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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 September 2015
The summer of 1908 was a summer of congresses in London. The decennial Pan-Anglican Congress assembled in July, the History of Religions Congress met in September, the Trades Union Congress held its annual meeting shortly thereafter, and the International Congress on Moral Education took place in October. None of these received as much newspaper attention as the Roman Catholic International Eucharistic Congress, which convened in England for the first time, from Wednesday 9 to Sunday 13, September. Many column inches were devoted to the preparations and proceedings; photographs were printed; and hundreds of readers’ letters were published afterwards. In reportage the newspapers differed slightly; in opinion, more so. Most of the proceedings were not controversial at all, consisting of liturgies, lectures on various aspects of Catholic belief concerning the Eucharist, and evening meetings in the Albert Hall. What excited the press and sections of the public was the proposed closing spectacular: a procession of the Blessed Sacrament through the streets around Westminster Cathedral.
1 Norman, E. R., Anti-Catholicism in Victorian England (George Allen and Unwin, London, 1968), pp. 52, 95, 104.Google Scholar
2 Spender, J. A., and Asquith, C., Life of Herbert Henry Asquith, Lord Oxford and Asquith volume 1 (Cassell, London, 1932)Google Scholar. Jenkins, R., Asquith (Collins, London, 1964)Google Scholar. Denholm, A., Lord Ripon 1827–1909: a political biography (Croom Helm, London, 1982)Google Scholar. Machin, G. I. T., ‘The Liberal Government and the Eucharistic Procession of 1908’, Journal of Ecclesiastical History 34 (1983), 559–583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3 The procession would begin at the front of Westminster Cathedral in Ashley Place, and then progress to Carlisle Place, Francis Street, New Road, Rochester Row, Artillery Road, Howick Place, Ashley Gardens, Francis Street, Ambrosden Avenue, Ashley Place, and back inside the Cathedral.
4 Bishop Heylen of Namur, President of the International Eucharistic Congresses, letter to be read in all the churches of his diocese, 16 August 1908: printed in the Tablet, 15 August, p. 264.
5 Legate’s opening address, 9 September 1908: reproduced in the Tablet, 12 September, p. 420.
6 Pastoral letter read on Sunday 23 August 1908: reproduced in several newspapers.
7 Daily Mirror, 12 September, p. 1.
8 Protestant Alliance petition: quoted in newspapers. The rioting which accompanied the 1852 procession in Stockport resulted in vandalism and a fatality. It was at a time when anti-Catholic sentiment was high, occurring shortly after the restoration of the hierarchy and a large wave of Irish immigration consequent to the potato famine. Machin, ‘The Liberal Government and the Eucharistic Procession of 1908’, p. 559. Norman, E. R., Anti-Catholicism in Victorian England (George Allen and Unwin, London, 1968), p. 52.Google Scholar
9 Crewe to Asquith, 12 September: quoted in Jenkins, Asquith, p. 190, and Machin, ‘The Liberal Government and the Eucharistic Procession of 1908’, p. 571.
10 Asquith to Crewe, 10 September: Jenkins, Asquith, p. 191. Asquith later wrote to Gladstone, 16 September, ‘if the procession in its contemplated form had been allowed to take place, there would have been such an uproar as we have not witnessed for many a day. My letter bag amply proves that’: Spender and Asquith, Life of Herbert Henry Asquith, p. 237.
11 Gladstone’s telegrams to Asquith, ‘Police confident they can preserve order,’ 9 September; ‘Further information this morning shows gravity of feelings—nothing but overwhelming force of police will prevent serious disorder,’ 10 September: Jenkins, Asquith, p. 191.
12 Asquith telegram to Ripon. Ripon’s eleven letters and two telegrams to Bourne between 6 September and 12 October, with enclosures, are in the Westminster Diocesan Archives. They were not made public, and have only been used here and by Machin, who used the copies in the Ripon Papers: Machin, ‘The Liberal Government and the Eucharistic Procession of 1908’, p. 566.
13 The following Asquith-Bourne-Gladstone correspondence was read aloud by the Archbishop at the Saturday Albert Hall meeting, and subsequently published in full in most of the secular and Catholic newspapers. Originals are contained in the Westminster Diocesan Archives.
