AN ENGLISH VISITOR'S COMMENTS ON T H E

AMERICAN RELIGIOUS SCENE, 1846

JOHN TRACY ELLIS, Professor of Church History,
University of San Francisco
Few religious thinkers in modern times displayed a keener fore-
sight and perception than John Henry Newman. The extraordinary
talent he possessed in that regard rarely showed to better advantage
than during Vatican Council II when repeated approbation was ex-
pressed in both the formal debates and in the private discussions of
the bishops, the periti, and others in attendance at Rome for the
theological views that Newman had held—often at the price of grave
misunderstanding—a century or more ago. The two particulars
which perhaps received more notice than any others were the ideas
set forth in his famous essay in The Rambler for July, 1859, ' O n
Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine/' a new edition of
which was published as recently as 1961, and the Essay on the De-
velopment of Christian Doctrine, written while Newman was still an
Anglican, and which was published in November, 1845, a few weeks
after he had been received into the Roman Catholic Church.
Both of these works, held in high honor today in Catholic cir-
cles, were upon their original publication the subject of strong crit-
icism from conservative churchmen, and even of delation of New-
man to the Holy See as a man of doubtful orthodoxy. It was the
work on doctrinal development that was uppermost in men's minds
when Newman's friend, Thomas F. Knox (1822-1882), wrote him
from the United States concerning American religious trends in gen-
eral and the American reaction to his latest book.1 Knox was then a
Catholic less than a year, having been received into the Church with
Frederick William Faber on November 17, 1845. Three years later
he joined the Oratory, was ordained in 1850 to the priesthood, and
served as superior of the London Oratory as well as historian of
the English Catholics. From the outset of his life as a Catholic,
Knox was close to Newman, the latter remarking to Frederick Bowles
a week after Knox's reception:
I found Faber and Knox were in Birmingham, having come for the
chance of seeing me. Knox is a very young looking man aged 23—He
may come to Littlemore any day—so be ready for him.2
Thomas Knox's letter to Newman is of interest not only for
the unfriendly reaction of the American Catholics to the latter's vol-
ume on doctrinal development; it likewise revealed their highly con-
servative spirit, for example, on relations with Protestants which,
1. Thanks are due to Father Michael Crowdy, Archivist of the Brompton Oratory,
London, for permission to publish this letter, and Father C. Stephen Dessain, editor
of The Letters and Diaries of John Henry Newman, for sending a photostatic copy
of the letter,
2. Newman to Bowles, Saint Mary's, Oscott, November 25, 1845, Charles Stephen Dessain
(Ed.), The Letters and Diaries of John Henry Newman (London, 1961). XI, 43-44.
36
 AMERICAN RELIÖIOUS SCENE, 1846 37

according to Knox, they felt were indulged to a dangerous degree

by some of their English coreligionists.
Questions of this kind, to be sure, hinged about the identity and
nature of the true Church, and here again the observations of the
English visitor on the American scene in 1846 reflected a quite dif-
ferent spirit than that which emerged from Vatican Council II. The
same conservative position was seen in the prevalence in American
circles of scholasticism and the scholastic method which, Knox told
Newman, he found firmly entrenched, with the result that the Fathers
of the Church were given slight attention. In one particular Knox
would seem to have judged American Catholic opinion and practice
as more conservative than it actually was, namely, in refusing to ad-
mit students of other religious persuasions to their schools. At the
time nativism was at its peak and the College of the Holy Cross at
Worcester, Massachusetts, which he mentioned in a postscript, had
an especially difficult time by reason of this anti-Catholic sentiment.
But Holy Cross' policy in excluding non-Catholic students was more
the exception than the rule, even amid the unpleasantness that ac-
companied the nativist campaign of the 1840's.
The writer's script was in places almost impossible to make out
and in several instances words were simply illegible. The fact that
he used no paragraphs heightened the difficulty, but the original text
has been left as it appeared in the original with an occasional punctua-
tion mark inserted here and there to clarify the meaning.

