The Theology and Spirituality of Mary Tudor's Church [Reprint ed.] 0754653609, 9780754653608

First published 2006 by Ashgate Publishing. Few areas of early modern English history have roused such passions and int

198 6 16MB

English Pages 302 [304] Year 2017

Report DMCA / Copyright

DOWNLOAD PDF FILE

Table of contents :
Series Editor's Preface
Acknowledgements
Note for the reader
Abbreviations
Introduction. The Interpretation of Catholicism in Marian England
1. Marian Catholic Texts, their Authors and Dedicatees
2. Marian Catholic Theology of Revelation and its Transmission
3. Marian Catholic Christology and Soteriology
4. Marian Catholic Ecclesiology
5. Marian Catholic Sacramental Theology and Spirituality
6. Marian Catholic Piety
7. Marian Catholic Eschatology
Conclusion. The Theology and Spirituality of Mary Tudor's Church
Bibliography
Index
Recommend Papers

The Theology and Spirituality of Mary Tudor's Church [Reprint ed.]
 0754653609, 9780754653608

  • 0 0 0
  • Like this paper and download? You can publish your own PDF file online for free in a few minutes! Sign Up
File loading please wait...
Citation preview

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

For my parents A.M.D.G.

The Theology and Spirituality of Mary Tudor's Church

WILLIAM WIZEMAN, SJ Corpus Christi Church, New York, USA

First published 2006 by Ashgate Publishing Published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © William Wizeman 2006 William Wizeman has asserted his moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author ofthis work. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Wizeman, William The theology and spirituality of Mary Tudor's Church.-{Catholic Christendom, 1300-17(0) l.Catholic Church-England-History-16th century 2.Catholic ChurchDoctrines-History 3.Religious literature, English-History and criticism 4.Counter-Reformation-England 5.England-Church history-16th century I.TitIe 282.4'2'09031 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wizeman, William. The theology and spirituality of Mary Tudor's church / William Wizeman. p. cm.-(Catholic Christendom, 1300-17(0) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-7546-5360-9 (alk. paper) I. Catholic Church-England-Doctrines-History-16th century 2. Catholic literature-History and criticism. 3. England-Church history-16th century. I. Title. II. Series.

BX1492.W592006 230' .242'09031-dc22 2005024713 ISBN 13: 978-0-7546-5360-8 (hbk)

Contents Series Editor's Preface Acknowledgements Note for the reader Abbreviations

Introduction. The Interpretation of Catholicism in Marian England

vi vii be

x

1

1 Marian Catholic Texts, their Authors and Dedicatees

24

2 Marian Catholic Theology of Revelation and its Transmission

50

3 Marian Catholic Christology and Soteriology

85

4 Marian Catholic Ecclesiology

117

5 Marian Catholic Sacramental Theology and Spirituality

159

6 Marian Catholic Piety

198

7 Marian Catholic Eschatology

219

Conclusion. The Theology and Spirituality of Mary Tudor's Church

251

Bibliography Index

255 280

Series Editor's Preface The still-usual emphasis on medieval (or Catholic) and reformation (or Protestant) religious history has meant neglect of the middle ground, both chronological and ideological. As a result, continuities between the middle ages and early modern Europe have been overlooked in favor of emphasis on radical discontinuities. Further, especially in the later period, the identification of 'reformation' with various kinds of Protestantism means that the vitality and creativity of the established church, whether in its Roman or local manifestations, has been left out of account. In the last few years, an upsurge of interest in the history of traditional (or catholic) religion makes these inadequacies in received scholarship even more glaring and in need of systematic correction. The series will attempt this by covering all varieties of religious behavior, broadly interpreted, not just (or even especially) traditional institutional and doctrinal church history. It will to the maximum degree possible be interdisciplinary, comparative and global, as well as non-confessional. The goal is to understand religion, primarily of the 'Catholic' variety, as a broadly human phenomenon, rather than as a privileged mode of access to superhuman realms, even implicitly. The period covered, 1300-1700, embraces the moment which saw an almost complete transformation of the place of religion in the life of Europeans, whether considered as a system of beliefs, as an institution, or as a set of social and cultural practices. In 1300, vast numbers of Europeans, from the pope down, fully expected Jesus's return and the beginning of His reign on earth. By 1700, very few Europeans, of whatever level of education, would have subscribed to such chiliastic beliefs. Pierre Bayle's notorious sarcasms about signs and portents are not idiosyncratic. Likewise, in 1300 the vast majority of Europeans probably regarded the pope as their spiritual head; the institution he headed was probably the most tightly integrated and effective bureaucracy in Europe. Most Europeans were at least nominally Christian, and the pope had at least nominal knowledge of that fact. The papacy, as an institution, played a central role in high politics, and the clergy in general formed an integral part of most governments, whether central or local. By 1700, Europe was divided into a myriad of different religious allegiances, and even those areas officially subordinate to the pope were both more nominally Catholic in belief (despite colossal efforts at imposing uniformity) and also in allegiance than they had been four hundred years earlier. The pope had become only one political factor, and not one of the first rank. The clergy, for its part, had virtually disappeared from secular governments as well as losing much of its local authority. The stage was set for the Enlightenment. Thomas F. Mayer, Augustana College

