The Magna Carta and the English Reformation

Here's a subject for more research: did Henry VIII's actions from 1533 to 1535 violate the Magna Carta?

King John signed the Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215, and the first clause contains this language:

FIRST, THAT WE HAVE GRANTED TO GOD, and by this present charter have confirmed for us and our heirs in perpetuity, that the English Church shall be free, and shall have its rights undiminished, and its liberties unimpaired. That we wish this so to be observed, appears from the fact that of our own free will, before the outbreak of the present dispute between us and our barons, we granted and confirmed by charter the freedom of the Church's elections - a right reckoned to be of the greatest necessity and importance to it - and caused this to be confirmed by Pope Innocent III. This freedom we shall observe ourselves, and desire to be observed in good faith by our heirs in perpetuity.

and this guarantee is repeated at the end:

IT IS ACCORDINGLY OUR WISH AND COMMAND that the English Church shall be free, and that men in our kingdom shall have and keep all these liberties, rights, and concessions, well and peaceably in their fulness and entirety for them and their heirs, of us and our heirs, in all things and all places for ever.

Both we and the barons have sworn that all this shall be observed in good faith and without deceit. Witness the abovementioned people and many others.

Given by our hand in the meadow that is called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day of June in the seventeenth year of our reign.

William Cobbett thought so in the 18th century--Robert Aske thought so in the 16th.

Remember that part of the background for the Magna Carta was the dispute over the election of Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury when John wanted another candidate. Pope Innocent III excommunicated John and placed England under the Interdict. Although they started out on different sides, Langton and the Barons united to force King John to seal (not sign) the Magna Carta. And, although they started out on different sides, Pope Innocent III and King John were against the Magna Carta and the barons, because John had made England a fief of the Papacy (feudally).

It's rather confusing, really, because what did Langton mean by "the English Church shall be free"?--free from interference from the monarch/the state or free from interference from the the Pope/the universal Church? Aske and Cobbett thought the former; Tudor and Stuart interpreters, like jurist Edward Coke, thought the latter.

The Act of Supremacy, 1534

On October 30, 1534 the English Parliament passed Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy. Here is the text:

Albeit the king's Majesty justly and rightfully is and ought to be the supreme head of the Church of England, and so is recognized by the clergy of this realm in their convocations, yet nevertheless, for corroboration and confirmation thereof, and for increase of virtue in Christ's religion within this realm of England, and to repress and extirpate all errors, heresies, and other enormities and abuses heretofore used in the same, be it enacted, by authority of this present Parliament, that the king, our sovereign lord, his heirs and successors, kings of this realm, shall be taken, accepted, and reputed the only supreme head in earth of the Church of England, called Anglicans Ecclesia; and shall have and enjoy, annexed and united to the imperial crown of this realm, as well the title and style thereof, as all honors, dignities, preeminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits, and commodities to the said dignity of the supreme head of the same Church belonging and appertaining; and that our said sovereign lord, his heirs and successors, kings of this realm, shall have full power and authority from time to time to visit, repress, redress, record, order, correct, restrain, and amend all such errors, heresies, abuses, offenses, contempts and enormities, whatsoever they be, which by any manner of spiritual authority or jurisdiction ought or may lawfully be reformed, repressed, ordered, redressed, corrected, restrained, or amended, most to the pleasure of Almighty God, the increase of virtue in Christ's religion, and for the conservation of the peace, unity, and tranquility of this realm; any usage, foreign land, foreign authority, prescription, or any other thing or things to the contrary hereof notwithstanding.

Obviously it gave the monarch a wide range of power. I would say however that it failed in so doing to conserve "the peace, unity, and tranquility of this realm." Thus, as depicted above, Henry VIII rejected the spiritual and ecclesiastical authority of the Pope in England.

Evelyn Waugh's Birthday

Evelyn Waugh was born on October 28, 1903, and he became a Catholic on September 29, 1930, much to the shock of his readers and friends.

He was quite a prolific writer--I've enjoyed the dark humor and satire of his novels: Decline and Fall, Vile Bodies, A Handful of Dust, etc--possibly best known for Brideshead Revisited because of the British TV mini-series and the recent movie adaptations.