Boston, Mass. U.S.A.

Tuesd. Sept 22/46
My dear Mr. Newman:
After my overlong letter of last August from Cincinnati (of
which in the matter of length I repented too late) it is soon to be-
gin another. But what I have now to say will not be uninteresting as it
concerns your last work and yourself. I mentioned that the Develop-
ment had been unfavorably reviewed. I find here that the theory is
utterly condemned and the book is considered as of very dangerous
tendencies & quite anti-Catholic. This so far as I can learn is the
general opinion among the American Bps. One went' so far as to
characterize it as 'half Christian & half infidel.' At the same time
they look on it as written when you were a Protestant and give
Protestantism the credit of it. Bp. Fitzpatrick8 of Boston said to
me that he was grieved at its having appeared after you had entered
the Ch :, and at the preface in which you stated it as your hope that
it would be found in harmony with Catholic Doctrine. You must
not think from all this that zgst you personally there is the slightest
unpleasant feeling. The very contrary is the case & it was with
3. John B. Fitzpatrick (1812-1866) was the third Roman Catholic Bishop of Boston.
38 CHURCH HISTORY
reluctance and regret Mr. Brownson4 told me that he attacked the
book and that he did so only because he believed the theory un-
catholic & because it was doing harm among the Protestants of this
country who are ever eager after something new. Boston is the liter-
ary center of America. It gives the tone, they tell me, to the whole
country. There are religions and creeds of every sort and descrip-
tion here. Among the Catholics here I find that there is a very dif-
ferent tone from that of the English Catholics, and they make no
scruple of speaking slightingly of the mode of procedure in England
among the old Catholics of our own country (for of the converts
they say nothing as they have not displayed themselves yet). One
Boston priest went so far as to say that it was to the converts that
he looked for a revival of a better state of things. The objections
which they bring agst the English Catholics (Bps. & all) is that
they yield far too much to Protestants, that they do not take a firm
and independent stand. The doctrine of vincible ignorance is much
severer here. They wd tell Protestants outright Believe or you will
be damned. You have now heard the truth & you are left without
excuse. Bp. Fitzpatrick was mentioning at dinner yesterday a con-
versation which he had with a lady whom he happened to meet. After
answering some objections & carrying on a desultory warfare for
a time, he said to her 'If I saw you walking near a deep chasm in
the earth and to my warning you replied that you felt convinced in
your own mind that there was no danger, this conviction wd not pre-
vent you from falling into it; so if you do not hear & obey God's
Church you will certainly be damned. Were we both this moment to
go before the judgement seat, I should say to God, I am a Roman
Catholic & I am one because Thou toldest me to obey the Church.'
The words the Bp. said seemed to make an impression upon her at
the time & he doubted not that they would be like a barbed arrow
often recurring to her thoughts. The contest in this country is mostly
between Church & no Church. The Puseyites are to be excepted, but
many who call themselves High Church do not know the most ele-
mentary High Church Doctrines, or knows what he ought to know.
Once persuade a person in the existence of the Church & he becomes
a Roman Catholic. Few think of stopping short in Episcopacy. An-
other theory not liked among us is the permission given to believe
in the Anglican establishment. I had a long talk upon this point
with Mr. Brownson & a priest on this subject yesterday. I did not
profess my belief in it, for the consensus of Church teaching & Church
belief on the invalidity of Anglican orders, the more I think of it,
makes me feel less & less of confidence in them, indeed I have almost
none. This however I contended for it could not be required of me
to disbelieve in them, and the priest said that were I his penitent he
4. Orestes Brownson (1803-1876), founder and editor of Brownsonf8 Quarterly Review, had
been received into the Roman Catholic Church in October, 1844, by Bishop Fitzpatrick.
 AMERICAN RELIGIOUS SCENE, 1846 3d
wd not give me absolution unless I professed my disbelief in them
& this because I was indulging in 'rash' judgements. The Bp. how-
ever happened to join us soon after & asking what we were talk-
ing about, gave his opinion in my favor in that to refuse to profess
in them shd be no bar to absolution. I give this as a specimen of
the state of feeling. You may imagine that my position is a some-
what delicate one; so to speak as becomes a neophyte and yet not to
surrender at once because individual Bps. hold a different opinion. Mr.
Brownson's review, I confess, has not convinced me. But I try to
get out of the difficulty by a (very true) confession of incompetency
to judge. You must know that the scholastic form of doctrine is
that which is in vogue here, and nothing but that. Petavius,5, whom
I mentioned, seemed to have but little favor in their eyes. They take
their faith as they find it in the scholastics but of the early Fathers
I shd imagine they knew, many of them, but little. I intend to be
of no opinion on the subject at present for this storm of opposition