Acknowledgements The research and writing of this book, which began as an Oxford University D. Phil. thesis, could not have occurred without the labour and help of many people, and it is a pleasure to express my gratitude to colleagues, friends and benefactors. I am much indebted to the staffs of the following libraries: the Bodleian Library, most especially that of Duke Humfrey's and the Upper Reading Room; The British Library; Lambeth Palace Library; St Paul's Cathedral Library, especially the librarian, Jo Wisdom; The Society of Antiquaries; the libraries of the Modern History Faculty, the Theology Faculty and Campion Hall, Oxford; and the libraries of Fordham and Columbia Universities. Seminar papers and lectures derived from this book have been read before the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference; the Reformation Studies Colloquium; the Early Modern Britain Seminar, Oxford; the Seminar on the Religious History of Britain from the 15th to the 18th Centuries, the Institute of Historical Research, University of London; the Ecclesiastical History Society; the Catholic Record Society; the Early Modern Research Group, Oxford; and the Faculties of Modern History and Theology, Oxford. I am grateful to those who offered criticism, encouragement and suggestions. This work could not have been accomplished without my supervisor, Diarmaid MacCulloch. Besides his own superb scholarship, his insight, pastoral regard and humour have been a constant help and inspiration. I only wish this book could begin to do justice to his efforts and many kindnesses on my behalf. Peter Marshall generously read and corrected most of this thesis while Professor MacCulloch was on leave. His criticisms are much appreciated, and he has been a great friend as well. Eamon Duffy'S words, both in print and in person, were the inspiration for this endeavour. I am most grateful to him and to Susan Brigden, my D. Phil examiners, and to Thomas Mayer and Thomas Gray, my editors at Ashgate, for their criticisms and suggestions. I am very grateful for the help given by mentors and colleagues. Lou Pascoe, SJ, John O'Malley, SJ, Janice Farnham, RJM and Judith Maltby have been mentors from the start. Alec Ryrie, Larissa Taylor, Andreas Lowe, Tom Betteridge, Peter Sherlock, David Skinner, James Clark, John Cooper and Owen Rees have been helpful in conversations about their research. Alexandra Walsham, Thomas Freeman, Susan Doran, Flora Winfield, Dermot Fenlon, Susan Wabuda, Christopher Haigh, Steven Gunn, Michael Questier, John King, Trevor Johnson, John Edwards, Ronald Trueman, David Loades, Kenneth Parker, Eric Carlson, Mark Bell and Henry Mayr-Harting have given me much encouragement.

viii

TIfE TIfEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY ruOOR'S CHURCH

I am deeply indebted to Clarence Gallagher, SJ for help in Latin translation. I am grateful to Luis Roblero, SJ and Ignacio Telesca for assistance and suggestions in translating from the Spanish. Victor Houliston was extremely helpful in revealing the deeper mysteries of citation. I am most appreciative of Lewis Berry's patient assistance with my computer. The Jesuits and other members of Campion Hall, Oxford and the Xavier Jesuit Community, New York, the parishes of Corpus Christi, Headington and Corpus Christi, New York, Priscilla Tolkien, Michael Piret, John Andrew, Clare Smith, Malcolm Gerratt, Paul Tabor and Mary Gordon have all been important sources of friendship and sanity during these years, especially in my illness since 2003. Words cannot express my gratitude to my various families. I am grateful for the support of my parents and brothers and sisters, as well as my friends in New York and England; and I have appreciated the support of my English relatives: the Kellys, Cavells, and Redmonds. I am especially grateful to my religious family, the Society of Jesus - especially the Provincials and men of the New York Province who enabled me to undertake this work, and encouraged and supported me in it. WW,SJ 30 November, 2004, the Feast of St Andrew the Apostle the 450th anniversary of the Reconciliation of England and Rome, 1554

Note for the Reader All primary and secondary sources cited in footnotes are abbreviated by short title and author. See the bibliography for full bibliographical descriptions of these works. Citations of early printed sources have been made according Gaskell, A New Introduction to Bibliography, especially pp. 330-31. Roman numerals of folios and signatures have been cited as Arabic numerals. Any changes to spelling and punctuation have been placed in brackets.

Abbreviations CR

The Counter-Reformation, D.M. Luebke, ed.

DNB

Dictionary of National Biography

DS

Dictionnaire de Spiritualite

EHR

English Historical Review

ELR

England's Long Reformation, N. Tyacke, ed.

ERR

The English Reformation Revised, C. Haigh, ed.

HJ

Historical Journal

JEH

Journal of Ecclesiastical History

MTP

The Mid- Tudor Polity c.1540-1560, 1. Loach & R. Titler, eds.

ODNB

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

P&P

Past and Present

RE

The Reckoned Expense, T. McCoog, ed.

RH

Recusant History

RSTC

Revised Short-Title Catalogue of Early Printed Books

STC

Short-Title Catalogue of Early Printed Books

tp

title-page

TRHS

Transactions of the Royal Historical Society

INTRODUCTION

The Interpretation of Catholicism in Marian England [J]ust as people have been corrupted here even more by books than by the spoken word, so they must be recalled to life through the written word ....1

In these words Cardinal Reginald Pole, Archbishop of Canterbury and sometime Papal Legate, described to his friend, Bartolome Carranza, Archbishop of Toledo, a key element of the renewal of Catholicism in England during the reign of Mary Tudor (1553-58). Before Mary I was proclaimed queen in London on 19 July 1553, the country had experienced almost twenty years of religious revolution during the reigns of Henry VIII (1509-47) and Edward VI (1547-53), beginning with the repudiation of papal primacy in 1534. Mary I and her bishops, as well as other churchmen, theologians and writers of the religious texts of her reign, attempted to restore the theology and spirituality of early modem Roman Catholicism in England to health and vigour after years of religious tumult, by producing 'the written word', in the form of printed catechetical and devotional works, homilies and apologetic tracts. Pole and his fellow adherents of the Catholic faith viewed the production of texts of doctrine, sermons, polemic and piety as essential to the revitalization or recalling to life of Mary Tudor's church, so that it would become an animating force in the life of a people 'corrupted' by heresy. This is an investigation into the content of these Marian religious texts from which conclusions may be drawn regarding the nature of the religion of the Marian church itself. By contextualizing and examining an extended sample of approximately forty-nine out of fifty-six religious texts in English and Latin published between 1553 and 1558, it would seem that a coherent theology and spirituality emerge, along with a strategic use of print to inculcate it. While rooted in late-medieval theological and spiritual traditions, Marian authors had been greatly influenced by the theology and arguments of apologists of Catholicism in the 1520s and early 1530s, especially John Fisher and Thomas More, but also the polemicists in Europe writing against Martin Luther and other reformers. The 'Pole, Epis/oiarum V, 74; 'quemadmodum scriptis magis etiam, quam verbis hie homines corrupti fuerunt, ita scriptis ad sanitatem recovari oportere .... ' ; cf. Pole, Correspondence 3, no. 2252.