After the Second Vatican Council and the introduction of the Novus Ordo, Waugh trenchantly protested against the changes in the celebration of the Mass, although he is not listed among those who signed a letter to Pope Paul VI, requesting an indult for the celebration of the Tridentine Rite in 1971:

Harold Acton, Vladimir Ashkenazy, John Bayler, Lennox Berkeley, Maurice Bowra, Agatha Christie, Kenneth Clark, Nevill Coghill, Cyril Connolly, Colin Davis, Hugh Delargy, +Robert Exeter, Miles Fitzalan-Howard, Constantine Fitzgibbon, William Glock, Magdalen Gofflin, Robert Graves, Graham Greene, Ian Greenless, Joseph Grimond, Harman Grisewood, Colin Hardie, Rupert Hart-Davis, Barbara Hepworth, Auberon Herbert, John Jolliffe, David Jones, Osbert Lancaster, F.R. Leavis, Cecil Day Lewis, Compton Mackenzie, George Malcolm, Max Mallowan, Alfred Marnau, Yehudi Menuhin, Nancy Mitford, Raymond Mortimer, Malcolm Muggeridge, Iris Murdoch, John Murray, Sean O'Faolain, E.J. Oliver, Oxford and Asquith, William Plomer, Kathleen Raine, William Rees-Mogg, Ralph Richardson, +John Ripon, Charles Russell, Rivers Scott, Joan Sutherland, Philip Toynbee, Martin Turnell, Bernard Wall, Patrick Wall, E.I Watkin, R.C. Zaehner.

Pope Paul granted the indult: you might notice Agatha Christie's name in bold in the list--it is commonly called the "Agatha Christie Indult" because the Pope recognized her name! You might also note that many musicians signed the letter, which referenced the influence of the Latin Mass on art and music--Joan Sutherland, La Stupenda, died 10/10/10. And certainly, not all who signed the letter were Catholic! Colin Hardie was the classicist, Fellow at Balliol, Oxford.

Evelyn Waugh's correspondence with Cardinal Heenan is compiled in A Bitter Trial

A Renaissance Humanist is Born

Desiderius Erasmus was born on October 27, 1466. He traveled several times to England and met several prominent figures of the English Reformation period.

In 1499 he came to England, hoping to find some employment (as he had left the monastery) and did meet John Colet, then preaching on St. Paul at Oxford. Without any preferment, he traveled to Italy for further study.

He went back to England in 1505 and then met William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, Richard Foxe, Archbishop of Winchester, and Bishop John Fisher, who was overseeing the foundation of Christ's College at Cambridge.

Erasmus returned to England in 1509 and wrote The Praise of Folly with its Latin pun on Thomas More's name: Moriae encomium; he left England to have the book printed in Paris. In August of 1511, John Fisher invited him to teach Greek at Cambridge and Erasmus also received a living and a pension. In 1513, he went to Basel where he accomplished much of the work on his Novum Instrumentum edition of the New Testament. In 1515, 1516, and 1517, he made brief visits to England.

Unlike More and Fisher, however, Erasmus did not engage in apologetic works on Catholic teaching in answer to Martin Luther or other reformers. Like the late John Colet, he agreed with Luther that reforms were necessary in the Church, but he certainly was not in favor of completely dividing from the Catholic Church. He mourned the executions of Thomas More and John Fisher, but probably did not understand the faith, certitude and commitment that motivated them to oppose Henry VIII and refuse to accept his supremacy.

A New Thomas is Chancellor of England

After the dismissal of Thomas Wolsey as Chancellor on October 25th, Henry did something new: he named a lay Chancellor. Sir Thomas More, Knight and Member of the Privy Council succeeded the Archbishop of York on October 26, 1529, while Henry re-evaluated his efforts to replace Katherine of Aragon with Anne Boleyn as his wife. Thomas More, as Chancellor, would not be involved in these efforts: Thomas Cromwell, who would eventually succeed him, would take the lead. Since More was a layman, he did not give his opinion on the validity of Henry's marriage.

