grisewood, with whom at his villa at Grasse the
Cardinal spent six weeks in 1897, says: "Two things
struck me specially during his visit with us. First, his
habit of prayer, and, second, his very complete mastery
over his tongue. He never omitted an hour alone with
God every evening from six to seven. 'You can come
to me when you like,' he would say, 'only try and

CHARACTERISTICS 389
leave me alone from six to seven.' At seven he joined
us in our oratory to say the Rosary."
For some years before the Cardinal's last illness he
used generally to spend a few weeks in the summer at
Derwent Hall. Scattered through his letters are many
allusions to these visits, and to the great benefit he
derived from them. On one occasion he says : " I came
down here [Derwent Hall] rather a wreck ; but the air,
the peace, and the goodness of the place and the people,
who have been so kind to me, have given me another lease
of life." Lady Edmund Talbot, his hostess, says : " His
life seemed to be divided between prayer and work.
He disliked any ceremony and he was treated just as an
ordinary guest. He lived his own life and did what he
liked. He had a sitting-room of his own which opened
on to the garden ; there he remained most of the day
reading and writing. His mind was never off his work,
the Cathedral, or his schemes and his prayers for the
salvation of souls, and he was generally preparing some
thing for the Catholic Conference in the autumn. He
said his Mass at 7.30 or earlier every morning ; he
generally spent about an hour before his Mass in the
Chapel. I often noticed as he passed through the
sacristy how absorbed he was in God, and how nothing
seemed to distract him. After hearing the Mass which
followed his own, he had his breakfast, then as a rule
he went to his room to work, or he would stroll into
the garden to read his letters or say his Office, and now
and then he discussed some business with any one who
happened to be interested in any of his schemes. After
luncheon he always said Matins and Lauds, generally
walking up and down the garden, after which he worked

390 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
in his room till 4.30 or 5, when he went out for a walk
— sometimes he wandered alone on the hills, when he
generally took a spiritual reading-book with him, and
sometimes one of us went with him. He loved the hills
at Derwent. I think he liked being there, and he enjoyed
the scenery and the sunsets, but he was incapable of
being amused. I think it was impossible for him to
recreate; his conversation was always on his work, his
projects for God's honour and glory, or on spiritual
subjects. When alone with him we had only to turn
him on to spirituality, or the Love of God, and his
conversation flowed. What specially struck me was his
keen and vivid and untiring interest in spiritual things,
and in what affected his work. He would talk for ever
on prayer and the Love of God. On his return from his
walk he went to the chapel and remained there for an
hour, often more, till the dinner-bell rang. The Angelus
rang at 6, and a few minutes afterwards he would say
rather impatiently, ' Let's turn back and go and pray,'
as if he was panting for the moment when he could go
to the Blessed Sacrament. He used to remain there,
kneeling or sitting, and he told me he used the 'Miserere'
and a book on 'Humility of Heart' which he had used
for years, and which he had translated a short time before
he died." At this hour he also said his Rosary. After dinner he
remained a short time with us, and then we recited the
Rosary in the chapel, after which the Cardinal went
straight to bed.
" As a Spiritual Director one felt that the Cardinal was
straight, direct, simple, and to the point. Everything he
said or advised was practical ; there were no spiritual fire-

CHARACTERISTICS 391
works, and one felt and knew that his one object was to
draw you more and more to God. He would take endless
trouble if he could induce one to love God more, and the
basis of all his direction seemed to be the Love of God and
humility. He used to say, ' Humility is a gift. We cannot
of ourselves be humble, and therefore we must pray and
beg and implore of God to give us this great gift. Prayer
without humility is useless : the great thing is to know
ourselves and to be humble of heart.
"The Cardinal has been accused of being unsym
pathetic ; this is true in a way, his idea being that all trials
come from God, and are a means of drawing you to God.
He was inclined to be rather hard as to the ordinary trials
and worries of everyday life. This was not the case,
however, in great trials and anxieties. Then he was most
sympathetic and affectionate ; his whole heart went out to
one, and there was nothing he would not do to help and
console you, no trouble that he would not take to help you
and comfort you, even when he was ill. But in trial and
trouble and sorrow his object was to induce you to go at
once to God, to put you, as it were, into God's arms, and
to force you to take all your sorrow to Our Lady and Our
Lord, because he knew that your only consolation lay with
them. His anxiety to get you to see this and to realise
it was quite touching, and it made a lasting and deep
impression on many. He seemed to feel that a soul called
to suffer much was essentially a soul much loved by God,
and he therefore took endless pains and trouble to point
this out and to persuade you to see everything in this light."
In paying these long visits to the Blessed Sacrament,
while staying as a guest in country houses, the Cardinal
was only continuing his ordinary routine at home. In

392 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
regard to prayer his habits were always regular, and were
much the same in Westminster as they had been in
Salford. There was meditation and Mass and thanks
giving in the morning, while in the evening one, and often
two, hours were spent in prayer before the Tabernacle.
He would kneel in the darkness, forgetful of everything
except that he was in the presence of God. His practice
of saying ejaculatory prayers during the day and at all
times was well known — it had become a habit.
The Cardinal's ordinary tastes were as simple as they
well could be. The pleasures of the table made small
appeal to him. He had a good appetite and ate quickly,
as though it were a troublesome duty which had to be
got through with as small an expenditure of time as
possible. His brother, Mgr. John Vaughan, now Bishop
of Sebastopol, says : " I have seen him again and again,
when Bishop of Salford, coming into the refectory at St.
Bede's College for breakfast when all the rest had done.
On such occasions he never troubled to ask for fresh
things, but would drain the tepid teapot into his cup,
while he glanced over the Manchester Guardian or
Courier." Both at St. Bede's and when a Cardinal he
used to dine at the Community table, and, till his health
gave way, always carved for the whole company. It was
a form of public service and he liked doing it. At Arch
bishop's House, as in Manchester, he occupied two small
rooms, barely and poorly furnished and without carpets.
Others might find such conditions incompatible with the
highest efficiency in work ; the Cardinal thought them
bracing. Sometimes exaggerated reports would get
abroad as to the austerities of the Cardinal's household.
This was specially the case when he first took up his

CHARACTERISTICS 393
residence in the present Archbishop's House, then still in
a very unfinished condition. Among those who feared
that he was suffering from actual privation was the Mother-
General of the Sisters of Nazareth. She therefore sent
him as a gift a sum of money which she hoped he would
feel free to use towards furnishing his own room. The
following letters tell their own tale : —
" My dear Child, — The idea of ' no fire and no door '
has not a little amused me. The house is full of fires and
doors, and we are quite comfortable. The entrance-hall
door and corridors and other parts of the house are still
unprovided, but we are very happy in spite of it all.
Money will come in in time, and then I shall be able first
to finish the Library, and get the books out of the boxes
in which they are very uncomfortable and spoiling."
" I am obliged for your letter, prayers, and good wishes.
The bank-note I will keep for the present, but I hope to
spend nothing on my room, and will use it in another way.
But I must really give you a positive order not to send me
any more money, but to use all you get in your own great
work of charity. I hope Mother Augustine is better. I
pray for her — such a life is needed ; one like mine, worn
out and seventy, is no more required, and begins to get in
the way of good rather than to promote it. God bless
you all."
" It is too good of you to send me so many nice things
— send me no more — these will last me till my death. I
am sorry to hear you have been so constantly on the
Cross. If we were entirely supernatural perhaps I should
be saying that I am very pleased to hear of it. Certainly
there is nothing better on earth than the Holy Will and
the Cross of Christ."

394 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
" Please not to send me any more money. You ought
to have a scruple in doing so, considering your pressing
needs. I have a great mind to send the hat back, with an
obedience to you to wear it yourself for a week. It fits me
perfectly, and I thank you for it very much. I told
Mgr. Dunn that my old hat would last my time, and so
did not get another in Paris. But you are praying me
into better health, and so keeping me out of Purgatory
and Heaven. God bless you."
If one may judge by appearances, very little of this
money was ever spent on any part of Archbishop's House.
In the Cardinal's desk his executors found a small canvas
bag filled with gold, with a label on which he had written,
" To be returned to Nazareth House after my death." He
had been unwilling to hurt the feelings of the nuns by
sending the money back at the time, and yet did not want
to spend it on himself. He knew that when he was dead
they would understand. Among his papers was found a
memorandum written eight days before his death, referring
to this money : " In my small tin box containing will
there will be found several sums of money which I never
considered my own, but had the use of. In the box are
seventy or eighty sovereigns to be restored to Mother-
General, Nazareth House, with my affectionate regards
and blessing. She was always too generous. The rest of
the money can go to charitable purposes."
Any one who knew him could tell of his quiet, unaffected
way of living, of his impatience of anything like luxury or
ceremony, and his disregard even for the ordinary comforts
of life. One instance within my own experience may serve
as a sample of many. He was going to stay for a few
days with my father at Broxwood Court. He was coming

CHARACTERISTICS 395
from the North and I from London, and we had arranged
to meet at Hereford and go on together by the local
train. When I arrived he was not on the platform, and I
looked into a line of carriages without seeing him. I
walked back along the platform — there was one carriage
into which I had hardly looked — it was filled with soldiers,
and thick with tobacco smoke. In the corner at the far
side was Herbert Vaughan, quietly reading his Breviary.
When I had got him into another compartment I could
not help saying, " Do you always travel in that way ? "
He answered, "Oh, well, I always think third class is
good enough when one is travelling for pleasure." And
then he added with a smile, " You know, this is quite a
pleasure trip."
Two sentences from a letter to his butler at Arch
bishop's House, who had just lost his wife, may serve to
show how the Cardinal could think of both worlds : " You
have many consolations in the thought that she was well
prepared, that she has suffered her Purgatory, at least in
part, that she is with God, and that the trials and risks of
this life are for her things of the past, that she can assist
you all before the throne of God by her prayers. . . . You
may need a little extra assistance, and I have therefore
written to Mgr. Johnson to give you £25 extra."
Never in his busiest days in Westminster did Cardinal
Vaughan forget the flock he had left in Salford. He was
fond of speaking of himself as a Lancashire Bishop, and
always thought the Lancashire people the salt of the
English earth. More than once I have heard him say that
every time he went north he seemed to feel that as the
climate was getting colder the people's hearts were getting
warmer. His attachment to Manchester, and Manchester

396 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
men, and Manchester institutions, betrayed itself in all
sorts of curious and unexpected ways. For instance, if he
wanted a pastoral or a pamphlet published, he would send
it to a Manchester printer. At the breakfast-table at
Archbishop's House he would read his old favourite, the
Manchester Guardian — a day old. On one occasion his
partiality for this paper nearly led him into a strange
indiscretion. In the autumn of 1898 all England was
thrilled by the publication of the Fashoda despatches.
Lord Salisbury had left it to France to choose whether
to withdraw from the Nile valley or to fight. But the
Manchester Guardian, in a series of very able articles, had
combated Lord Salisbury's policy and represented him as
seeking to fasten a quarrel on the French Republic. The
Cardinal read the articles, and the more he thought of the
tremendous issues at stake, of what such a calamity as a
war between England and France would mean for both
countries, the more urgent it seemed that every man
should do what he could to avert the catastrophe. If
it were true that the English Minister was abusing his
advantage or snatching at an opportunity to force France
to fight, under pain of public dishonour, the voice of the
Catholic Church ought to be heard in protest. He told
several of those about him at Archbishop's House that he
had made up his mind that it was his duty to intervene,
and that he meant to make a public appeal to the sanity
of the nation to stop Lord Salisbury. He met with scant
sympathy from those of his own household. On the
contrary, earnest representations were made to him
begging him not to take action in a matter which in no
way officially concerned him, about which he was probably
only imperfectly informed, and in regard to which any ill-

CHARACTERISTICS 397
considered action might compromise the whole Catholic
world. Priests and several influential laymen united to
deprecate anything in the nature of a public manifesto.
The Cardinal listened to all the advice, and set it aside
— he thought that England was in the wrong, and that
Lord Salisbury was pressing an advantage to the verge of
war. He intimated that his mind was made up.
It was then that a silent, persistent man, the private
secretary at Archbishop's house for forty years, the late
Bishop Johnson, resolved to speak. Fluent men had failed,
but the need was urgent and the silent man must try.
He went to the Cardinal's room late at night and was
refused admittance, but he would not be denied. The
Cardinal had gone through a great deal that day and he
thought to dismiss his secretary with the fewest words.
But he found to his astonishment that the silent man
could talk and even remonstrate, and meant to argue.
The Cardinal listened while his secretary told him that
he had no right to compromise Catholic interests by
taking action on the strength of what might prove to be
a merely partisan presentment of the case. But the
Cardinal's patience had touched the breaking-point, and,
rising from his chair, he pointed to the door, and said
sternly, "Go out, Johnson, go out." The Bishop, as he
afterwards told me, backed slowly to the door, still repeat
ing his remonstrance ; it was only when his foot was on
the threshold that he heard the Cardinal say in another
tone, " God bless you, Johnson — but leave me alone." The
Bishop had left the field, but he left it victorious. The
Cardinal's letter to the Times was put back into his
desk that night and the next morning it was destroyed.
In a private letter written by the Bishop of Newport, a

398 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
few days after the Cardinal's death, I find these words :
" It is sickening to see the newspapers saying he was not
intellectual." To those who know the Bishop of Newport
that sentence will stand for much. Certainly, what seemed
the Cardinal's most obvious limitations were the result,
not of any want of mental power, but rather of a wilful
indifference to interests which lay outside the sphere of
his duties. He had a wide and profound knowledge of
most branches of ascetical literature, but his busy life left
him no time to specialise. To keep himself familiar with
current controversies and the general literature of the day
he thought one of the duties of his position. But his
heart was in his own immediate work, and he had no real
interests outside it. He used sometimes to say, " I am too
stupid to take an interest in anything outside my work."
His time for reading had to be snatched out of the day,
and when the hours of active duty were over the claims
of the Chapel, where the Blessed Sacrament was silently
waiting, were paramount. With the mental attitude
which tends to Liberal Catholicism, or even with the
intellectual difficulties and perplexities which in every age
must arise out of the difference between Science and
Revelation, the Cardinal had no natural sympathies. His
instinct was to put such problems aside with impatience.
For him the position of Revelation was too secure to make
it a matter of urgency to consider how her teaching could
be reconciled with this or that scientific discovery. This
sort of one-sidedness might have been a serious disquali
fication — as almost a sort of spiritual deafness to the cries
of souls in distress — had it not been accompanied by a
compensating charity which made full amends. That a
man should make shipwreck of his faith was a calamity

CHARACTERISTICS 399
which Cardinal Vaughan would have done anything to
avert. So a doubt or a difficulty, which personally he
would have never stayed to consider, at once became a
matter of absorbing and poignant interest to him when he
saw it was a cause of real trouble to others. Then he
would spare no pains to get official explanations or to
secure the most competent advice, or to find the
theologian the most fitted to deal with the particular
case. Sometimes it was Rome itself which seemed to throw
a stumbling-block in the path of the faithful. One instance
of the pains the Cardinal would take to remove misunder
standings may be cited. In January, 1897, the Holy
Office affirmed that the authenticity of the text of the
" Three Heavenly Witnesses," or the Comma Johanneum,
could not be safely denied or called in question.1
It was a point which had been disputed for the best
part of a century. Cardinals Wiseman and Franzelin had
both defended the authenticity of the passage, but such
authorities as Scholz, Bisping, Kaulen, and Schunz had
maintained the opposite view. In recent years the balance
of scholarship had seemed to be altogether against the
authenticity of the text. Canon Gore, writing to the
Guardian, said : —
"The Encyclical on Holy Scriptures tied Roman
' " In Congregatione generali, S.R. et U. Inquisitionis habita coram Emis.
ac RR. DD. Cardinalibus, contra haereticam pravitatem generalibus Inquisi-
toribus, proposito dubio : Utrum tuto negari, aut saltern in dubium revocari
possit esse authenticum textum S. Joannis, in epistola prima, cap. 5, vers. 7,
quod sic se habet : ' Quoniam tres sunt, qui testimonium dant in coelo : Pater,
Verbum, et Spiritus Sanctus : et hi tres unum sunt ' ? omnibus diligentissimo
examine perpensis, praehabitoque DD. Consultorum voto, iidem Emi.
Cardinales respondendum mandarunt: 'Negative.'"

400 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Catholics to an impossible view of inspiration. They
are now tied to a repudiation of even the most moderate
approach towards textual criticism — that is to say, to an
acceptance of a passage as an authentic part of St. John's
Epistle which is not contained in any Greek manuscript
previous to the use of printed books, or in any ancient
version, including the Vulgate as it came from Jerome;
and which was not known to any of the Greek Fathers
or the earlier Latin ones. It was, in fact, a gloss upon the
text of St. John (the sense of which it manifestly inter
rupts) which apparently accidentally passed into some
Latin MS. and spread over Latin Christianity. It is
probably first cited as a text of St. John by the Spanish
heretic, Priscillian. Is not this only the latest of many
evidences that those of us who love both Catholicity and
truth have no other possible home than the Church of
England with all her defects?"
To some Catholics even, unfamiliar with the procedure
of the Roman Tribunals, the reply of the Holy Office came
as a grave difficulty. Learning something of the state of
things from Mr. Wilfrid Ward, the Cardinal at once did,
all that was possible to relieve the situation. It would
have been easy for him to write reassuringly upon his
own authority pointing out that the decision in question
was only disciplinary and intended to prevent the faithful
from having a new opinion put before them as if it were
part of the safe and authorised public teaching of the
Church. The Cardinal did much more. Writing from
Rome to Mr. Ward, he says : " I have ascertained from
an excellent source that the decree of the Holy Office on
the passages on 'The Three Witnesses,' which you refer
to, is not intended to close the discussion as to the
authenticity of that text. The field of Biblical criticism
is not touched by this decree. But it is not to be denied
that the text has a certain theological value, nor is it

CHARACTERISTICS 401
certain that critical research, even as to this text, has
reached its last word. Whatever may be said to the
contrary, it is quite certain that the Holy See desires to
encourage Biblical research and has no fear of really
learned and wise criticism. But, as you know, there
exist critics and pedants who recognise no law but
themselves and claim a monopoly of wisdom and accuracy.
If you like to publish the above as having been written
from Rome you may do so if you think it useful. I have
been urgent in this matter and have written strong letters
to the H. O. and taken other measures. These will come
out later." Among the further measures referred to was
an article on the subject in his own newspaper, which
reduced the whole incident to its proper proportions.
After referring to the purely disciplinary nature of the
decree the article went on to show that it was clearly
not necessarily final : —
" The doubts which existed as to the consistency of
an opinion with Faith may be cleared away. They may
disappear in view of what, in the technical language of
the Roman Congregations, is called ' fresh evidence ' or
' results of recent research ' (noviter deductd). Moreover,
what in a given stage of public opinion might be a
fruitful source of perplexity, mischievous misconception,
unsettling, and disedification might, in altered circum
stances and with the progress of fuller understanding and
more widely diffused information, be entirely devoid of
any such risk or danger. Safety of teaching means not
merely the objective safety of the opinion itself, but the
subjective safety as considered in its effect on the minds
of those to whom it is taught. In this sense teaching
which may be decidedly unsafe in one period may later
on, in altered conditions, prove to be perfectly safe and
allowable. Hence prohibitions which are purely regula
tive and disciplinary are by their very nature reformable,
II DD

402 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
and, as every Catholic knows, are not unfrequently with
drawn by the Holy Office, or allowed to lapse by its
sanction and permission."
As a writer of popular manuals of devotion and in
struction Cardinal Vaughan was very successful. It was
a task for which his simplicity of style and directness
of thought admirably fitted him. Some of his little books
sold at a penny have had an extraordinary and lasting
popularity. Among the most successful were " What is
the Mass ? " " Who is St. Joseph ? " " The Meaning of the
Scapular," " The Most Profitable Way."
Cardinal Vaughan was an excellent linguist. He could
converse with fluency in Latin, French, Italian, and Spanish
— the latter he spoke almost like a native. At one time
he knew German also, but had forgotten it in later years.
As a companion he was delightful and inspiriting. He
had travelled far and had a wide knowledge of men
and things. He had quick sympathies, and his eager
spirits and contagious enthusiasms were enough to fire
the blood of the dullest. The spirit of romance and high
adventure which had so shaped his early career never
wholly faded, and he had a wonderful fund of stories
about his life among the pioneers in California, or his
rides across the Pampas, or journeys among the planters
and negroes of the Sugar States. Perhaps it was only
the want of suitable opportunities which prevented him
from adding to the tale of adventures. Shortly before
he became Archbishop he went down to visit a Convent
some miles from Chelmsford, for Cardinal Manning.
When he arrived it was already dusk. The bell remained
unanswered — he understood that he was not expected.
Dismissing his cab, he threw his handbag over the en-