2

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

Hemician and Edwardine religious revolutions in England had also tempered their understanding of ecclesial reform, and in response to that upheaval Marian theologians advocated their doctrinal stances and spirituality strategically. Attempts to address Protestant criticisms and nuanced treatments of some controversial points accompanied uncompromising discussion of the core doctrines of Catholicism, and uncompromising adherence to the core religious practices associated with these doctrines. Finally, the theology and spirituality which Marian authors presented to counter Protestant doctrine, and the strategy they used to counter it, paralleled and anticipated the theology, spirituality and strategies for renewal of Counter-Reformation Catholicism. The theology and spirituality of the Catholicism of Mary Tudor's church possessed a significant degree of coherence and uniformity. The two doctrines which emerge as the most central to Marian Catholic authors were Christ's corporeal presence in the eucharist and the necessary unity and inerrancy of the church, a unity not only with the rest of Latin Christendom but also with the church's ancient and medieval past. These two doctrines not only reinforced each other - the eucharist was a potent symbol of ecclesial unity and Marian authors claimed that the church's dogmatic unanimity, universality and antiquity supported their view of the eucharist - but they were also foundational for other important doctrinal positions. Christ in the eucharist, consecrated at mass, pointed to Christ as the source of salvation and the focus of piety; the mass was also a good work which aided the living and the dead. The unity of the church was best expressed by adhering to Catholic eucharistic doctrine, but also by communion with the pope, and the antiquity and veracity of its life and doctrine - its tradition - were best displayed in the teaching of the fathers of the church and the lives of saints. In these ways Mary Tudor's church can be described as 'Catholic'. In their advocacy of England's unity with the rest of the Catholic church, these writers perceived themselves as part of the true reform of Christianity being called for throughout Europe: not only when Marian bishops called upon the theological expertise of such important figures of the Council of Trent as Carranza, Pedro de Soto and Pole himself, but also when their own leading theologian translated the not yet promulgated Tridentine decree on justification in an official collection of sermons, and the Superior of the English Dominicans made use of one of the most vital texts of the Catholic Reformation - the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola. Finally, the theology and spirituality that Marian theologians and authors advanced in their texts to the English church, and the strategies they used to advance it, often paralleled and anticipated the theology, spirituality and strategies of the CounterReformation. Drawing upon the medieval theological tradition as adapted by Fisher, More and their European contemporaries, and responding to the claims and

THE INTERPRETAnON OF CATHOLICISM IN MARIAN ENGLAND

3

demands of Protestant reformers, these authors offered a form of Christianity that largely corresponded with the rest of the Catholic world in the early modem era. Before studying the content of these works of theology and spirituality, it will be necessary to contextualize them by locating them historiographically, through considering the views of recent historians, and historically, by a brief overview of the religious history of Mary's reign. Chapter One will give further consideration to the books themselves, their authors and dedicatees. Having discussed the context of these texts, the succeeding chapters will delineate the Marian Catholic understanding of divine revelation, christology, soteriology, ecclesiology, sacramental theology, prayer and eschatology as presented by Marian theologians, authors and editors. In the appraisal of their content, the following questions must be asked: what was the theological message Marian writers were trying to convey to readers and possible listeners, and what can that message tell us of the Marian strategy for religious renewal, a strategy which had little opportunity to move beyond the planning stage before Mary's death on 17 November 1558, little over five years after her accession. Furthermore, the theology and spirituality of the Marian church discussed here will be related to the Catholicism in the England of the 1520s and the religious changes and developing religious polity of the Henrician and Edwardine reformations. The Christian life and doctrine of the Marian church will also be compared to that offered by contemporary theologians of Catholicism in early modem Europe, and the canons, decrees and catechism of the Council of Trent (1545-63). Having placed the content of the religious books of Mary Tudor's church in this frame of reference, the most important question will then be considered: why is the theology and spirituality of Mary Tudor's church significant in the context of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations?

Catholicism, Protestantism, the Counter-Reformation, humanism Before scrutinizing the context of these texts and the theology and spirituality they contain, it will be necessary to consider usage of terms that, it is hoped, will offer some clarity in the discussion of that episode of great religious tumult known as the English Reformation. This study has been influenced by the work of recent historians of the English Reformation and Catholic Reform in Europe, and one of the points which they have raised is the difficulties of terminology. The labels given to communities and movements, and the categories in which they were placed in past discussions of the period, no longer seem to address sufficiently the complexity of these groups and the religious convictions which moved them to

4

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

write, rebel and risk personal safety. For instance, there is the problematic use of vague terminology, such as ' Erasmian humanism' .2 Most of the theologians who wrote during the reigns of Edward and Mary and who held opposing religious beliefs may all be described as Erasmian humanists. 3 On the other hand, introducing strict or anachronistic designations may in fact, as Diarmaid MacCulloch writes, 'give undue precision to people's outlooks amid a countless number of personal rebellions (often confused and sometimes temporary)' against the religious polities of the sixteenth century.4 Here MacCulloch is describing English Christians amidst the frequently-changing religious polities and doctrines in the reigns of Hemy VIII and Edward VI. He and many other historians have used the terms 'traditionalist' or 'conservative ' for followers of much preReformation theology and spirituality on one hand and 'evangelical' for those who desired religious change founded on ground-breaking interpretations of scripture which Martin Luther had begun on the other, in order to avoid such 'undue precision' for a twenty-year period (1534-1554) of great doctrinal flux. This approach has been useful for that period. However, one of the most significant events of the reign of Queen Mary I was the hardening - even solidifying - of religious divisions, and the giving and taking of names during that period have stuck fast for the rest of England's history. The 'permanent fissure in English Christianity' was beginning to be 'accepted', and the terms given below were ' fully current by the middle of Mary's reign,.5 The process known to historians as 'confessionalization' of English Christians into two very distinct communities began in earnest as members of the Marian church found the voice and power to take the creedal name 'Catholic' to themselves: they were members of a church that they believed to be universal in terms of doctrine, membership and polity. 6 At the same time Marian Catholics were also able to fix a label upon their opponents whom they deemed heretics or false Christians: 'Protestant', those who decried the Marian church, with its doctrine and worship, as enslaved to human traditions and to the papal Antichrist. 7 While Peter Marshall and Alec Ryrie are correct in noting that even in Mary's reign this term's 'meanings are not unambiguous ' - the same could be said of ' Catholic' - yet for the reasons given above these two terms

