Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/388

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lAyineu won; niartj'rcd at Tvlmrti or Tower UiU' in- cluding Ven.Wiiliam Howard, Viscount Stafford, an<i Ven. Oliver Plunket, Archbishop of ArmaKh. wlio was the last martyr to Biiller in London (1 July, 1681). The accession of James 1 1 raised new hopes among the Catholics of the metropolis and the presonee of a papal envoy, Mgr d' Adda, and the public attendance of the king and queen at Moss were evident si^B of tolera- tion. Cliapels and schools wero opeTied sjid Catholic wTitcra and printers readily seized the opportunity of producing devotional and controversial works in tn- crmaed numberB. Once more the Holy See appointed » vicar Apostolic of England, Bishop John Leybum (q. v.), whowBBCOnaecrateil 9 Sept., 1685.

Two years later the jurisiliction was divided between him and Bonaventure GlSard, but almost immedi- ately a fresh arrangement ivas made and on 'iO Jan., 1688, Pope Innocent XI created four vicariates, I,on- doti, Jtidland, Northern and Western. Binhop Leybum become the first vicar Apostolic of the London District, whichincluded the counties of Kent, Middlesex, Fsscs. Surrey, yusaex, Hants, ncrks, Bedford, Bucks, and Hertford, and the islands of Wight, Jersey, and (luem- sey; while in process of time they acijuired jurisdic- tion over all British possessions in North America, of which Maryland and Pennsylvania and Bome of the West Indian islands contained moat Catholics. Un- fortunately the Revolution in the same year put a audden and complete end to the short-lived hopes ot Catholics. Chapels and schools were closed, one chapel and a print ing-pres.^ were wTccked by the mob, tuidCatholics had to withdraw once again into conceal- ment. A penal system was now devised to cru-sh Catholicism without bloodshed by civil and political disabilities. With this aim fresh persecuting statutes were passed under William and Mary, under which common informers were entitled to a reward for pro- curing convictions, a provision which was a fruit fill Bource ot trouble for nearly a century t*i come. One of these laws (I William & alary, c. B, s. 2) rei|uired all Catholics, with certain exceptions, to take the oath of allegiance, which was bo phrased as to he unlawful i[i conscience, or in default to l)e convicted of recu-suncy. This act, however, was not very rigorously eiifdrced, but the penal code as a whole weighed heavily on Catho- lics, especially after the alxirtive Stuart rising in 1745. The vicars Apostolic of the Tjorxlon District during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries were: —

John Leybum 11188-1702

Bonaventure Giffard 17(i;i-17:(4

Benjamin Petre 17:14-1758

Richard Challoner 1758-1781

James Talbot 1781-1790

John Douglass 1790-1812

William Poynter 1812-1827

James Yorke Brumston I827-1S36

Thomas Griffiths 18^0-1847

(Nicholas Wiseman, pro-vicar-

Apostolic 18-17-1848)

Thomas Walsh 184.S-1 SIS

Nicholas Wiseman 1840-1850,

when he became first Archbishop of Westminster.

The chief events concenung Loiulim Catholics dur- ing the eighteenth century were the long episcopate of the Venerable Bishop Challoner {r|. v.); the petty persecution carried on by common infonners (1767- 177S); the First Catholic Relief Act (1778), and the Gordon Riota which broke out in consequence thereof (1780); the Second Catholic Relief Act (1791); the dissensioDB arLiing from the action of the Catholic Committee, and the Influx of French fmigrf clergy and laity during the French Revolution, fliapels and schoolsuowbcgan to be oTwned without concealment. TTie refugees from Pouai went to Old Hall, in Hert- fordshire, where a small school had secretly existed nnce 17fi9, and there Bishop Douglass established St.

Kdmund's College .ih llie )>lii'-i- iif ediiealioii for tho clergy of the London District. His successor opened the large church at -Moorlields, which long served as the Pro-tatheflral of London (I820-I86.5). In 1829 the Catholic Emancipation Act removed from Catho- lics nearly all their remaining restrictions and since then they have taken their places in Parliament, on the judicial bench, and at the bar. Among ministers of tlic Crown there ha\'e been Sir C'harles Russell (afterwards Ixird Russell of Killowen), Attorney General (1892-1894), Mr. Henrv Matthews, now Lord LlanHaff, Home Secretary (1885-18<)2), the Duke of Norfolk, Postmaster General (1885-1000), and the

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Coiimics (1892-189.-.), \x,n\ Privy Seal (1905-1908). In the High t.'ourt of Jui^licc then- have l>een five Catholic judges:— Sir William Shee (186:1-1808), Sir James Mathew (ISSl-lMMl), Sir John Dav (1882-- 1901), Lord Russell of Killowen, Ix)rd Chief Justice ot of England(1895-1900).and Sir Joseph Walton (1901). Two Catholics, father and son, have attained the posi- tion of Lord Mavor of London. Sir Stuart Knill (1892- 1893) and Sir John Knill (19(t9-1910). Since the EmancijMilion Act there has lieen an extraordinary development of Catliolic life in every ilireclioii, gn>atly hcl[>eil by two movements, the large Iri.'ih immigra- tion in 1847 and the conversions resulting from the Oxford Mo\fment, The increase in nimil«rs ia shown by the episcopal reports to Proi)aganda previ- ous to the restoration of the hierarchy.

In 1810 Pope Gregory XVI rediHtributed England into eight vicariates, on which occasion the London District lost Bedfordshire and Buckinghamsliire. Ten years later Pope Pius IX restored the hierarchy; the London District ceased to exist and its place was taken by the new Dioceses of Westminster and South-