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A Crisis of Authority in English Benedictine History, 1717-21
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 October 2016
Extract
The crisis referred to in the title of this article occurred in the General Chapter of the English Benedictine Congregation (E.B.C.) in 1717, when a certain Father Laurence Fenwick succeeded in getting himself elected quite unworthily as the President of the Congregation for the ensuing quadriennium. It is the purpose of this article to make some study of what is almost certainly the greatest crisis which the English Congregation has ever passed through, a crisis about which there is nothing in print. Whether it is possible to analyse Fenwick’s motives and find out what he was really trying to do remains to be seen, but no man could have manipulated the Chapter in the way that he did single-handed; he must have had accomplices in a scheme that was worked out in advance, and in fact a situation can be seen developing for some time of which no one is likely to have foreseen the outcome, but which was evidence of a very unsatisfactory state of affairs. There was marked unrest and discontent among certain members of the Congregation, which appears to have started soon after the Revolution of 1688. It cannot exactly be proved, but I hope to show that there is almost certainly a connection between these events, and that the root cause of the trouble in the English Benedictines was precisely the departure of James II from the throne and what this implied.
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References
Notes
1 ACh I, 28.
2 McCann, P. J., Ampleforth and its Origins, pp. 81–92,Google Scholar but see Lunn, The English Benedictines 1540-1688, p. 94.
3 Congregationis Anglicanae Ordinis Sanctissimi Patriarchae Benedict¡ Trophaea published in 4 vols in 1625, vol. I published separately in two parts, 1619 and 1620. Only the Rheims Town Library and Marsh’s Library, Dublin, have all 4 vols. The Bodleian Library, Oxford, has the unique copy of the first issue of vol. I.
4 Examen Trophaeorum Congregationis pretensae anglicanae ordinis S. Benedicti, Remis 1622. The Trophaea are of course those in Maihew’s work.
5 Apostolatus Benedictinorum in Anglia, Doway 1626.
6 The most thorough and masterly handling of this is to be found in The Abbots of the Ancient Monasteries and the Cathedral Priors by Hugh Connolly and Justin McCann, privately printed 1942.
7 This booklet quoted in the last note also supplies the clearest information about the Bull Plantata, see pp. 55-60, 81-86 and 88-91.
8 The Mandatum as it was called from its first word, was a long letter dated 1 October 1627 and printed in Doway in 1628 from the President (Rudesind Barlow) to the Provincials and Definitors declaring that the privileges of the E.B.C, made it unnecessary for them to get missionary faculties from the bishop. It was occasioned by the claim being made by Bishop Smith, who had been appointed the bishop in England in 1624. See Lunn, M., ‘Benedictine Opposition to Bishop Richard Smith’, Recusant History, vol. II, p. 1 Google Scholar. Quotation in text below, Mandatum, p. 80.
9 Allanson, H I, 428, says Somerset House, but this was an error. The community, six priests and two lay-brothers, was established at St James’s in, 1662, and in 1671 moved with Catherine of Braganza to Somerset House.
J. C. R. Weale, C.R.S. 38, vii-xxi, and D.R. (1934), p. 586, n. 1.
10 AH I, 491.
11 AH I, establishment 523, Chapter 533.
12 AH I, 565, n. 2, ACh I, 450-1.
13 ACh I, 464.
14 There were probably some boys from England being educated at Doway from the beginning, but by 1619 there was a school with forty boys. Thereafter numbers fluctuated between thirty and sixty. See Birt, History of Downside Schooi (1902), ch. 1.
15 For a more detailed description of the structure with some interesting comments see AH I, 109-21.
16 The houses of Doway, Dieulouard, and Paris were all priories, and were founded before 1619. Lamspring was taken over by the E.B.C, from the BursfeId Congregation in 1643 after much negotiation owing to the vicissitudes of the religious wars of the time. Originally a nunnery, it was converted into an abbey for men before the E.B.C, took it over, and Father Clement Reyner became the first Abbot. AH I, 186-9, 310-16.
17 ACh I, 459.
18 AR I, 613, and Decision of the Definitory on this, AR I, 668.
19 AH I, 602.
20 Allanson’s detailed account of the proceedings at St Edmund’s in the first decade of the eighteenth century is based on the manuscript Memorials of the Benedictine Congregation (2 vols) by Bennet Weldon, a choir monk of the house (never ordained priest), who was a member of the community at the time. He died in 1713. The MS. (always known as Weldon) is now at Douai Abbey, and has recently been rebound in 6 vols. It is a valuable, though not entirely reliable, source for the seventeenth century and up to 1710, at which date it stops.