lSee McConica, English Humanists, 13-43 ; Wooding, Rethinking Catholicism, 28-31. 'See Rex, ' English humanists', 24-40 and Mayer, Thomas Starkey, 35-36. 4MacCulloch, Cranmer, 2, and 'Henry VIII and the Reform of the Church', 169. sMarshall and Ryrie, Beginnings of English Protestantism, 5. 6See Chapter 4, below. 7See Duffy, ' The Conservative Voice in the English Reformation', 87-105; Marshall and Ryrie, Beginnings of English Protestantism, 5-8; Marshall, 'Is the Pope a Catholic? Henry VIII and the Semantics of Schism', Catholic in a Protestant Nation: English Catholicism in Context 1534-1640, E. Shagan, ed. (Manchester, 2006).

THE INTERPRETATION OF CATHOLICISM IN MARIAN ENGLAND

5

appear to offer, for the period of Mary Tudor's reign at least, the most satisfactory means of describing these emerging divisions.8 Discussion continues over what to call the attempts to reform the Christian communities that remained united to the papacy in the early-modern period. The desire to reform the Western Church 'in head and members' was rooted in the Medieval period; Luther and other Protestants were initially members of movements that desired and attempted such Catholic reform, personally and institutionally. With the splintering of the Church that began in the early 1520s, however, the desire for reform within Catholicism intensified into a new militancy that found its most significant - though hardly complete - expression in the Council of Trent. 'Counter-Reformation' or 'Tridentine Catholicism' are the most common terms for the attempts to defend the doctrine and religious practice of the remnants of Roman Catholic Christianity and to oppose and respond to the Protestant Reformation after the mid-sixteenth century. This book claims that the Marian Church was intimately linked to this activist form of Catholicism; therefore the phrase 'Counter-Reformation' will be frequently used. 9 'Humanism', on the other hand, is a term that cuts across the divisions between Catholicism and Protestantism. It was largely a methodology for study and education - in a broad sense: the development of the person as a spiritual, moral and social being. All realms of inquiry served the growth of the individual, but the optimum source was the rhetoric, grammar and philology of ancient Greek and Latin literature. By Mary's reign humanist education was almost ubiquitous in England, and so humanism found additional articulation in 'teaching the humanities in school or university, the edition or translation of classical (especially Greek) texts, the composition of classical verse or drama, or composition of distinctively humanist genres (such as the dialogue or the oration),. JO Seeking moral wisdom and ancient learning in Greek and Roman writings led to a similar scholarly quest for Christian wisdom and knowledge, the sources of which lay in scripture and patristic literature. The reading of scripture and the fathers at length in their original languages - rather than in the context of brief excerpts in the texts of scholastic writers - edited to ensure a text closely approaching the original, interpreted largely according to literary and historical principles, was revolutionary. It moved men such as Erasmus, as John Olin stated, 'to employ humanism in the service of religion, that is to apply the new scholarship to the study and understanding of holy scripture and thereby to restore theology and 8Marshall and Ryrie, Beginnings of English Protestantism, 5. 9For discussions of terminology for the Catholic Church in the early-modem period, see O'Malley, Trent and All That; Hsia, The World of Catholic Renewal, 1-9, and Luebke, ed., The CounterReformation, 1-7. lORex, 'English humanists', 23 .

6

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

revivify religious life'. II Catholic and Protestant theologians used humanist principles of studying ancient religious texts, in hopes of creating a greater interiority that they believed missing in their fellow Christians of every state of life; and this interiority would find expression in virtuous action and behavior within society. It is difficult to strictly delineate humanism and theology 'as two systems of sixteenth-century discourse'. Rather than seeking 'signs of secularization often associated with the humanist tradition', 'humanistic methods and attitudes' were just that, employed for the service of theology and other fields of scholarship throughout sixteenth-century Europe, including Marian England. 12

The historiography of the Marian church The necessity of using and defining such terms as humanism, Catholic and Protestant arises out of recent historiographical debates about the English Reformations, and one reason for this study lies in the impact of this debate on the historiography of the reign of Mary Tudor and her church. Historians such as the late A.G. Dickens, David Loades, Lucy Wooding, Ronald Hutton, Christopher Haigh, Eamon Duffy, Thomas Mayer and the late Jennifer Loach have all discussed the Marian church at length with the result that views of the Catholicism of Mary's reign are quite polarized. Dickens and Loades generally follow the conventional view that it was a reactionary and moribund polity, while the others argue for a revisionist interpretation that it was a healthy and creative institution, though Dr Wooding holds different views regarding the nature of that creativity. One of the chief results of this debate is that revisionist historians have made an impact in generating a more appreciative understanding of the Marian church, though accompanied by criticisms that they have overstated their case. Since the printing of John Foxe's Acts and Monuments, the popular image of the religion of Mary Tudor's church has almost exclusively consisted of the burning of Protestant martyrs. Professors Dickens and Loades have generally continued in this vein, describing Marian Catholicism as self-destructive in its creation of a legacy of Protestant martyrs, and sterile because of its insularity and failure to discover the verve of the Counter-Reformation. 13 Certainly the study of persecuted Protestants dominate their analysis of the Marian church.14 As for

1I00in, ed., Christian Humanism, 5-6. '2Macek, The Loyal Opposition, 131. 11Loades, Reign of Mary, 275-76, and 'The Piety of the Catholic Restoration', 208; Dickens, English Reformation, 308, 309, 311 . 14Dickens, English Reformation, 293-308; Loades, Reign of Mary, 96-99,116- 18,273-84,396-97.

