HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH - ( CHAPTER 2 ) - { PT. 29 }

( CHAPTER  2 )  -  { PT.  29 } - [ 21 ]  The pop, however, refused to yield to such intimidation. When news arrived at Rome that Henry had sent away Catharine from court, the question of excommunication was considered, but as the excommunication of a king was likely to be fraught with such serious consequences for the English Church, Clement VII. hesitated to publish it in the hope that Henry might see the error of his ways. The trial was delayed from time to time until 1532 the Pope addressed a strong letter to the king, warning him under threat of excommunication to put away Boleyn, and not to attempt to divorce Catharine or to marry another until a decision had been given in Rome.  [ 22 ]  By this time the king had given up all hope of securing the approval of Rome for the step he contemplated. Even in England and divorce from Catharine found much opposition from both clergy and Iaity. Sir Thomas More and many of the nobles were on the side of Catharine, as were also Bishop Fisher of Rochester and Bishop Tunstall of Durham. Even Reginald Pole, the king's own cousin, who had been educated at Henry's expense, and for whom the Archbishopric of York had been kept vacant, refused the tempting offers that were made to him on condition that he would espouse the cause of separation. He preferred instead to leave England rather than act against his conscience by supporting Catherine's divorce. 
 

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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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  ( 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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