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Newman, Faber and the Oratorian Separation: A Reappraisal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 September 2015

John F. Quinn
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Extract

John Henry Newman’s establishment of Oratorian houses in London and Birmingham in 1849 seemed like an auspicious event for English Catholics. The houses were filled with Oxford converts who were eager to minister to the laity and furnish intellectual support for the Faith. Unfortunately, only six years after the houses were founded the Oratorians became enmeshed in bitter feud. The Oratories had been developing along different lines. Father Frederick Faber was a zealous ultramontane; he and his London associates embraced all things Roman. Newman and his Birmingham confreres experimented with Roman devotions but were never comfortable with them. Newman sympathized with the ‘old Catholics’ and retained cordial relations with many Anglicans. As the Oratories were drifting apart so too were Newman and Faber. While they had been close friends when the Oratories were established, Newman became increasingly critical and suspicious of Faber.

Type
Other
Information
British Catholic History , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , May 1990 , pp. 106 - 126
Copyright
Copyright © Catholic Record Society 1973

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References

Notes

1 J. H. Newman to Richard Stanton, November 19, 1855, in LD, 17:73.

2 Frederick Faber to Newman, May 8, 1856, in LD, 17: 234–235.

3 Between 1849 and 1855, Newman wrote 300 letters to Faber and often addressed him as ‘Charissime.’ Ronald Chapman describes their friendship in detail in his biography of Faber, Father Faber (Westminster, Md.: Newman Press, 1961), 117–261.

4 Trevor, Meriol, Newman: The Pillar of the Cloud; Newman: Light in Winter (London: Macmillan, 1962)Google Scholar.

5 Newsome, David, ‘Newmania,’ Journal of Theological Studies 14 (October 1963): 421.Google Scholar

6 Ker, Ian, John Henry Newman (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988)Google Scholar.

7 Ibid., 426.

8 Schiefen, Richard, Nicholas Wiseman and the Transformation of English Catholicism, (Shepherdstown, W. Va.: Patmos Press, 1984), 62.Google Scholar

9 Newman, John Henry, Apologia Pro Vita Sua ed. David J. DeLaura (New York: Norton, 1968), pp. 114–115.Google Scholar

10 O’Connell, Marvin R., The Oxford Conspirators: A History of the Oxford Movement, 1833–1845 (London: Macmillan, 1969), 322–325 Google Scholar; 334–335.

11 Newman, , Apologia, 121.Google Scholar

12 Addington, Raleigh, The Idea of the Oratory (London: Burns & Oates, 1966), 115.Google Scholar

13 Frederick Faber to F. A. Faber, May 26, 1843, in Addington, Raleigh, Faber Poet and Priest (Wales: D. Brown & Sons, 1974), 101.Google Scholar

14 Ibid., 105.

15 See Faber’s letter to Newman, October 24, 1845 in Addington, , Faber, 127.Google Scholar

16 See Faber’s letter to Newman, October 28 and November 10, 1845, in Addington, Faber, 128–129.

17 See Newman’s letter to Wiseman, January, 17, 1847, thanking him for his encouragement. LD, 12: 20.

18 Only Fathers who have been members for ten years can vote. Newer members can participate in community meetings, but cannot vote.

19 Bowden, H., ‘Oratory,’ Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913 ed., 11: 272.Google Scholar

20 See Newman’s letter to J. D. Dalgairns, in LD, 11: 305–306.

21 Addington, , Idea of the Oratory, 107.Google Scholar

22 Newman chose not to alter the Rule substantially. His only noteworthy revision was a clause allowing for the establishment of schools for boys. Bowden, 273.

23 Chapman, 167–168.

24 Faber was devoted to St. Philip before his conversion. He visited St. Philip’s tomb during his Roman trip in 1843. Chapman, 77.

25 See Newman’s diary entry, December 25, 1847, noting the potential difficulties of allowing Faber and his associates to join the Oratory. LD, 12: 137.

26 Chapman, 247.

27 Gilley, Sheridan, ‘Vulgar Piety and the Brompton Oratory, 1850–1860,’ Durham University Journal, 43 (1981): 18–20.Google Scholar

28 Addington, Faber, 229; Trevor, Meriol, Newman Light in Winter (London: Macmillan, 1962), 22.Google Scholar

29 Norman, Edward, The English Catholic Church in the Nineteenth Century (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984), 234 Google Scholar. Norman considers All for Jesus one of the ‘spiritual classics of the century’.