THE INTERPRETATION OF CATHOLICISM IN MARIAN ENGLAND

7

missing the Counter-Reformation, these historians fault the Marian regime both for failing to recognize the potential of the fourteen-year-old (in 1554) Society of Jesus, as well as for failing to produce men and women like Ignatius Loyola, Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross. IS To these scholars, this was a reactionary church, whose leaders saw the past as its future in attempting to re-impose archaic forms of worship and doctrine on a largely indifferent or hostile populace. 16 Regarding the religious literature of the reign, Dickens briefly notes that the Catholic polemic was 'unimpressive' and deficient in 'force and cogency,.17 Loades gives passing attention to Marian works of catechesis and spirituality, but characterizes the latter as 'an uneasy mixture' of the piety of the Middle Ages and humanism. 18 Still, they perceived positive features in Marian religious texts, or the potential for them. For Loades these works were 'intelligent and persuasive', although wanting in fervour. 19 Even Dickens noted that 'the time may possibly come when we shall need to qualify such criticisms [of religion under Mary]. After all the Catholic spirituality of the Marian years has not yet been fully and sympathetically explored,.20 These historians had not engaged in such an inquiry.21 Like Dickens and Loades, Lucy Wooding also views the Marian church as insular, but views it as a strength, and attempts to demonstrate that Marian religion was a via media between the theologies of Cranmer and Fisher, eschewing large components of Edwardine church doctrine on one hand, and on the other, finding essential elements of Catholicism in early modern Europe unimportant or unpalatable.22 Studying conservative religious literature from the 1534 break with Rome to the theology of English Catholic exiles of the 1560s, she fmds that Marian writers offered an already 'existing religious ideology'; that of the post1534 Henrician polity. Inspired by humanist principles championed by Erasmus, they embraced scripture in translation, resisted dogmatic definitions of articles of faith and were ambivalent to such doctrines as the role of the papacy, the priesthood and the cult of saints. 23 However there are several difficulties with Dr Wooding's approach. While Wooding is correct that a variety of emphases and nuances in theological interpretation existed in early-modern religious discourse, she nevertheless uses 'Catholicism' in counter-distinction to 'Protestantism'

ISDickens, English Reformation, 309-10; Loades, 'Spirituality of the Restored Church', 19. 16Loades, Reign ofMary, 288 . 17Dickens, English Reformation, 310-11. 18Loades, 'Spirituality of the Restored Church', 14-15, 19; cf. Reign of Mary, 286-87. 19Loades, 'The Piety of the Catholic Restoration' , 208. 2°Dickens, English Reformation, 311. 21For Loades ' 'lack of sympathy' for Marian religious policy, see Houlbrooke, 'Mid-Tudor Polity' , 505. 22Wooding, Rethinking Catholicism, 179-80; cf. 150-51. 23[bid., 115-16.

8

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

without apparent demarcation throughout the thirty-year period that she discusses. Dr Wooding never states how the authors who resisted the doctrinal innovations of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer are 'Catholic', and how Henrician Catholicism can be called 'Catholicism'. It is worth pondering if 'Catholicism without the pope' is a 'Catholicism' that makes as much sense as Lutheranism without justification by faith. Furthermore, the absence of delimiting the central vocabulary of her thesis 'humanism', 'Erasmianism', 'biblicism', 'reformism', 'dogmatism' are other examples - has a caustic effect on her argument and her grasp of theology in the early modem period. For example, she asserts that Marian authors viewed the papacy as 'a subsidiary consideration in the more important question of church unity', but the maintenance of the church's unity was the raison d'etre of the doctrine of papal primacy.24 She also asserts that Marian theologians acceded to belief in justification by faith - for humans and their works were 'degenerate', and were incapable of freely responding to divine grace. 25 Dr Wooding notes that Trent's sixth session - its decree on justification - will define Catholic dogma very differently, but she fails to note that in Bishop Thomas Watson 's Catholyke doctryne, a collection of homilies which she describes as an authorized declaration of the Marian church's beliefs, Watson translated an excerpt from that decree regarding the need to do good works in satisfaction for sin. 26 Furthermore, she generally does not put the Marian texts in their historical context. What of the impact of the religious revolution of Edward's reign? Why, despite the Marian church's 'biblicism', did Pole's Synod decide to translate only the New Testament, and despite its insularity, give Oxford's professorship in theology to a Spanish Dominican? While Dickens and Loades concentrate upon the Marian persecution, she mentions it only in passing, and not at all in her discussion on Marian notions of communal charity.27 As shall be further demonstrated, Wooding's account of the Marian church is problematic. Other revisionist historians such as Eamon Duffy, Christopher Haigh, Thomas Mayer, Ronald Hutton and Jennifer Loach have challenged with more cogency the conventional view of a failed Marian church. They employ research that is rooted in local and cultural studies, and question what they claim to be the teleologicallyfounded historiography of Dickens and Loades - i.e. the Protestant polity in England succeeded, therefore it was popular and meritorious, while Catholicism had to be bankrupt because it failed. 28 They conclude that the latter possessed 24lbid., 126-35; see Chapter 4, pp. 127-36. 2SWooding, Rethinking Catholicism, 154-64. 26Ibid., 153, 159; Watson, Catholyke doctryne, 143 r; cf. Canons of Trent, 39; see Chapter 5, p. 184. 27Wooding, Rethinking Catholicism , 136,224, 140-5\. 28Haigh, English Reformations, 15-21; Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, 5-6; Loach and Tittler, Mid-Tudor Polity, 1-8.