& denunciation makes one suspect (not more) the theory, however
much it approves itself to one's mind. One point I confess never en-
tering into & that is the making Holy Scripture the fountainhead of
the Faith. Mr. Brownson told me that he would have sent you a copy
of the review had he known your address in England but he says
that Mr. Shaw6 (F. W. FaberV friend) a Bostonian will have a
copy and he is to be found at the Noble College at Rome where he is
studying for the priesthood. It is a very happy thing your going to
Rome to study. There seems some danger at all events of exciting
prejudices by being educated out of a Catholic Seminary. What I
have seen here makes me inclined to seek out an education on the con-
tinent myself shd I have the means to make a choice. This is suppos-
ing I decide as I more & more feel driven as by some necessity to do.
Boston, Wed. 23 d Sept. I received this morning your very interest-
ing letter & need not say how glad I was to get it. I am very glad
to hear that all think of getting a foreign education. It will tend
to allay any doubts or suspicions about orthodoxy which may arise
and which my letter has shown are much to be apprehended. I like
too the plan of taking up an existing order. It seems both more fit-
ting & more politic for converts. It would be possible, I suppose, at
a future date if circumstances make it advisable to have modifica-
tions made in the order, whatever it be, adapting it to local or even
general wants. If so, a congregation seems preferable to an order
as having less stiffened into shape. I remember long ago having a
great admiration for St. Vincent of Paul. The times in which he
5. Dionysius Petavius (1583-1652) was a Jesuit church historian and theologian.
6. Joseph Coolidge Shaw, scion of a prominent Boston family, graduate of Harvard
College in 1840, was influenced in his conversion to Catholicism in 1843 by Frederick
Faber; he was ordained to the priesthood in 1847, entered the novitiate of the Jesuits,
but died suddenly shortly after on March 10, 1851.
7. Frederick William Faber (1814-1863) was superior of the London Oratory.
40 CHURCH HISTORY
lived were more like our own. Mr. Kyan8 in a letter to me mentioned
it as the belief of many good people that the return of England to
the Faith must be brought by the revival of intenser devotion to our
Blessed Lady, alluding to the antiphon cunetas haereses sola intere-
misti. It is quite in harmony with this that the Church in America
has been recently put under the special patronage of our Lady of the
Immaculate Conception.9 Shd they think it better not, at Rome, to
enter an order, perhaps the revival of devotion to the Blessed Virgin
might be one of the special objects of a new congregation. But I
confess that as I write the words a 'new congregation', I do not like
the notion; besides it must be a national congregation and we have
had so much of nationality. St. Vincent, if I remember, was specially
devoted to our Lady. With respect to the Dominicans, have they not
liad their day? Certainly their glories have faded away and the res-
toration of a religious body to its pristine vigour is unusual at least.
There are Dominicans in this country. Missions being part of the
Lazarists' objects is an advantage both as affording field to more
characters and also because it will give vigour to any Body to have
some of its members in toils and sufferings. Perhaps these may be
martyrs too. I shall feel a deep and personal interest in your de-
cision. It will be a great thing to go under an already existing sys-
tem of discipline & training. And now for a little more about Bos-
ton. I am very anxious to know whether the opinion of the x\meri-
can Bishops about your book will find favour at Rome. If I may
venture to say anything about it, I remember thinking that the theory
may not be rightly appreciated because it dwelt so entirely upon the
work of the hitman mind developing the Faith & did not keep con-
tinually present the cooperation of the Holy Ghost; Man's mind
brought into harmony with the Divine mind by the indwelling of the
Holy Ghost & thus searching into the deep things of God. Moeller10
keeps this prominently forward & from having been imbued with his
theory I supplied this part mentally when reading your book. x\c-
cording to Moeller's view it is quite unnecessary to suppose that the
Faith is all in Holy Writ. Mr. Brownson says that he once held a
theory like yours & that when he held it, he fancied Möhler thought
the same. But that when he gave up his theory he reread Möhler
& then discovered that Möhler did not put forth the theory which he
had supposed. I certainly got a theory like yours from Möhler. Mr.
Brownson told me that he could not get on with Butler's11 analogy
8. William Kyan (1814-1852?) was a Bornan Catholic priest who served for some years
a t Lincoln's I n n Fields, London, was chaplain to the Eyston family in East Hendred,
and was associated with Newman and his circle.
9. The American bishops of the Silxth Provincial Council of Baltimore petitioned the
Holy See in May, 1846, for the Mother of God under her title of Immaculate Con-
ception as patroness of the Church in the United States.
10. Johann Adam Moeller (1796-1838), was a Eoman Catholic church historian and
theologian.
11. Joseph Butler (1696-1752) was Bishop of Dui ham and author of Analogy of Religion
(1736).
 AMERICAN RELIGIOUS SCENE, 1846 41

