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British Diplomatic Representation at the Holy See

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2024

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In a book called Vatican Assignment, which is shortly to be published, I give an account, from some years of experience in Rome, of the establishment in 1914 and subsequent development of diplomatic relations between Great Britain and the Holy See. I also deal with several other related topics, social and political, such as American diplomatic relations during the nineteenth century, where I show that the American Government—then aloof from European politics—did not have to contend with the difficulties and prejudices which affected Great Britain during that period. The present article will be limited to giving a brief account of the most interesting attempts that were made, after the Reformation and before 1914, to bring about diplomatic contact, official or not, between Great Britain and the Vatican. In the space available it can be no more than an outline, but there is a mass of fascinating material available, must of it unused, some of it known only to specialist researchers, and I hope to be able to fill in the details in the fairly near future.

Most British and American visitors to Rome will be familiar with the church of San Gregorio, from the steps of which the Pope sent St Augustine to England on his mission in 596 A.D. In the forecourt of this church is the memorial tablet to Sir Edward Came, last British diplomatic envoy to the Holy See before relations were severed in Queen Elizabeth’s reign. Thereafter, until James If's unhappy experience, the laws prohibiting foreign jurisdiction in either Church or state and establishing the Royal Supremacy in religion made illegal any link between London and Rome.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1956 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers

References

1 See W. M. Brady: Memoirs of Cardinal Erskine, in Anglo‐Roman Papers, 1890.

2 For this part of my article I am indebted for much material to Dr Norbert Miko's essay, ‘Die diplomatischen Beziehungen zwischen England und dem Heiligen Stuhl’, in Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie, Vol. 78, 1956; a very useful study, based on extensive research in the Public Record Office in London.

3 See Pio Nono; a Study in European Politics and Religion in the Nineteenth Century. By E. E. Y. Hale. 1954.

4 See Memoirs of an ex‐Minister. By the Earl of Malmesbury. 1885.

5 For some of these details I am indebted to Lady Russell, to a privately‐printed book by her husband, Sir Odo Russell, and my own reading of Mr Odo Russell's correspondence in the Public Record Office.

6 See E. S. Purcell: Life of Cardinal Manning, 1896.

7 See Cuthbert Butler: The Vatican Council, 1930.

8 In writing his Life of Manning Purcell had been allowed by Lady Ampthill to use Odo Russell's correspondence with Cardinal Manning and Lord Clarendon, but I understand the originals were destroyed. On the other hand, all Lord Clarendon's informative letters to Russell have been preserved.

9 See Purcell's Life of Cardinal Manning.

10 Discussed at length in Dr Miko's essay already cited. On later Maltese developments I may be permitted to refer to my book.