THE INTERPRETATION OF CA THOLICISM IN MARIAN ENGLAND

9

popularity and vigour before and during the radical religious changes that commenced with the break with Rome, and resistance to that religious revolution continued well into the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603). They see Mary's reign as a successful and well-received revival of Catholicism.29 Duffy, Haigh and Loach in particular have noted the merits, numerous editions and possible impact of the religious texts published in Mary's reign. 3o However, the research and conclusions of these authors are not unproblematic. Some examples of criticisms include: Haigh's numerous references to episodes of Catholicism's popularity can be matched with references of open hostility or indifference to it; Duffy does not discuss the important role of the members of religious orders in parochial life; Loach's view that the persecution of heretics was not counter-productive to the renewal of Catholicism remains highly controversial. 31 Still, the interpretations of these historians provide a valuable counter-balance to the traditional view that the Marian church was 'spiritually impoverished' and 'intellectually-enervated,.32 While the debate about the degree of the Marian church's vitality continues, the rethinking of Mary's reign by revisionist historians has had considerable impact on other historians, even those who generally eschew much of the revisionist project. Nicholas Tyacke refers to the 'undoubted strength of Marian Catholicism', and Christopher Marsh remarks that 'Marian Catholicism was not ... the reactionary, blinkered beast portrayed by an earlier generation of historians'. 33 While most historians of the English Reformation view the revisionist treatment of Mary Tudor's church as at least in some degree salutary, some revisionists themselves have observed a gap in their analysis: a detailed consideration of the spirituality of the Marian church, which Dickens had noted and is cited above. In The Stripping of the Altars, Duffy begins his chapter on Mary's reign by stating that '[a] convincing account of the religious history of Mary's reign has yet to be written', and Loach and Robert Tittler have remarked on the lack of discussion of 'the realm of ideas' of the mid-Tudor period.34 This treatment of the Marian church's theology and spirituality is offered for the partial filling of that gap. 29Haigh, English Reformations, 203-37; Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, 524-64; Mayer, Pole, 252-301; Hutton, The Rise and Fall of Merry England, 95-\04; Loach, 'Mary Tudor and the Re-Catholicisation of England', 16-22. 30Haigh, English Reformations, 216-17; Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, 534-43; Loach, 'Mary Tudor and the Re-Catholicisation of England', 19-21, and 'The Marian Establishment and the Printing Press', 13542. 31For critiques of revisionist interpretation, see Collinson, 'Comment on Duffy's Neale Lecture', 71 -75; Marsh, Popular Religion in Sixteenth-Century England, 14-16. 32S.T. Bindoff, Tudor England, 182, cited in Loach and Tittler, eds., Mid-Tudor Polity, 2. 33Tyacke, ed., England's Long Reformation, 22; Marsh, Popular Religion in Sixteenth-Century England, 34. 34Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, 524; Loach and Tittler, eds., Mid-Tudor Polity, 8.

\0

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

A history of the Marian church

Before discussing the Catholic theology and spirituality that these Marian works present and the strategy for renewal that they disclose, I wish to consider the context in which these books were written, published and presumably read. Their authors were shaped by and, on varying levels, shaped the Marian church. To better understand these texts, therefore, it is necessary to briefly analyse the history of the church in the reign of Mary Tudor. The Catholicism of Marian England was rooted not only in the Catholicism of late-medieval England, which most historians now concur possessed a large measure of vitality, but also in the Henrician and Edwardine reformations. Henry VIII's church was a 'severed limb of the Western Latin church' and the royal supremacy made for unstable, conflicted theology, dependent upon the whims of a wily king. 35 MacCulloch has shown that the boy-king Edward VI, possessing a Henry-like ego, played a vital role in the progress of reformation after Henry's death.36 But the 'driving, unrelenting energy behind change' was Cranmer, an astute, 'ruthless' ideologue who, with the help of the sometimes erratic but convinced members of the Privy Council, laboured to ensure the imposition of an evangelical polity and the destruction of 'al religion. Even when Edward died on 6 July 1553 and, according to the altered succession, Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen three days later, Cranmer and the Council did not perceive that their plans for further reformation possessed any flaw. 37 Upon hearing of Edward's death, Mary proclaimed herself Queen and began to gather troops. Why people flocked to her banner remains uncertain: did they, as MacCulloch asserts, accept her claim to the throne as the legitimate heir according to Henry's will, or did they know she would restore Catholicism, as Loach has argued, since Mary's religious convictions were apparent, the majority of her leading supporters shared them, and news of her accession was quickly greeted with the restoration of the mass throughout the realm? In any event her popular coup d'etat was the only time that any Tudor regime failed to impose its will upon the people. 38 Mary, at age thirty-seven, was proclaimed Queen by the Privy Council on 19 July 1553, nine days after they had denounced her as a rebel. Mary's co-religionists marvelled that her accession took place virtually without bloodshed, and they and Mary herself took it to be a providential sign from God for the

3SMacCulloch, Tudor Church Militant, 1-8. 36Ibid., 11-41. 37Ibid., 96-104, 39-41; MacCulloch, Cranmer, 542. 38For differing views see MacCulloch's edition of Wingfield, 'The Vita Mariae Angliae Reginae' , 18892; Loach, Parliament and Crown, 1-11; Haigh, English Reformations, 205.