CHARACTERISTICS 403
closure wall, and then managed to clamber up and let
himself down on the other side. But approaching the
Convent, he saw that all the lights were out and the -
whole place asleep. He was unwilling to arouse and
perhaps frighten the nuns, and yet reluctant to leave
his errand undone. Looking around, he saw a sort of
outhouse where garden tools were kept ; in one corner
was a big heap of potatoes. Wrapping his big Roman
cloak about him the Bishop lay down upon the potatoes
and slept soundly. When he awoke, the nuns, who had
gone to bed with the sun and risen with the dawn, were
duly surprised to see their early visitor. The Cardinal
used to say that for the rest of the day it seemed as
though every one of those potatoes had left each its own
particular little imprint stamped into his back.
On one occasion, after he was Cardinal, he arrived
unannounced on a Sunday morning in Hitchin. At
that time there was no Catholic church there and Mass
was said for a handful of people in an upper room of
a small house by a priest who came from a distance.
On that particular morning the priest discovered at the
last moment, when the little congregation had all as
sembled, that there were no altar breads. It was a
horrible discovery, for without altar breads there could
be no Mass. At that moment there was a sharp knock
at the door, and then there entered the Cardinal Arch
bishop. If there had been any convenient opening in
the earth to cover him and his confusion, no doubt the
priest would have welcomed it. The Cardinal wasted
no words. He knew what was wanted and what he
could do, and for the rest was quiet and practical.
Looking into the room where the people were waiting

404 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
for Mass, he saw one lady he knew. Beckoning to her
he told her quietly what had happened, and added,
" Go and ring up any baker you can find and bring
back a cup of flour. I will have a fire and water boiling
when you return." The lady came back successful, and
the Cardinal himself mixed the flour and water in the
pan and made the altar breads.
Herbert Vaughan had a great dislike for excuses or
evasions or for compliments which he thought unreal, and
indeed for anything like artificiality in either language or
conduct. He was apt to construe too literally words or
expressions which were only conventional. On one occa
sion, when Bishop of Salford, he was going to stay at
Rotherwas, the seat of the late Mr. Bodenham, but on
getting out of the train found that owing to some mistake
there was no one to meet him. He took his handbag and
started off for a walk of a couple of miles. It was a hot
summer's afternoon and he had gone something over half
a mile when he was met by Mr. Coventry Patmore, who
happened to be one of the house-party. After the first
greetings, Patmore, with eager politeness, begged to be
allowed to carry the bag. Herbert Vaughan at once
assented and Coventry Patmore carried the bag for the
rest of the way. Telling the story long afterwards, the
improvised porter observed grimly, " But Bishops should
not let poets carry bags."
The Cardinal had no patience with literary mystifica
tions of any sort, and to say the truth was easily their
victim. I well remember on one occasion, early in 1902,
going into his room and noting that he was in a state
of unusual animation. The reason was quickly apparent
— he had in his hand a copy of Montgomery Carmichael's

CHARACTERISTICS 405
Life of William Walshe. His face was radiant with
enthusiasm as he held the book up and asked me if I
knew it. I answered that I had read it and thought
it a splendid piece of work. " It is the most glorious
book that has come out for years," he said, and went
on breathlessly to tell of the man's wonderful spiritual
experiences, of his ecstasies, of the graces he had had
from Heaven — and then I knew. Speaking half to
himself he continued, " And he came from Manchester ;
his father was the head of a Manchester firm — strange
I was Bishop there for twenty years and never even
heard the name." It was hateful work, but he had to
be told. I asked him whether he was sure the book
had reference to real persons. He looked at me a
moment as though not understanding the question, and
then said slowly, " Do you mean that the whole thing
is a forgery?" I could only say, "Well, yes — in the
sense that Robinson Crusoe and An Englishwoman's Love
Letters are forgeries." He asked whether I was certain,
and then said simply, " I have recommended the book
for spiritual reading to several people as the life of a
Saint." It was a bad disappointment, but of one thing
I am very sure — in that moment of disillusionment no
thought that he might perhaps cut a foolish figure in
the eyes of the friends to whom he had so recommended
the book ever so much as crossed his mind. To have
pleaded that the book had still its own value as a fine
piece of imaginative literature, that its sympathetic insight
into spiritual problems assuredly was the result of ex
periences that must have been very real, would at that
moment have seemed only a mockery.
People of our generation do not need to be reminded

406 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
that Cardinal Vaughan was one of the handsomest men
of his time. His clear-cut features, his tall figure, and
his splendid presence would have served to distinguish
him in any assembly. We have seen how Aubrey de Vere,
when he first saw Herbert Vaughan in his student days
in Rome, was so struck by his appearance that he ex
claimed to himself, " If you are so beautiful, what must
your sister be ? " The impression which the first sight of
him, when he had just been made Bishop, made upon
those two Paray pilgrims, Mrs. Meynell and Lady Butler,
has already been noted. Another instance of the way in
which he impressed strangers, and this time in later life,
is given by Mr. Wilfrid Ward. Speaking of an occasion
when Cardinal Vaughan was staying in the Isle of Wight
as the guest of Dr. W. G. Ward, he tells how one day
Tennyson, Aubrey de Vere, and a neighbour, Mrs.
Cameron, the famous amateur photographer, came over
to afternoon-tea at Weston Manor : '' Mrs. Cameron was
at that time photographing various persons to represent
the characters in the Idylls, and I had heard her grumble
at not being satisfied with her attempt at a representation
of Lancelot. Face, figure, age, or expression was wrong in
every candidate. As Mrs. Cameron and Tennyson entered
the drawing-room together, Bishop Vaughan was standing
in the glow of the winter fire, looking, as he ever did, the
most knightly of priests, and Mrs. Cameron stood for a
moment transfixed as Aubrey de Vere had done twenty
years earlier in Rome. Then she cried out, pointing to
him, ' Alfred, I have found Sir Lancelot ! ' Tennyson's bad
sight prevented him from seeing to whom she was point
ing, and he replied in loud and deep tones, ' I want a
face that is well worn with human passion.' The Bishop

CHARACTERISTICS 407
smiled, and the general laughter could not be sup
pressed." But the Cardinal's appearance will soon be a tradition
— it has left no permanent record in the art of the time.
In this respect he was less fortunate than either Manning
or Newman, each of whom sat to some of the greatest
portrait painters of the Victorian age. There are portraits
of Manning by Watts, Legros, Long, Richmond, and
Ouless ; and of Newman by Richmond, Millais, Ouless,
and Pettie. It is difficult to imagine Cardinal Vaughan
giving serious sittings for a portrait — certainly he never
did. On the other hand, struggling artists or young
relatives fresh from the schools were often welcome to set
up an easel in his room and sketch or paint him as he
worked. He knew he was doing a kindness — and if
portraits done under such conditions were sometimes
curious, to Herbert Vaughan that mattered very little.

CHAPTER XII
INNER LIFE
IT was only towards the end of his life that Cardinal
Vaughan had a spiritual director. He had often con
sidered the question and anxiously weighed the pros and
cons. There was the example of many saints who had
sought spiritual direction, and he knew that ascetical
writers generally laid stress upon its advantages ; on the
other hand, he felt no practical need for it himself. When
in Rome he used to consult in an informal way an old
Redemptorist Father, now dead, but not till 1901 had he
any regular spiritual adviser. In the summer of that year
he invited a Jesuit, Father Considine, to come and see
him. After stating the case and saying that his one wish
in the matter was to do whatever was most pleasing to
God and likely to fit him for his work, and to promote the
growth of personal holiness, the Cardinal asked for advice.
Premising that it was a question not of strict duty but
of striving after perfection, Father Considine replied, in
effect, that the weight of authority was altogether on the
side of some guidance in the spiritual life, not only because
we are all too near to ourselves to see our souls in the
right perspective, but also because God blesses the humility
which makes us have recourse to another's aid. After
some further discussion the Cardinal suddenly asked
Father Considine if he himself would accept the position
408

INNER LIFE 409
of which they had been speaking, and undertake the
direction of his spiritual life. He explained that it was
guidance outside of the Confessional that he wanted —
he had already an excellent confessor and had no wish to
change. In the end Father Considine consented, and it
was arranged that they should meet at intervals of not
less than a month. When his health allowed the Cardinal
would drive down to the Jesuit House at Roehampton,
and at other times Father Considine would see him at
Archbishop's House.
Father Considine has put on record, for the purpose of
this biography, the following impressions of the man he
learned to know with such unusual intimacy. After
telling in general terms of the frankness and simplicity
with which the Cardinal would bare his soul, Father
Considine says : " I propose with the help of the oppor
tunities above described to attempt some sketch of the
spiritual character of the Cardinal. It need not be said
that I come to the subject with no slight hesitation, and
after a good deal of anxious thought ; indeed, I could
not bring myself to approach it at all if I did not regard
it as a duty not to withhold what I believe will make for
God's glory and the good of His Church. I never was
his confessor, and although I considered our intercourse as
strictly confidential while he lived, he would not himself,
I think, have sought to close my lips after his death. In
any case I am about to speak of matters which were
necessarily known, at least in outline, to many. And
perhaps the most striking of them, his temptations against
Faith in his last illness, having their origin no doubt in
part in his state of bodily weakness, and having their
parallel in the deathbeds of Saints, were disclosed to

410 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
others besides myself. I have been greatly helped to this
decision, to keep silence no longer, by my knowledge of
what I should put in the first place in any delineation of
the Cardinal's nature, and that is his honesty — by which I
understand his ingrained sincerity, his desire to see him
self and to be seen by others exactly as he was — no
better, no worse. He cherished no illusions about himself;
he was aware of his limitations and conversed quite simply
about them. He laid no claim to any qualities or attain
ments he did not possess. Above all things he loved plain
dealing and plain speech, whether the outcome of it might
be palatable to him or not ; I am not sure that in his case
this love of candour was not a part of his natural tempera
ment, or perhaps a natural feature sanctified by grace.
He had a kind of instinctive dislike for evasions, shifts, or
too ingenious explanations. He would make no excuses
for himself when he saw himself to blame or listen to them
if offered on his behalf by another. ' No,' he would say, ' I
did wrong, and it's no use pretending I did not. I can see
now, although I did not so clearly see it then, that I was
too hasty.' Or, ' My motives were not so disinterested as
they might have been, I cannot deny it ! ' Nevertheless,
he had no special liking, nor turn, for self-analysis ; his
correctness of view lay rather in its breadth than in details ;
in fact, he was apt to be a little impatient of them and to
be fidgeted by them. His mind, although not wanting in
power, specially in matters on which he felt most deeply,
was not subtle or speculative. If his conscience bore
witness to him that he intended well, he was apt not to
trouble himself about the mischances and mistakes insepar
able, he considered, from the conduct of great enterprises
in this imperfect world. He had a firm belief that even

INNER LIFE 4"
the faults and errors of a man of right will would some
how be overruled into good in the end. Of course, this
did not mean that he shut his eyes to definite defects or
refused to correct them if pointed out to him, only he
found it difficult to focus his attention on them or adopt a
plan of steady repression of them. I fancy that he would
have been in sympathy with the spirit of Dr. Johnson's
excuse for the metrical defects of Milton's Sonnets ;
' Milton, sir, was a genius who could hew a colossus from
the rock, but could not carve heads on a cherry-stone.'
The Cardinal, too, found it difficult to work within the
narrow limits of some small observance ; he did not
disdain, but he had no genius for the nicety and finish
of the cherry-stones of the spiritual life.
" The Cardinal carried his frankness and directness into
his intercourse with his Maker. He strove to be entirely
above-board with Him, to hide nothing, even if he could,
from Him whose eyes search the reins and the heart :
it was a comfort as well as a duty to be open with Him,
to let Him hear from one's own mouth the acknowledg
ment of one's guilt and promise of repentance. Common
honesty seemed to require that much, and, besides, a
loving son could not act otherwise towards the best of
Fathers. And he expected that God would do by him
in the same fashion. Indeed, it was this deep conviction
of God's essential fairness and goodness, that He would not
be hard on any one who honestly meant to do right, that
He would overlook faults of mere human inconstancy
and frailty, and pierce through these husks to the kernel
of sound purpose beneath, which made him so fearless in
action and so unconcerned about temporary reverses and
rebuffs. He had no doubt that all would come right at

412 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
the last, let men meanwhile clamour and thwart as they
pleased.
"This leads me to speak of the little account he was
disposed to make of public opinion, or generally of those
things which men esteem most highly. He was at heart
a thoroughly unworldly man. Not that he underrated
the advantages of rank and wealth ; on the contrary, he
was keenly alive to them, and knew how to use them
for God's service ; but they did not dazzle him, they could
not bribe him. He admired pomp and ceremonial if
displayed on some fitting occasion, because he thought
even a secular function should present itself to the eye
and ear as worthily and impressively as possible, but he
had no vulgar love of mere tinsel and glitter as such.
And of course he rejoiced greatly in the seemliness and
even magnificence of God's House and of all the vestments
and ornaments allotted for its use. It was a delight and
a comfort to him to have been allowed before his death
to make provision for the solemn chanting of the Divine
Office in his own stately Cathedral. However, worldli
ness does not consist merely in a love of finery and show,
but much more in a habit of mind which puts the interests
of this life above those of the next, which, in fact, has no
outlook beyond the visible world, and therefore is neces
sarily, in its aspirations, feelings and aims, of the earth
earthy. It intrigues, overreaches, cajoles, plays a part,
while professing to be sincere, but under all its disguises
and through all its windings it is never noble and never
ceases to be selfish. Now, diplomacy and chicane the
Cardinal not only disliked, but could hardly understand ;
to him a thing was right or wrong, or true or false, and
no juggling with words could make it otherwise. So a

INNER LIFE 413
course of action approved itself to him or it did not —
compromises, modifications, concessions might perhaps
be necessary, but nevertheless they never quite satisfied
him, as involving in some sense a betrayal of the right.
Hence he moved in Society and dealt with great person
ages of the world as his position seemed to require, but
he was too sincere and simple-minded to be really at
home there. When he was translated to Westminster,
particularly after he had received the Cardinal's Hat,
he regarded it as his duty to appear and speak in public
and to meet persons of all creeds in the intercourse of
familiar life. Afterwards, however, he came to think that
less good was done in that way than he had hoped. His
motives were misunderstood and his conduct criticised,
and in his later years he withdrew almost entirely from
general society and was inclined to doubt whether he had
not wasted much good time on it in the past.
" His power lay in great ideas, in high thoughts which
took possession of him, shaped his conduct, and found
expression in his daily life, but which he was less success
ful in recommending by word of mouth or by the graces
of personal intercourse. About the sincerity of his zeal
for God's glory there can be no doubt — indeed, its very
fervour seemed to become at times an obstacle to success.
He yearned so ardently for the coming of Christ's King
dom upon earth that he chafed at the barriers to it
which men's passions and prejudices are setting up at
every turn, and would have liked to make short work
of them, to clear them out of the way at whatever cost
to the susceptibilities of individuals. Thus he would
outline some great plan for the spread of religious truth
or for social reform ; and when he had made up his mind

4H CARDINAL VAUGHAN
by what help and in what direction his scheme ought to
develop he was too ready to assume that it must do so
without fail, and he did not always foresee the inevitable
checks it must meet, nor was he over well pleased when
they in fact did occur. In his conception of ecclesiastical
problems he sometimes resembled the abstract mathe
matician who reasons of an ideal world, and prefers to
deal with bodies and movements unaffected by the actual
conditions in which we live. To neglect the effect of
friction — namely, the play of human weakness in one's
calculations of mundane affairs — is a sure way to provoke
it later on in an aggravated form. His mind, in truth,
was constantly busy with projects for making the world
better ; and after he had been made Archbishop of West
minster and Metropolitan of England his responsibilities
lay heavy upon him. When he was urged to take heart
at the thought of the good work being done in London
by his zealous clergy, and it was pointed out to him that
the spiritual wants of his flock were attended to much
more efficiently than in times gone by, he would answer
that the population of London, non-Catholic as well as
Catholic, was in God's eyes his flock, and that he would
have to render to Him an account of their souls if he
did not do what in him lay to bring them into the one
true fold. His frequent invitations to Catholics to pray
for the conversion of their fellow-countrymen and his
foundation of the Association of Prayer for that object
sufficiently prove his sense of what he believed to be his
duty in this matter.
" And yet it was his misfortune, and a source of keen
sorrow to him, to be often misunderstood in his attitude
towards those outside the Church, specially by the

INNER LIFE 415
members of the High Church party. They thought him
hard and unsympathetic, unwilling to make concessions
when he stood firm because he saw essential principles
to be at stake, and needlessly harsh in controversy when
he only sought to be plain beyond any possibility of
mistake. Certainly he never wilfully gave pain, and was
often surprised to find that Anglicans took offence at
utterances of his, or passages in his writings with regard
to them, in which he had intended to be scrupulously fair.
The truth is, as has already been pointed out, that he had
not the gift of putting himself in an opponent's place,
and he could not easily contemplate the same objects
from different points of view ; even to endeavour to do so
had a tendency to confuse and bewilder him as it were,
to throw everything out of focus for him. Then, as we
are apt to disbelieve what we have had no experience of
ourselves, he doubtless found it hard to realise that in
the case of those not brought up in the Catholic Church
complete good faith may exist alongside of glaring logical
inconsistencies, and that men may for a long time believe
with their whole hearts doctrines which they will after
wards recognise to be demonstrably absurd. The Cardinal
was quite willing to admit the sincerity of non-Catholics
as a matter of fact, but as a fact of which he could offer
no adequate explanation. Perhaps it may be said that
in the case of one who has always been a Catholic a very
unusual flexibility and detachment of mind is required
to enable him fully to enter into, and allow for, the diffi
culties of those less fortunate than himself. And the
Cardinal's mind was not either flexible or capable of
detachment in any marked degree.
" Moreover, he considered it his duty and his privilege

416 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the
Saints ; and while he was quite willing to rejoice in the
fuller light in which the old truths may be set by modern
discoveries and research, he was by temperament more
inclined to be solicitous to safeguard the inheritance of
faith than to take the risks of its premature or unhealthy
development. Progressive though he was in practical
things, he was conservative in matters of the mind and
soul. He kept himself well informed of all that was
going on in the world of letters and religious thought,
so far, at least, as his own immediate duties were con
cerned, but the intellectual fashions and the newest
philosophical theories of the hour, although they
were not altogether without interest for him, left him
singularly untouched. He dwelt in thought by prefer
ence much more in the past, with the great Saints and
Doctors of old, than in the present, and he loved the
memories of England while it was still Catholic, and
those of the days of persecution with their long record
of heroic deeds ; he drew from them inspiration for him
self, and he sought to impress their lesson upon the
younger generation, only too apt, he considered, to forget
the glorious ancestry from which they had sprung.
" A man of serious and devout mind will reveal himself
unfailingly in his method of intercourse with God and
His Saints. Here too, as might be expected, we find the
Cardinal a lover of the old ways and a stickler for ancient
traditions. He had preserved in a measure, rare in our
days, that ancestral piety which is at once the distinction
and the reward of the old Catholic stock which, in this
country, stood firm amid all the blasts of persecution.
The simple devotions of a Catholic home, the love of

INNER LIFE 417
Our Lord and of His Blessed Mother, a great reverence
and affection for St. Joseph, her Spouse — on these his
soul's life was mainly fed. He did not disdain or reject
the many forms in which the Catholic sentiment expresses
itself according to the varying needs or temper of the
time — on the contrary, he welcomed them, if duly
approved ; but they were helpful to him mainly in illus
trating or enforcing the only devotions to which he
remained always faithful.
"It was his custom to spend an hour every night in
prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, and he spent it
chiefly in loving converse with Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
He would address himself to Our Lord, to Our Lady,
and to Our Lord's Foster-Father, singly or all together,
and say out to them with reverence, but without em
barrassment, whatever was in his heart. He would make
acts of contrition, of thanksgiving, of confidence, of love.
He would implore the Divine protection and favour, and
ask for guidance in all his doubts through the inter
cession of the Virgin Mother and her Spouse. But that
which occupied him for the greater portion of the time,
and which he never found to pall, was a repetition of an
act of profound self-abasement, composed by himself in
terms most wounding to his self-love, recalling his many
offences against the Divine Majesty and declaring his
own utter vileness and emptiness of all good. When the
hour was ended, he would on his knees ask the blessing
of the Holy Family for himself and all his work, as in
the days of his childhood he had begged his parents'
blessing before retiring to rest. However distracting and
anxious had been the events of the day, it seldom
happened that they pursued him into this hour of recol-
II EE