30 Faber, Frederick, All for Jesus (Baltimore: John Murphy, 1853), 169.Google Scholar

31 Trevor, 133.

32 Newman, , Apologia, 154 Google Scholar. Newman noted that he could ‘not enter into’ certain Marian devotions. Ibid.

33 Newman invited one prominent ‘old Catholic’ priest, Charles Newsham, to join, but he declined. Another ‘old Catholic’, John Cooke, was a member of the Birmingham house from 1849 till his death in 1850. LD, 11: 349; 13: 511.

34 The Gorham case involved an evangelical minister whose Anglo-Catholic bishop refused to induct him to a parish because of his views on infant baptism. Gorham successfully appealed to the laydominated Privy Council. Anglo-Catholics were appalled that a government board was settling matters of doctrine and were further dismayed by Gorham’s victory. See Gray, Robert, Cardinal Manning (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1985), 131–136.Google Scholar

35 Newman, John Henry, Difficulties of Anglicans, 2 vols. (London: Longmans, Green, 1892–94), 1: 81–82.Google Scholar

36 Dessain, C. S., John Henry Newman (London: Thomas Nelson, 1966), 107.Google Scholar

37 Trevor, 54. In later years Brownson became an ardent ultramontane; however, in the 1850s he was a liberal.

38 Trevor, 50.

39 Bowen, Desmond, Paul Cardinal Cullen and the Shaping of Modern Irish Catholicism (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1983), 152–153 Google Scholar; Trevor, 50.

40 Newman, John Henry, The Idea of a University, ed. Martin Svaglic (University of Notre Dame Press, 1982), 177 Google Scholar.

41 Newman, John Henry, The Second Spring ed. Francis Donnelly (London: Longmans, Green 1911), 34.Google Scholar

42 Ibid., 40–41.

43 Trevor, 22.

44 Newman to Faber, September 28, 1853, in LD, 15: 433–434.

45 Faber to Newman, September 29, 1853, in LD, 15: 439.

46 Faber to Newman, October 3, 1853, in LD, 15: 447.

47 See Newman’s letter to Faber, September 28, 1853, in LD, 15: 433.

48 Dalgairns to Newman, September 29, 1853, in Chapman, 265.

49 Faber’s religious name was Wilfrid.

50 Newman to Faber, October 4, 1853, in LD, 15: 449.

51 Trevor, 30, 94.

52 Faber, Frederick, The Blessed Sacrament (London, 1855)Google Scholar, acknowledgement page.

53 Chapman, 269.

54 LD, 17: 9.

55 Chapman, 269.

56 Newman to Flanagan, October 30, 1855, in LD, 17: 27. Trevor is extremely critical of Faber throughout her writing. She considers him to have been childish, erratic and gossipy. See Pillar, 465–466, 479–480, 586; Light, 13, 113–114, 149, 154.

57 LD, 17:32.

58 Ibid., 17: 51.

59 See Newman’s letter to Flanagan, October 30, 1855, in LD, 17: 26–27. Newman remarked that if he were gone, Faber ‘would attempt to get over you [Flanagan], N[icholas Darnell] and Austin [Mills] as his novices—despise F[rederic Bowles], talk over Ambrose [St. John], laugh at H[enry Bittleston], and rule Robert [Tillotson] through Bernard [Dalgaims].

60 Newman to Faber, November 8, 1855, in LD, 17: 38–39.

61 Trevor never takes Faber’s illness seriously. She implies that he used his ailments to avoid dealing with unpleasant matters: ‘at the least hint of criticism he tended to take to his bed with headache and sickness.’ Pillar, 455. For other sceptical remarks about the gravity of Faber’s illness, see Pillar, 433, 460, 477, 480; Light, 15, 91, 148.

62 Stanton to Newman, November 10, 1855, in LD, 17: 51–52.

63 Newman to Stanton, November 13, 1855, in LD, 17: 59–60.

64 Stanton to Newman, November 17, 1855, in LD, 17: 65–66.

65 Newman to Stanton, November 19, 1855, in LD, 17: 73.

66 Wiseman to Faber, November 23, 1855, in LD, 17: 73.

67 Chapman, 278.

68 LD, 17: 103–104.

69 Ibid., 17: 272. Trevor describes Barnabò as a ‘shrewd, alert little man of business, with rough and ready manners, a back-slapping type’ who wanted to ‘bully’ Newman. Light, 105.

70 Chapman, 280.

71 Ibid. Rumours had circulated that Newman would be made a titular bishop in connection with his rectorship of the Irish university. By 1856 Newman’s hopes had been dashed; Cullen and other bishops thought such a move imprudent.

72 Antony Hutchison to Newman, March 2, 1856, in LD, 17: 169–174. Trevor remarks that in ‘many ways [Hutchison] seems never to have grown up, and like Faber remained emotionally immature all his life.” Light, 134.