THE INTERPRETATION OF CATHOLICISM IN MARIAN ENGLAND

11

renewal of Catholic belief. Marian writers compared her role in the renewal of Catholicism to that of the instrumental role of the Mother of God in salvation history, and these writers believed the English church to be much indebted to her.39 For them the Marian church was indeed 'Mary Tudor's church'. She had been a pious, well-educated child, for whom Juan Luis Vives, the renowned humanist, wrote his Education of a Christian Woman. 40 But because of her devotion to her mother and her religious faith, she was transformed, in Henry VIII's eyes, from beloved daughter and heir to a distrusted bastard. In fear for her life she had submitted to her father regarding her legitimacy in 1536 - her restoration as legitimate heir being one of the demands called for by the Pilgrimage of Grace later in the year. 41 As a young woman she had been fond of jewels, cards and dancing, for which she was chastised by Edward VI. 42 But Edward upbraided her for much more serious matters. She vigorously refused to conform to the destruction of traditional religion then taking place, continued attending mass, and went so far as to ride into London in 1551, when sununoned by the King, with 130 rosary-bearing knights, ladies and gentleman - after rosaries had been outlawed. 43 Whatever may be said of her as a ruler, and opinions vary from G.R. Elton 'rather stupid'- to Elizabeth Russell - 'Mary showed caution, concern for English interests and considerable political skill', she certainly possessed a measure of intelligence, courage,joie de vivre, and religious ardour. 44 The first months of the new Queen's reign were marked by a largely spontaneous return to Catholicism, especially the mass. Historians have gained the impression that the majority of people rejoiced that 'the mass was back', and most parishes appear to have wasted little time in restoring it. 45 On 18 August 1553 Mary issued a proclamation expressing her wish that all should 'embrace' the religion 'she has ever professed since her infancy,.46It would appear that she made her intentions clear: her desire for renewing the religion of 'her infancy' - not that of her father's reign after 1534 - including the full panoply of Catholicism and union with Rome, a desire which she intimated in other ways in September 1553. 47 Mary negotiated the return of Catholicism with considerable deftness. Such a restoration required the disentangling of parliamentary statute and canon law, as 39Proctor, Waie home to Christ, DI v; Christopherson, Exhortation agaynst rebellion, MI v; Stopes, An Ave Maria; Pole, Correspondence 3, no 2252; Pole, Epistolarum Y, 71. 4OLoades, Mary Tudor, 31-35. 4IIbid., 99-102; Bush, Pilgrimage of Grace, 103-4; cf. Hoyle, Pilgrimage and Politics, 347, 341. 42Prescott, Mary Tudor, 97-98; Loach, Edward VI, 16. 43MacCulloch, Tudor Church Militant, 39; Loades, Mary Tudor, 142. "Elton, Reform and Reformation, 376; Russell, 'Mary Tudor and Mr Jorkins', 266. 4SHaigh, English Reformations, 206-9; Hutton, Rise and Fall of Merry England, 95. 46English Historical Documents Y, 858-60. "See Hughes, Reformation in England II, 189-90; Loades, Mary Tudor, 196-97.

12

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

well as balancing the desires of her subjects who were unwilling to surrender ecclesiastical property in their possession, and the wishes of those like herself who were ardent Catholics. To her mind, Parliament possessed no authority to alter the religion of the realm: thus she worshipped according to the abrogated liturgy, and did not hinder its swift but unlawful restoration. 48 Despite her convictions, however, she could not choose to ignore parliamentary precedents of the past twenty years, and so made use of them. Without much ado, Mary's first Parliament repealed the Edwardine religious legislation, restoring worship to the point of 1546 throughout England by 20 December 1553. 49 Parliament hesitated, however, over her intended marriage to Philip of Spain, the son of Emperor Charles V. This was due not only to general English xenophobia but also to the uncertainy of England being governed for the first time de facto and de jure by a Queen, and what role her husband, a foreign, powerful prince, would play. Nevertheless, the treaty was very favourable to the English, in that it limited Philip's role in England for the present and future . Still the marriage was the ostensible cause of Wyatt's Rebellion early in 1554 in Kent; how much hope for Mary's overthrow and the restoration of Protestant religion were part of the rebels' designs remains uncertain, but it certainly was a factor. 5o John Christopherson counted religious division as the chief cause in his Exhortation agaynst rebellion; Wyatt's rebellion would not have occurred if Philip had been a heretic, he claimed. 'Therfore the verye cause of this last commotion was religion nowe by God and the Queenes highnes broughte agayne to the olde aunciente order and state, appoynted by Christes catholike churche, .51 After the rebellion, Mary was even more resolved to push on with religious renewal, and for the last time she used the authority of the title which she detested, that of supreme head, to dispatch it, by issuing injunctions to the hierarchy on 4 March 1554. These restored canon law to 1529 and forbade ecclesiastical authorities to append the phrase 'sanctioned by royal authority' to any published canon, as had been done since Henry's creation of the supreme headship. By terminating the royal supremacy, Mary enabled the bishops freely to ensure the restoration of Catholicism in their dioceses. She called upon the hierarchy to suppress Protestant doctrine and printed material; to dismiss Protestant schoolmasters; to baptize and confirm children 'as heretofore hath been accustomed and used'; to ensure the instruction of children in assisting the priest at mass; to restore the holy days, fasts, rites, sacramentals and processions of the 48Loades, Reign o/Mary, 103 . 49Loach, Parliament and Crown, 77-7S. sOlbid., 91; Russell, 'Mary Tudor and Mr Jorkins', 271. slChristopherson, Exhortation agaynst rebellion, NSr-OI v.