418 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
lection, or that he was then troubled by fears of what
the morrow might bring forth. He gladly and easily
followed the advice of St. Peter, to whom he had, as is
well known, a great personal devotion, and cast all his
cares upon God, being persuaded that He had care of
him. It was characteristic of his large open nature to
trust implicitly those to whom he gave his confidence,
and he had supreme confidence in God. As he prayed
in the silent night before the Tabernacle of the Word
made Flesh, not only did the worries of earth seem to
fade away to an immeasurable distance, but all difficulties
seemed to be smoothed, all sorrows assuaged, all clouds
scattered. He rose from his knees with the full assur
ance that the Divine help would not be wanting to him
amidst any hazards, and that God's cause, for which alone
he cared, sooner or later must prevail.
" But it was not during prayer only that he found
comfort and support in the virtues of Faith and Hope.
They suggested to him and upheld him through the
execution of his most daring enterprises. As soon as it
became clear to him that it was his duty to build the
new Cathedral of Westminster, he never hesitated or
entertained any serious doubt that what God required
of him He would make it possible for him to do. To
a friend who asked him more than once if the providing
of funds for this colossal work, and its maintenance in
the future, were not a great anxiety to him, he replied
simply that he had put the matter into the hands of
St. Joseph, and he had never felt even a momentary
misgiving since. He was, of course, perfectly aware of
all the arguments which were urged against the inception
of the undertaking and all the prophecies of failure which

INNER LIFE 419
attended its progress, and denied its future usefulness
even if finished, but his trust in God never wavered. He
would discuss, good-humouredly, every drawback, every
discouragement, without seeking to minimise them, but
also with the clear conviction that they must and would
somehow be overcome. 'There must be a Catholic
Cathedral in London,' he would say ; ' now, if ever, is
the time to build it. The arguments used against it now
may be urged against it just as well any time for the
next twenty years to come. I believe God wishes me
to take this business in hand, and in His Name I will
do so.' Thus, too, when he had employed his best efforts
in arranging for the erection of a minster not unworthy
of its purpose and place, he was not impatient of adverse
criticism on the result in detail or in sum. A friend
whom he was showing round the Cathedral before it
was as yet complete owned candidly that he thought its
architectural style a mistake, and the campanile, in
particular, ' hideous.' The Cardinal only laughed and
said, 'There are plenty of people who agree with you,
although I do not myself.' No one who occupied so
prominent a position and uttered his opinions so freely
on the ecclesiastical questions of the hour could hope to
escape personal attacks in the Press or anonymous letters.
The less respectable Protestant journals vented on him,
at times, the wildest abuse and the most atrocious in
sinuations. He was not secure against grave misrepre
sentations of his motives and conduct on the part even
of his fellow-Catholics. But none of these things hurt
him deeply, or at any rate for very long. He knew that
in his assertion of the claims or the discipline of the
Church he dealt hard though not unkindly blows, and

420 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
he did not complain when he was roughly handled in
turn. Nor did he conceal from himself that he sometimes
gave occasion for misunderstanding and soreness of
feeling that might possibly have been avoided or fore
stalled. " And this, perhaps, is the place in which something
should be said of that impulsiveness which was char
acteristic of the man, and which, if a source of motive-
power, served him also, it cannot be doubted, many a
bad turn. Weak men are impulsive through emotion or
caprice ; they are the puppets of feeling, and they have
no settled principles to keep them steady to any one
point. But the Cardinal's impulsiveness was that of a
strong man ; it was the force of a determined will and
deep convictions which chafed against opposition, speci
ally if it seemed wanton or obtuse, and when so fretted
discharged itself not evenly, but with sudden outburst,
and almost with violence. Afterwards he would regret,
not the substance of what he had said, but the manner,
and would make fresh resolutions against impatience.
There was no feeling, in fact, of which he was more
conscious or more often took himself to task for. He
would own that before receiving a deputation, or an
important private interview, during which he anticipated
that his temper would be tried, he would endeavour to
compose himself and be on his guard against any loss
of self-control, but the result did not in every case fulfil
his expectatfons, and he would frankly and heartily
admit his default.
" It is not surprising that to such a character as his the
maintenance of recollection — that is, of a constant and
frequent sense of the invisible world and of the Divine

INNER LIFE 421
Presence — was a special difficulty, and failure in it was
the subject of constant self-reproach. He gave himself
wholly to the subject in hand or to the person with
whom he was conversing, and for the time everything
else simply disappeared from view. That this absorption
in ecclesiastical or secular business and neglect of explicit
advertence to heavenly things was apparent only is
sufficiently proved by the immediate swing back of his
spirit to God as soon as the pressure of work was even
temporarily relaxed. Nevertheless, he used to deplore
what he considered his weakness in this matter, and
sought out remedies for it in the use of ejaculatory
prayers and even short visits to his private chapel, if
he could escape to it for a moment after a particularly
distracting interview. Towards the close of his life, as
was natural, the burden of seeing many visitors and
giving a careful and considerate attention to each grew
heavier and more trying to his enfeebled powers of
both mind and body.
"Another subject, too, which was much in his thoughts,
and gave him no little anxiety at this time, was the
training of the clergy, and he found time, amidst all his
occupations, to set down some of his ideas upon it —
chiefly, I think, because he hoped that his position and
long episcopal experience would ensure for its counsels
a circulation and consideration they would not otherwise
obtain. Composition never came easy to him, and he
shrank from the labour of it, above all in the days of
his declining strength ; but nevertheless he stuck manfully
to his self-appointed task, and in the intervals of illness
and fatigue would go forward with it painfully and slowly
as long as his fingers could grasp a pen.

422 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
" It so happened, also, by God's special permission, he
would himself say, that other and more serious anxieties
gathered round the setting of his life. His views and
action with regard to the Education Bill of 1902, whereby
he in some respects made common cause with the clergy
of the Established Church, gave offence to many, and he
began himself to have misgivings as to their wisdom,
though not as to his own perfect singleness of aim.
Then at one time it seemed not impossible that a contu
macious priest in his diocese should secure for himself a
certain following : ' I shall be convicted in my old age
of grave blunders of policy and mismanagement ; and so
much the better,' he would say ; ' it is a good thing to be
shown up before I die, and will save me a great deal of
purgatory hereafter.' He would laughingly put aside any
sympathy offered him on account of these troubles in the
midst of the weariness of ill-health : ' Do not your pro
fessors of the spiritual life say that crosses and loss of
reputation are God's gifts to His friends? Why do you
come, then, to condole with me on receiving them?'"
The rest of Father Considine's memorandum, dealing,
as it does, with events which immediately preceded the
Cardinal's death, finds its proper place in another chapter.1
A word may be said here about the book to which
1 In a memorandum, dated June 5th, 1903, a fortnight before his death,
the Cardinal thus acknowledges his indebtedness to Fr. Considine : " My
habit has been to take direction generally by submitting my aspirations and
devotions to the best priests in authority round about me — to go to a fixed
confessor in any place where I was living. This I did till the end — Mgr.
Johnson, confessor in London ; Fr. Henry, while I was ill at Mill Hill. In
the last one or two years in London I chose Fr. Considine, S.J., to submit to
him my personal projects in the spiritual way. He guided me much in the
work of intercourse with God, and in generosity and liberty of spirit ; but I
never had occasion to make him my confessor. I derived much encourage
ment from his wise enlightenment."

INNER LIFE 423
Father Considine has referred, The Young Priest. The
book has this special interest, that it lets us see how
some of the problems which Herbert Vaughan had faced
in the morning of his career appeared to him towards the
close of his life. Many, for instance, have counted his
costly scheme for the establishment of a Pastoral Semi
nary in Salford as one of his failures. Looking back
across the years the Cardinal, on the contrary, in the
book which lay unfinished on his desk when he died,
insists on the importance of such a temporary home and
training school for young priests, and urges a renewal of
the enterprise, with such modifications as experience may
suggest :
" The misfortune is where it becomes necessary to
plunge a young priest, before the chrism is dry upon
the palms of his hands, into the excessive and exhaustive
occupations of the ministry in a large and under-manned
mission. He has no time for study and reflection. He
becomes at once absorbed in active work ; and as to his
own spiritual life, it drifts vaguely, and is as subject to
eddying influences as a cork borne down upon the surface
of a rapid stream. Scarcely less trying than this is the
fate of a young priest who is subjected to the control of
a Rector altogether out of sympathy with the Apostolic
Spirit. Hence, no doubt, the placing of a young priest
becomes a matter of great importance both to himself
and to the diocese, for his whole future will probably
be determined by his first years in the ministry. . . .
It would be highly desirable to give to every young
priest a period of at least from six to twelve months,
during which he might be feeling his feet and deliberately
preparing his soul by study, reading, and prayer for a life
of Apostolic perfection. For this a house of pastoral
theology, under some experienced priest, or apartments
in the Episcopium under the eye of the Bishop, as in
ages of greater faith and fervour, would be needed. But

424 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
this is by no means impossible. Experiments in this
direction have been made in different dioceses during
the last thirty or forty years, and if they have not been
altogether successful that need not discourage us."

Father Considine has spoken of the Cardinal's remark
able indifference to the appearance of failure. May not
the secret of that calmness be found in these words ?
" God has proved to us a thousand times over, not only
by His direct instruction in the Gospels, but by the
example of the Saints, that He is glorified by the good
will, by the labours and sufferings, by the prayers and
desire of His servants as much as by the glorious results
which are so consoling when we behold them. . . . We
cannot tell ; we are not responsible for what happens to
the seed after it has left our hand : we are responsible
for having sown it, or for having withheld it through
sloth, indifference, or want of faith in our mission." Time
had brought no relaxation or softening in his views as
to the completeness of the sacrifice which the life of a
good priest involves. In his last book he quotes with
approval these two sayings of St. Charles Borromeo :
" Live personally in such poverty that you may be able
to give for your churches, for the adornment of your
altars, and for other sacred objects — not the overflow of
superfluity, but the savings stolen by self-denial from
your necessary maintenance." ... "A priest having
charge of souls ought not to take to his bed until after
the third attack of fever."
In his busiest years of active work Cardinal Vaughan
was always impatient at hearing it said that a priest
might do this or that " in his own time." The conviction

INNER LIFE 425
represented by that impatience held to the end ; in The
Young Priest he says :
" What a priest has to guard against is this most fatal
habit of considering that he is free to amuse himself when
the daily sick-calls have been attended to. His time is not
really his own. It belongs to his Master : he is a servant,
and he has promised to serve his Master corde magno et
animo volente. He ' must be about his Master's business.'
And what an amount of business that is with which he has
been entrusted! — the children, the parents, the indifferent
and bad Catholics, the non-Catholics, the various works
and interests connected with the mission or with souls,
his own studies, sermons, catechisms, and prayers : all
these form an amount of business which can never be
fully discharged, even had a priest herculean strength
and a constitution that needed no repose. . . . Take two
priests : one fulfils his manifest obligations, and then spares
himself all labour and trouble, using his time, as he says,
' for himself — that is, spending it according to his inclina
tion ; the other considers that all his time and energy
belong to Our Lord. When he has discharged his
manifest obligations, he gives himself up entirely to
plans and efforts for the salvation of souls. Without
recklessly and blindly following methods that cannot
possibly succeed, he tries many plans, and is for ever
sowing the seed. He is always at work for the salvation
of souls. Which of these two priests will give greater
glory to God ? which will have the heaviest sheaves ? "
His old belief, that it is for the best that every priest
should get at least once in the year some sort of holiday
and change, is reflected in these pages thus : —
" Spiritually, it is good to get away from one's work for
a few weeks, in order to look at it from a distance, to see its
proportions, and to review the whole situation. A man then
returns to his round of labours and anxieties with renewed
vigour, perhaps with new lights and suggestions ; at all
events, he may come back with a certain buoyancy of

426 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
spirits, which is good for body and soul — all this tells
upon his flock."
As a Lancashire Bishop he used to urge on his clergy
the greatest possible simplicity and poverty in the
arrangement and furniture of their rooms. His special
dislike was to see a priest's room resembling what he
would comprehensively describe as " a lady's boudoir."
And that description, it may be added, was very easily
earned — a few photographs, or ornaments, or a sofa would
suffice. There was one luxury he thought permissible —
a comfortable arm-chair. He thought that at the end
of a long day a tired man might do his thinking or
praying better if seated in comfort. In his last message
to his young priests, while urging the advantages of
learning "the art of doing without," he recognises that
all men are not built on the same lines. " The other view
is in favour of furnishing your private room comfortably,
because you know yourself well enough to feel that if
it be comfortable you will be less tempted to seek your
rest and pleasure elsewhere, and that the poverty and
hardness of the first view would be a hindrance to you
and not a help." So let each act as his judgment
directs. With regard to the use of ardent spirits by the clergy
Cardinal Vaughan's views grew steadily harder all through
his life. That " it is not a sin to use them in moderation "
is all that he would concede in The Young Priest:
"The use of spirit, by priests, recreationis causa, is a
distinct encouragement to their use (and abuse) by others.
Human respect and inclination end by overcoming a
young man's better judgment when the force of example
is before him. If the superiors drink, why should not

INNER LIFE 427
the inferiors, when they get the chance? If priests enjoy
ing the support of one another indulge in the additional
enjoyment of spirits, how much more may the priest who
lives alone and has no such support seek solace and
comfort from the spirit bottle ? In this way, alas !
innumerable priests are ruined and lost. Every one
knows that drink is the bane of our flocks — the destruction
of Catholic families, industrially, socially, morally, re
ligiously. Are these good reasons for a resolution to
refrain from the use of ardent spirits ? "
The Cardinal was all his life too busy with affairs
and, to use a favourite phrase of his, " too engrossed in
external activities" to have much time for the spiritual
direction of individuals. But his advice was often sought,
and it was freely given as far as his opportunities allowed.
Perhaps the dominant notes of his spiritual guidance were
his constant insistence on the mercies of God, and on
the necessity of bearing the burdens of life with cheerful
ness. A few extracts from his letters may serve to
illustrate his method. The following has this additional
interest, that it is addressed by a son to his father : " I
hope you do not allow your mind to dwell overmuch on
justice and judgment. They are not subjects for your
meditations. The infinite merits of the Passion and
Death of Christ which belong to us, and His infinite
love of us, seem to me to be the great truths which should
absorb all others. A Saint who has laboured heroically
in God's service all his life must plead the merits of
Christ as his only adequate title to mercy and reward.
I always think there is unspeakable consolation and
confidence contained in this truth — that we are all
saved, not by our own merits, but by those of Him who,
as our Brother, came to redeem and save us by His.

428 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Thus the innocent and the penitent have the same and
an equal hope and certainty. Then, to dwell upon this
truth, in preference to any other, increases our love and
confidence, and love raises the soul perpetually to a higher
level of holiness, while it casts out fear, even the fear of
Judgment to come. I believe that even humility and
contrition are much more easily and perfectly drawn out
of the consideration of ourselves in the presence of Our
Lord's Passion and love than out of the_ thought of His
Judgment. Then, again, to die after a long life is better
than to die after a short one. For time is the most
precious gift of God after divine grace. And granted
that there have been more frailties and transgressions
in a long life than in a short one, there have also been
more virtues. And our virtues, simply through their
contact with the virtues and merits of Christ, dwarf and
overtop our human frailties as the beech and the oak
overshadow the coppice and the weeds of the earth.
These are not views that the devil would suggest, because
they speak wholly of confidence and divine love. And
none is so consoling because none is so supernaturally
true and certain."
The following passages are from letters addressed to
a penitent who was under his direction for many years :
" Work away as hard as you can and don?t give yourself
time for morbid thoughts. The Imitation says, 'Work,
pray, dance, sing ' — do the two former and try at the two
latter, and tell me how you get on next week."
" I am sorry you have had so much anxiety and so
few spiritual consolations. But charity is greater than
all else. You may therefore comfort yourself with the
thought that if you had less sensible comfort you have

INNER LIFE 429
gained a higher reward and have given greater pleasure
than had you been in perfect health, peace, and
quiet." " I am much concerned to hear that you have had a
warning. I trust it may be only a distant one and that
you will get quite strong again with the summer. You
are in the hands of God, and I know not where else I
could wish you to be. The more I live and learn the
more vividly does this truth impress itself upon my mind.
What matter where or what, provided we are united to
God by love and conformity to His will ? "
" For your Lent try and be bright and cheerful under
all trials — and say the seven Joys and Sorrows of St.
Joseph all the month of March."
"You cannot do what you could some years ago —
we all get old and rusty by degrees and cannot work as
we once could. You should try and keep your mind
in as peaceful and joyful a state as possible, finding
peace and joy in the Divine Will, which is always near
and dear to us. If you are weak and unwell you will
need this holy joy all the more — the ' Gloria in excelsis '
is full of it — and every saint's life and almost every
spiritual book has reference to this peace and joy which
should cheer us under the most trying circumstances."
"Go on quietly with Lent, eating and drinking all
you need and not worrying about prayers or anything.
Read a little more and make a few more aspirations
during the day. Ask God to visit your heart and to
live in it — and do not expect to feel anything. God
does not come to the feelings which are of the body,
but to the soul."
"Take care of yourself in this savage weather. Be

430 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
as joyful with God as you can ; offer yourself constantly
to Him through the hands of His Mother. This exercise
will be very profitable to you as well as pleasing to
Our Lord. He does not require great things of us, but
He requires the offering to Him of what we are."
" You ask me to send you some thought to help you.
The thought which ought to be constantly before us is
just this : that Our Lord is our model and our Friend.
You must excite a constant and loving desire in your
heart to imitate Him in all things, by conforming your
life and actions to what you think He would wish. This is
not so difficult a thing to do ; you have only to say, What
should I do or say if Our Lord were present before me ?
Do now what you would do if you saw Him. Then you
have to become like Him crucified. This you may become
by accepting all the sufferings of mind, heart, or body
which He sends and wills that you should endure. Here
is plenty of opportunity to become like Him, to become,
with Christ, nailed to the Cross. Sufferings, people of
the world and those who live in the natural order consider
to be evils, but the servants of the Cross hold them to
be essential to perfection. The consequence of this is
that we ought to appreciate and love sufferings, and when
ever we suffer to say Deo gratias. If each time you
feel some pain, or are in a state of distress in mind or
heart, you say Deo gratias with sincerity you will find
that sufferings will appear in quite a different light to
you. In this way you will become before death like
Christ crucified."
As a rule his advice was severely practical. Some
times, however, it took a more mystical turn. Writing
to one who had placed herself under his direction he

INNER LIFE 431
says : " You wear a large crucifix because you — want it
for actual use. It is not a mere object of piety, like a
medal or a pious picture. It is for you. It is to be, night
and day, your inseparable companion. We both of us
know something of what this means. Besides often feel
ing its pressure and remembering Whose blessed pressure
it is you feel, you will often hold it in your hand when,
for instance, you lie awake at night. Often you will
raise it to your lips to kiss Him with all the ardour
of your love. And at other times you will press Him
to your heart, meaning thereby to effect the union of
your soul to His. All this will be your habitual treat
ment of Him. But from time to time we must have
a real feast with our crucified Lord. Thus begin : (1)
Truly the Lord was in this place and I knew it not.
(2) What shall I give the Lord for all He has given
me ? (3)1 will speak to the Lord though I am but
dust and ashes. Then take your crucifix in your hand
and deal with each wound. Wound of the Feet, torn
and bleeding, work of my sins towards Feet that have
followed me in order to possess me. Now hold your
crucifix before your eyes and look steadily upon Him.
Say to Him, ' You are here helpless before me, Feet
nailed so that you cannot escape, Hands nailed so that
you cannot wave me off, or strike me for my sins.
You have desired Your Church to represent You in
this condition before my eyes. You have wished me
to own this Crucifix, and to treat with You as my
possession. I carry it always about with me. And now
I will look upon You and treat with You without
fear, speaking to You of all I feel.' I leave His hands
and His feet to betake myself to that Heart which He

432 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
leaves all unprotected, all open. He does not cover
It even with one hand : both are nailed so that access
to the Heart may be absolutely mine. Adorn this Heart
by acts of love, pour your soul and all its powers
into His Soul. Reflect on this truth : ' He who loves
becomes identified with the one he loves, so that a friend
is called an Alter Ego' This is true between Jesus Christ
and my soul. He becomes identified in a sense with
me, because He loves me. I become identified with
Him in so far as I love Him. But there is more than
this, my poor human love is not worthy of Him. He
knows that, |I also know it. I have therefore constantly
implored of Him to give me the gift of this Divine
love. He has given it. With this gift from above,
with this supernatural love, I will give to Him a worthy
gift of love. He gives me His love. I give Him in
return the Divine love He has bestowed on me, with
-all my poor being taken up and enriched by His love.
Think well over this truth, it is impossible to come to
the end of it. Kiss His Heart with all the affection
and earnestness of your soul. Your sufferings are now
one with His.
"Then having loved and adored and thanked Him,
remember that you have a work to do for Him. You
are joined to the Apostles, you are sent to save souls;
you have a mission such as Mary had for dependants
and others, seeing what good you can do for them.
If there be love there will be ingenuity to do them
good. Beyond the domestic cares and duties there is
your mother's work for the Church in England, the
particular call and grace Our Lord has given to your
soul to pray and help and suffer for the one who has

