Christina Rossetti, RIP

The Anglo-Catholic, Tractarian, Pre-Raphaelite poet Christina Rossetti died on December 29, 1894. The Poetry Foundation describes her religious and poetic inspirations:

Caught up in the Tractarian or Oxford Movement when it reached London in the 1840s, the Rossettis shifted from an Evangelical to an Anglo-Catholic orientation, and this outlook influenced virtually all of Christina Rossetti’s poetry. She was also influenced by the poetics of the Oxford Movement, as is documented in the annotations and illustrations she added to her copy of John Keble’s The Christian Year (1827) and in her reading of poetry by Isaac Williams and John Henry Newman. For more than twenty years, beginning in 1843, she worshiped at Christ Church, Albany Street, where services were influenced by the innovations emanating from Oxford. The Reverend William Dodsworth, the priest there until his conversion to Catholicism in 1850, assumed a leading role as the Oxford Movement spread to London. In addition to coming under the religious influence of prominent Tractarians such as Dodsworth, W. J. E. Bennett, Henry W. Burrows, and E. B. Pusey, Rossetti had close personal ties with Burrows and Richard Frederick Littledale, a High Church theologian who became her spiritual adviser. The importance of Rossetti’s faith for her life and art can hardly be overstated. More than half of her poetic output is devotional, and the works of her later years in both poetry and prose are almost exclusively so. The inconstancy of human love, the vanity of earthly pleasures, renunciation, individual unworthiness, and the perfection of divine love are recurring themes in her poetry.

As this site shows, she wrote several poems for Advent and Christmastide, through to Candlemas, the traditional end of the 40 days of Christmas. One of the most familiar is called "A Christmas Carol" but we know it as "In the Bleak Midwinter":

In the bleak mid-winter
  Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
  Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
  Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
  Long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him
  Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
  When He comes to reign:
In the bleak mid-winter
  A stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty
  Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him whom cherubim
  Worship night and day,
A breastful of milk
  And a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him whom angels
  Fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel
  Which adore.


  May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
  Throng'd the air,
But only His mother
  In her maiden bliss
Worshipped her Beloved
  With a kiss.

What can I give Him,
  Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
  I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man
  I would do my part,--
Yet what I can I give Him,
  Give my heart.

Remember that today is also the feast of St. Thomas a Becket, and of Blessed William Howard, martyrs.

Another Catholic Howard Born

Henry Howard, who would become the 6th Duke of Norfolk, was born on July 12, 1628. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, he was the

Second son of Henry Frederick Howard, third Earl of Arundel and Lady Elizabeth Stuart, was educated abroad, as a Catholic. In 1660 he went as ambassador extraordinary to Morocco. In 1677 he succeeded his brother as duke, having previously been made hereditary earl-marshal. During the Commonwealth and Protectorate he lived in total seclusion. In January, 1678, he took his seat in the House of Lords, but in August the first development of the Titus Oates Plot was followed by an Act for disabling Catholics from sitting in either house of Parliament. He would not comply with the oath and, suspected of doubtful loyalty, withdrew to Bruges for three years. There he built a house attached to a Franciscan convent and enjoyed freedom of worship and scope for his munificence. He was a man of benevolent disposition and gave away the greater part of his splendid library, and grounds and rooms to the Royal Society, and the Arundelian marbles to Oxford University. Jealous of the family honour, he compounded a debt of £200,000 contracted by his grandfather.

The Wikipedia entry for this duke includes more detail about his reaction to the Popish Plot and the Test Acts, because he remained in the House of Lords

long enough to sit as a peer at the trial for treason of his close relative William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford, a fellow victim of the Popish Plot; unfortunately for Stafford, "a man not beloved", he had quarreled with most of his relatives, including Norfolk, and with the exception of the future 7th Duke of Norfolk all the Howard peers present (seven out of eight) including the 6th Duke, voted him Guilty. Stafford was beheaded on 29 December; the Duke does not seem to have interceded for his cousin's life.

He died on January 13, 1684 and was succeeded by his son Thomas by his first marriage to Anne Somerset--he married his mistress Jane Bickerton in 1676 or 1677. More information about his second marriage here.

The "Cardinal of Norfolk" Dies

The life of Philip Thomas Howard, O.P., Cardinal of Norfolk, Grand Almoner to Catherine of Braganza, Queen-consort of King Charles II., and restorer of the English province of Friar-Preachers or Dominicans , compiled from original manuscripts, with a sketch of the rise, missions, and influence of the Dominican order, and of its early history in England (as told by Father C.F. Raymond Palmer, OP) ended on June 17, 1694. He was named for his great grandfather St. Philip Howard, the martyr in chains--yet he was raised as an Anglican, becoming a Catholic after meeting his Catholic grandmother, Alethia Talbot, who lived in the Netherlands during and after the English Civil War while he was on his Grand Tour of Europe. His uncle was Blessed William Howard, executed in the hysteria of the Popish Plot.