and could not get through more than the first twenty pages ( !). He
has studied formerly a great deal of German Transcendentalism and
is now going through a regular course of divinity. He is thought
very highly of here by all people, in an intellectual point of view. I
have seen a good deal of him already & like him very much. He
asked me to spend several days at his house on the outskirts of Bos-
ton. Bp. Fitzpatrick did not like the English plan of admitting con-
verts without instruction at once into the Church and also spoke
against the omission of the supplementary ceremonies in baptism.
One priest said that he wd make a penitent of his have them sup-
plied afterwards if not done at the time. But perhaps he was joking.
They talk of converts being baptized not his being received. Ap-
parent holiness out of the Church in someone was spoken of as Satan
transforming himself into an angel of light. You will not lay too
much stress on such exceptions but they are important as an index
of thought feeling. Complaints were made against some of the English
converts for not declaring in their writings that they left the Estab-
lishment, not because they could not work out their theories in it, but
to save their souls. Mr. Oakley's [^/c]12 Pamphlet & some other one
were quoted as holding forth the former as a reason. Even the pas-
sage at the end of the Development was not considered enough. They
want a point blank statement of this from you especially, in order to
neutralize the assertions of Reviews, Newspapers, etc. There is nat-
urally less joy here about conversions in England than among us, still
a warm interest is felt as I have found by personal experience. They
say they want English priests out here as the Irish ones do not suit
Americans. I doubt not that the field for exertion wd be a very im-
portant one, especially to any qualified by knowledge and education
to enter into controversy with effect. Mr. Brownson told me that
the current of thought in Boston had been checked in its progress
transcendentalwise. The question of Church & no Church either
negatively or positively is agitating minds : by negatively, I mean peo-
ple are trying to get along without the Church, without the notion
of a Church being adopted; for a church and The Church are grow-
ing to be synonymous. I met at Newport a Dr. Woods,13 President of
Brunswick College, Maine & have seen much of him. He has in-
troduced me to various Bostonians who represent different -isms, for
this is a city of isms. He stayed a week with you at Oriel six years
ago. He is a congregationalist minister & I fear has no good rea-
sons for not entering the Church. He told me that the amount of
unbaptized people in the States is enormous. Even among the Bap-
tists who are a very large body, it is only the children of mem-
12. Frederick Oakeley (1802-1880), an Anglican divine, was received into the Roman
Catholic Church the same month as Newman.
13. Leonard Woods (1807-1878) was President of Bowdoin College at Brunswick, Maine.
42 CHURCH HISTORY