INNER LIFE 433
the heaviest responsibilities and the greatest need. All
this must be the object of petition to Jesus Christ. You
must go forth to your work from His Heart — that is
your starting-point, and all the work is to be His work.
Call upon Mary — think of the words, 'Tell her that
I love her, and if she be faithful I will be always near
her.' Ask her to offer up your prayers, your desires
to her Son.
" Another time, holding out your Crucifix, with hands
and feet nailed, make a convention or compact with Him,
thus : ' Let us understand each other, let our love and
communion be expressed also in this way, viz., whenever
I inhale the air I desire to inhale Thy love — and whenever
I breathe or exhale I desire to breathe into You my love.
Thus day and night we shall be in constant and active
communion and growth of love. And if this cannot be
as I wish, then do You, O Lord, do something better for
me, and teach me to do something better for You. For
You are accustomed to improve our petitions and to lead
us right' This thought, if dwelt upon, may be useful to
you, as it is to me during the day.
"Then kiss the precious wounds which are of our
making. ' But, O Lord, I will not kiss Your sacred
Face — never will I venture thus, but I will wait until I
see You in Heaven and then You will do what You
will. Meanwhile Your Feet and Hands and Heart
are mine.' When St Francis was entering into His
Heart, the arm of Our Lord is represented as coming
down from the Cross and embracing him. ' So, O Lord,
let it be with me, in some little way, for at least I
ardently desire to love Thee.' All our prayers, all we
have, we incessantly offer to Jesus through the hands
II FF

434 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
of Mary. We never separate the Woman from the
Son. She has been too much for us, we have known
and felt too much ever to forget that she is close to us in
all our prayers and efforts to grow ' into the likeness ' of
her Son. But you should sometimes devote a good and
deliberate exercise to her in connection with the Crucifix.
Thus, reflect that she participated in the whole of her
Son's agony, especially on the Cross, against which she
stood. That agony and death were on my account, to
atone for my sins, to obtain for me a treasury of grace and
blessings illimitable and infinite in extent and worth.
But at what a cost to God ! Now Mary's heart and mind
and desire beat in perfect unison with her Son's towards
me. She became my Mother, brought me forth in untold
pain and agony of mind and soul. Mother at what a
cost ! Mother with what a love, Mother close to, almost
nailed to the Crucifix —
' O come and mourn with me awhile,
See Mary calls us to her side ;
Jesus our God, Jesus our Love is crucified.'
" Now speak to her for your own wants and desires—
for your mission, for God's glory, for souls, &c. She will
teach us better than any other how to use our Crucifix.
Hear Mass with her, tell her your names — Pride, Covetous-
ness, Lust, Anger, Envy, Sloth, Weakness, and Ignorance.
' My Mother, if you will not have pity on one who bears
such names you have ceased to be the Refuge of Sinners
and the Comfort of the Afflicted. But you are my Queen
and my Mother, and I am convinced that you will do great
things for me in time and in eternity.' "
From letters addressed to another of his spiritual
children are the following : —

INNER LIFE 435
"We are poor sticks, poor instruments, but then we
are His sticks, His instruments and agents ; and as long
as we can keep our mind on that fact we shall be blessed
and happy.
" I do not know what St. Joseph will do for me this
month. I get something every year from him in March —
perhaps it is this retreat and death — perhaps something
else. But humility, zeal for souls, love for Our Lord one
can ask for absolutely, come what may. I am using ' Who
is St. Joseph ? ' daily and his Joys and Sorrows. I send it
to you in case you may care to join in. Don't overdo
your strength, but keep enough to go on with for years.
You have to keep to the Ladies of Charity and their work
for the children especially. It is always pleasant to know
that one has the approval of one's friends, and it is often
useful ; but we are of such foolish nature that one has care
fully to watch for the appearance of sprouts of vainglory."
Again he wrote on prayer : —
" Words are but scaffoldings which are of value for the
help they give ; but when not helpful, they are useless. I
know a priest who, for the whole of Lent, meditated on
the words ' Jesus autem tacebat.' So use your ' Miserere '
and never think it necessary to finish it. When the mind
and heart are united with God nothing more in the way
of prayers or words is needful."
"Go on peacefully bearing dryness or whatever Our
Lord may send. Under such trial you will find encourage
ment both in the Agony in the Garden, and in the words
spoken in the Agony on the Cross."
" Do not force your mind as though by dint of striking
flint you could obtain a light. Read on quietly, with
plenty of ' Deo gratias ' and ' Fiat Voluntas Tua.' "

436 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
" St. Francis of Sales had a wise maxim in respect to
the ways of God — ' Ask for nothing, and refuse nothing.'
You are not to ask for trials, crosses, humiliations, but to
leave that to Him. If He sends them you are to accept
them with a loving submission, without reserves, without
curiosity, and without murmuring at the action of God in
His Will."
" The ready ' Deo gratias ' in suffering is worth more
than the mind can measure. You are to be at peace in the
arms of God. The 4th Psalm says, ' In pace in idipsum
dormiam et requiescam, quoniam tu, Domine, singulariter in
spe constituisti me' You rest in peace in His arms
because He infuses into the soul in a singular manner
the virtue of hope or confidence in His dealings with the
soul. This confidence Our Lord alluded to when He said
that ' Unless ye become as little children ye shall not enter
into the Kingdom of Heaven.' And again the Holy Ghost
says in the Psalms, ' Commit thy way to the Lord, and
trust in Him, and He will do it' He is visibly guiding
you, carrying you in the arms of His affection."
" Try to see the Divine Will and to live and accept it
wherever it manifests itself, attaching yourself to the Will
which sometimes sends pleasant and sometimes painful
things. We are not to attach ourselves in any way to the
things, but to the Hand that gives them to us. In this
way you will become more and more one with God,
because you will always see Him and His Will in the
prosperous and in the trying events of life."
The following are extracts from letters written during
the last South African War to a lady whose husband had
gone to the front : —

INNER LIFE 437
" You have to place yourself, your cares and interests,
all in the Divine Hands, every day, and feel that they
are safe there. This does not mean that there is to be
no suffering — that would be to form us upon some other
model than His own Divine Self ; but whether we suffer
or not we shall be safe in His Divine Hands, for all the
while He watches over those who trust Him ' ut pupillam
oculi.' Let us therefore go through the remainder of our
earthly pilgrimage animated by the most generous confi
dence in Him ; seeing Him everywhere and in all things.
We are going to have on the 14th Exposition and
prayers throughout England in our churches — a joint
Act of Special Prayer on occasion of the War, agreed
by all the Bishops.
"Put everything into God's Hands and say during
the war, ' Fiat, laudetur atque in aeternum super exaltetur
sanctissima, justissima et amabilissima Voluntas Dei in
omnibus.' Say this over and over again during the day,
and learn it by heart.
" You will be very lonely just now with . . . away ;
but you have One near, with Whom you can never
be lonely." The African business is indeed serious ; but we must
spend our last man and our last shilling on it. And then,
and only then, I shall say that we have done God's Will,
and kept our trust to the best of our power."
A penitent who was under the Cardinal's direction
supplies the following notes, written down at the time
of his spiritual instructions: —
" The morning's meditation should run all through the
day ; we should in it make a review of the day, whom we
may see, what we may have to do, whether we are likely

438 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
to be impatient, impulsive, rashly judging others, selfish,
and so forth ; we should keep the bit in our mouth and
curb ourselves. Of course, while we do our meditation we
love God. We must say, ' Show me Your Will ; make me
serve You ; I am a poor, weak creature.' We should go
to God as a beggar, and here our names come in — Pride,
Weakness, Ignorance. What can be expected of me?
Don't be cold with God. God will not show you what
He is doing in your soul ; He will not let you know in this
world ; we must curb our impetuosity and keep calm and
quiet and think always what more we can do for God,
always remembering how much natural activity comes
in and perhaps spoils things. It is better for us to see the
work done by others than to do it ourselves, because this
keeps us patient and humble.
" The ' Stabat Mater' is full of matter ; said very slowly
it brings us into touch with the Passion in a wonderful
way, and Our Lady teaches us as we stand by her at
the foot of the Cross. Say one verse as an ejaculation
frequently during the day. Our Lady can get you every
thing, ask her to give you the Love of God. We can
make up in a short time for everything by the intensity
of our love ; it is not the number of things we do, or what
we do for God ; it is the intensity of our love. Look at
St. Mary Magdalene! Her love was told to all the
world, many sins were forgiven her because she

" We should give ourselves to Our Divine Lord with
great calmness and great peace, and ask Him to draw
us nearer and nearer to Him. Look at Him ; He is our
model in all things, in every circumstance of our lives,
and we should ask ourselves, What would Our Lord do

INNER LIFE 439
in such-and-such circumstances? How would He act
and think ? Now Our Lady desires nothing so much
as to draw us to her Divine Son. She will do this if
we go to her and if we keep by her side always. Just
remind Our Lord when we say this prayer that He was
not humbugging when He gave us to Our Lady at the
Foot of the Cross. Some people find it easy to take
hold of Our Lord's Feet and remain there — at least I do.
There we can humble ourselves and remember our names.
Our Lord loves us to humble ourselves at His Feet,
because humility opens our hearts and can there give
us fresh graces. We should remember this, and we
should think of Our Lord always, all day as we are
going about our work ; it is so easy ! We should use
our Crucifix, wear it always in our hearts, press it affec
tionately, kiss it constantly. How much better this
interior life with God than any other ! ' A life hidden
with Christ in God.' One does more good, to those one
wants to do good to, by an hour before the Blessed Sacra
ment than by going out. I used to think that going
out twice a week did good. I don't think that now ;
illness makes me more detached. And we do not pray to
Our Lady either half enough. The ' Stabat ' is full of
thoughts, and the ' Ave Maris Stella' I like : —
' Vitam praesta puram, „
Iter para tutum,
Ut videntes Jesum,
Semper collaetemur.'
Our Lord loves to grant us graces through her hands,
and she desires nothing better, nothing more, than ' Ut
videntes Jesum', to bring us to her Divine Son. We
shall all rejoice together, we and all the Saints, all

440 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
together; I think that a wonderful thought, so say this
prayer of the Church very often.
"There is a preparation for Communion I will teach
you. You take the ' Miserere ' and read it over very slowly,
and you receive Our Lord as a Physician, asking Him
to heal you of your wounds and sores, asking Him to
heal and burn them all up. Our Lady will take you to
Him, and in the • Miserere ' there is everything — sorrow for
sin, calling for mercy ; and a great part of it is full of joy.
' Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be
cleansed.' ' To my spirit Thou shalt give joy and
gladness' " Ask Him to pour His blood over you to cleanse and
clean you; there is also hope and there is an act of
contrition, for not only must we make acts of love of
God, but we must cultivate sorrow and contrition for
our sins. Then you can go on after Communion with
the 'Miserere': ' Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made
whiter than snow.' Our Lord is a Physician ; we do not
think enough of this, it must sink into us. Then Our
Lady comes to us in a wonderful way. She has power
to enter into our souls, and you can do all this with her
when you receive Him. It is also well during Lent to take
up some special devotion, and take the Precious Blood —
everything is in the Blood, It is Salvation, Redemption,
Hope, Joy, when we are tried, so plunge into it, for it is
life-giving, cleansing, comforting, consoling — in fact, every
thing — so use it. He desires that we should use it, for
it is ours ; let us saturate ourselves with it, plunge into
it with joy, for it is everything to us. A practice I have
is to ask Our Lady to take me into her household, not as
a servant, but as a little slave, if only she will take me.

INNER LIFE 441
" Our Lady was given us by Our Lord as a Mother at
the foot of the Cross ; well, a mother's function is to bring
forth, to nurse, and care for her child, but the child grows
up and no longer requires her care. But Our Lord kept
Our Lady with Him all His life, He had her with Him
when He died, and she buried Him. Well, He wishes her
to be with us in the same manner. We are so helpless
that we need her care always, all through our lives ; for
she is to care for and look after us, and we are to have her
with us always, and at our death, and, in fact, till she
buries us — in God; we are to be with her as Our Lord was,
and Our Lady and Our Lord cannot be separated one
from the other; they are like strings or threads wound
round each other, separate, but bound up together. She
brings us to Him, she has no other object but to bring us
to Him, she wants us to be with Him, she was so united
to Him during His life on earth that they were one in
thought, in sympathy, in desire, in a supernatural way.
She therefore desires us to be with Him, she will always
take us to Him, she wishes no glory for herself but all for
Him. She wants us to be united to Him. She is quiet,
calm, gentle, and she will teach us all this, and when we
feel restless and agitated she Calms and quiets us.
" The love of God is never idle ; if it exists at all, it
must work. Great desires God likes us to have, intense
acts of love ! God is Wisdom and God is Love ; the soul
has Intellect as well as Will ; and when God sends a spark
of love, a part of Himself, this inflames the Will. The
love of God ! The love of God ! The only thing worth
living for. Happy indeed are we if He uses us as His
instruments." In a letter to a priest, a distinguished Oxford Convert,

442 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
who had been seriously ill, the Cardinal says : "I am
always pleased with the idea that Our Lord takes His
servants in the midst of their activities and quietly lays
them on the flat of their backs or otherwise renders them
helpless. If we can't say Deo gratias when He is doing
as He sees best for His own honour and our advantage, it is
a sign that our activities are too human and have not been
supernatural enough. After you have had your retreat
and fed upon Deo gratias for a few weeks you will start
again as a new man — a renewed apostle. You have got a
great work to do for God and souls, and therefore He takes
you thus in hand and fits His instrument for its work.
The glory we give to God is in three orders of value: (i)
Our activities ; (2) our self-abnegation ; (3) our patience
or passion and death."
Typical of the sort of letter Cardinal Vaughan always
found it hard to write — a letter of condolence on the death
of the young and innocent — is the following, addressed
to his sister-in-law, Mrs. Vaughan, of Courtfield, on the
death of her sister: — "St. Bede's, "August 31, 1882.
" My dearest Carrie, — I hear you are very low on
account of dear Alice's death. But after the natural grief
which comes of such a separation, and which you cannot
help suffering, you ought, I think, to feel much consolation
and spiritual joy. I hope you will pierce beyond the
natural, and reach with the eyes of your soul the super
natural and the great white light of beauty and bliss
which she has gone forward to. But I am sure you do
this as much as you can. You have got so much to do,
and you have so important a future before you with all

INNER LIFE 443
your children to educate and lead on to Heaven, that you
must not allow yourself to indulge in any undue sadness.
Alice was in a very different position — hers was a very
different career and a different mission and another kind
of perfection. She was like the sweet flower that comes
up rapidly and is picked by the Heavenly Father when it
is young and tender and sweet. You are to be an old tree
of the forest, to afford rest and shade to your little ones
for a long time to come. So be brave and play your part
and grow into a good strong old tree. God bless you.
" Your affectionate,
" H., Bp. of Salford."
But more intimately revealing than any letter of advice
written to another are the resolutions set down, from time
to time, for the sake of his own soul, and scattered at
irregular intervals in the pages of his last diary. Running
through them all is a continuous cry to God to help him
to overcome self and to live for others. A few examples
will suffice to show with what an abandonment of unre
serve Herbert Vaughan had schooled himself to embrace
the " Folly of the Cross." The following passage is
undated, but evidently was written shortly after he be
came Archbishop : —
" I have been fretting and anxious lest I am not doing
enough for God. I have then —
" 1. To bend all energy and sacrifice to form the
Central Seminary. This will take much thought, tact,
work, zeal, money, and self-sacrifice. No work probably
is so vi|al to the Church in England as the formation
of the clergy.
" 2. To build the Westminster Cathedral.

444 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
" 3. To spread devotion to the Precious Blood, to the
B.V.M., St. Joseph, and St. Peter.
" 4. To forward the conversion of the London
Heathen. This is a duty which I am commanded by
the Vicar of Christ to undertake, to work at until death.
This alone might suffice for a life's work.
" 5. To develop the Catholic Social Union.
" 6. To discharge my ordinary duties as Bishop—
towards Missions, Schools, Priests" and Convents, Visita
tions, &c. To remember that as Christ's representative I
must leave people, priests, &c, brighter, happier, or im
proved for having spoken to me. Here is the work of the
Visitation — a work of personal effacement and self-
annihilation. Christ must always be acting through me.
"7. To take the Church's part in public life, public
meetings, of social, beneficent, and moral movements.
Prepare speeches better than I have done, and make the
whole business of public life a matter of conscience. I
must directly consult God's Will in each of these
matters. " 8. Then there is my duty as Metropolitan, to promote
the welfare of the Church throughout the province. I must
serve the Bishops in all things that I can. I must do
what I can to promote conversions, and bring about that
Reunion of Christendom which is in the mouths of so
many, and in the hearts of some.
" Now there is no doubt, it is clearer than the sun, that a
basis and condition for the accomplishment of these eight
heads of duty is the interior life. Without a life of prayer
I shall be useless and powerless. I am an instrument, but
unless I put myself wholly into God's hands, unless I sur
render myself, He cannot and will not use me. I have no

INNER LIFE 445
natural abilities or merits which might bring about some
good results. I have nothing to rely upon but God. Now
I belong to Mary — consecrated to her solemnly at Stony-
hurst in 1844, at Brugelette in 1850, at St. Edmund's in
1855, at Notre Dame des Victoires in 1895, and this time
by vow, and all my life this consecration has been repeated
year by year. I am her child, and she has engaged to
present me and all I have to Jesus Christ. In her care and
intercession I shall accomplish so much of my mission as
God wishes."
The following are notes of a Retreat at St. Edmund's
College, in the July of 1895 : —
" 1. I need a great increase of generosity to carry
into effect the truths which during the last months have
been pressing on my soul. These are : —
" 1. Constantly to seek the Will of God ; to" make His
Will my one all present law in all my actions and under
takings. Herein is perfect love of Jesus Christ — to love
and seek to do His Will.
" 2. To surrender myself wholly to Jesus Christ —
willing to suffer anything so as to become entirely His.
" 3. To labour unceasingly at the annihilation of the
I — at the destruction of self-love — so as to make place in
my soul for God and His designs.
"4. To become more and more in love with my
Divine Spouse, Jesus Christ. To study the Passion and
His Sufferings as so many proofs of His love for me.
My love and service here must be a thoroughly personal
love and service — no holding back, no bartering, no mere
abstract motives allowing the mind and heart to withdraw
from the thought and love of Jesus Christ.
" 5. In this love of Jesus Christ — proof and conse-

446 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
quence of love — I must spend myself and be spent, live
and die for the salvation of souls. This is the work that
He has given me. He has made me His Ambassador,
Representative, Missioner, and Head of the Church in
England. Formidable the responsibility, inadequate and
feeble the shoulders that bear it. Hence, ' Omnia possum
in Eo qui me confortat': hence the absolute need of
making every effort and of constant recourse to prayer,
the fountain of all strength. For all this a greater
generosity is required. God will then do the rest.
"6. Another reason for keeping up a generous spirit
is this : a feeling of weariness, with darkness and despon
dency, often weighs me down. I am then inclined to give
as little time, sympathy, and care to people as possible.
I am then inclined to be short, abrupt, and unfeeling.
The thought comes that souls had better keep away,
that they are nothing to me, and that my rest and quiet
are the things I most seek. True, all this in varying
degrees affects me when I am out of health, worn out
and in suffering. But I must expect to have more of
this state as years go on ; and therefore I must cultivate
greater generosity in order to overcome myself when thus
visited. There is one enormous advantage, which I have
discovered during the last months, in this sense of weari
ness and disgust with spiritual work and souls. It is
this : it is the season in which to overcome self-love, to
annihilate the /. This is the time for saying, ' Now go
on, do your best, don't heed the moaning and the cries
of self — self must be destroyed or vanquished. I am
acting for Jesus Christ, I am His representative and I
am not myself.' All this has appeared most true and
practical of late, and I must pray to fight on against

INNER LIFE 447
self. I am asking, perhaps fifty times a day, for love of
God and the destruction of self — and here is the oppor
tunity for overcoming self without any extraordinary
suffering. God grant my constant prayer that I may
eagerly trade upon these opportunities. Jesus Christ
presents Himself to me constantly crucified. He is nailed
to the Cross so as not to be able to leave it. He is my
model. I have to be nailed to the Cross which is made
up of the circumstances and incidents and trials of my
life. I am not to come down from it of myself. He will
give me strength and grace if I implore. This is a way
to annihilate self-love. Sufferings borne with patience
and love in the Precious Blood will overcome self-love.
It is easy to write all this — the difficulty is in the practice.
Love consists in deeds, sufferings with Jesus Christ.
"I can count on His love because He has used me
mercifully and most generously all my life. He will not
' change for the worse ' after sixty-three years. His love
shines forth through every part of my past life. Such
love will go on increasing — unless I turn out a demon
of wickedness ; go on increasing it must do. ' In te Deo
speravi.' No more fears, despondency, and suspicions of
Our Lord."
"Oct. 2$th, 1898. Two things must be ever before me
to engage my efforts : —
" 1. To destroy or subdue nature. I act continually
(1) from nature without reference to grace ; (2) from
humour — this I am, thank God, watching and acting
against ; (3) from the suggestions of the senses — this
necessitates constant mortification ; (4) from self and
for self — mind turning back on itself by self-complacency,
vanity, desire of praise, &c, even in the holiest actions.