21 AH I, 604-08. For background see also pp. 597-604.
22 This and the President’s second letter to Moore mentioned below, and his letter to Prior Johnston are all given in AR I, 622-6.
23 AH II, 23. For the full story of Moore at St Edmund’s 1706-07 see AH II, 21-31.
24 B, A152, Acceptance of the Constitution Unigenitus by Gregory Riddell and others.
25 Hewlett, W., Annalsof St Edmund’s at Paris, Ampleforth MS. 12, p. 76 (no. 93)Google Scholar. William Hewlett was professed at St Edmund’s in 1699. Afier a spell on the mission he was at St Edmund’s from 1726 till his death in 1747. He was noted for taking no part in the disturbances of his time. His MS. is slight compared to Weldon’s, but he gives the other side of the picture saying little of scandals or General Chapters, but he shows religious life and Church services, in which he was much interested, going on in spite of everything.
26 AH II, 23-25.
27 ARI, 631.
28 AR 1, 632.
29 John Drummond, 1st Earl and titular Duke of Melfort (1649-1714) was the second son of the 3rd Earl of Perth. In 1685, James II created him Viscount and in 1686, 1st Earl of Melfort. He fled to France in 1688, but continued to serve James, over whom he acquired great influence, on various missions. James secretly conferred a Dukedom on him after their flight, and on his deathbed directed that it should be assumed. It was of course never accepted in England. See D.N.B., vol. vi, p. 35.
30 See Lists relating to the English Benedictine Congregation ed. by Whelan, Basil, Abbey, Stanbrook (1933), p. 104, and C.R.S. vol. 9, p. 395.Google Scholar
31 ACh II, 27.
32 ACh II, 29.
33 AH II, 26.
34 AR I, 630.
35 AR I, 636.
36 We learn from Weldon that his name was Pontchartrain. He was known personally to Weldon who always mentions him by name in relating his dealings with the community.
37 AH II, 29-31.
38 AR I, 637.
39 In 1674, Louis XIV had given permission to the monks of St Edmund’s to hold benefices in order that the meagre funds of the house might be augmented in this way. The benefices by French law had to be in the names of individuals, but by their vow of poverty monks were bound to hand over the proceeds for the benefit of their monastery. AR I, 487, 489, also I, 637. In 1708, the King ordered the benefices of the monks of St Edmund’s to be paid direct to the procurator to obviate the difficulty which had occurred here. AR I, 654.
40 AH II, 32.
41 AR I, 613 (1700) and I, 635 (1707).
42 AR I, 630.
43 AB I, 422.
44 AB I, 336.
45 AB I, 399.
46 AB I, 286.
47 AB I, 392.
48 The decree Sacra Congregatio of Pope Urban VIII, 21 September 1624, regulated the procedure for dismissing religious. A religious might only be expelled if he was proved to be incorrigible after a year’s imprisonment. One period of one year was reduced to six months by the decree Instantibus of Pope Innocent XII, 24 July 1694. Mayer, H. S. Benediktinisches Ordensrecht, Beuroner Kunstverlag, 1936, Band IV, Teil II, pp. 114–18.Google Scholar
49 See article by Duffy, Eamon, ‘Over the Wall’, D.R., Vol 94 (1976), p. 1.Google Scholar
50 ACon ch. 5, p. 59, no. 5.
51 ACh II, 19-20.
52 ACh II, 27.
53 ACh II, 42.
54 AH II, 75.
55 A.A.W. A.39/156, p. 57. This Defence was prepared for the use of the Sacred Congregation of Cardinals in 1720. It was discovered in the Westminster Cathedral Archives, and is used here for a number of small pieces of information not hitherto known. It was obvious that Moore must have made his submission before the 1717 Chapter, but there was no known record of the event till now. Some account of the document and its contents will be given later (p. 266).
56 See ACon, the whole of chapter 9. In 1709, in the Prov. Chap. York, missioners were urged to be faithful to the half-hour mental prayer a day in their Cons., AH I, 614. Gen. Chap. 1710, stressed the obligation of conventuals and missioners to the yearly retreat, and the yearly renewal of vows made by conventuals was imposed also on missioners. AH II, 46.
