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| Vanity Fair, February 1877 |
London: The Catholic Literature Association, 1933.
'TO praise famous men and our fathers that begat us' is part of the duty of their sons. It is fitting that in preparing for the Centenary of the Oxford Movement, the five priests who endured imprisonment for the Faith should be kept in special memory.
'TO praise famous men and our fathers that begat us' is part of the duty of their sons. It is fitting that in preparing for the Centenary of the Oxford Movement, the five priests who endured imprisonment for the Faith should be kept in special memory.
The Tractarians, to their everlasting honour, circulated throughout the length and breadth of the country the good news that the Church in England still belongs, as it has always claimed, to the one Holy Catholic Church of Christ, and that the Prayer Book of the Church, as the Bishop of Durham has lately said, is a thoroughly Catholic Book. They reasserted the principles of a tradition which underlay all the Church Formularies, with such success that the things for which they themselves suffered are common nowadays not only in parish churches but also in Cathedrals. There has been a wonderful change in outlook, and we owe a deep sense of gratitude to Almighty God that the Church in our land and throughout our Colonies is better in every way for the 'Victorian Persecution.'
Many priests and laity came under the influence of the Tractarian Movement. Among the priests were G. R. Prynne of Plymouth, the brothers Pollock of Birmingham, Dean Randall, Mr. Bennett of St. Paul's, Knightsbridge, Father Lowder, Mr. Bryan King of St. George's-in-the-East, Dr. John Mason Neale, Canon Carter of Clewer, Father Benson of Cowley, and Archdeacon Denison.
The daily Mass and daily Offices were revived. Then came the introduction of the Catholic ceremonial which, it was maintained, was ordered by the Ornaments Rubric of the Prayer Book, and which is necessary to give practical effect to its teaching. Little by little churches were restored to the beauty of holiness, and congregations of faithful men and women were attracted and instructed in the whole faith. As the Movement grew, it naturally provoked opposition from every quarter, and an Act of Parliament was passed in 1874 called the Public Worship Regulation Act, for the purpose of putting down 'Ritualism' and 'the Mass in masquerade.' It had the active support of Queen Victoria, the Lord Shaftesbury of that day, Mr. Disraeli the Prime Minister, and Archbishop Tait of Canterbury. Under this Act a new Court was set up, presided over by an ex-Divorce Court Judge, Lord Penzance. It was an entirely secular Court, without a shadow of authority from the Church. At once, at the instigation of the Church Association, founded in 1875, prosecutions were begun against various priests who, on grounds of conscience, never appeared in Court at all, nor were represented by counsel. They were accused, found guilty, inhibited, and eventually imprisoned for 'contempt of Court.'
The names of those who suffered the indignity of imprisonment were Arthur Tooth, Vicar of St. James'... (more)
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