English Catholicism, 1680–1830

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Editor: Michael Mullett

This comprehensively edited set, the first collection of English-language Catholic literature covering the long eighteenth century, follows the development of English Catholic writing over the course of 150 years of the evolution of the community from pariahs to citizens.

Much focus has been given to the periods of martyrdom and violent persecution from the end of the sixteenth to the end of the seventeenth centuries and, latterly, on the so-called ‘Second Spring’ of English Catholicism associated with John Henry Newman in the nineteenth century; but until now scant attention has been paid to the ‘middle period’ of post-Reformation English Catholic history under investigation here, an era characterised by numerous key events in British history between the Exclusion Crisis of 1679–81 and civil emancipation in 1829.

From the early 1680s, as highlighted in such essays as A Papist Mis-represented and Represented: Or, A Twofold Character of Popery, English Catholics were under acute suspicion as public enemies. Over time opinions shifted but some of the old prejudices and assumptions remained. Books and pamphlets were regularly published in defence of the community’s standpoints and interests, with such varied titles as A Dialogue Between A Protesting Catholic Dissenter And A Catholic (1790) and An Address To The Protestants (1815), while its own devotional, pastoral, catechetical and liturgical needs were addressed by literary masters including John Gother and Richard Challoner. Commentary on these publications and dozens like them is presented across these six volumes.

This authoritative edition is set to become an essential feature of library shelves for numerous institutions worldwide. It will appeal to scholars of, among other disciplines, Catholic history and theology, general Christianity and English history at higher undergraduate, postgraduate and professorial levels.

• Full editorial apparatus includes a substantial general introduction, providing an overview of the period and its writings
• Extensive headnotes establish the significance of the texts, chart publishing histories, and provide details of their critical reception
• Includes rare texts, drawn from the extensive holdings of the Talbot Library
• High level of textual annotation including biblical and doctrinal references
• Each facsimile page is digitally cleaned and enhanced, significantly improving on the quality and legibility of the original
• Full consolidated index

Contents

Volume 1: English Catholic Writings on Religious Controversies, 1685-1736
John Gother, A Papist Mis-represented (1685); John Gother, Pope Pius His Profession of Faith Vindicated (1687); John Gother, A Reply to the Answer (1686); John Gother, Good Advice to the Pulpits (1687); John Gother, A Discourse of the Use of Images (1687); George Touchet, Historical Collections (1686); James Mumford, The Question of Questions (1687); Charles Dodd, The Secret Policy of the English Society of Jesus (1715); Robert Manning, The Shortest Way to End Disputes (1716); Robert Manning, England’s Conversion and Reformation (1725); Edward Hawarden, Charity and Truth (1728); Edward Hawarden, An Answer to Dr Clark, and Mr Whiston (1729)

Volume 2: English Catholic Writings on Devotion, Prayer, Liturgy, Instruction, Hagiography and Church History 1686-1755
Robert Parsons, A Christian Directory (1687); Nicholas Cross, A Sermon Preach’d before her Sacred Majesty (1686); John Persall, A Sermon Preach’d before the King and Queen (1686); John Gother, Instructions on the Epistles and Gospels (1718); Thomé de Jesus, The Sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ (1753); Sir Basil Brook, trans., Entertainments for Lent (1755); John Gother, Prayers for Every Day in Lent (1718); The Primer, Or, Office of the B. Virgin Mary (1717); John Gother, Instructions for particular States and Conditions of Life (1718); John Gother, A Practical Catechism (1718); John Anselm Mannock, The Poor Man’s Catechism (1752); Francis Petre, Instructions and Regulations for Indulgences, n.d.; John Dryden, trans., The Life of St Francis Xavier (1688); Edward Ambrose Burgis, The Annals of the Church (1712)

