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WISEMAN

point out the inconsistency of its dealings with the Catliolics of England and Ireland. The cardinal followed up the publication of his treatise by dehver- ing a course of lectures on the same lines in St. George's Cathedral, and the note struck by him was taken up by Gladstone in the House of Commons. The Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, making the assumption by Catholics of episcopal titles in the United Kingdom a penal offence, was introduced into Parliament early in 1851, and became law on 1 Aug.; but it was a dead letter from the first, as Gladstone had the courage and prescience to declare that it would be. Its provisions were never enforced, and it was repealed during Glad- stone's first premiership twenty years later. By the end of 1851 the No-popery agitation, as short-lived as it was violent, was dead and buried, the last nail having been knocked into its coffin by the unrivalled irony and brilliant rhetoric of the lectures on "The Present Position of Catholics", delivered by Newman in Birmingham in the summer of this year.

The anti-Catholic storm having been lulled, Wise- man made it his business to endeavour to restore those amicable relations between Catholics and Protestants which had inevitably been somewhat disturbed by the recent outburst. He had many personal friends outside Catholic circles, and his wide range of knowl- edge on many neutral subjects such as natural science, archaeology, and Oriental studies, made him welcome in general society. No one could be less like the "wily Roman prelate" of anti-popery fiction than the genial and thoroughly Enghsh gentleman, whose appearance, bearing, and conversation disarmed the prejudices and enlisted the sympathy of all with whom he was brought into contact. Not only by

Cersonal intercourse with his feUow-countrymen, but y his frequent appearances on the lecture-platform, he did much to influence pubhc opinion in favour of Cathohcs. His lectures were at first chiefly on relig- ious subjects, delivered in Catholic chapels in various parts of the country; but as time went on, and the many-sided character of his attainments became better known to the public, he was frequently asked to give addresses on topics connected with archa;- ology, art, and hterature, not only in London but in Liverpool, Manchester, and other important centres. Large audiences, including many persons of di.stinction, attended on these occasions; and the speaker's graceful eloquence, genial personality, and Bympathetic voice and manner, enhanced the impres- sion wrought by his intimate knowledge of the vari- ous subjects with which he dealt. His delivery was fluent and his style brilliant, and characterized by a command of poetic imagery in which probably few public .speakers have surp.assed or equalled him.

While the cardinal slowly but surely advanced in the popular regard and esteem, as his gifts and quali- ties became more widely known, he was faced with many internal difficulties in the government of the Church in England. The divergence of views, on questions of church pohty and administration, be- tween the old school of ecclesiastics (who were opposed as much to what they called the "importation of modern Roman ideas" as to the influx of converts and the re-establishmcnt of regular orders in England) and the enthusi.astic recruits from Oxford such as Oak- ley, Talbot, Faber, and Ward, had by no means dis- appeared. Wiseman himself was regarded, even by some of his brother bishops, as .something of an auto- crat; and both before and after the first provincial synod held by him at Oscott (when Newman preached his famous sermon on the Second Sjiring), there was considerable agitation for the appointment of irre- moveable parish priests and for the election of bishops by the diocesan clergy. Wiseman met these diffi- culties with his usual courage, moderation, and tact, steadfastly refusing to be drawn into party contro- versies or to allow any public manifestation of party XV.— 43

spirit. He went to Rome in the autumn of 1853 to explain matters personally to Pius IX, who showed him every mark of confidence and kindness, and gave full approval to his ecclesiastical pohcy.

It was during this visit to Rome that Wiseman pro- jected, and commenced to execute, the writing of by far the most popular book that came from his versa- tile pen — the beautiful romance of "Fabiola", which was meant to be the first of a series of tales illustrative of different periods of the Church's life. The book appeared at the end of 1854, and its success was im- mediate and phenomenal. Translations of it were published in almost every European language, and the most eminent scholars of the day were unani- mous in its praise. All this greatly consoled the cardinal when troubled and harassed by many vexations, and a spirit of new cheerfulness and cour- age breathes from a sermon preached by him in May, 18.55, dwelHng in thankfulness and hope on the revival of Catholicism in England. In the autumn of 1855 he dehvered, and afterwards published, four lectures on concordats, in connexion with the concordat recently concluded between Austria and the Holy See. The subject was treated with his usual exhaustive eloquence, and the lectures made a great impression, four editions of them being printed, as well as a Ger- man version with which the Emperor of Austria expressed himself highly pleased.

The increasing pressure of episcopal and metropoli- tan duties, as well as his greatly impaired health, induced Wiseman in 1855 to petition Rome for a coadjutor, and Rt. Rev. George Errington, Bishop of Plymouth, was appointed (with right of succession to the archbishop) in April of that year. He had worked under the cardinal both in Rome and at Oscott, and they were intimate friends; but their differences of character and temperament were so marked that Errington foresaw from the first, if Wiseman did not, that the new relation between them would be one full of difficulty. A rigorous disciplina- rian of a somewhat narrow tj^pe, the coadjutor was bound, in matters of diocesan administration, to come into collision with a chief who disliked the routine of business, and was apt to decide questions rather as prompted by his own wide and generous impulses than according to the strict letter of the law. Before the year was out Errington had expressed in Rome his dissatisfaction with his position and his readiness to retire from it.

For the moment the difficulties were smoothed over, but they were sub.'iequently accentuated by the rapid rise to prominence in the archdioce.se of Henry Ed- ward Manning, who founded in London, in 1856, his congregation of Oblates of St. Charles, and became in the same year provost of the metropoUtan chapter. The story of the series of misunderstandings between Wiseman and Manning on one side, and Errington and the Westminster canons on the other, has been told at length, though not with complete accuracy or impartiality, in Purcell's "Life of Manning", and, in more trustworthy fashion, in Ward's "Life of Wise- man" (see also Manning). Errington, gravely offended at the charges of anti-Roman spirit brought against him, persistently refused to resign his office; and iis it became increasingly manifest that he and the cardinal could not work together with any advantage to the archdiocese, he was removed from the coad- jutorship by papal Decree dated 22 July, 1860. He dcchned the offer of the Archbi.shop of 'Trinidad, and spent the rest of his life in retirement in the Diocese of Clifton.

Wiseman's domestic trials during 18.58 were agree- ably varied by his visit to Ireland in the early autumn of that year — a visit which the enthusia.sm of Irish Catholics transformed into a kind of triumphal prog- ress, and during which he delivered, in different parts of the island, sermons, lectures, and addresses after-