14 George H. Edward, private secretary, New Scotland Yard, to Bourne’s secretary, Fr. Arthur Jackman, 11 September: Westminster Diocesan Archives.
15 Both Jenkins and Denham follow Spender & Asquith in saying that two processions had taken place in recent years, but the contemporary newspapers suggest that Eucharistic processions were frequent. Jenkins, , Asquith. Denholm, A., Lord Ripon 1827–1909: a political biography (Croom Helm, London, 1982)Google Scholar. Spender and Asquith, Life of Herbert Henry Asquith.
16 Norman, E. R., Roman Catholicism in England from the Elizabethan Settlement to the Second Vatican Council (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1985), p. 125.Google Scholar
17 Report of the Nineteenth Eucharistic Congress (Catholic Truth Society, London, 1909), appendix G: ‘The legality of the proposed Eucharistic procession’, pp. 678 f.
18 Spender and Asquith, Life of Herbert Henry Asquith.
19 Universe, 30 October, p. 4; Catholic Times and Catholic Opinion, 6 November, p. 7.
20 Col. Arthur Davidson, a secretary to the King, telegram to Asquith, 11 September: Machin, ‘The Liberal Government and the Eucharistic Procession of 1908’, p. 570.
21 Machin, ‘The Liberal Government and the Eucharistic Procession of 1908’, p. 562.
22 Ripon to Bourne, 9 September, 7 October, 12 October: Westminster Diocesan Archives.
23 Machin, ‘The Liberal Government and the Eucharistic Procession of 1908’, pp. 572, 579, 581.
24 Report of the Nineteenth Eucharistic Congress (Catholic Truth Society, London, 1909), pp. 598–599. Estimation of 150,000 attending, the Tablet, 3 October, p. 521.
25 Fletcher to the Daily Telegraph, 16 September, p. 8. Fletcher repeated his assertion in his ‘Ransom notes’ column in the Universe, 18 September, p. 14. A later piece of news in the Universe apparently supported this: the newspaper reported on Protestant attempts to raise money for efforts to stop the procession, yet it was not clear as to what use the money was put: 23 October, p. 7.
26 Universe, 18 September, p. 11; Tablet, 19 September, p. 442.
27 Tablet, 5 September, p. 361.
28 Universe, 4 September, pp. 7, 13; Catholic Times, 4 September, p. 7.
29 Catholic Times, 11 September, pp. 6–7.
30 Tablet, 12 September, p. 404.
31 Tablet, 12 September, p. 421, 420.
32 Church Times, 11 September, pp. 307, 313.
33 Times, 8 September, p. 4.
34 Star, 11 September, p. 1.
35 Ross, Adrian, ‘A Protest’, Observer, 13 September, p. 3.Google Scholar
36 World, 9 September, p. 443.
37 Daily Telegraph, 14 September; Times, 14 September, p. 9.
38 Manchester Guardian, 16 September, p. 12; 14 September, p. 6; Daily Mail, 14 September, p. 4; Daily News, 14 September, p. 6; Daily Graphic, 15 September, p. 9; Standard, 14 September, p. 6; Daily Chronicle, 14 September, p. 4; 15 September, p. 4.
39 Graphic, 19 September.
40 Church Times, 18 September, pp. 344–345.
41 Catholic Times, 18 September, p. 7; Universe, 18 September, p. 11; Tablet, 19 September, p. 442.
42 For example, it was reported that the Rev. Owen Evan Anwyl was prosecuted at Church House in February 1908 for using the word ‘Mass’, reserving the Sacrament, invoking the Virgin Mary, genuflecting, and several other offences: Manchester Guardian, 18 February, p. 9.
43 Norman, E. R., Anti-Catholicism in Victorian England (George Allen and Unwin, London, 1968), p. 105f.Google Scholar
44 Daily Chronicle, 10 September, p. 4.
45 ‘An Anglo-Catholic Priest’ to the Church Times, 18 September, p. 340.
46 Times, 30 October, p. 13.
47 Catholic Times, 25 September, p. 7.
48 Star, 15 September, p. 2.
49 Catholic Times, 25 September, p. 7.
50 Mr. Brown of the United Irish League claimed this number of voters had transferred their support in the wake of Asquith’s action.
51 Truth, 23 September, pp. 702–703.