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Philip Cardinal Howard 

. . . was the third son of Henry Frederick Howard, afterwards Earl of Arundel and Surrey and head of the House of Norfolk (the dukedom of Norfolk being forfeited, though restored in 1660). The mother of Philip was Elizabeth, daughter of the Duke of Lennox; he was thus allied to the reigning sovereign of England. At the age of sixteen he joined the Dominican Order in Italy, was professed at Rome, 1646, and took the name of Thomas in religion. Residing at Naples for his studies, he was chosen to deliver a Latin address to the general chapter of his order in Rome. He justified the choice delivering a fervent address on the conversion of England, which led to a decree being passed by the chapter, urging provincials and priors to do all they could to receive English, Irish, and Scotch novices into the order, with a view to its preservation in those countries. He was thenceforth wholly devoted to the conversion of England and to the progress of his order in that country. He was ordained priest in 1652, and with the sanction of his superiors set himself to carry out the ideas he had matured in his mind. He founded the priory of Bornhem in Flanders, with a college for English youths attached to it, and was himself the first prior and novice master. He also founded at Vilvorde a convent of nuns of the Second Order of St. Dominic, now at Carisbrooke.

In the reign of Charles II Father Howard was made grand almoner to Queen Catherine of Braganza. He resided at St. James's Palace, with a salary of 500 pounds a year, and had a position of influence at Court. An outbreak of Puritan violence compelling him to leave England, he resumed his position as prior at Bornhem. He was made cardinal in 1675, by Pope Clement X, being assigned the title of S. Cecilia trans Tiberim, exchanged later for the Dominican church of S. Maria supra Minervam. He now took up his residence at Rome and entered into the service of the Universal Church, especially watching over the interests of the Catholic faith in England. 

In 1672 he was nominated by the Holy See as Vicar Apostolic of England with a see in partibus, but the appointment, owing to the opposition of the "English Chapter" to his being a vicar Apostolic, and the insistence that he should be a bishop with ordinary jurisdiction, was not confirmed. He was to have been Bishop of Helenopolis. In 1679 he was made Protector of England and Scotland. At his instance the Feast of St. Edward the Confessor was extended to the whole Church. He rebuilt the English College in Rome, and revised the rules of Douai College.

Cardinal Howard cooperated later with James II in the increase of vicars Apostolic in England from one to four, an arrangement which lasted till 1840, when the number was increased to eight by Gregory XVI. Burnet shows in his "History" that Cardinal Howard regretted the steps which led to the crisis in the reign of James II and which his counsels sought to avert. The cardinal's plans were thwarted and the ill-starred mission of the Earl of Castlemaine to Rome showed the rise of another spirit which he did not share. When the crisis he foresaw came, he had the consolation at least of knowing that his foundation at Bornhem was beyond the grasp of the new persecutors.

Cardinal Howard assisted at three conclaves, for the election of Innocent XI in 1676, Alexander VIII in 1689, and Innocent XII in 1691. He died in the twentieth year of his cardinalate, at the age of 64, and was buried in his titular church of S. Maria supra Minervam at Rome. His foundations in Flanders flourished till the French Revolution, when they were despoiled to a great extent, and were eventually transferred to England. The English Dominican Province looks to him as its father and restorer, and the American Province also regards him to a great extent in the same light. After his death the Master General, Father Antoninus Cloche, addressed a letter to the whole order, lamenting the loss of one who had done so great a work for the English Church and the order.

The Dominican Priory that moved from Vilvorde to Carisbrooke on the Isle of Wight is no longer occupied by Dominican nuns, but still serves a spiritual/religious purpose, according to the Carisbrooke Priory website:

Carisbrooke Priory was orginally the home of Dominican nuns who belonged to the Order of Preachers, founded in southern France by a Spaniard, Dominic of Guzman, at the beginning of the 13th Century.

St Dominic's Priory as it was then called was built in 1865-1866 for the Lady Countess of Clare, a devout convert to the Catholic faith and a tertiary. The Pugin influenced architect Gilbert Blount - who as a civil engineer had previously worked as a superintendent on the Thames Tunnel for Isambard Kingdom Brunel - built the Priory in Gothic style, and a number of interesting architectural features of the main building and its gateway have contributed to its Grade II listing.