448 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
" 2. Continually repeat acts of love and not to expect
to realise God's love or my own, which are hidden under
mystery in the soul. The best proof of its presence there
is willingness to take the Cross, to suffer for Him. God
regulates everything — not a sparrow falls, not a hair from
our heads, without Him. Everything that happens to me
and round me and in me is by Him. A headache, a
failure, a bit of bad news, the state of my feelings, words
said by others to me — everything, everything is by His
providence. Hence I must see Him and His Will in
every occurrence. To desire to do great things for Him ;
to offer to do them is right. I must examine what may
be His Will. After that, failure, the destruction of one's
plans, the doing nothing, to be in repose as in action-
all this is His Will. Perfection, love, and peace are in
accepting His Will — this is death to self. This is true
not only of outward things, but of interior states. To be
joyful or sad, in full consolation or in darkness and hard
ness, no matter the mood and state of the soul. This is
God's Will on each occasion. His Will must be mine,
and I must rejoice in His Will, not in my state of mind
or soul. The feeling, the sight, the assurance that I love
God would stain and cover the soul with natural senti
ments, if not with self-satisfaction and over-confidence.
God may be more glorified in the total ruin of my best
projects for His glory than in their realisation. For He
needs my death and the destruction of what is imperfect
and human more than the success of my projects. 0
Lord, give me a grace and inspire me with sorrow for sin
and love for You. Continue Your work — do not trust me.
I shall never carry to perfection a work which is all
divine. Move my will and enlighten my reason so that

INNER LIFE 449
they may be perfectly obedient to Your guidance. Accept
me as an instrument and take care of Your own graces
or I shall lose them."
"August 4th, 1898. — 1. Continue to work at meekness,
gentleness, and sympathy, and so die to self to live for
others. "2. God within to be the source, mainspring, and
cause of all my activities. Bear His presence within —
as one therein living — constantly in my thoughts and
prayers. I have immense graces to be thankful for
during the past three years and especially during the
last twelve months. Mary and Jesus must continue ever
in my thoughts and affections, and St. Joseph is guardian
of them and of me. The work of souls in England
appears more than ever to depend on the supernatural.
" The question of a spiritual director still in mind and
still unsolved. I have no merits that can attract Our
Lord, but Mary, His and my Mother, has. I take her
by the hand, never let her go, and live with her. All
my prayers are through her — offered by her. He will
do all for her that she asks. She is, as it were, bound
to take up my cause. A mother never throws over a
weakly, sickly child. I can hope for the greatest things,
wonderful graces through my Mother. I am in a little
skiff on the great river of life, which God has created.
Mary is in my boat, Jesus is with her. With Him by my
side, or within my soul, I may be at peace. Jesus Christ
will show me what to do day by day. Each day, each
hour is His ; each hour is the river, all that is within it
or near it He has ordained. I shall pass through all in
safety if I see God in every event and in every hour ; if
I am living the life of Jesus and Mary, not my own life."
II GG

450 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
" May 15th, 1900. — In March I prayed for special love
for Jesus and Mary, and that I might do the Divine Will.
By March 31st I was ill in bed and have been good
for nothing ever since. It came to me when I was ill that
the work I had promised to undertake two years ago
remains where it was. I have therefore thrown over
various undertakings and have promised to confine myself
as much as possible to the Book for the Young Priest.
As I seem to have been drawn away from that during
two years, dear old St. Joseph has brought me back to
it by sending me further illness. God grant that it may
be well used."
In the following year, under date August 9th, 1901, he
marks the close of another St. Edmund's Retreat by three
rules : —
" 1. Continual ejaculatory prayers, and one and a half
hour at night prayers.
" 2. Humility and love— acts of — as before, only with
greater fervour.
" 3. Greater generosity to God in everything —
generosity is the mot dordre for the rest of my life."
It will be noted that these extracts from the Cardinal's
diaries contain no reference to anything in the nature
of bodily austerity. Among all his papers I have found
only one reference to the subject. Upon a single sheet of
notepaper, bearing date July, 1888, are a number of
resolutions concerning the spiritual life, and at the end
comes this significant sentence : " To continue the
discipline every Wednesday and Friday — even though I
have not the courage to inflict severe punishment."
This last sentence, in its mingled candour and sim
plicity, is surely very characteristic. Whether these

INNER LIFE 451
scourgings, which, at that time, were apparently habitual,
were continued there is nothing to show one way or
the other. In later life, for the greater mortification
of his body, he devised a form of punishment which
required another sort of courage. For years he wore on
his left arm an iron bracelet with spikes on the inside
which were pressed into the flesh. One which he had
worn for some time had somehow got broken, and he
commissioned Mgr. Dunn to make a new one, giving
him a piece of the old one as a pattern. A day or two
later the new bracelet was produced, but the points were
mercifully blunt. The Cardinal handed it back with the
words, " That is no use." He then gave more explicit
instructions. It was to be made out of steel wire, piano
wire, and the points were to be sharp. When it was
made to his satisfaction, he told Mgr. Dunn to bring a
pair of pliers and to fasten it on the arm so that it could
never come off. When that was done, the Cardinal
brought his right hand down heavily on the iron circlet
and so drove it home. It was cut off his arm after
death.

PORTION OF A CHAIN FOUND ON CARDINAL VAUGHAN AFTER HIS DEATH.

CHAPTER XIII
THE LAST DAYS
HAD this book been a history of the diocese of
Westminster as well as a biography of Cardinal
Vaughan, there are many of his activities as Archbishop
of which an account would here have to be given.
The Catholic Truth Society, The Council of Temporal
Administration, Converts Aid Society, The Catholic^
Social Union, The Catholic Evidence Lectures, The
Ladies of Charity T — each might claim a separate chapter
as representing important events in the story of the
diocese. They are of slighter consequence in a biography
of the Cardinal. Even where the initiative was his, cir
cumstances made sustained personal direction impossible.
Speaking generally, it may be said that in its diocesan
aspects the Cardinal's administration in Westminster was a
continuation, and in some ways a development, of his work
in Salford ; but it was far less personal, because it could
claim a much smaller share of his individual attention.
During the last years of his life his grip on purely diocesan
matters gradually loosened, and he had to trust more and
1 The importance which he attached to the latter organisation is shown
in the following extract from a letter to Lady Edmund Talbot : "I look
upon the Association of the Ladies of Charity as destined to do the greatest
work of the new departure in England, viz., the regular and systematic em
ployment of the laity in the apostolic work of helping to train and retain the
young who have left school in the love and practice of their religion."
452

THE LAST DAYS 453
more to others. There was one subject, however, in
which his personal interest seemed only to deepen as his
strength failed. The welfare of the children of his flock
became his constant thought. His anxiety showed itself
specially in his careful questionings as to how the work of
catechising was done in this or that mission. He thought
that throughout the country there was a sad want of
system and method, and that the importance of early
training for this apparently simple work was very imper
fectly understood. This conviction grew with the years,
and it was a subject of which he often spoke towards the
end of his life. The following letter, addressed to his
nephew, Father Herbert Vaughan, shows clearly the
spirit in which the Cardinal approached the subject: —
" My dear Herbert, — I now write to ask you to take
up a definite work during the rest of the time you will be
in Rome. As I told you in a former letter, I want you to
help me in forming the young clergy, before they go upon
the mission : (1) to sacerdotal perfection in prayer and
in the work of the mission ; (2) to apostolic zeal for the
| conversion of England. The special work, however, to
which I want you to give attention is the art of catechising.
As a rule the catechism is taught in the schools in a way
to make the catechism book hated. It is taught by the
teacher of secular lessons, and is viewed much as one of
these by the children. After you left Oscott I arranged
for one of the German Benedictines to teach the art of
catechising to the divines. That goes on, but more is
required. With the new Education law and with the
growth of all kinds of distraction and worldliness, both in
the family and out of it, it becomes every day more and
more important that priests should be good catechists.

454 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
It is the most important part of the ministry of the
Word that they can exercise in England. I shall place
the young priests and divines under you, and the thing
that will be the greatest value to them will be their pos
sessing the art of catechising. It will help them to teach
the people as well as the children. This seems so ele
mentary and simple a thing that a priest may be tempted
to think that he can do all this by reading up a few books
and talking common sense, but it is not so. I suppose the
best authority on catechising is Dupanloup and the
method of St. Sulpice. Some Sulpicians will be able to
help you probably ; but whatever attractions you may have
for other things, give your whole attention for some months
to this. Become deeply versed in it — make it your real sub
ject. I cannot tell you what immense services you will be
able to render if you do. I have for years wanted a priest
to teach this — but could get nobody to do it properly.
This month a course of lectures on catechism is going to
be given to our Ladies of Charity, but the only priest I
have got to give them says himself he is not well up in it.
If I can make all the young priests good catechists they
will begin to attach the children to their religion. As it
is, their catechising is simply deplorable, and it is a work
they dislike undertaking, and are only too glad to throw
upon the schoolmaster or the schoolmistress. Here,
then, is your mission and work for the next few months.
Get to see the best samples in Rome if there are any, and
work at Dupanloup and St. Sulpice. These may have to
be modified to some extent to meet national character —
but not much. Happy New Year. H. C. V."
The Cardinal's constant thought for the children of his
flock found expression also at that time in the work he did

THE LAST DAYS 455
for the organisation within the diocese of the Children's
Crusade.1 There are more than 30,000 children in the
Catholic elementary schools of London. He wanted these
little ones to be individually interested in the work of
Rescue, and encouraged to hold out hands of help to their
less fortunate sisters and brothers. The children of the
Crusade were asked to establish a sort of fast from
sweets and toys during the season of Lent and to send
their pennies instead to a central fund of assistance.
Thus was instituted what is now known as " Good
Shepherd Sunday," so called from the Gospel of the
day. On the second Sunday after Easter the Cardinal
would receive deputations representing the schools of all
the parishes in the diocese, and the children would bring
their boxes of pennies and farthings, the fruits of eight
weeks of self-denial. The first time, in 1889, ^200 was
thus collected, and the sum rose year by year until in the
last year of the Cardinal's life " Good Shepherd Sunday "
produced £520.
It was in keeping with this love for the little ones of
his flock that the Cardinal should desire to connect them
in some special way with Westminster Cathedral. He
wanted the children of the diocese to be associated, in
however informal a way, with the very first use it could
be made to serve. Thus he was anxious that the
children's gathering on "Good Shepherd Sunday" in
1901 should be held there at whatever risk of interfering
with the builders. It was thought, however, that the place
was still too damp in its unfinished state for the children to
be kept standing there, and so the ceremony took place,
1 A similar movement had been initiated some years belore in Southwark
by Bishop Butt.

456 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
as before, at Archbishop's House. But the Cardinal would
have his way. When all the little offerings had been made,
and the children had been regaled with oranges and buns,
he led them through the sacristy into the Cathedral, and for
one happy half-hour gave it to them for a playing-ground.
There was a litter of packing-cases, and recumbent
columns, and ladders, and scaffolding — and the children
had a glorious time. When the Cardinal heard next
morning of the damage that had been done — of bricks
that had been scattered, and even converted into miniature
castles, and of the heaps of carefully prepared mortar and
cement which had been turned into mud pies — he refused
to be distressed. He was content to feel that for those
children their first recollection of his Cathedral would be
associated for ever with a happy memory.
During the whole of the last five or six years of his life
the Cardinal's health grew steadily worse, and, to use his
own words, he had to " adjust his work to a lowered scale of
vitality." It became more and more necessary that from
time to time he should seek intervals of rest, and, breaking
away from all active duties, secure quiet for both mind and
body. Sometimes he would go to some country house
where he knew he was safe not to be " entertained," or else
to some remote watering-place. Early in 1897, when he
was the guest of the late Mr. Harman Grisewood at
Grasse, writing to a near relative he said : " I have been
here over a fortnight — only Grisewood and Fr. Basevi in
the house, but now Mrs. Grisewood is returning from
England. It is like a retreat — far from the world of
Cannes, and no one but a Bishop or two coming to call.
We meet at meals only — and sometimes walk out — other
wise I am alone all day with God and His Mother, my

THE LAST DAYS 457
books and my prayers. It is a very full and a very sweet
preparation for the last stage of life — or for death — which
ever God wills. I could not wish for a better time. I
have had nothing so good for over thirty years. The
weather is brighter than the best English summer
weather, the air clear as can be, the site 1,000 feet
above the sea, and the Isle of Lerins is visible in part. I
think I am a little better than when I left England.
I remember you as usual every morning — so there is
no separation— in the Mass. God bless you." To another
friend he says of the same visit : "It is a delightful
preparation for whatever is to come, whether it be labor or
requies aeterna. And now that I am in it fairly, and see
how much there is to be done within one's own soul, I
seem to see that I have earned this retreat — lest, ' having
preached to others, etc' "
A little later, he wrote : " The weeks I have spent in
the South of France have been beneficial to my general
health, but — far more important — they have been of the
greatest advantage to my soul. I have been face' to face
with death — with Our Lord and Our Mother. I received
many urgent letters to prolong my stay abroad for the
sake of my health. But I have not done so, as I feel
there is no real improvement in the heart ; on the con
trary, my doctor agrees there is no use to prolong my stay
at a distance. A Bishop's place is in his diocese, unless
there is strong reason for him to be absent from it. I am
therefore returning to work on a lower level of activity
and a higher level of communion with God. I have spent
three mornings in Notre Dame des Victoires, with the usual
advantages derived from Our Lady's intercession. The
result and conclusion of it all is that I hope to make the

458 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
study of the life and character of Our Lord the special
work of the remainder of my life. It seems as though I
were only beginning this, so clear has been the impression
that this is to be the main feature."
A favourite place for these retreats was Llandrindod,
On one occasion, writing to Father Kenelm Vaughan, he
says : " I have been here in my usual annual retreat —
which is very pleasant. No company, just a servant to
serve Mass, and alone all day with God, on the hill side or
in the wood, when not alone in my room. One wants this
solitude once a year." The doctor might prescribe com
plete rest, but it was not in Herbert Vaughan's nature to
be still when he saw a chance of doing good. During one
visit the sick man, for want of a church, hired the Pump
Room at Llandrindod, and for several successive Sundays
preached there to crowded audiences. In one of his
letters he notes the quickness and fervour with which
even Welsh Nonconformists caught up the tunes of the
Catholic hymns to the Blessed Virgin. It was an episode
which gave the Cardinal a strange pleasure — it seemed in
some sort the momentary realisation of his dreams in the
long ago, in which he had so often pictured his life as
a lonely missioner in Wales.
In another letter from Llandrindod, writing to his
brother, Father Kenelm Vaughan, who was then in Spain
begging funds for the Blessed Sacrament Chapel in
Westminster Cathedral, the Cardinal says: "I trust you
are getting on well. So far, I think, you have been
singularly blessed — crosses and coins fairly mixed to
gether. When I was a-tramp round America I used to
keep two pockets — one for alms and one for crosses : so
that I every day got one or other of these pockets

THE LAST DAYS 459
filled — and sometimes both. And I have often thought
since then that the crosses and mortifications of those
years went far further to bring about the success of
Mill Hill than the money which enabled me to buy the
site and erect the College. The Chapel of the Blessed
Sacrament in the Cathedral will also be built up by you
in the same blessed way." Surely such a letter as this
lets us see the inmost secret of the life of Herbert
Vaughan. Consider its significance. A brother writing
to a brother, and in terms of intimate companionship,
avows his conviction that the mortifications he suffered —
the little crosses he put into his pocket, while he was
begging his way through the Americas — had more to do
with the success of St. Joseph's College than all the
money he collected there. Any one who can really enter
into the spirit of those words is on the way to under
stand Cardinal Vaughan.
Allied with them in thought and feeling is the following
passage from a letter to a nun, the daughter of his old
friend, W. G. Ward, written shortly after he had been
called to Westminster, telling of his belief in prayer as one
of the dynamics of the world : " You, in your cloister
and in the machine-room, are working out of sight for
the great ship of Peter, which moves steadily on. We
are on deck, moving up and down as though we did
it all, but the motive-power is below in the praying
chamber or machine-room. Remember me on deck ; it
is very cold and rough, and sometimes very dark — and
give me your prayers." In all his hours of weariness
and despondency the Cardinal drew comfort from the
thought of this unceasing stream of prayer that was
going up to Heaven for the Church in England.

46o CARDINAL VAUGHAN
But the time was coming when the Cardinal knew
without the wisdom of doctors that a cessation of work
was a condition of life. It was no longer a case of
hiring a Pump Room on the chance of converting Non
conformists, but only of creeping to some spot where
the battle for breath might be continued. Early in
June, 1902, a continued weakness of the heart made it
necessary for him to give up work altogether and go
for a time to St. Joseph's, Mill Hill. The following
letter to Father H. Vaughan belongs to this period :
" Tune 16th, 1902.
" You have my congratulations on the reward — earthly
reward — of your industry: for there is a much better
one awaiting you on high. You must now take a
little time to recruit and rest, so as to be ready for
renewed exertions to fit yourself in the best way you
can for the sacred ministry. All your friends will be
very pleased to hear of your success. There is no news
beyond that which you get from the Tablet. The work
of the Cathedral and its future is shaping itself in
a way that is quite satisfactory. But much remains
to be done by whoever may step Into my shoes. My
day is ending; new vigour and activity are needed
to carry on the campaign against the busy and sleepless
enemies of the Church — et Deus providebit. John has had
a sharp attack of influenza, but is now comparatively
well again. Your father has been a good deal in London
lately — staying, I am glad to say, at my house. I have
been invited to the Coronation with my two senior col
leagues; but we have declined, of course."