Volume 3: English Catholic Writings on Religious Controversies, 1736-1791
Richard Challoner, A Roman Catholick’s Reasons (1736 ); Richard Challoner, A Short History of the The First Beginnings and Progress of the Protestant Religion (1742); Richard Challoner, The Touchstone of the New Religion (1761); John Constable, Remarks Upon F Le Courayer’s Book (1727); Thomas Ward, England’s Reformation ... A Poem (1747); Sebastian Redford, An Important Enquiry (1751); William Walton, The Miraculous Powers Of The Church (1756); Samuel Musson, A Review of the ...Controversy Concerning Miracles (1758); Richard Challoner, A Caveat Against the Methodists (1760); Richard Challoner, The Devotion of Catholicks To The Blessed Virgin (1764) James Archer, Sermons on ... Moral and Religious Subjects (1789); Lewis Brittain, Principles of the Christian Religion and Catholic Faith (1790); Joseph Berington, Reflections Addressed To The Rev. John Hawkins (1785); William Leo Pilling, A Dialogue Between A Protesting Catholic Dissenter, And A Catholic (1790); John Milner, A Discourse Delivered At The Consecration of ... William Gibson (1791)

Volume 4: English Catholic Writings on Hagiography, Pious Biography and Church History, Prayer, Liturgy and Instruction, 1755-1778
Richard Challoner, The Wonders of God in the Wilderness (1755); Alban Butler, The Lives … of the Saints, I (1756); Richard Challoner/ Abraham Woodhead, The Life of St Teresa (1757); Alban Butler, A Short Account of the Life of Mary of the Holy Cross (1767); Thomas Phillips, The Life of Reginald Pole (1767); Richard Challoner, A Manual of … Prayers (1768); Charles Cordell [?], Morning and Evening Prayers (1763); Charles Cordell, The Catholick Layman’s Companion (1766); James Marmaduke, The Evening-Office Of The Church (1778); Richard Challoner, ed., Alban Butler, The Moveable Feasts, Fasts Of The Catholic Church (1774); Richard Challoner, A Pastoral Instruction For … Lent (1767); Richard Challoner, Regulations For The Fast Of Lent, 1771 (1771); Richard Challoner, Lessons On The Obligation Of The Paschal Communion, n.d; Richard Challoner, The Garden of the Soul (1777)

Volume 5: English Catholic Writings on Religious Controversies, 1791-1830
Charles Plowden, A Discourse Delivered At The Consecration of John Douglass (1791); John Milner, Ecclesiastical Democracy Detected (1793); Charles Butler, An Address To The Protestants (1815); James Archer, Sermons On Various … Subjects (1794); Richard Morgan, A Discourse Delivered In The Catholic Chapel, in Preston (1803); Richard Challoner, Grounds of The Old Religion (1798); C Walmesley, translated from Agostino Pastorini, The General History of the Christian Church (1798); John Milner, Letters to a Prebendary (1815); Nicholas Alain Gilbert, An Answer To The Rev. John Wesley’s Misrepresentations (1811); Peter Baines, The Leading Doctrines Of The Catholic Religion (1816); John Lingard, A Collection of Tracts (1826); John Lingard, A History of England (1823); Joseph Berington and John Kirk, The Faith of Catholics (1830)

Volume 6: English Catholic Writings on Liturgy and Prayer; Devotion, Instruction and Scripture; Hagiography, Church History and Pious Biography 1777-1823
Sir Walter Kirkham Blount, The Office of The Holy Week (1796); Peter Gandolphy, An Exposition Of Liturgy (1815); Lady Lucy Herbert, Several Excellent Methods of Hearing Mass (1791); A Manual of Instructions and Prayers (1780); Alexander MacKenzie, Spiritual Guide (1778); Louis Antoine Caraccioli, Interesting Letters Of Clement XIV (1777); John Gother, Instructions Upon The Sacrament Of Confirmation, (1783); Richard Challoner, The Catholick Christian Instructed (1798?); Richard Challoner, Considerations Upon Christian Truths (1784); Massillon, An Episcopal Charge, (1784): The Holy Bible Translated, (1796); Charles Butler, A Continuation of The ‘Lives of The Saints’ (1823); Richard Challoner, Memoirs of Missionary Priests (1784?); l’Abbé Barruel, The Clergy During the French Revolution (1794); Lievain-Bonaventure Proyard, The Life Of Madame Louise, A Carmelite Nun (1807); James Barnard, The Life of Richard Challoner (1784)

Reviews

'The significance of having such clean and luxuriously bound copies of these texts is great...with its lucid general introduction, its bibliographical essay, useful notes, and carefully devised index, this is a set libraries cannot afford not to buy.'
– Anna Battigelli, 1650-1850: Ideas,Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era

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