More concentrated on the High Court of Chancery, where he judged many cases, including those for heresy, especially of relapsed heretics.

He resigned on May 16, 1532, pleading ill health--but actually he had opposed the latest of Henry's Acts of Parliament to separate English spiritual and ecclesiastical matters from the Pope in Rome, and More knew that Henry would not accept further opposition. He retired in poverty to his home in Chelsea, after less than three years in office.

Another Side with that Portion of London?

Inspired by this blog post, I'd like to take another trip from London to Winchester! Winchester Cathedral is one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in England with the longest nave of any Gothic cathedral in Europe. It is dedicated to the Holy Trinity, St. Peter and St. Paul, and St. Swithin, and is the cathedral of the diocese of Winchester in the Church of England.

St. Swithun was the Anglo-Saxon, Catholic Bishop of Winchester in the 9th century. Of course, his shrine was desecrated and destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. The feast of Swithun, Bishop of Winchester is celebrated on July 15 on the Kalender of Common Worship in the Church of England, and a shrine to him has been restored.

Jane Austen is buried in Winchester Cathedral. The Cathedral honored her this past summer with some special programs.

While there, we will certainly have to sing "Winchester Cathedral" -- watch this version by Petula Clark.

The Fall of Wolsey

Early next Monday morning, I'll visit with Brian Patrick on the Son Rise Morning Show, as we meditate on the fall of Thomas Cardinal Wolsey, Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor of England. Henry VIII dismissed him from office on October 25, 1529. I'll be in the last segment of the program, around 6:45 a.m. Central; 7:45 a.m. Eastern.

William Penn, Papist?

William and Mary deposed William Penn as Governor of Pennsylvania on October 21, 1692. The great Quaker was accused of being a Papist!

He was accused of being a Papist because he had been supporting James II's Declaration of Indulgence which "suspended all penal laws in matters ecclesiastical for not attending the established Church of England or not receiving communion according to its rites; permitted people to worship other than in the established Church of England either in private houses or in chapels; ended the requirement that people take various religious oaths before advancement to civil or military office." (as summarized on The Jacobite Heritage site.)

This Declaration would have applied to Catholics, all Protestant dissenters, including Quakers, and Jews. Penn went on preaching tour while visiting England to support James II's efforts. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the Toleration Act of 1689 made those actions traitorous; Penn was imprisoned and lost all his lands to the Crown. He was eventually freed and spent many years in England involved in court cases against an embezzling agent.

Theologically, of course, Penn was not a Catholic. Indeed, he denied the central doctrine of Christianity, the Trinity, and was imprisoned in the Tower of London for this denial in 1668 and 1669. But in Anglican terms at that time, being a Quaker was as bad as being a Papist, and Penn was even called a "Jesuit"!

My interview with the Catholic Writers Guild

I recently participated in an email interview with Maria for the Catholic Writers Guild newsletter; reproduced here by permission. If you are a Catholic writer and are interesting in a belonging to an organization that supports and encourages you, I'd recommend joining. I hope to attend the Catholic Writers Conference LIVE next year in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

MEMBER PROFILE – STEPHANIE A. MANN

Maria: Stephanie, your book Supremacy and Survival is about how Catholics endured the English Reformation. Can you say in 3 words what characteristics allowed Catholics to survive such a tumultuous time?
Stephanie: Faithfulness. Courage. Priests.

Maria: What did you think about the Pope's visit to London? Turning point or moot point? Why? (By the way, were you there?)
Stephanie: I was not able to attend--I hope the visit will be a turning point for Catholics in Britain, at least. It should revive their faith and their dedication to Jesus. Pope Benedict made a special appeal to the young people, reminding them that happiness only comes with holiness. He also encouraged the Bishops in England and Scotland to welcome former Anglican priests and bishops and their congregations through the program he outlined in "Anglicanorum Coetibus." People in England, Scotland and Wales just have to act upon his encouragement.