THE LAST DAYS 461
But Mill Hill was too near London for rest — Her
bert Vaughan had its sounds for ever in his ears, and
they seemed always calling him back to his place at
Archbishop's House. He went back, but his weakness
had so gained upon him that Sir Lauder Brunton
peremptorily ordered him to go to Bad Nauheim — the
alternative was to stay at home and die of dropsy. He
left London on the 20th of June. In a hastily scribbled
note to Father Henry, the Superior of St. Joseph's,
Mill Hill, announcing the sudden change of plan, he
expresses confidence that Nauheim will do him good,
as "it suits the feeble-hearted, specially such as I am."
But the treatment at Nauheim did no permanent good.
After he had been there a fortnight, at the end of a
long letter to Mgr. Fenton, full of business details as to
the management of the Cathedral, he adds : "June 10th.
I am getting on fairly — and quite faithful to the rule of
feeling very unwell for the first weeks of the cure. We
shall see how it works out in the end — but I am, as I
believe, doing the Divine Will. I am more than contented."
A month later, in a letter to his nephew, Father Herbert
Vaughan, he says: "The treatment is kill or cure — I
am said to be emerging from the first operation. Before
the end of the month we shall see what kind of a cure
it is to be. In any case it will be all right — because
it will be just what God wills; and go and find out
whether there be anything one-half so good as that any
where." And again, at the end of the month, to Mgr.
Fenton he says : " I am staying on here till the second
week in August — as the doctors say that a man of seventy
needs more time than a younger one, and it is still, I
think, quite doubtful whether the cure is going to be

462 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
much more than nominal. At all events, it is a very quiet
and nice preparation for life after death ; so it cannot fail
to do good. God bless you."
He returned to England weaker than when he had
left and knowing that the end was near. His one thought,
and his constant thought, was still to crowd the utmost
work into the space that was left, whether that space was
to be measured by years, or months, or days. His doctor
insisted that from any point of view it was useless, and
worse than useless, to stay in London. Many houses were
open to him — his friends strove with each other for the
privilege of possessing him. He chose that " haven of
rest," Derwent Hall, where he was the guest of Lord and
Lady Edmund Talbot. And there, surrounded by every
thing that the most thoughtful kindness could suggest, for
some months he seemed to grow slowly stronger. How
weak he was when he first came is shown incidentally in
the following sentence taken from a letter written a month
later : " The Cardinal is able to remain in the Chapel in
the morning and evening, and sometimes I think he sits
there while we are at dinner. I mention this to show you
that he is stronger ; when he came here he could hardly
sit there for more than twenty minutes once a day, and had
to lie down afterwards."
I am indebted to Lady Edmund Talbot for the follow
ing Reminiscences of this period : —
" What struck one most during the last months of the
Cardinal's life was his deep humility and his gentleness.
His increasing infirmities were a great trial to him, but he
struggled on, in spite of his weakness and weariness, to
finish the various works he felt he was called upon to do.
He seemed to be always either praying or working, and the

THE LAST DAYS 463
special work he was engaged in at this time was the draw
ing up of the Constitution for the Westminster Cathedral.
He often said, ' I have put the whole thing into Our
Lady's hands, so whatever happens I know that it will be
all right. After all, I am only a weak instrument' When
he arrived at Derwent he was in a great state of weakness ;
he came into the house leaning heavily on Mgr. Poyer's
arm, and from his appearance I thought he had come to
die, but he did not think so himself at the time. By
degrees he got much stronger. His great trial was when
the doctors absolutely forbad him to say Mass ; I think
that they were so emphatic about this that he imagined he
would never be allowed to say Mass again. After they
had gone, I went to him, and when I spoke to him
about his not saying Mass, the tears came into his eyes,
and he looked perfectly wretched, and asked me what they
really had said about him, and if he was never to say
Mass again. I hastened to explain that it was merely
a temporary precaution, and that there was no question
of his never saying Mass again ; that they had told me
distinctly that if he would only content himself with
hearing Mass for the present ^they had every hope that
in time he would be able to say Mass at least three
or four times a week. I never shall forget the look of
intense relief and joy that came over his whole face when
I told him this. A little later on the doctors found him so
much better that they suggested his saying Mass twice
a week to begin with. His spirits rose at once, and he
seemed to be in a state of joy during the day, and he kept
on saying, ' To-morrow I shall say Mass.' That evening
I told him that I was going to put his vestments on the
altar, and I brought him the Missal and asked him to find

464 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
the places so that there would be no unnecessary delay in
the morning. I shall always remember the expression of
perfect delight on his face when I told him that every
thing would be ready as early as he liked, and that all that
the doctors had stipulated was that he was to return to
bed directly his Mass was finished. He said, smiling, ' Oh,
I will do anything they tell me, and how can I thank you
for making it all so easy ! '
"During this time he was occupied with the Educa
tion Bill of 1902, which caused him a great deal of
anxiety, and when he was not working at it, he told
me he was praying about it. He often said, 'The real
truth is that our prayers are not answered because we
are so unworthy ; if we were really apostolic, if we
prayed like the Apostles, our prayers would be answered.'
I asked him once if he suffered acute pain as well
as the exhaustion and weakness which came over
him. He said, ' Oh no, I am not worthy to really
suffer. God only sends acute suffering to those who are
worthy of it.' When one drove with him, or strolled in
the garden with him, his conversation was almost always
spiritual, and he often seemed absorbed in God and talked
as if he was rather talking to himself than to a companion.
' Trials and humiliations help to keep one humble, they
help us to humble ourselves before God, which is some
times very sweet. What can be sweeter than to mingle
our tears with the tears of Our Blessed Lord in the Agony
in the Garden ? Put your will into His Hands, tell Him
everything, and He will tell you what He wishes you
to do.' ' He draws us into closer and closer union with
Him, and this union becomes a habit.' ' We ought to be
praying always, and this is not so difficult as one is apt to
think.'

THE LAST DAYS 465
" What struck me always was his humility, gentleness,
and detachment from all earthly things. He did a great
deal of hard brain work during these months. The
Education Bill of 1902 involved his seeing a great
many people; then he was engrossed in the Cathedral,
and, I think, in drawing up the Constitution, &c. ; then
he was finishing his book for Young Priests. He did
all this work under the greatest physical difficulty. He
suffered from constant exhaustion, and weariness, and
heart failures. At this time he remained in his room
altogether, even for his meals, and he constantly sat in the
Chapel before the Blessed Sacrament. He prayed over all
this work, and I can only say that he seemed to me to be
engrossed with God all day long>; even when he went for a
short drive, or when he sat out in the garden, he seemed
oblivious of all things and to be wrapped up in God. One
hesitated to disturb him more than was necessary. One
felt that he just worked and prayed and rested, and that
this was his preparation for death. He often said,
'I wonder if Our Lord intends me to finish up' this or
that work, 'or if He intends to take me before I have
completed it' ' After all,' he said one day, ' why should
one mind dying ? It is what we were created for ; we
are born, we come into this world, to die. It is His will.'
His increasing infirmities were a very great trial to him.
What he felt most was that he could not work for more
than half an hour or an hour at a time. He got so
exhausted that he was obliged to lie down on a sofa and
rest for a while, and then he would get up and begin to
work again. During his rest he prayed. He told me that
during his sleepless nights he found no difficulty in pray
ing and in keeping united with God. When we suggested
II HH

466 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
that all this weariness would get him off a great deal of
Purgatory, he used to say : ' Oh no ; I deserve a lot of
Purgatory, and what is more, I shall get it too.' Saying
Mass became a great difficulty to him ; in his state of
weakness he could hardly get through it, but he said it
as often as the doctors allowed him to do so. I always
thought his recollection during his Mass and afterwards
was a wonderful thing to see. He seemed quite wrapped
up in God. However, he certainly got better at Derwent,
and when he left he managed to do a good deal which
one had thought hardly possible, humanly speaking."
But though, thus tenderly cared for in the seclusion of
Derwent Hall, the Cardinal to some extent recovered his
health, he knew that his active life was over. The annual
Catholic Conference, organised by the Catholic Truth
Society, was to be held that year at Newport, but it was
impossible for him to hope to be there. His thoughts
ran back to the Newcastle Conference of the year before,
and to the sight which had gladdened him — the great
gathering of shouting and acclaiming children, which
had seemed to him at the time almost as a vision of the
future of the Church in England. Unable to go to
Newport himself, his thronging thoughts rang out in
the following letter to the Bishop of the diocese, under
date September 17th : —
" I should have enjoyed being present for many reasons
of a personal and local kind, in addition to those of a more
public and general nature. I have no doubt that Mon
mouthshire will do credit to its Catholic spirit and energy
under your Lordship's guidance, and that the Newport
Conference will not be among the least successful of those
held by the Society year after year. We older members

THE LAST DAYS 467
of the Society are beginning to move off the scene, some
slowly and reluctantly, because the work is sweet and
fruitful, and our interest in it is as keen as ever ; some
gladly, because they feel that their allotted day's task
is nearly done, and they hear the loving Voice that is
calling them home. But, whatever our feeling, we cannot
help looking back to see who are following, who are
going to take our place and fill up the ranks. For myself,
I rejoice to see many zealous and intelligent members
of the clergy pressing forward, especially among the
younger clergy, and there is also a goodly and increasing
number ot men and women among the laity who
thoroughly appreciate the work of the C.T.S., and are
determined, as far as they are able, to help it on. But,
far off in the background, I see a great multitude of eager
faces, I hear their voices like the sound of the waves of
the sea. Who are these? They are the boys and girls
in our public elementary schools — they are the strength,
the hope, the population of the future. They form the
young democracy that is going to rule the country, to
make or mar the future of Christianity in this land.
These' inspire me with the keenest interest. They are
young and innocent, they are eager and full of life,
their minds and hearts are plastic and ready to take
any form, any direction, you may impress upon them.
If your influence is the first with them, if you have
captivated their ambition and filled them with ardour
to follow you, you will have secured the success of your
enterprise in the future.
We know not what may be before the Catholic Church
to accomplish during the present century. But we do
know that the future depends upon the child, and that

468 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
it is impossible for us to render greater service to God and
to religion than by training the young to become Apostles
of Catholic Truth."
Cardinal Vaughan said goodbye to his hosts at
Derwent Hall early in December. He felt that as Arch
bishop he ought to die in his own diocese and within the
precincts of an ecclesiastical house. But that he had hopes
he might be able to return to the home where he had
known such peace appears from the following letter, dated
December 26th, 1902 : —
" I have been rather too much occupied, but am not
much the worse for wear and tear. I said a quiet mid
night Mass, assisted at High Mass next day and at
Vespers, and to-day has been rather quieter. I have
called a meeting of Secretaries of Associations for
Jan. 27th, so I do not hope to be able to return to
the dear nest at Derwent before that day. I need not
assure you and  how grateful I am to you both for
the great kindness and care you have lavished on your
poor old patient during all these months past, God bless
you for it all."
But the winter wore away and the spring-time came, and
the Cardinal was still at his post at Archbishop's House,
still working and directing all the affairs of the diocese.
But the hand was failing from the sceptre, and to those
of us who saw him constantly he seemed to grow more
feeble from week to week. When March came he thought
God would call him on the 19th, the Feast of St. Joseph.
Three days before the feast he wrote out the following-
directions for his funeral, in a letter addressed to his
brother, Mgr. Vaughan : —

THE LAST DAYS 469
"March 16th, 1903.
" My DEAR JOHN,— (i) Don't let the Vicar-General or
any one else go to any expense in hanging the Cathedral
in black for my funeral. ... I want a common elm
coffin — a hearse and only two horses — to Mill Hill,
where I am to be buried. No expense to be gone to
that cannot be covered by what may be to my private
account. (2) Give N. my fur rug, and mementoes to
such as may wish to have them. (3) I do not think any
will need be proved — as I have practically nothing to
leave, all my bank accounts being in three names — but
as to this be guided by Mr. Witham. (4) The value
of my horses and carriage I wish to go to the Ladies
of Charity for their works — to be added to their capital.
H. C. V."
But the 19th of March came and went, and still the
Cardinal lingered. When I saw him two days later he
said simply, " I thought St. Joseph would have come for
me. I was quite ready to go." He spoke as one might
of a friend who, somehow, had failed to keep an
appointment. It had been a day of strain, and yet of happiness.
He received the Last Sacraments, and at the same time
knew that Mass was being said for the first time in the
Cathedral — in the Lady Chapel. Before the day was
over he managed to write the following letter: —
" I felt like going down to say the first Mass in
honour of St. Joseph in his Spouse's chapel — but St.
Joseph has laden me with graces to-day, and I am very
happy. I am comforted to think of your working on
to the end, you in one way, N. in another, for God. I

470 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
hope great things in the future of the Ladies of Charity.
There is an immense work before them, if only they
will give themselves to God as they might. They will
never be sorry when they come to die that they have
loved souls for Our Lord's sake, and slaved for their sal
vation. Of the various things God has used me as His
instrument to begin, one certainly of the most hopeful
and fruitful is the work that falls to the Ladies of
Charity. It is the organisation of half of our Catholic
population ; and if that half, which is the better because
the most faithful and most devoted half, does all that
it can, England will be carried forward towards God
more surely than words can say. You have got your
mission in this, and I leave you happy, till you are
called for. My blessing and affectionate gratitude on all
your works, on you, on N., and the children.
" Feast of St. Joseph:'
Another letter to a near relative is dated March 21st,
1903 :—
"My dear Child,— I received the Last Sacraments
on the 19th, and thought St. Joseph would have come
for me — but he saw I was not ready then. Perhaps I
may be on the 25 th, perhaps later. A good son delights
to enjoy the presence of a good father and to share
his company, interests, and even his nature and his
happiness. We are always saying 'Our Father, who
art in Heaven ' — and then devoutly adding, ' But what
ever you do, leave me where I am.' Do we believe?
We weep and wail over the death of those we love,
because we do not sensibly believe that they have gone
home to their real Father and to all their best friends. Of
course, I know that Our Father wishes us to do all we

THE LAST DAYS 471
can by natural ordinary means to prolong our life of
work and probation — and I have nothing to reproach
myself with in this matter. I have got a good male
nurse — a convert — and every care needful. But a man
of over threescore and ten years has a right to look with
a certain yearning towards the end. Even we, who are
' slaves,' have our own little rights and hopes which the
Mother and St. Joseph will keep an eye on. But I
must not go on more about myself, nor should I leave
you with the impression that I am dying ; because the
doctors take a different view and say with care I may
go on for years. But Fiat Voluntas. I am glad to have
so good an account of yourself — and you may be sure
that if I get Home before you I will do more for you
there than I ever could on earth. The people are coming
up well to the Lady Chapel in the Cathedral, and many
things are going well. I am pleased to see L. working
for the Rescue. I hope the religious training of the
children and First Communion will be taken up — it is
quite essential it should — but it will need pushing. The
world has a large proportion of its good people, clergy
included, who are ' rutters.' God bless you. Yours afftly.,
H. C. V."
But now that he had lived over the 19th he began
to feel that he must adjust his life to new conditions. He
was an invalid, and yet might live for some time. He
realised that the presence of a sick man in Archbishop's
House did not make for efficiency. He decided to
go to Mill Hill, and wait for death there. Writing on
the 25th of March to the Bishop of Newport, he said :
" I am enjoying my usual broken health and feel rather
reduced at the latter end of my life to the conditions of

472 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
its beginning, at least in some respects. I believe I may
end suddenly or go on indefinitely — in other words, no one
knows, and whatever it be, will be best for me." On the
morning of the 25th of March he left Archbishop's House
for ever. He had sent me a message, knowing I should
wish to be there. When I arrived I was shown upstairs,
but outside the Cardinal's room I found the doctor chafing
and impatient. " They are pestering him with papers,'
he said, " and he is not fit for it. He ought to be carried
downstairs in an ambulance." At last the door opened,
and the Cardinal, accompanied by Mgr. Johnson, appeared.
The Cardinal was wrapped in a big Roman cloak and
looking wan and pale, and as he stepped forward leaned
heavily on his stick. A few whispered words, and then
he slowly descended the stairs. At the bend of the
stairs, as we faced the front door, there was a strange
sight. When I had gone up, a quarter of an hour before,
the hall was empty — now it was filled with people. News
that the Cardinal was leaving had gone abroad, and all
the priests and students of the Clergy House, servants of
the household, and a number of friends were gathered
there to take their last leave. As the Cardinal came
forward all that little crowd, as by a common impulse,
went on its knees, and the stricken man as he passed
along through the lines of people paused every few paces
and raised his hand to bless. There were many eyes
that saw dimly that morning, and I think we all knew
he was going for ever.
The next weeks at St. Joseph's College saw his strength
slowly ebbing away. He had no illusions as to any pos
sibility of recovery. He knew he had taken his last
journey, and every hour was given to a preparation for

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THE LAST DAYS 473
death. Every day he was wheeled round the corridors,
and when the weather was fine into the garden. His
special pleasure was to be taken to the spot which he had
chosen for his grave. It was at the end of a long garden
walk, where a large Calvary was sheltered by a little grove
of oak-trees. Like everything else at St. Joseph's, this
Calvary owed its presence there to Herbert Vaughan.
Many years before, wandering in the Tyrol, he had found
a large wooden Crucifix which had apparently fallen by
the wayside and was then half-hidden and overgrown by
grass. In answer to inquiries he found that this Crucifix
had been the symbol of the Divine suffering and an
object of special reverence for many generations of men.
When the winds and the rains had had their way at last,
and the Cross had fallen, the village folk thought it simpler
to carve a new Crucifix than to repair the old one. Then
Herbert Vaughan had taken possession of it, and had it
brought to England, and had set it up at Mill Hill, and
to-day it is the guardian of his grave. In those last days
of his life the Cardinal would spend hours together alone
in his bath-chair, in prayer and meditation, with his eyes
fixed, now on the figure on the Cross, now on the spot
where, in a little while, they would dig his grave. And
the silent figure sitting there seemed so to harmonise with
the stillness of nature that somehow even the wild things
forgot their fear, and his nurse tells me that more than
once when he went back to wheel the Cardinal home he
found a robin confidently perched on the back of the chair
as though it were a favourite resting-place.
And all the while his interest in public affairs and the
work of the diocese never failed. He was always acces
sible to his devoted and greatly trusted Vicar-General,

474 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
Mgr. Fenton, and to the Canons of the diocese, and when
friends found their way out to Mill Hill to see him they
were always welcome. And many came.
During these last days at St. Joseph's, Mill Hill, I saw
him twice. The first time was on the 22nd of May. He
was sitting in a little bare room, in a big arm-chair,
propped up with pillows and looking dreadfully changed.
His eyes were half closed as I entered, and he was
breathing with great difficulty. When he saw me he
said, with a note of unwonted eagerness in his voice,
" Oh, I am so glad you have come — you must help me."
Then, speaking painfully and slowly, and sometimes
having to lie back in his chair, and to struggle for
breath, he said, " Have you read Father Carson's book ? "
I nodded, and he continued, " That is a dangerous book ;
it teaches a false doctrine ; it is by one of my priests,
one of the men I am answerable for — it must be con
demned." It was hard to contradict him, or even to
differ from him at such a moment, but I felt that the
public condemnation of this obscure book, by a young
and almost unknown priest, was unwise, and even likely
to bring about the very evils it was designed to prevent.
I urged this as well as I could. The Cardinal listened
in silence, and then, with a gentleness that was poignant,
said simply, " I am too weak to argue. All I know is
that one of my priests is teaching a false doctrine. It
must be condemned." After a pause he went on : " There
are three ways in which it might be done. It might be
delated to Rome, but that means delay. I might censure
the book myself, but people would not heed me now —
they would say I am senile ; you must condemn it in the
Tablet" As I looked into his poor, worn, anxious face,

THE LAST DAYS 475
I felt at the moment that to give him peace was the
only good I cared for. Perhaps he read my thoughts,
for, suddenly sitting up in his chair, he put his hand on
my shoulder and said, "Well, think over what I have
said and come back soon."
Then he talked of the work he was leaving undone,
and specially of the Cathedral and its future. He
seemed anxious as to what would happen when he
was gone. I said, " At least you have no financial worries
on that score ? " He answered quickly, " How could I ?
You know I never built when I had not got the money.
When they told me there was no money for the front
door at Archbishop's House we had one of planks, until
some one came and gave us an oak one. We had a rubble
floor in the house until another friend came and helped
us." Then he spoke of the provision he had made for
the future of the Cathedral, and his hope that the sale
of the surplus land would some day provide an ample
and permanent endowment. Then as he talked on of
the Cathedral and of his gladness that it was now safe
to be finished, I asked — with him the ordinary reticences
about death were unnecessary — whether it would be a
great disappointment to him not to live to see the public
opening. The slow look of wonder that came into his
eyes was answer enough. What could it possibly
matter to any human being who opened it? — it would
soon be ready for Divine Service, and beside that
nothing else counted. But the effort of talking brought
on another attack of breathlessness, and he lay back
panting for some minutes. I rose to fetch the nurse,
but he motioned me to stay. Then suddenly his face
brightened, and I knew the old smile as he said slowly,

476 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
" Do you know the Sacramento River ? " It seemed a
strange question, and for a moment I thought his mind
was wandering, but I answered that I knew San Fran
cisco. Then he went on, breathing heavily between each
word, " Do you remember, when the steamer went down
the river, how the wash of the paddle-wheels would
sometimes leave a big fat salmon stranded on the mud,
panting and gasping for breath ? " It was a reminiscence
of his Californian days, before the coming of the trans-
Continental railway. Then he added, " I am just like one
of those fish — gasping for life." The nurse then came in
to say I must leave, but the Cardinal, pointing to a
photograph of himself that lay on a table, asked if my
wife would like to have it. Then he added, " I want
to write," and asked for a pen. I tried to dissuade him —
he seemed too weak even to sign his name, but he
persisted. Then he took the photograph and wrote on
the margin, tracing each letter slowly and in pain,
and several times lying back in his chair, until an attack
of breathlessness had passed. The lines he wrote were
few, but the time to me seemed interminable. When he
had finished he was quite exhausted, but whispered,
" Give it to her — my last message." 1
About ten days later I was again in the Cardinal's
room. I was shocked at the change in him — he seemed
so tired and distressed, and as though almost too weak
to whisper. As I sat by his chair he said, " I have to
thank you." There was a pause and I wondered, for
I had not the key to his thoughts. Then he went on :
1 The inscription ran thus: "My dear Mary, — God bless you. And
bring up your vigorous little family in fidelity and service to the law of God.
Your affectionate cousin, Herbert Card. Vaughan."