57 B, A147. This is the Brevis Species Facti (often called Factum for short) of the Doway Appeal to Rome. A short statement of the facts of a case had to be sent with all appeals.
58 AH II, 63 ff, see n. 1.
59 Constitutiones Missionis Ben. Congr. Anglic, Duaci, 1689, p. 16 (see whole of ch. 2).
60 B, A150, p. 1. Fenwick’s Counter-Statement for Rome, signed by him and Bede Moore as First Definitor. Dated 29 July 1718.
61 A.A.W. A.39/156, p. 20. In an official letter Fenwick as Third Definitor states that both scrutinies were made by 14 May 1717.
62 A.A.W. A.39/156, p. 17.
63 AR II, 13-16. The Record includes Howard’s second Appeal.
64 AR II, 17.
65 AB I, 363.
66 B, A151, p. 2.
67 AH II, 65.
68 They generally used New Style for dating Chapter in the seventeenth century, but sometimes for no apparent reason Old Style, and so, in the early eighteenth century. This was the last time a Chapter was dated Old Style.
69 ACh II, 46.
70 AH II, 65.
71 ACon, p. 63, no. 17.
72 Constitutiones Missionis, Ben. Congr. Angl. Duaci 1689, pp. 34-35.
73 B, A147, p. 1.
74 ACh II, 53.
75 AB I, 350.
76 AB I, 318.
77 B, A149. The Articles form the Factum of the first Canterbury Province Appeal to Rome, see p. 260.
78 This obviously expresses the strongest objection on personal grounds, but the term is not known in English law today.
79 ACh II, 54.
80 B, A147, p. 1.
81 See p. 242, n. 66.
82 The Sentences were given and confirmed by Chapter on 2 August (all dates O.S.) ACh II, 54, but their text is misplaced and is given on pp. 55-57.
83 B, A149, Articles 25 and 26.
84 Articles 28 and 29, and Factum (B, A147) p. 2.
85 Riddell later alleged, Acta Capitularia non sincere et authentice descripta sunt, et nedum injuste exclusi erant vocales verum intrusi invocales. AH ii, 77, n. 2. We have seen examples of the Acts stating results baldly, when much lay behind them, e.g. the election of Judges.
86 ACh II, 64. Riddell was Cathedral Prior of Winchester and Howard of Ely.
87 ACh II, 61.
88 ACh II, 68.
89 AH II, 75.
90 A.A.W. A.39/156, pp. 29-30.
91 B, A146 Doway Appeal. B, A205, p. 1, and AR II, 37. This will be referred to again as the Anonymous Account, and is briefly discussed on p. 283.
92 B, A151, p. 2.
93 AH II, 42.
94 ACh II, 123.
95 AR II, 20.
96 I am much indebted for the information on E.B.C, finances at this period to an unpublished typescript of Dom Justin McCann. Ampleforth MS. 284, no. 15.
97 AH II, 76.
98 AH II, 76. n. 3. The sums quoted appear in Downside Archives, 2013 N. Prov. ch. 1721, £50; 51 S. Prov. ch. 1725, £120 and £400.