bers who are baptized and thrive. There is a Dr. Upham14 in Maine
who by accident got hold of some Catholic devotional books and
was much taken with them. He has now one of the largest as-
cetic libraries in the country. He is a great admirer of the Jesuits.
He has written various works, the matter of which is taken from
Catholic ascetic writers & these books are eagerly read by Protestants.
One book is called the Interior Life. He has written a life of St.
Theresa under the fictitious name of Malaais Adorna and now he
has got into the quietest controversy & [illegible]. He does not trou-
ble his head about Catholic Doctrine and as a conclusion will you be-
lieve it? this Dr. Upham is a congregationalist and remains in a
body which does not profess or pretend to have the sacraments. Think
of one being deeply versed in ascetic thought, written and feelingly
so, and yet remain untroubled by the absence of the heavenly food
on which they lived. It is most marvellous. I have visited Canada
since I wrote & was much pleased by many things there. Twin Ca-
thedrals are rising at Kingston & Toronto in the Upper Province.
There is I am told a probability of government being asked to hand
back some of the large estates belonging to the Jesuits which were con-
fiscated at the order's suppression. The Jesuit college at Quebec is
now a barrack. I.H.S. is carved over the doorway. It is sad to see
the troops now where the Jesuit Fathers were once. I was quite af-
fectionately received by an old Sulpician at Montreal, a Mr. Rich-
ards. He called me 'my dear child' in conversation & seemed to feel
very much the late conversions in England. An Irish Priest whom
I accidentally met on board a steamboat took me over a convent of
Soeurs Grises at Montreal. The institution is for educating found-
lings and supporting and attending to very old men & women. I
had some talk with the sisters & was introduced to many of them as
a convert somewhat to my disconcernment for I felt that I ought to
say something appropriate but had not ready wit enough to devise
this something. It was quite a pleasure to see their faces so sweet
& (if not too strong a word for a whole community) angelical. They
laughed and talked, some of them quite merrily with the paieté de
coeur [sic] of French women. One of them spoke of how quick the
time passed in religion without cares and anxieties. The Irish priest
I observed avoided speaking French to them as much as possible. I
asked him afterwards why and he said that he discovered once be-
fore when he had been discoursing to them in French, that they made
very merry with his foreign accent & idiom after he was gone. I
fancy that I have supplied them with some matter for recreation
time. We shook hands with the sisters at taking leave, who had
14. Thomas Cogswell TJpham (1799-1872) was for many years professor of philosophy
in Bowdoin College; his outstanding book was A Philosophical and Practical Treatise on
the Will (1834) ; the work to which Knox referred was Principles of the Interior or
Hidden Life (1843).
 AMERICAN RELIGIOUS SCENE, 1846 43