THE LAST DAYS 477
"About Father Carson— they tell me he is dying. I am
glad nothing was done about his book. If it had been
condemned, that might have been a trouble to him now."
There was a moment's silence and then he spoke the
last words I ever heard from his lips : " You see, I have
a fellow-feeling for the dying."
The next moment he lay back apparently in great
physical distress and fighting for breath. I knelt by his
side, and in a little while felt the answering pressure of
his hand, and then knew that it was raised in blessing.
The next time I was at St. Joseph's, it was to stand by
the open grave.
Among those who saw the Cardinal very shortly before
his death was Mr. Wilfrid Ward. He writes : —
" I was shown into his study, and there, in an arm-chair,
with the scarlet-edged Cardinal's cassock hanging loosely
on his shrunken form, was an old man with a drawn face
which I simply could not recognise. The face reminded
me of the Cardinal's aged uncle — the Bishop of Plymouth.
But for some minutes I could not, even though I knew
who he was, identify the familiar features and expression
of the Cardinal himself. He was weak and dejected, the
tears standing in his eyes, and his voice was faint. He
said, ' I am very ill indeed,' and, with occasional pauses
of silence, he told me a good deal of what he had gone
through in the past weeks. ' After all,' he added, ' what
has all my life been but a preparation for death ? And now
at last it is coming upon me. I ought to be ready for it ;
it is what I have so long tried to prepare for.' He spoke
to me with great affection and talked of his love for my
father and mother, and said he could wish nothing better
than that I should walk in my father's footsteps. He
spoke of his uncertainty as to how much longer he would
have to prepare for the end. I said he ought to comfort
himself by remembering that all he had suffered would
count as part of his purgatory. Then, for one moment, I

478 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
recognised his face, as for the first time he smiled through
his tears and replied, using an unusual expression, with
which I was not familiar, ' Yes, indeed ; I can tell you it
has not been all "rose dabbles." ' I was with him about
ten minutes. He embraced me as I left and gave me his
blessing and asked me to pray for him. As I took the
train back to St. Pancras I seemed to recall the radiant
and beautiful face of the slim young priest — not yet thirty
— who found me in the schoolroom at Old Hall as a boy
of seven doing an addition sum, and perplexed my child's
brain by telling me that I was 'an adder,' but that 'an
adder ' was a ' snake,' and convinced me that I must be a
snake. I thought of the many years during which he was
our ideal hero, appearing at intervals to urge my sisters to
be nuns, and ourselves to be priests. I recall the figure
and face of the Cardinal as he said Mass for us in 1901 in
the crypt of St. Peter's and showed us its treasures.
' Radiant ' was the word which Aubrey de Vere used of
his face as a youth at Rome, and that adjective best
expressed the impression made by his presence all
through his life. But now this shrunken form, this worn,
sad, tear-stained face was all that remained on earth to
represent the noble soul and aspect of Herbert Vaughan."
One of those on whom the Cardinal depended greatly
for the success of the work of the Ladies of Charity
says : —
" One of the last times I saw him, after talking in a
most touching way of Heaven and of Our Lord's goodness
to him, he said : ' And now you will just go on with all
your work when I am gone — the Ladies of Charity and the
children — won't you ? It is your mission, a work God has
given you to do, and I shall look after it too, and pray for
you and this work, and I shall be of more use to you in
Heaven than I am here.' I said I would do all I could,
but that I felt that perhaps to consider that we had a
mission was perhaps rather conceited — didn't he think this
too ? He said quickly, 'Oh no ; if God puts work before
you as He has done in your case, there is no conceit in

THE LAST DAYS 479
doing it, and in doing it as a mission, for God makes use
of any ass He meets in the street. We ought always to
say and remember this. You may say every day, " I am
nothing, I have nothing, I can nothing, but by Thy
grace all things are possible." ' "
With the coming of June he was visibly weaker.
Then came the day when he said his last Mass — hence
forth he could only kneel and receive Communion at the
hands of another. On the 6th of June Father Henry gave
him the " Last Blessing." He then gave Father Henry a
message to all the Mill Hill Missioners scattered over the
world : " Tell them that I send them my most affectionate
vblessing. It may have seemed to them sometimes that
I neglected them or forgot them, but that is not so.
I have held them all in most affectionate memory. I
have had their best interests at heart. For a long time
past I have been engaged in writing a book which shall be
dedicated to them — in it they will find much that I trust
will be helpful to them in their spiritual life. I have not
been spared to see this book published, but I have made
provision for its being edited after I am gone. Tell them
The Young Priest is written for them and to accept it as
representing the last words of a loving father, and to pray
for me."
To these closing days belong the following letters : —
"I am very quiet here [Mill Hill], and I suppose it is
better than Westminster, and there are advantages which
are not to be despised. I was not so well yesterday, and
to-day am better. But sickness is a golden period which
one ought to be most grateful for."
" Generally, I am taking great care. I am urged to
this by a strong desire — perhaps it may not be altogether

480 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
supernatural — to write my message to the Priests on the
Apostolic Life. It was in the Chapel of St. Joseph that I
got the idea of it, and made the promise originally, and
I hope it may be here that I may finish my work.
" Our Lady is very merciful and good to me, especially
so of late, and I live with her in a more intimate way
than heretofore. Be calm and peaceful and plunge your
soul into the Divine Will."
" Those who are called to the spiritual life by such rare
and undeserved love and mercy, and who are so privileged
as to be poor little slaves, must expect to share in the
Cross of Jesus and Mary. He bore it internally and
externally, the Mother all within her heart, pierced with
seven swords of grief. We are to be pleased — not with
our lower nature, which recoils, like Our Lord's, from
suffering — but with our superior will that lives in the light
and warmth of faith, to have some bits and chips, and now
and then a big piece of the Cross sent to us. Otherwise,
what would the slaves be like ; not like the Model !
These Crosses are trials and sufferings, mental and
physical, and they are painful. We have to carry them
by the Two who were crucified all their lives ; and by look
ing on Them, and on ourselves, and on the true inward
meaning of the Cross we shall at last relish them. A little
time ago I was saying to myself, 'Our Lord cannot be very
pleased with me, for I have no Crosses worth anything.'
He has since that, during the last week, sent me plenty, so
that I see my sun setting on a dark and angry horizon. I
have had my pangs, but, thank God, I feed on Deo gratias
and ' Juxta crucem tecum stare, et me tibi sociare,' &c. I
mention this only to encourage you by saying that what
I am preaching, on this occasion at least, I have the grace

THE LAST DAYS 481
to practise. I send you my old marked Spiritual Combat,
— as you like marks, read the 10th chapter and the
references. It will give point to all we have been saying
day and night from the ' Stabat' and the ' Die to self and
' Will with Thy Will,' &c, and I am sure it will put a new
and a bounding heart of courage into you. No, the slave
will feel and suffer in the lower nature, but will rejoice in
the higher ; and Scupoli, the book I gave them here as a
text-book on the Spiritual life, will tell you many things
that will help you much better than I can. Pray for me
that I may be a good slave."
Under the date June 10th, 1903, Father Henry says in
his diary : " Eve of Corpus Christi. Saw the Cardinal
after Vespers. He gave permission for examination and
Ordination as usual in September. He asked for the
prayers of the students, and I promised a General
Communion for him of the Community to-morrow. He
spoke about his state — how strange it was to feel so weak
and unable to do anything, simply dying. How it was
manifestly the goodness of God — like a Father with his
child — to put him as it were in retreat. His great
devotion is evidently acquiescence in the Will of God. ' I
am afraid we sometimes forget that, we are so active in the
service of God — so busy and inclined to trust to self ; we
become too natural and forget to spiritualise our work.
And then God sends us a sickness — like this.' "
Towards the end he suffered much from sleeplessness,
and it distressed him to find that he had lost his old
power of concentrating and fixing his thoughts. He
wanted to keep them directed to heavenly things, and
often they wandered, and this was a subject of acute
distress. But though this was a trial, he tried to turn it to
II II

482 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
account. To one intimate friend he said : " I am so feeble
that sometimes I cannot even say the Rosary — I have to
get the nurse to say it for me. See what I am reduced to.
But what a splendid humiliation ! " One evening he sent
for Father Henry and said, " I am sure I am going to
have another sleepless night. I want you to get me some
pictures and fasten them above my bed where I can see
them during the night. I want a picture of the Crucifixion
and of Our Lady and St. Joseph and St. Peter." Father
Henry went out and quickly found pictures of the
Crucifixion and of Our Lady, but at the moment was at a
loss to find anything to represent St. Peter. At length he
found a twopenny oleograph which had adorned the room
of one of the lay brothers. The Cardinal was well pleased
and said with a smile, " I don't want high art, but just
something that will remind me of what I want to think
about." Then he added, " Now please hang them up —
the Crucifixion at the top, Our Lady at the right, and
St. Joseph on the left and St. Peter below — yes, put
St. Peter in his proper place at the feet of Our Lord." It
was a pathetic effort to help the failing faculties, but it
was successful.
The following letter was sent in reply to one from
Mr. Austin Oates, who for many years, both in Salford
and Westminster, had been his private secretary :
"June 10th. You may come for a short conversation
Sunday afternoon. I cannot see people in the morning.
I am on my Cross, and am looking for Our Lord's mercy
and the prayers of friends. Yrs. afftly., H. C. V."
The last letter he ever wrote was to Mgr. Fenton, and
is dated June 16th. It was evidently written with diffi
culty and in pain — its thoughts are disconnected, and in

THE LAST DAYS 483
parts it is almost illegible. But its general meaning is
clear enough, and it shows how till the last his concern
for the good of the diocese was uppermost in his mind.
He begs his Vicar-General to try to see that the future
of the Cathedral is not left to the whim or the taste of
any one man. He takes blame to himself because he has
sometimes acted without consulting others. He expresses
the hope that his successor will consult laymen as well
as priests upon questions concerning the administration
of the Cathedral and the decoration and adornment of
its fabric. There is plenty of material, and he mentions
by name as " splendid examples " of Catholic laymen the
Duke of Norfolk and his brother, Lord Edmund Talbot.
The letter goes on : "I do not know who may follow
me, but I earnestly pray that he may gather all, lay and
clergy, by union and consultation, in common action."
And with this almost inarticulate prayer for peace and
unity the correspondence of Cardinal Vaughan comes to
an end. His spiritual director, Father Considine, S.J., writes :
" Twice only was I able to visit him at Mill Hill —
for the last time on the day of his death. He knew
he had at any time only to express a wish and I should
have been at his side"; but although he owned that he
longed greatly for sympathy and spiritual solace in his
hours of weakness and pain, he would not even in this
supreme stress call away a busy man from his appointed
work. What made this self-denial almost heroic in his
case was the grievous interior trial by which God was
pleased to purify his soul at the last. There had fallen
on him a great loneliness and desolation of spirit, the soul
seemed to be a sharer of the weakness of the body and

484 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
to be shaken by kindred agitations and pains ; its eyes
waxed dim as though in sympathy with the bodily
senses, and the darkness into which it peered seemed
haunted by ghostly presences, strange and terrifying.
What if Faith after "all were but a dream, and all its
gracious truths mere pious imaginings? The physical
powers were failing, and the succours of Faith appeared
to be withdrawn as well ; the undoubting creed of a
lifetime seemed to dissolve, as it were, at the touch,
and to yield no support to hand or foot ; the fabric
of religion was fading away just when it was needed
most. The poor heart laboured and the breath came
slowly, but the soul seemed to pant in a deeper agony
within. It was not an attack delivered against any one
revealed doctrine in particular, or the sudden reawaken
ing of some long-laid doubt — the horror, the cruelty of
the temptation lay in its whisper that ' nothing was true,
all beliefs were false together, there was no God, no here
after.' Through all this tempest, however, the Cardinal's
mind was perfectly clear and self-possessed ; it did not
lose its balance ; it was subject to no illusions ; it did
not believe that the evil spirits were visible to the bodily
eye. But a bewilderment and a terror seized him for
which he could not account, and which caused him the
keenest distress. He never doubted that his state was
a temptation, and even at its height he was perfectly
aware that the commotion was outside him, and not
within. He listened humbly and with the docility of a
child to the words of his director. He prayed most
fervently, although his soul was dry and his mind still
dark. Most of all he found comfort and strength in
clasping his Crucifix, and imprinting kisses on it, in

THE LAST DAYS 485
loving invocation of the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, and
his favourite Saints. By degrees calm returned, although
no sweetness and no joy, but he felt that strength was
given to him from Heaven to endure, and he knew that
God was with him even if hidden behind a veil.
" As I rose to take my leave he insisted, in spite of his
weakness, on accompanying me to the door of his room,
and I came out on the lofty terrace, overlooking a glorious
view when lit up by the sun of June, but now swathed
in hurrying clouds and rain. In fact, torrents had been
falling all day long, and for days before, so that the
floods were everywhere and I splashed through pools
of water on the overflowed roads as I made my way to
the station. What could I think of as I went except
of the hidden counsels of God ? The very turbulence
of that June weather seemed, I hardly know how, to
communicate to me a strange sense of relief, and not
to be out of harmony with the ¦ scene I had just wit
nessed. My mind and heart were still full of all its
smallest details — that noble figure, princely in bearing
as in ecclesiastical rank, now bowed, less by infirmity
than by grief, that broken voice, that troubled glance,
those wasted fingers clasped in prayer. And yet in truth
since the Divine Sufferer was lifted up from the earth the
cry of His dereliction, if we could hear it, still thrills
through the air of this our human world of sorrow, and
is repeated, night and day, by some among His chosen
friends, whom He makes one with Him, as now in dark
ness and apparent defeat, so in light and triumph here
after. On the next day, which was calm and beautiful,
I heard the news of the Cardinal's death. After the
tossing of the waves the ship reaches its haven ; through

486 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
the portals of sorrow his soul had passed into the Eternal
Rest." The Cardinal died shortly before midnight on June 19th,
1903. The day before he felt much weaker, and was sure
the end was not far off. He expressed a wish to make
his public Profession of Faith that afternoon. The Vicar-
General, Mgr. Fenton, and three of the Canons of the
diocese — Mgr. Johnson, Mgr. Moyes, and Mgr. Dunn —
were hastily summoned from Westminster. The Cardinal
was wheeled to the door of the College Church, where
a number of priests and professors and students, and his
brothers, Colonel Vaughan and Mr. Reginald Vaughan,
were already assembled. An eye-witness, Mgr. Moyes,
writes : " The Cardinal was himself in all the striking
outlines of face and figure, but at the same time in many
ways unutterably changed. The face was that of the
dying ; the lines of the features drawn, the eyes glassy
and glittering, and wearing that fixed, far-away look of
those who are nearing the next world and passing away
from this. As he was wheeled out he looked around in
a dazed, wondering way, but recognised each one of us
in turn. They put his scarlet cappa magna on his
shoulders and his red-tasseled hat on his head. The
Canons formed a line behind, the nurse wheeling the
chair, and so the procession went up the corridor. It was
like a funeral with the bier bearing the dying instead
of the dead."
After a few steps the procession was suddenly brought
to a halt. The Cardinal whispered something to his nurse.
He had thought of the aged lady who for forty years
had lived in a cottage at the College gates and been his
friend, and the friend of all the Missioners. " Does Miss

THE LAST DAYS 487
Hanmer know ? " he asked, and when he heard that she
had been forgotten he said, " Oh, she will be so sorry not
to be here." And so the procession stayed and all waited
till some one had run down the garden, and the friend
of so many years had had time to obey the summons.
Then the procession moved on and the .Cardinal was
wheeled to the front of the sanctuary.
The ceremony began with a brief explanation by
Mgr. Johnson of the meaning of the act which was about
to take place. The great charge and the sublime function
of the Episcopate as successors of the Apostles was to
hand down from generation to generation the sacred
Deposit of the Catholic faith. Hence a Bishop at his
consecration made public and solemn profession of the
Catholic faith as prescribed by the Holy See. During his
episcopate his whole work was to preserve, preach, and
defend it. Then the Church ordained that at the close
of his life, before laying down his charge, the Bishop should
publicly and solemnly, and in the presence of his Chapter,
make the same profession of Faith, thus handing down the
Faith once delivered to the Saints unsullied and entire to
his successor. It is the cursum consummavi, fidem servavi
declaration of the Catholic Bishop before leaving his flock
to go before Christ in judgment.
When Mgr. Johnson had concluded this word of
explanation there was a moment of silence ; but the dying
man had still something he wished to say. Looking upon
the audience and as if at something far beyond, he began
to speak. " His voice," writes Mgr. Moyes, " was high-
pitched and clear — thrillingly clear, and strong enough
to be very distinctly heard in every part of the church.
But it was not his usual voice. The words were long

488 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
drawn and staccato. What made it strangely weird was
that the voice seemed to get higher at the close of the
sentences, instead of having the usual cadence. It seemed
to be the voice of a man who was already half in the
other world, and there was in it something impressive
beyond what words can tell." He had wished to read
the full Profession of Faith himself, but it was feared that
the effort would be too much for him, so when Mgr.
Johnson had read aloud the form of the Profession of
Faith it was carried with the sacred Gospel and laid
before the Cardinal. He said : " After concluding this
rite, which so far as human intelligence can foresee is
the last public act of my life, I wish to ask pardon
of all whom I have offended or scandalised through
hastiness, want of judgment or care in the carrying out of
my important post in the ministry. I attach no value to
my humble endeavours or public undertakings to which
people might attribute any importance. I place no con
fidence in anything which, in the eyes of the world, may
recommend me to its consideration. All I have done has
been done solely for this end — the glory of God, whose
poor instrument I have been in all these works. They
have been carried out by me merely as an instrument, and
must necessarily be full of imperfections. I rely entirely
on the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ and on the inter
cession of His Holy Mother, St. Joseph, and the Apostles,
specially St. Peter. I ask you to remember me when I
am beyond this world and shall want all the help my soul
may stand in need of. I trust in God, I love Jesus, Mary
and Joseph and Peter."
On getting back to his room he seemed visibly weaker.
After resting a little while, pointing to his Cardinal's

THE LAST DAYS 489
robes, he said to the nurse, " Take away this finery. I shall
not need it again." Later in the afternoon he was able
to sit up in his chair and to receive in turn the Vicar-
General and each of the Canons who had been present
at the ceremony. As the evening came on he repeatedly
expressed his confident hope that Our Lord would
take him soon — there was nothing to wait for now.
The next day was the 19th of June, the Feast of
the Sacred Heart — he was much weaker and was
anointed by Father Henry. Early in the afternoon he
had the agitating interview with Father Considine already
described. But Father Considine had comforted better
than he knew. After he had gone a great calm came
over the dying man, and his soul at last knew a perfect
peace. He felt sure that Death would come and knock
at his door before that sweet Feast of the Sacred Heart
was over. He had so longed to die, and was sure his
wish was near fulfilment. Those who were with him
wondered — for it seemed he had still many days. All
through the afternoon he was insistent that they should
give him no more drugs or sleeping-draughts. " Don't
let my thoughts get entangled to-night by stimulants
and drugs," he said earnestly and repeatedly. " I want
only to be with Jesus and the Holy Family." The
supreme hour was coming and he wanted to meet it
with a clear mind.
When the summer evening drew in and he was
alone with his nurse he asked him to say the Rosary.
A little later he begged the nurse to pardon all the
unnecessary trouble he had given, adding, "You must
try to bear with an impatient and irritable old man."
About 11 o'clock Mr. Young retired, giving place to

490 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
the night-nurse, Mr. Keating. At the half-hour the
Cardinal grew suddenly worse and Mr. Young was
called. The Cardinal could only whisper, "I have had
a bad attack — the worst I have had." Then after a
time relief came, and for a little while he lay back in
his chair murmuring, "Jesus — Mary — Joseph." Minutes
went by, and then the words came more slowly and
faintly, until suddenly an ashen veil seemed to close
over his face. Father Henry was hastily called, and
as he rushed out of his room, meeting another priest,
he pointed to the clock and said, " Take note of the
time." It was ten minutes to midnight, and he was
thinking of the Cardinal's wish to die before the Feast
of the Sacred Heart had passed. They hurried on to
the sick-room, but the Angel of Death was there before
them. The Cardinal had died without a struggle and
quite quietly — his lips still trying to shape themselves
to the words "Jesus, Mary, Joseph."
The next day when the news was known there were
many who wanted to have an imposing funeral ceremony,
but the Vicar-General knew that the dead man's wish
had been only for prayers, and the utmost simplicity
in externals. The body was therefore taken to the
unfinished Cathedral in Westminster for the Requiem,
before its burial in the garden at St. Joseph's, Mill Hill.
The night before the Requiem Mass I went into the
Cathedral at a late hour. Its great spaces were all in
darkness, lit only by the eight tall candles that stood
like sentinels round the bier as it rested in the centre
of the nave. No yard of mourning trappings had been
used to drape or hide the gaunt bareness of the walls,
but kneeling there were two Sisters of Nazareth, who