Maria: How did you research or prepared to write this book? Was it easy to find a publisher?
Stephanie: I first taught a class, which helped me organize my material. Then I just kept supplementing my background in English history with books, articles, on-line resources, etc--rewriting and rewriting to lose the research in the story as much as possible. As to finding a publisher, I sent out Book Proposals to almost a dozen Catholic publishers and John G. Powers from Scepter wrote back to me a year after I'd sent the proposal asking to see the manuscript. Then I addressed some of his suggestions and rewrote the manuscript, working with a great copy editor.

Maria: If you had to pick ONE most influential English Catholic of the 16th & 17th century, who would that be? (I know, that may be an unfair question)
Stephanie: St. Thomas More is probably the more conventional answer--but I think of that era, it would be George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, founder of Maryland. He set out to prove that a Catholic could be true to his Church and his monarch, something no one countenanced in the 17th century. Lord Baltimore founded his colony with freedom of religion and true tolerance as its unique feature; one did not have to belong to the Church of England to take part its governance.

In the eighteenth century, it would be Richard Challoner, the Vicar Apostolic for England. He worked very hard to remind Catholics of that age of their legacy of holiness and martyrdom, while they were so ignored by British society that it wasn't worth persecuting them anymore!

In the nineteenth: Blessed John Henry Newman.

In the twentieth: ChesterBelloc (G. K. Chesterton AND Hilaire Belloc)

Maria: I may be looking at this twistedly, but my first thought upon the recent wave of Anglican conversions was: "will those beautiful churches finally be returned to their rightful "owners" (the Catholic Church)? But of course souls are more important than buildings. Do you think we will be experiencing more Anglican conversions into the Catholic Church?
Stephanie: Yes I do. But in England at least, "we" will never get those great Cathedrals back!

Maria: You had a recent interview on EWTN (September 19), how was that interview experience on EWTN?
Stephanie: I went to EWTN in January of this year, appeared on EWTN Live with Father Mitch Pacwa and then taped the Bookmark episode with Doug Keck the next day. By the time it aired, I really had forgotten what I said! The hospitality at EWTN was great and I really appreciated the opportunity.

Maria: Not only are you writer but also a speaker on various topics, like the English Reformation, Saints of the 16th & 17th century, Kings and Queens of England, etc. What is your favorite topic?
Stephanie: Probably my favorite is to discuss Blessed John Henry Newman--I just appeared on Barbara McGuigan's The Good Fight this weekend (October 2) and spoke recently at our local Newman Center, addressing aspects of his life and teachings.

Maria: Who is your favorite British saint?
Stephanie: Blessed John Henry Newman

Maria: What advice would you give to future writers wanting to tackle a historical topic?
Stephanie: Find some way to test your thesis on an audience--write shorter articles for publication or teach a class; prepare a platform with a website and a blog. Since you have some knowledge and background, just find the best sources you can and integrate them into your narrative.

Maria: So, what does a smart girl like you do in her free time? For some reason I picture you watching British comedies, like Faulty Towers and Yes Minister or are you more of a Dr. Who fan? What do you do to relax and refresh your mind?
Stephanie: I do like to watch TCM movies, but I'm not an aficionado of British comedy that much, although my favorite actors and actresses are from the UK (Deborah Kerr, Vivien Leigh, Robert Donat, etc). My husband and I have two dogs we enjoy walking and playing with. I love to travel and to plan trips--I'm hoping we can go to London next year with a priest friend (with side trips to Oxford/Littlemore and Winchester) and looking forward to a trip to Paris next
month.

Maria: Thank you Stephanie, this was great!

Destinations in London

On this well-imagined London trip, I also have a list of sights to see and places to visit in London itself:

• The Convent at Tyburn


• Westminster Cathedral and the CTS Bookshop


• St. Etheldreda's


• The Bromption Oratory


• Victoria and Albert Museum (its tower is pictured above from that trip several years ago)


• Chelsea--St. Thomas More statue


• The British Library


• St. Bartholomew the Great


• Gordon's Wine Bar (near the Embankment tube)


• Grays of Westminster (Nikon) and R.G. Lewis (Leica)

(The camera stores are on my husband's wish list.) We have done absolutely nothing to prepare for this trip--no dates, no flights, no lodging--it's just a dream.