73 Newman to Hutchison, March 4, 1856, in LD, 17: 174. Ker claims Newman’s letter had a ‘friendly tone.’ Ker, 429.

74 Faber to Newman, May 8, 1856, in LD, 17: 234.

75 May 26 is the feast of St. Philip.

76 Faber to Newman, May 8, 1856, in LD, 17: 235.

77 Newman to Faber, May 9, 1856, in LD, 17: 235–236.

78 Faber to Newman, May 10, 1856, in LD, 17: 240. Trevor labels Faber’s plea as a ‘pathetic appeal.’ Light, 117.

79 Newman to Faber, May 13, 1856, in LD, 17: 241. Ker describes this letter as ‘cool but courteous, firm but uncontentious.’ Ker, 434.

80 Stanton to Newman, May 22, 1856 in LD, 17: 247.

81 Newman to Stanton, May 27, 1856, in LD, 17: 248–249.

82 See Newman’s letter to St. John, June 12, 1856, in LD, 17: 265.

83 Wiseman to Newman, June 6, 1856, in LD, 17: 255.

84 LD, 17: 456.

85 Trevor, 152.

86 Newman to the Fathers of the Birmingham Oratory, June 14, 1856, in LD, 17: 270.

87 Ibid.

88 Ibid. In a letter to St. John on June 11, 1856, Newman remarked that the Birmingham fathers should treat the London community the way they would treat a house of Jesuits or Redemptorists. LD, 17: 263.

89 Francis Knox to the Birmingham Fathers, July 4, 1856, in LD, 17: 307.

90 Ibid.

91 Francis Balston was an Oxford convert who joined the London Oratory in 1850. LD, 11: 332.

92 LD, 11: 357. Trevor dismisses Talbot as a ‘fussy little man’ with ‘delusions of grandeur.’ Light, 130. Ker labels him ‘egregious.’ Ker, 374.

93 LD, 17: 303.

94 Chapman, 351.

95 Hutchison to Faber, July 20, 1856, in LD, 17: 347.

96 See Newman’s memoranda of February 13, 1856 and January 1, 1859 in LD, 17: 148–150.

97 Barnabò became a cardinal and Prefect of Propaganda in 1856.

98 LD, 17: 348.

99 Dalgairns to Newman, September 1855, in LD, 17: 33–34.

100 Chapman, 287.

101 Dalgairns to Gustave Ravignan, December 1855, in Chapman, 288.

102 Newman to St. John, July 6, 1856, in LD, 17: 311–312.

103 See Faber’s letter to Dalgairns, August 25, 1988, in LD, 17: 359.

104 Murray, Placid, ed., Newman the Oratorian: His Unpublished Oratory Papers (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 1969), 351.Google Scholar

105 Ibid., 357.

106 Chapman, 310.

107 Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, trans. Frederick Faber (London, 1863).

108 Faber to Talbot, April 21, 1860, in Addington, Faber, 313.

109 Faber, Frederick, A Father Faber Heritage ed. Sr. Mary Mercedes, SND (Westminster, Md.: Newman Press, 1958), 340.Google Scholar

110 Addington, , Idea of the Oratory, 164.Google Scholar

111 LD, 13: 519; 11: 334; 20: xiii, 94; 12: 430–431.

112 Trevor, 182, 311.

113 Newman, Apologia, 215–216.

114 Addington, , Idea of the Oratory, 122 Google Scholar.

115 LD, 18: xvi.

116 Dessain, 112.

117 Newman, John Henry, On Consulting the Laity in Matters of Doctrine, ed. John Coulson (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1961), 75–106.Google Scholar

118 Gillow to Newman, August 28, 1859, in LD, 19: 204–205.

119 Brown to Bedini, October 3, 1859, in Blehl, Vincent, ‘Newman’s Delation: Some Hitherto Unpublished Letters,’ Dublin Review 204 (1960–1): 300.Google Scholar

120 Ibid.

121 Bedini to Brown, November 17, 1859, in LD, 19: 241.

122 Newman to Wiseman, January 19, 1860, in LD, 19: 289–290.

123 Manning to Newman, April 29, 1860, in LD, 19: 333.

124 Ibid., 290.

125 Barnabò to Wiseman, August 1861, and Barnabò to Ullathorne, June 1861, in LD, 19: 333–334.

126 Ibid., 19: 276.

127 Ibid., 281.

128 Faber to F. Herbert Hutchison, undated, in Chapman, 337.

129 Newman, John Henry, Autobiographical Writings, ed. Henry Tristram (London: Sheed & Ward, 1956), 256–257.Google Scholar