The nuns lived at the Priory from December 1866 to October 1989 and were visited by a number of dignitaries including Queen Victoria. Many of the nuns were skilled needlewomen as the permanent exhibition of vestments now at Carisbrooke Castle clearly shows. Others translated books, illuminated scripts and later on set up a printing press for the production of Christmas and greetings cards and stationery. Their quiet life was centered around prayer and the Chapel was the focus of this.

The Priory was purchased by the Carisbrooke Priory Trust in April 1993. Founded as a registered charity it also became a company limited by guarantee in 2008.

More about the history of the Dominican order in England here.

The Popish Plot and The Howard Family

The Howard family boasts two martyrs: St. Philip Howard who died in the Tower of London during Queen Elizabeth I's reign (denied the opportunity to see his son before he died unless he denied his Catholicism and professed to be a Protestant!) and his grandson, Blessed William Howard, who was beheaded on December 29, 1680 on Tower Hill.

William Howard was born on November 30, 1614, the son of Thomas Howard, who had conformed to the Church of England. William married Mary Stafford in a Catholic ceremony in 1637 and they had nine children. The Howard family, being Royalists, fled to the Netherlands during the English Civil War and returned to England with the Restoration of Charles II, being restored to his lands. Three of their daughters became nuns on the Continent and his wife died in 1692; James II had provided her with a pension.

He was accused by Titus Oates of being part of the non-existent Popish Plot and was tried by his peers in the House of Lords in Westminster Hall. One of his witnesses was arrested and died in jail. Howard was, of course, found guilty, attainted and his lands forfeit. The British Museum has a print that depicts his trial and execution.

He protested his innocence throughout the trial and on the scaffold:

Next he lift up his hands, standing up, and said. "I beseech Thee, God, not to avenge my innocent blood upon any man in the Whole kingdom ; no, not against those who by their perjuries have brought me here. For I profess before Almighty God that I never combined against the King's life, nor any body else, but whatever I did was only to procure liberty for the Romish religion. And, as for the Duke of York, I do here declare, upon my Salvation, I know of no design that he ever had against the King, but hath ever behaved himself, for ought I know, as a loving, loyal brother ought to do.
So now, upon my Salvation, I have said true all that I have said. And I pray God to have mercy upon my soul." . . .

After which he went round the scaffold and spake to the multitude thus, "I pray God, bless the King, and bless you all, especially the King's loyal subjects (such as I am myself) for I know you have a good and gracious King as ever reigned. God forgive me my sins, I forgive all the world, even those fellows that brought me here, and pray God to send them no worse punishment than to repent and tell the truth. And so, God bless you all."

And some replyed, "God have mercy upon your soul." Then a minister applyed himself, and said, "Sir; you did disown the indulgences of the Romish Church."

To which he answered, with a great passion.

"Sir ; what have you to do with my religion? Pray do not trouble me. However, I do say that the Church of Rome allows no indulgences for murder, lying, &c., and whatever I have said is true. What need you trouble yourself?"

Min. "Have you received no absolution?"

Answ. "I have received none at all. Sir, trouble not yourself, nor me."

Min. "You said that you never saw those witnesses."

Answ. "I never saw any of them but Dugdale, and that was at a time when I spoke to him about a footboy, or a foot match."

Then his man took off his periwig and upper coat, and with a pair of sizers (sic) cut off the collar of his masters shirt, after which, W.S. lyes down in a white satin waistcoat, a quilted sky-coloured silk cap, with lace turn 'd up, &c.

He gave his watch to a gentleman, crucifix to his page, his staff and paper to another.

Having fitted his neck to the block, rise up upon his knees and prayed to himself, then takes the block and embraced it, then 'his servants cut off more of the linen, in all which time he sent up short prayers, that Christ would receive his spirit. Then lying down and praying upon the block, the sheriff Cornish askt' of the headsman, in kindness to W.S., if he had given him any sign. He answered "No."

 

Whereupon W.S. rose up in a consternation and asked what they wanted. To which it was answered, "What sign will you give, Sir?"

Answ. "No sign at all. Take your own time. God's will be done."

Whereupon the executioner said, "I hope you forgive me?"

He made answer, "I do." Then lying down again, two of his servants came with a piece of black silk to receive the head. Then the headsman took the Axe in 'his hand, and after some pause gave the blow, Which was cleverly done, save the cutting off a little skin, which was cut off immediately with a knife. 

