HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH - ( CHAPTER 2 ) - { PT. 6 }


 ( CHAPTER  2 )  -  { PT.  6 } - The accession of Henry VIII. ( 1509-47 ) was hailed with joy by all classes in England. Young, handsome, well-developed both in mind and body, fond of outdoor games and amusements, affable and generous with whomsoever he came into contact, he was to all appearances qualified perfectly for the high office to which he had succeeded. With the exception of Empson and Dudley, who were sacrificed for their share in the execution of his father, most of the old advisers were retained at the royal court; but the chief confidants on whose advice he relied principally were his Chancellor Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor of England, Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester and Lord Privy Seal, and Thomas Howard, afterwards Duke of Norfolk, Lord Treasurer of the kingdom. Soon, however, these trusted and loyal advisers were obliged to make way for a young and rising ecclesiastical courtier, Thomas Wolsey [ 1 ] ( 1471-1530 ), who for close on twenty years retained the first place in the affections of his sovereign and the chief voice in the direction of English affairs. As a youth, Wolsey's marvellous abilities astonished his teachers at Magdalen College, where the boy bachelor, as he was called because he obtained the B.A. degree at the age of fifteen, was regarded as a prodigy. 

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THE HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH - ( CHAPTER 2 ) - { PT. 40 }

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( CHAPTER  2 )  -  { PT.  40 } - [ 29 ] An Act of Attainder was passed against Fisher, More, and all others who had refused submission. The First Fruits, formerly paid to the Pope, were to be paid to the king, and bishop were allowed to appoint men approved by the crown to be their assistants. By these measures the constitution of the Church, as it had been accepted for centuries by the English clergy and Iaity, was overturned. The authority of the Pope was rejected in favour of the authority of the king, who was to be regarded in the future as the source of all ecclesiastical jurisdiction. This great religious revolution was carried out without the consent of the bishops and clergy. With the single exception of Cranmer the bishops to a man opposed the change, and if they and the great body of the clergy made their submission in the end, they did so not because they were convinced by the royal arguments, but because they feared the royal displeasure. Neither was the ...
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HISTROY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH - ( CHAPTER 2 ) - { PT. 18 }

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  ( CHAPTER  2 )  -  { PT.  18 } - Bishop Fisher of Rochester spoke out manfully against the unnatural and unlawful proceedings, [ 11 ] and his protest found an echo not merely in the court it self but throughout the country. The friends of Henry, fearing that the Pope might revoke the power of the legates, clamoured for an immediate verdict; but this Campeggio was determined to prevent at all costs. By insisting upon all the formalities of law he took care to delay the proceeding till the 23rd July, when he announced that the legatine court should follow the rules of the Roman court, and should, therefore, adjourn to October. Already he was aware of the fact that Clement VII., yielding to the entreaties of Catharine and the demands of the Emperor, had had reserved the decision of the case to Rome ( 19th July ), and that the summons to the king and queen to proceed there to plead their cause was already on its way to England. [ 12 ] Henry, disguising his real fe...
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  ( CHAPTER  2 )  -  { PT.  39 } - A royal commission consisting of George Brown, Prior of the Augustinian Hermits, and Dr. Hilsey, Provincial of the Dominicans, was appointed to visit the religious houses and to obtain the submission of the members ( April 1534 ). By threats of dissolution and confiscation they secured the submission of most of the monastic establishment with the exception of the Observants of Richmond and Greenwich and the Carthusians of the Charterhouse, London. Many of the members of these communities were arrested and lodged in the Tower, and the decree went forth that the seven houses belonging yo the Observants, who had offered a strenuous opposition to the divorce, should be suppressed. [ 28 ] The Convocations of Canterbury and York submitted, as did also the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. When Parliament met again in November 1534 a bill was introduced proclaiming the king supreme head of the Church in England. The measure was ba...
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