99 B, A151.
100 ACh II, 28.
101 ACh II, 67.
102 AH II, 93, n. 1.
103 B, A151. Quotes below all appear on p. 5 of the Letter.
104 ACh II, 67.
105 AH II, 77.
106 See n. 39.
107 Hewlett, Annals… p. 90, no. 11. See n. 25.
108 AB I, 452.
109 B, A153.
110 B, A146.
111 B, A149.
112 B, A153.
113 B, A154.
114 B, A155.
115 B, A150.
116 ACh II,72-73; AR II,27.
117 AH II, 77; AR II, 38 (B, A205). F. Moore in his second Appeal refers to Riddell in Rome.
118 See p. 252 (31 December).
119 AR II, 25-27 and AH II, 78-79.
120 ACh II, 72-73; AR II, 27.
121 A.A.W. A.39/156.
122 ACh II, 6. For Procedure at Provincial Chapters see p. 239.
123 A.A.W. A.38/10. Paris Seminary Collection I, 79.
124 D.N.B. VIII, 726.
125 ACh II 6. See AH II, 11, n. 5.
126 Foley 5, p. 401.
127 Allanson AH II, 80. Anon. Acc. B. A205, 2, (AR II, 38-39).
128 B, A169.
129 AH II, 81; B, A205, p. 2; also in AR II, 39.
130 ACh II, 73; AR II, 27 and 28.
131 B, A205, p. 10 (AR II, 48-49).
132 ACh II, 80.
133 B, A184.
134 B, A183.
135 ACh II, 96; AR II, 33.
136 AB I, 334.
137 AR II, 24-30. This gives the case as presented to the Doway theologians, together with their treatment of it.
138 ACh II, 72-73; AR II, 27-28.
139 ACh II, 74. See ACh I, 401, and AH I, 516, 517, n. 1.
140 ACh II, 101 (1721); ACh II, 110 (1725).
141 AH II, 93, n. 2; ACh II, 79, sentence 94.
142 AH II, 73.
143 ACh II, 88-89, see note 138.
144 ACh II, 89-94. Later in the Chapter, all Superiors (Provincials and Priors) were ordered to make copies of these Acts and make them known to their subjects (ACh II, 102).
145 ACh II, 95; AR II, 32.
146 ACh II, 96; AR II, 33.
147 ACh II, 97; AR II, 35.
148 ACh I, 481 (1697).
149 ACh II, 98; AR II, 35.
150 AH II, p. 86, n. 1.
151 ACh II, 97; AR II, 34.
152 ACh II, 102.
153 AB I, 338.
154 B, A218, Letter from President Southcott to Cardinal Gualterio, 29 August 1722. Gualterio was Card. Pref. Propaganda and Protector of England. All the Birt MS. letters between Southcott and Gualterio here referred to are transcripts from B.M. Add. MS. 20309, which with other volumes of letters was purchased by the library from the Marquis Gualterio in 1884.
155 ACh II 102.
156 ACh II, 102 and 104.
157 AH II, 105.
158 B, A218 (cf. n. 154).
159 B. A187.
160 H. N. Birt, Obit Book of the English Benedictines 1600-1912,, printed privately. He was the collector of the MSS used here.
161 B, A205. Allanson has the whole text in full, AR II, 37.
162 B, A224.
163 B, A209.
164 Bennett, G. V., The Tory Crisis in Church and State 1688-1730, p. 209.Google Scholar
165 B, A265.
166 B, A261.
167 B, A259.
168 B, A254.
169 B, A247.
170 B, A251, undated, marked by Birt ‘c. July 1723’.
171 Southcott was elected President 12 August 1721, ACh II, 78.
172 ACh II, 98.
173 ACh II, 115.
174 ACh II, 117.
175 B, A260.
176 B, A272.
177 B, A285.
178 B, A286.
179 B, A287.
180 AH II, 136-7.
181 AH I, 524-5.
182 See p. 224, n. 9.
183 Allanson in his History gives the total numbers, and location of individuals at the end of each quadriennium.
184 AH II, 126.
185 ACh II, 107-08.
186 ACh II, 121.
187 ACh II, 110.
188 ACh II, 119.
189 AH II, 125.
190 ACh II, 123.
191 The College of Doway has already been mentioned as having a notably good school, but Lamspring also had a school. Taken over by the E.B.C, in 1643, it had a few students from early on, but by 1668 something over twenty (AH I, 504), and it may be that it was never much more after this. In 1802, when the dissolution of the Abbey by the Prussians was imminent, five students (including the future Bishop Baines) came to Ampleforth as foundation members of the school.
192 AH II, 123.
193 ACh II, 133.
194 AB I, 376, n. 2-4; AH II, 107, n. 1.
195 See text, F. Moore p. 250 ff; Joseph Howard p. 280; M. Anderton, p. 286.
196 It is of some interest that there was a certain Sir John Fenwick of Wallington Castle in Northumberland whose mother was a Stapylton of Wighill, Yorkshire (D.N.B. VI, 1193), who was executed for the part he played in a plot to assassinate William III in 1696. Among some papers of the North Province it is stated that L. Fenwick was at Bedale on 18 September 1710 with Elizabeth Stapylton, his cousin. (AB I, 403, n. 2).
197 The story of the Roman adventure is in a paper of Bishop Ellis, A.A.W. A.38/10.
198 Hewlett, Annals of St Edmund’s at Paris, p. 91, no. 112, see n. 25.
199 AB I, 407.
200 ACh II, 161 Text of Letter; B, A317.
201 AH II, 108.
202 Ogg, David, England in the Reigns of James II and William III (1955), p. 111 Google Scholar; see whole of pp. 108-12.
203 ACh II, 198.
204 AB I, 409, nn. 2 and 5.