In 1824 his great-great-great grandson George William Jerningham requested Parliament to reverse the attainder against William Howard and restore the title Viscount Stafford, which he then inherited.

Pope Pius XI beatified William Howard in 1929.

The Death of a Saint's Son and a Blessed's Father

On October 4, 1646, Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel and 1st Earl of Norfolk, and Earl Marshal died--also known as the "Collector Earl" for amassing a fine array of ancient marbles and Renaissance paintings. He was the son of St. Philip Howard, who died in the Tower of London after asking to see him, who had been born after Philip was imprisoned--that request being denied by Elizabeth I's government unless he renounced his Catholicism and become an Anglican (heartless!).

James I restored the family Earldom and some of the estates to Thomas in 1604. He then married a wealthy noblewoman, Alethea Talbot, in 1606. Thomas Howard evidently swore oaths of loyalty to both James I and Charles I--because he served in their governments and courts--although he returned to the Catholic Church sometime before his death. He died near Padua, Italy, having accompanied Princess Mary to Holland for her marriage to William II; he chose to remain on the Continent because of the troubles between Charles I and Parliament.

Thomas and Alethea Howard had three children, one of whom, William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford, would be accused, because of his Catholicism, in the Popish Plot, executed on December 29, 1680 and beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1929. Howard's eldest surviving son, Henry Howard, would succeed him as the 22nd Earl of Arundell--one of his nine sons would be Philip Cardinal Howard, a Dominican and later grand almoner, in charge of charity, for Charles II's queen, Catherine of Braganza.

The portrait above is by Anthony van Dyck and is on view at The Getty Center of Los Angeles. The Getty Center makes the image available in its Open Content Program. Of the portrait, the website notes:

Depicted three-quarter length, the Earl of Arundel sits before a tapestry curtain on the left and a landscape background on the right. The long, tapering fingers of his left hand hold the gold medallion of Saint George, one of the emblems worn by the twenty-four knights who made up the most eminent and noble circle around the king. His elongated, pale face contrasts with the white ruff around his neck and the scarlet chair upon which he sits. Turned slightly towards the viewer, the expression on Arundel's face is alert but reserved.

Arundel was one of the great patrons and collectors of art in England in the early 1600s. He was best known for his collection of Venetian paintings, which included works by Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese. During a brief first visit to London around 1621, Anthony van Dyck was commissioned to paint this portrait for Arundel, who recognized the young artist's talent.

The Second Howard Martyr on the Block

Blessed William Howard, who was St. Philip Howard's grandson, was beheaded on December 29, 1680 on Tower Hill as a result of the Popish Plot; he had been tried in the House of Lords and found guilty. He protested his innocence throughout the trial and on the scaffold:

Next he lift up his hands, standing up, and said. "I beseech Thee, God, not to avenge my innocent blood upon any man in the Whole kingdom ; no, not against those who by their perjuries have brought me here. For I profess before Almighty God that I never combined against the King's life, nor any body else, but whatever I did was only to procure liberty for the Romish religion. And, as for the Duke of York, I do here declare, upon my Salvation, I know of no design that he ever had against the King, but hath ever behaved himself, for ought I know, as a loving, loyal brother ought to do.

So now, upon my Salvation, I have said true all that I have said. And I pray God to have mercy upon my soul." . . .

After which he went round the scaffold and spake to the multitude thus, "I pray God, bless the King, and bless you all, especially the King's loyal subjects (such as I am myself) for I know you have a good and gracious King as ever reigned. God forgive me my sins, I forgive all the world, even those fellows that brought me here, and pray God to send them no worse punishment than to repent and tell the truth. And so, God bless you all."

And some replyed, "God have mercy upon your soul." Then a minister applyed himself, and said, "Sir; you did disown the indulgences of the Romish Church."

To which he answered, with a great passion.

" Sir ; what have you to do with my religion? Pray do not trouble me. However, I do say that the Church of Rome allows no indulgences for murder, lying, &c., and whatever I have said is true. What need you trouble yourself? "

Min. "Have you received no absolution?"

Answ. "I have received none at all. Sir, trouble not yourself, nor me."

Min. "You said that you never saw those witnesses."

Answ. "I never saw any of them but Dugdale, and that was at a time when I spoke to him about a footboy, or a foot match."

Then his man took off his periwig and upper coat, and with a pair of sizers (sic) cut off the collar of his masters shirt, after which, W.S. lyes down in a white satin waistcoat, a quilted sky-coloured silk cap, with lace turn 'd up, &c.

He gave his watch to a gentleman, crucifix to his page, his staff and paper to another.