shown us around. They have prayers for the conversion of England

on one day in every week. I hear that the Americans have carried
off the House of Mercy which was in London & planted it at New
York.15 They will soon have a first novice, an American Lady whom
I saw a great deal of at Newport and whose mother founded the
sisterhood of Charity in America.16 Mr. Kyan wrote me word of
Miss Bowles17 having entered the House of Mercy at Birmingham.
It must be very pleasant for her brother as well as happy for herself.
Mr. Bowles'18 conversion I saw accidentally in a newspaper and was
very glad at it, knowing what a pleasure it must be to you. Lloyd I
saw at Birmingham just before I left England. I was very sorry to
hear of his illness. Morris19 I hope is all right again. By the way I
met with in Canada & travelled for a week with an Oxford (Oriel)
man, Thomas Brook by name, He is in Anglican orders and came out
here for his health. He was an intimate friend of Bowies' brother
who died.20 He says he has never forgiven you for asking him to
breakfast when he was a freshman to meet without any other com-
pany a regular roman. He is very strict in his notions & I am sure I
scandalized him mightily by reading a newspaper on Sunday and
Maintaining a case of casuistry that a merchant who had his house
full of cotton might with safe conscience tell a customer who asked
him whether he had any cotton for sale, that he had none & the next
moment answer yes that he had to a buyer whose credit was not like
the first one's, at a low ebb. This scandalized him dreadfully as well
as my defending 'not at home'. However we got on very well to-
gether & parted with mutual respect. I am going to Maine tomor-
row & shall see President Woods again & I dare say Dr. Upham.
Love to St. John21 from whom I shall be very glad to hear. It will
be safest to direct letters to me Berry Hill Maidenhead. They will be
sent on thence, on the outside should be written to be forwarded.
This is a somewhat critical time for me as I have written a letter
home by this mail, bearing on my prospects.
Ever yrs affectionately,
T.R.K.
15. The New York community of the Sisters of Mercy was established by John Hughes,
Bishop of New York, from the London convent in May, 1846.
16. Catherine Josephine Seton (1800*1891), youngest daughter of Blessed Elizabeth Bayley
Seton (1774-1821) who founded the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph in 1809, was
the first American to enter the Sisters of Mercy in New York; she died at Saint
Catherine's Convent in that city.
17. Emily Bowles (1818-1904?), friend and correspondent of Newman, was for a time
a member of the Beligious of the Holy Child Jesus founded in England in 1846 by the
American convert to Catholicism, Cornelia Connelly (1809-1879).
18. Frederick Sellwood Bowles (1818-1900) became a Catholic at the same time as Newman
and was a member of the Oratory until 1860.
19. Morris could have been either John Morris (1862-1893) or John Brande Morris (1812-
1880), both of whom were converts to Catholicism and friends of Newman.
20. Henry Bowles, an older brother of Frederick and Emily, was at Oriel with Newman;
he died in 1842.
21. Ambrose Saint John (1815-1875) was Newman's closest friend among the Anglican
converts to Catholicism in this period.
44 CHURCH HISTORY
P.S. The plan of opening Catholic colleges to Protestants adopted in
early times in this country 22 is found very injurious. The young Cath­
olics lose their Faith & the Protestants remain unconverted. In a
new college at Worcester, Mass. 23 under the Jesuits none but Cath­
olics are allowed to enter. It was founded by the late Bp of Boston
(Fenwick). 24 His death & funeral must have been very touching to
24. Benedict J. Fenwick, S.J. (1782-1846) was the second Roman Catholic Bishop of Boston.
judge from the accounts given me. Just before he died he looked
up imploringly to his coadjutor [John B. Fitzpatrick] and said In te
Domine speravi, non confundar in aeternum. The coadjutor bade him
make an act of contrition & then gave him absolution. The Bishop
said when it was given Amen, fell back in his chair & so breathed
his last. His face was quite changed in expression they say after
death. He looked quite saintly. I wish I had room to tell you more
about him.
22. Georgetown Academy which began classes in November, 1791, and evolved into the first
Catholic college in the United States, had admitted boys of all religions from the
outset. A prospectus printed late in 1786 read in part:
Agreeably to the Liberal Principle of our Constitution, the Seminary will be
open to Students of every religious profession. They, who, in this Eespect differ
from the Superintendent of the Academy, will be at Liberty to frequent the
places of Worship and Instruction appointed by their Parents; but with Eespect
to their moral Conduct, all must be subject to general and uniform Discipline.
[Quoted in John M. Daley, S.J., Georgetown University: Origin and Early Years.
(Washington: Georgetown University Press, 1957), p. 35].
23. The College of the Holy Cross had opened on November 1, 1843, but because of the
anti-Catholic feeling in Massachusetts at the time an application to the legislature for
a charter was denied in 1849, and it was not until 1865 that the college received
its Masschusetts charter; in the interval the students had received their degrees from
Georgetown College in Washington, D.C.

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