THE LAST DAYS 49 1
had come to spend the night in prayer with the dead.
I knew it was all as he would have wished it to be.
In other days it had been hoped to mark the opening
of the Cathedral for public worship by some ceremony
of imposing and memorable splendour. But the Cardinal
had upset his own schemes — he had come back in his
coffin, and his funeral service was the Cathedral's
opening, and there never was any other.
The Requiem Mass was sung in the presence of
nearly all the Bishops of England, of five hundred of
the clergy, and a great gathering of the laity from all
parts of the country. Many a stately pageant has
taken place in Westminster Cathedral since then, but
no more impressive scene is ever likely to be witnessed
within its walls than that which was seen that day.
The last public tribute to the memory and example
of the Cardinal was paid by the Bishop of Newport,
and it was a tribute that will long be remembered,
for it was worthy of its high occasion. The follow
ing morning, on the 26th of June, the body was
taken by road back to St. Joseph's College, Mill Hill.
In spite of the early hour a little crowd of friends, and
neighbours, and school children, and his own Missioners
had assembled to assist at the Requiem Mass in the
College Chapel and to listen to the farewell words
spoken by Father Bernard Vaughan. The coffin was
then carried out to the graveside in the garden,
beneath the shadow of the great Crucifix. The last
absolutions before the coffin was lowered into the
grave were pronounced by the Cardinal's Secretary of
so many years, Mgr. Johnson.
Shortly before his death Cardinal Vaughan wrote

492 CARDINAL VAUGHAN
these words : " It would be to my taste to have a plain
granite slab and not a monument — quite unfit for a
heart that is in the missionary life of the Church."
But the wishes of the dead have often to be adjusted
to the feelings of the living, and to-day a plain granite
monument, in the form of a recumbent Latin Cross,
marks the grave of Cardinal Vaughan. On it is carved
the simple inscription he asked for. Beneath the record
of his style and titles, as men knew him, cut into the
stone are these words : " Servulus perpetuus gloriosae et
beatae Mariae Virginis et Sancti Josephi"

INDEX

Acton, Lord, ii. 295-300
Ad Anglos, the letter, ii. 183-6
Anglican Orders, the question of,
ii. 146-63, 173-9, 194-230 ; the
Commission on, 194-208 ; the
Decree, 222-30
Apostolicae Curae, ii. 223-30
Bans, Father E., and the Crusade of
Rescue, ii. 271-3
Barnardo, Dr., and Catholic children,
ii. 262-7, 273-°
Benedictines, the, and Westminster
Cathedral, ii. 348-59
Benoit, Canon, i. 239, 267, 269
Benson, Archbishop, and Abbe Portal,
ii. 151 ; and Reunion, 155-6 ; and
Anglican Orders, 186
Bentley, J. F., and Westminster
Cathedral, ii. 330-6, 342-6
Bishop, Mr. Edmund, ii. 151
Blackburn, Vernon, on Cardinal
Vaughan, ii. 5-8
Bodley, J. E. C, on the precedence
question, ii. 308-9
Bourne, Archbishop, on the Seminary
system, ii. 52-5
Bourret, Cardinal, and Abbe Portal,
ii. 150
Brownlow, Canon, ii. 109
Brugelette, the school at, i. 18-20
Butler, Lady, i. 262
Cameron, Mrs., ii. 406
Canty, Rev. David, i. 203
Carson, Father, ii. 474, 477
Casartelli, Dr., i. 315-18, ii. I, 9

Charybdis, H.M.S., i. 140-1
Churchill, Lord Randolph, on Educa
tion, ii. 99-100
Clifford, Bishop, and the Religious
Orders dispute, i. 321-36, 338-48,
349, 354, 355
Clutton, Henry, and Westminster
Cathedral, ii. 313-16
Considine, Father, on Cardinal
Vaughan, ii. 409-22, 483-6
" Corporate Reunion," ii. 141-6, 177,
180, 182, 188, 192, 217-22, 226-8
Courtfield, i. 1, 2, 8 ; succession of
the estate, 372
Crusade of Rescue, the, i. 249-51, ii.
271-3
Dalbus, F., see Portal, Abbe
Dalgairns, Father, and Veuillot, i.
225-7
Davis, Jefferson, i. 174
Denny, Rev. E., ii. 150, 187
Derwent Hall, Cardinal Vaughan at,
ii. 389-91, 462-6
De Unitate, ii. 190-3
De Vere, Aubrey, i. 36-7, ii. 370-1
Dollinger, Dr., i. 63-4
Duchesne, Abbe, and Anglican
Orders, ii. 147-9, *52, I5S, *95
Dupanloup, Mgr., i. 204-8
Education : Cardinal Vaughan and
the elementary schools, ii. 87-140 ;
and the Act of 1902, 128-38, 422 ;
and the Nonconformist grievance,
137-8 ; see also Voluntary School?

493

494

INDEX

Fenton, Mgr., i. 475
Franchi, Cardinal, i. 296, 299, 300,
302-3, 402
Freshfield, St. Peter's College, i. 447-8
Gallwey, Father, and the Man
chester School dispute, i. 277-303,
320
Gasparri, Mgr., and Anglican Orders,
ii. 152
Gasquet, Abbot, on the Pallium, ii.
18 ; on Anglican Orders and Re
union, 151, 175-6, 195 ; his dis
coveries in Rome, 197-201 ; and the
Risposta, 215-17 ; on the functions
of a Cathedral, 321
Gladstone, Mr., letter on Anglican
Orders, ii. 208-12, 224-5 ; on the
precedence question, 306
Halifax, Lord, and Corporate Re
union, ii. 152-6, 164-5, 167-73, 180,
182, 185-8, 196, 218
Hammersmith Seminary, see St.
Thomas' Seminary
Healy, Mr. T., and the Royal Declara
tion, ii. 244-5
Herbert of Lea, Lady, i. 166
Ingram, Dr. Winnington, on the
precedence question, ii. 309-12
Irish priests, Cardinal Vaughan and,
ii. 385-6
Jesuits, the, in Manchester, i. 271-
303 ; Cardinal Vaughan and, 353,
459, "• 24-5
Johnson, Bishop, ii. 397
Kensington, the Catholic College,
ii. 7cm
Lacey, Rev. T., and Anglican Orders,
ii. 187, 195, 207, 218 ; and De Re
Anglicana, 213-215

Leo XIII and Romanos Pontifices,
i. 350 ; and Anglican Orders, ii.
154-5, 179, 194, 207 ; and Reunion,
176-80 ; and De Unitate, 190-3
Llanforda Hall, Cardinal Vaughan at,
ii. 388
Logue, Cardinal, and the Royal
Declaration, ii. 245
London, the loss of Catholic children
in, ii. 267-71
" Loss of our Children, The," i. 407
Lucas, Frederick, and the Tablet, i.
181-7
Lucas, Father Herbert, on Westmin
ster Cathedral design, ii. 335-6
Ludovico, Padre, i. 365-6
Macnamara, Dr., ii. 134-5
Manchester, St. Bede's College, i.
305-n, 313-19 ; the Aquarium,
306-13 ; the great Mission, 396-9 ;
loss of Catholic children in, 404 ;
slums, 430 ; the affairs of, 440 ; the
Cardinal's affection for, ii. 395-6
Manning, H. E. Cardinal, Vaughan's
first meeting with i. 38 ; and the
O.S.C., 74-5, 77-83, 88, 89, 94 ; and
Foreign Missions, 105, 113 ; and
the first missionaries, 168 ; and
J. Wallis of the Tablet, 188, 190, 191;
and the Salford vacancy, 239-240 ;
and temperance, 246-7, 475 ; and
the Manchester School dispute,
291-3 ; and the Religious Orders,
320, 323-36, 337-8, 340, 354 ; friend
ship and differences with Vaughan,
454-9, 483 ; and the S.J., 459 ; and
the Weekly Register, 459-65 ; and
diplomatic relations with Rome,
465 ; and the University question,
468-9 ; and Home Rule, 470-3 ;
and the Deceased Wife's Sister
question, 474 ; and the Dock Strike,
476-7 ; and the Salvation Army,
478-82 ; death, ii. 1 ; and the Ham-

INDEX

49S

mersmith Seminary, 38-41, 42-44;
his official precedence, 304-9 ;
and Westminster Cathedral site,
313-9
Maskell, Mr., i. 31-3
Medrano, Father, i. 116
Merry del Val, Cardinal, ii. 179, 195,
289-90
Meynell, Wilfrid, and the Weekly
Register, i. 463, 465 ; visits S. A.
Shelters with Vaughan, 479-83
Meynell, Mrs. W., and the Paray-le-
Monial pilgrimage, i. 262-7
Mill Hill Missionary College, see St.
Joseph's College
Mivart, Dr. St. George, ii. 300-3
Montalembert, i. 235-7
Monument, the, former inscription
on, ii. 259-60
Moyes, Mgr., and St. Bede's College,
i. 319 ; and the Anglican Orders
Commission, ii. 203-6 ; and the
Risposta, 215-7 i °n the Apostolicae
Curae, 223-4
Newman, Cardinal, Apologia, i. 215 ;
and Papal Infallibility, 215-27, 229
-30 ; and Veuillot, 225-7 ; the
Grammar of Assent, 227-8
Nugent, Father, i. 246-7
Oscott, St. Mary's College, ii. 44-5,
56,58-6
Oxford Movement, the, i. 67-71
Papal Infallibility, i. 200-27, 229-38
Paray-le-Monial, i. 261-7
Patmore, Coventry, ii. 404
Pius IX and the Manchester School
dispute, i. 294, 299
Portal, Abbe, and Reunion, ii. 145-56,
217-19
Puller, Rev. Mr., and Anglican
Orders, ii. 195, 207, 218

Rampolla, Cardinal, and Anglican
Orders, ii. 154-6, 179, 181
Reunion of Churches, see Corporate
Reunion
Rickaby, Father Joseph, on Vaughan's
inner life, ii. 383-4
" Roman Catholic," the term, ii. 231-9
Romanos Pontifices, ii. 350-2
Royal Declaration, the, ii. 235, 240,
241-60
Ryder, Father Cyril, on St. Joseph's
College, i. 159-60
St. Bede's College, Manchester, i.
313-19
St. Charles Borromeo, the Order of,
introduced into England, i. 66-7 ;
and St. Edmund's College, 71-6,
79-83, 87, 94; and Foreign
Missions, 113, 154
St. Edmund, the relics of, ii. 287-94
St. Edmund's College, Old Hall, i. 59,
64,71,75,76,84-98
St. Joseph's College, Mill Hill,
inception of, i. 115-19 ; collection
of funds for, 134-5, 147, 154-5;
selection and purchase, 156-8 ;
conduct, 159-62, 165-6 ; present
building begun, 167 ; activities of,
445-7 ; the Calvary at, ii. 473 ;
Vaughan's last illness and death
at, 471-492
St. Joseph's Missionary Sisters, foun
dation of, i. 449
St. Mary's, Moorfields, sale of, ii.
34°
St.Thomas' Seminary, Hammersmith,
ii. 56
Salford, Vaughan as Bishop of, i.
239-59 ; diocesan finance, 380 ; con
secration of the Cathedral, 441
Salisbury, Lord, and the Royal De
claration, ii. 248-58
Schools, see Education
Seminary system, the, ii. 35-8

496

INDEX

Simpson, Richard, and Lord Acton, ii.
295-7
Solesmes, the Abbot of, and West
minster Cathedral, ii. 349, 353-7
Stokes, Scott N.,onVoluntarySchools,
ii. 109-10
Stonyhurst, i. 17
Sykes, Sir Tatton, and Westminster
Cathedral, ii. 316, 318
" Tablet, The," early history of, i.
181-90 ; bought and conducted by
Vaughan, 190-9 ; and Papal Infalli
bility, 201-25, 229, 238 ; and the
Grammar of Assent,*22S ; and the
Weekly Register, 460-5 ; and Home
Rule, 470-2 ; and the Education
question, ii. 92, 105, 109, 112, 114,
126, 127, 133 ; and the letter Ad
Anglos, 183, 185 ; and De Unitate,
190-1 ; and " Corporate Reunion,"
220, 221-2 ; and the St. Edmund
relics,290 ; and Westminster Cathe
dral, 316, 318, 358
Tennyson, Lord, ii. 406
True Tablet, the, i. 182-3
University question, the, i. 468-9,
ii. 70-86
Vaughan, Father Bernard, on early
life at Courtfield, i. 24-30
Vaughan, Clare, death of, i. 101-3
Vaughan, Eliza, mother of the Car
dinal, i. n-15, 20, 21, 23-30, 39-41
Vaughan, Herbert, Cardinal, descent,
i. 2-8 ; birth and parentage, 8 ;
childhood, 24-30 ; youth, 10, 15, 22 ;
at Stonyhurst, 15 ; love of sport,
16-17 ; at Brugelette, 18-20 ; and
the Priesthood, 20-3 ; first visit to
Rome, 31-41, 44 ; on the priest's
life, 35-6 ; and Aubrey de Vere,
36-8 ; first meeting with Manning,
38 ; ill-health, 48-55 ; preparation

for the diaconate, 52-6 ; ordination
56-7 ; his first Mass, 57 ; Vice-
Principal of St. Edmund's College,
59, 64, 71, 75-9, 83-98 ; and Semi
narian discipline, 59, 60 ; on St.
Sulpice, 60-1 ; in Germany, 62 ;
and Dollinger, 63-4 ; and W. G.
Ward, 77-9 ; Mission work, 92, 95 ;
and Foreign Missions, 104-122 ;
founds the Missionary Society, 116-
.18 ; learns Spanish, 119 ; in Central
America, 124-7 ; in California, 128-
35 ; in Peru, 136-8 ; in Chili, 138-
40 ; on H.M.S. Charybdis, 140-1 ;
and the death of Wiseman, 141 ;
in Brazil, 141-150 ; and Manning's
appointment, 148-50 ; return to
England, 154 ; reception by Man
ning, 154 ; purchase of Holcombe
House, Mill Hill, 156-7; and St.
Joseph's College, 1 161-9 ; his idea
of a Missioner, 162-3 ; breakdown
in health, 165-7 ; in U.S.A. and
Canada, 168-80 ; and the Negroes,
170-9 ; and Jefferson Davis, 174;
and the Tablet, 190-238 ; and Papal
Infallibility, 200-5, 229-238 ; and
Mgr. Dupanloup, 204-8; and the
Apologia, 215 ; controversy with
Newman, 215-31 ; and Montalem-
bert, 236-7 ; appointment to Salford,
239-40 ; daily routine and rules of
life as Bishop, 242-3, 451-3 ; signa
ture as Bishop, 244-5 > consecration,
245 ; and his Diocese, 245-6 ; and
temperance, 246-51, 433-6, 475;
and the Crusade of Rescue, 249-51 ;
and the Pastoral Seminary, 252-9 ;
at Paray-le-Monial, 260-7 ; second
visit to America, 267-9 > dispute
with the Jesuits, 270-303 ; schools
in Manchester, 272-3 ; and Pius
IX, 294-303 ; and St. Bede's
College, 305-11, 313-19; and the
Manchester Aquarium, 306-13 ; and

INDEX

497

Dr. Casartelli, 315-18 ; and the
Religious Orders question, 321-6,
331-57 ; in Assisi, 359-62 ; on
Miracles, 360-4 ; and St. Januarius,
362-4 ; at Naples, 362-5 ; and
Padre Ludovico, 365-6 ; death of
his father, 366-71 ; and the Court-
field estate, 372 ; on stipends of the
clergy, 374-5 ; on Mission finance,
376-80 ; on duties of the Priest
hood, 384-95 ; on duties of confes
sors, 387-9 ; on children's con
fessions, 387-8 ; on visiting the
poor, 389-90 ; on visiting schools,
390-1 ; on punctuality, 392-3 ; on
Presbytery life, 394 ; and the Man
chester Mission, 396-9 ; and the
Annual Conferences, 399-400 ; and
popular services, 400-2 ; on congre
gational singing, 401-2 ; and the
Catholic Protection and Rescue
Society, 403-29 ; and proselytising
societies, 407-9, 414-18 ; and the
Workhouse System, 409-10, 418-
22 ; and Manchester slums, 430 ;
and the Anti-Slavery movement,
436-8 ; and the Geographical
Society, 438 ; and Manchester
affairs, 440 ; and bazaars, 441-5 ;
and St. Peter's College, Freshfield,
447 ; vacations, 450 ; friendship and
differences with Manning, 454-9 ;
and the S.J., 459, ii. 24-5 ; and the
Tablet and Weekly Register, i. 459-
65 ; and diplomatic relations with
Rome, 465-8 ; and the Universities,
468-9, ii. 70-86 ; and Home Rule,
i. 470-3 ; and the Deceased Wife's
Sister Bill, 474 ; and the Dock
Strike, 477 ; and the Salvation
Army, 478-82 ; and Manning's
death, ii. 1 ; appointment to West
minster, 2, 4 ; arrival in London, 10 ;
plans forjthefuture, 10-12; enthrone
ment, 12 ; and the Pallium, 15-21 ;
II K

a Cardinal, 22 ; on dining out, 30-3 ;
his interest in Seminaries, 34, 41-69 ;
and Oscott, 44-5, 56-61 ; and the
secular priesthood, 65-8 ; and the
elementary schools, 87-140 ; and
the Education Act of 1902, 128-38,
422 ; and the Nonconformist
grievance, 137-8 ; and the Re
union of Churches, 141-5, 156-8,
177, 188-90, 192-3, 219-22, 226-8 ;
and Anglican Orders, 158-163, 178,
194, 226-9 i and the Cabrera inci
dent, 163-74 >' and the term " Roman
Catholic," 231-9 ; and addresses to
the Crown, 232-6 ; and obeisance
to the Sovereign, 240-1 ; and the
Royal Declaration, 235, 240-60 ;
and Dr. Barnardo, 266-7, 273-6 ;
and rescue work in London,
261-76; and the death of Roger,
Archbishop Vaughan, 278-86 ; and
the relics of St. Edmund, 287-94 >
and Lord Acton, 295-300 ; and Dr.
Mivart, 300-3 ; and the question of
precedence, 303-12 ; and Westmin
ster Cathedral, 313, 319-60, 418-19,
475,483; and the Benedictines, 346-
59 ; anecdotes and characteristics,
spiritual and practical advice, 361-
407 ; as writer, 402, 423-7 ; inner
life, 408-51 ; and Father Considine,
408-9 ; at Llandrindod Wells, 458 ;
at Derwent Hall, 462-6 ; last illness,
468 ; at Mill Hill, 471-92 ; and
Father Carson, 474, 477 ; his last
Mass, 479 ; profession of Faith, 487-
8 ; death, 488-90 ; requiem, 490-1 ;
burial, 491 ; monument, 492
Vaughan, Colonel John, character
and career, i. 9-1 1, 26-7, 42-4 ;
last illness and death, 366-71
Vaughan, Roger, Archbishop of
Sydney, death, ii. 278-81 ; question
of burial, 282-6
Vaughan, Teresa, death, i. 99-102
K

498

INDEX

Vaughan family history, i. 2-8
Veuillot, i. 225-7
" Voluntary Schools," repudiation of
the term, ii. 114
Voluntary Schools Association, the,
ii. 91-111
Von Ferstel, Baron, and Westminster
Cathedral, ii. 317-18
Wallis, John, and the Tablet, i. 187-
92, 462
Ward, Wilfrid, ii. 171, 174, 477-8
Ward, William George, and St.
Edmund's College, i. 77-9 ; friend
ship with Vaughan, 98 ; gift to
St. Joseph's College, 155 ; and the
Weekly Register, 464 ; and the
University question, 468
Weekly Register, the, and Papal In
fallibility, i. 201, 203, 206-7, 216,
218-19, 228, 231-5 ; later history,
459-65, 471
Weld, Father, and the Manchester
School dispute, i. 281-3, 293
Wenham, Canon, and Papal Infalli
bility, i. 210-12

Westminster Cathedral, history of
the project, ii. 313-19 1 the site,
314-19 ; Cardinal Manning and,
313-19 ; Cardinal Vaughan and,
319-60, 475, 483 ; the object and
function of, 319-23, 327-8 ; opposi
tion to, 323-6 ; design, 327-36 ;
J. F. Bentley and, 330-6, 342-6 ;
collecting for, 332-3, 339, 341 ;
laying the foundation-stone, 336 ;
comparison of, with other cathe
drals, 337-8 ; building difficulties,
339; and the choir question, 346-
59 ; the first Mass, 469
Westminster Land Company, the, ii.
317-18
Wilberforce, Henry W., and the
Weekly Register, i. 201, 216, 235
Wiseman, Cardinal, and the restora
tion of the Hierarchy, i. 67, 70 ;
difficulties with the Orders, 71 ;
and the O.S.C., 73 ; and foreign
missions, 106-8, 121-2 ; death, 141
Wonersh Seminary, ii. 58
" Young Priest, The," ii. 479

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