Having fitted his neck to the block, rise up upon his knees and prayed to himself, then takes the block and embraced it, then 'his servants cut off more of the linen, in all which time he sent up short prayers, that Christ would receive his spirit. Then lying down and praying upon the block, the sheriff Cornish askt' of the headsman, in kindness to W.S., if he had given him any sign. He answered "No." Whereupon W.S. rose up in a consternation and asked what they wanted. To which it was answered, "What sign will you give, Sir?"

Answ. "No sign at all. Take your own time. God's will be done."

Whereupon the executioner said, " I hope you forgive me?"

He made answer, "I do." Then lying down again, two of his servants came with a piece of black silk to receive the head. Then the headsman took the Axe in 'his hand, and after some pause gave the blow, Which was cleverly done, save the cutting off a little skin, which was cut off immediately with a knife. 

Pope Pius XI beatified William Howard in 1929.

The Second Howard Martyr

The Howard family boasts two martyrs: St. Philip Howard who died in the Tower of London during Queen Elizabeth I's reign (denied the opportunity to see his son before he died unless he denied his Catholicism and professed to be a Protestant!) and his grandson, Blessed William Howard, who was beheaded on December 29, 1680 on Tower Hill.

William Howard was born on November 30, 1614, the son of Thomas Howard, who had conformed to the Church of England. William married Mary Stafford in a Catholic ceremony in 1637 and they had nine children. The Howard family, being Royalists, fled to the Netherlands during the English Civil War and returned to England with the Restoration of Charles II, being restored to his lands.

He was accused by Titus Oates of being part of the non-existent Popish Plot and was tried by his peers in the House of Lords in Westminster Hall. One of his witnesses was arrested and died in jail. Howard was, of course, found guilty, attainted and his lands forfeit. According to Archbishop Challoner, Blessed William Howard's speech before his execution moved the crowds to acknowledge his innocence and cry out that they believed him:

First, he protested in the presence of the eternal God, and upon his salvation, that he was entirely innocent of the treason laid to his charge. Then giving thanks to the Divine Majesty for the long time He had given him to prepare for death, he declared, that having well considered what could be the original cause of his having been so unjustly accused and condemned to death, he was convinced that it was no other than his religion, of which he said he had no reason to be ashamed, for that it taught nothing but the right worship of God and due subordination to the King, and the temporal laws of the kingdom. That he most firmly believed all the articles that the Catholic Church believes and teaches, as most consonant to the Word of God; and that with the same Catholic Church from his heart he detested all king-killing doctrine, that his principles were entirely loyal. And as for indulgences, dispensations, or pardons, pretended by the adversaries of the Church to be given to murder, rebel, lie, forswear, or commit any other crime whatsoever, he professed in the presence of God, and that without any equivocation or mental reservation whatsoever, that he was never taught any such thing, nor believed, nor practised any such thing. That if he had been really guilty of any of those crimes of which he was accused, he should have been worse than a fool, and his own self-murderer into the bargain, if he had not acknowledged his guilt, since by so doing he might have saved his life; ‘But had I a thousand lives,’ said he, ‘I would lose them all rather than falsely accuse either myself or any other whatsoever.’
Then again declaring his abhorrence of all treason and murder, and that to his knowledge he had never spoke to, or seen Oates, or Turberville till his trial, or ever spoke with Dugdale about any treasonable matters (whom nevertheless he heartily forgave, and all others that had any hand in his death), he concluded his speech as follows:— ‘I shall end with my hearty prayers for the happiness of his Majesty, that he may enjoy all the happiness in this world, and in the world to come, and govern his people according to the laws of God; and that the people may be sensible what a blessing God hath so miraculously given them, and obey him as they ought. I ask pardon with a prostrate heart of Almighty God for all the great offences I have committed against the Divine Majesty; and hope, through the merits and passion of Christ Jesus, to obtain everlasting happiness; into whose hands I commit my spirit, asking pardon of any person that I have done any wrong to, &c.
‘I beseech God not to revenge my innocent blood upon the nation, or on those that were the cause of it, with my last breath; I do with my last breath truly assert my innocency, and hope the omnipotent, all-seeing, just God will deal with me accordingly.’

He was all prepared, with his head on the block and the executioner hesitated--he asked the executioner why he delayed and the man answered that he was waiting for a sign. The martyr replied that he would give no sign; the headsman should take his time; HE was ready to die.

In 1824 his great-great-great grandson George William Jerningham requested Parliament to reverse the attainder against William Howard and restore the title Viscount Stafford, which he then inherited.