THE INTERPRETATION OF CA THOLICISM IN MARIAN ENGLAND

13

Catholic church, according to the Sarum and other Rites indigenous to England; to compel attendance at Sunday and holy day parochial liturgies; and that 'a uniform doctrine be set forth by homilies, ... for the good instruction and teaching of all people' in each diocese. 52 Mary returned authority over the church to the hierarchy in order for them to lead ecclesial renewal, and it appears that they were largely successful in restoring core Catholic religious practices on the parochial level. 53 One of her most far-reaching injunctions for parishes was the deprivation of married clergy; to readmit to priestly ministry in new benefices those who swore not to return to their wives and had done penance; to arrange for the pastoral care of parishes without priests; to re-ordain clergy ordained according to the Edwardine ordinal, because of the profound theological differences between the Catholic religion and Protestant faith in understanding the church, the sacraments, and the role of the priest. The number of priests deprived for marriage or Protestant belief or both varied widely from diocese to diocese, according to Helen Parish; approximately a third of the clergy in the dioceses of London and Norwich, and less than one-in-ten in such dioceses as York and Winchester. 54 Despite the huge disruption caused by these deprivations, the number of ordinations dramatically increased during Mary's reign in comparison to the previous twenty-five years.55 Moreover, at least some of the Marian priests were resolute in their Catholic faith; nearly half of the Marian clergy of London resigned or were deprived at the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, and numerous canons, deans, archdeacons and diocesan chancellors throughout England as well. 56 Many Marian priests took an active role in the Elizabethan recusant Catholic community. 57 Thomas Woodhouse, ordained during Mary's reign, became the proto martyr of the English Jesuits in 1573.58 Of the Marian bishops, only one - a Henrician appointment - conformed to the Elizabethan settlement; the rest, along with many other senior Marian church officials, remained in prison or under house arrest without trial until their deaths. 59 Numerous historians have commented on the singular calibre of the Marian hierarchy. While Cranmer and other Protestant bishops were swiftly deprived in 1553, Mary freed from prison and reinstated such episcopal advocates of Catholicism as the shrewd polemicist Stephen Gardiner, the learned humanist S2 Visitation

Articles II, 322-29.

S3Hutton, Rise and Fall of Merry England, 95-102 . s4Parish, Clerical Marriage and the English Reformation, 188-98. SSHaigh, English Reformations, 215-16. s6Brigden, London and the Reformation, 577; Hughes, Rome and England, 144; Loades, 'Monastery into Chapter: Durham 1539-1559', 332-33. s7McGrath and Rowe, 'Marian Priests under Elizabeth', 103-20. S8See Foley, ed ., Records of the English Province of the Society ofJesus, VII, ii, 1257-67. s9For the fates of the Marian bishops, see Phillips, Extinction of the Hierarchy; Bridgett and Knox, The Story of the Catholic Hierarchy.

14

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

Cuthbert Tunstall, and the uncompromising Edmund Bonner, all of whom appear to have sincerely repented of their role in the Hemician schism. 60 Mary allowed the rather lacklustre Hemician bishops who had conformed under Edward to keep their dioceses, but upon their deaths replaced them and the deprived bishops largely with theologians educated in the humanist mode, all of whom adhered to Catholic doctrine. Indeed, the English hierarchy had not been so united in theological outlook since before the repudiation of papal jurisdiction. Mary and Cardinal Pole as papal legate a latere, intended that 'a respected and dependable episcopate' should carry out the renewal of Catholicism, and they 'concentrated on clerics with a theological and pastoral ... background in their selection of bishops,.61 Many of them were scholars of note: Baynes of Coventry and Lichfield had been, while in exile, professor of Hebrew at the University of Paris and Aldrich of Carlisle had been a student of Erasmus. Others had been heads of Oxbridge colleges. Aldrich's successor, Oglethorpe, had been President of Magdalen College, Oxford, and Scott of Chester had been Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge and Master of Christ's, one of two Cambridge foundations of the humanist bishop John Fisher. 62 Others were among the leading Marian authors, and will be considered in the next chapter. Pole himself was the leading light of this group in the eyes of Europe - a humanist of the deepest dye and ardent church reformer, and one of the three cardinals who presided over the Council of Trent from 1545 to 1547.63 He brought two close associates with him: Pate of Worcester, who as a dedicatee of a Marian book of sermons will be discussed in Chapter 1, and Goldwell of St Asaph in Wales, who escaped back to Europe upon the accession of Elizabeth; he became the only bishop of England or Wales at the last series of Trent's sessions, and was appointed vicar-general of the Archdiocese of Milan by the greatest of Counter-Reformation bishops, Charles Borromeo. Before returning to England with Pole, Goldwell had joined one of the new reforming religious orders of the Catholic Reformation, the Theatines, and as bishop he revived pilgrimages to St Winefride's Well in Wales; pilgrimages to this shrine continued to take place during the reign of Elizabeth and after. 64 Indeed, Glanmor Williams has described the Marian bishops and leading clergy of Wales as exceptional. Glyn of Bangor, for example, had been Lady Margaret Professor of 6OHughes, Rome and England, 88-89. 61Pogson, 'The Legacy of Schism', 123. 62Loach, 'Mary Tudor and the Re-Catholicisation of England', 18-19; cf. Wright, 'Baynes, Ralph', Louisa, 'Aldrich, Robert' and Clark, 'Oglethorpe, Owen' and Carleton, 'Scott, Cuthbert', ODNB 4, 478-79; 1,633-34; 41,608-10; 49, 356-57. 63See Mayer, Pole, 13-61, 103-74. 64Bridgett and Knox, The Story of the Catholic Hierarchy, 214-25, 234-40; Cf. Mayer, 'Goldwell, Thomas', ODNB 22, 701-3.

THE INTERPRETATION OF CATHOLICISM IN MARIAN ENGLAND

15

Divinity in Cambridge and a leading Hebrew scholar who had been silenced under Edward; early in Mary's reign he served as the University's Vice-Chancellor.65 Among Mary's bishops we find 'not merely academics' but 'also men of decision and energy', who experienced heresy in England and Catholic Reform in Europe. 66 Marian England received further links to early modern Catholicism in Europe when Philip arrived in the summer of 1554, accompanied by a number of notable Spanish Dominicans. The coming of such men to Marian England has been seen as 'a reflection of the widening of England's cultural horizons', or at least different ones from those widened by Vermigli and Bucer under Edward VI.67 Pedro de Soto was a renowned theologian and a close associate of Peter Canisius in the German Counter-Reformation, and as Imperial theologian took part in all the sessions of the Council of Trent. He came to Oxford University and was instrumental in restoring scholastic theology there. 68 Juan de Villa Garcia was another distinguished theologian and had been confessor to Mary. In 1556 he succeeded Richard Smyth as Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford; he had a dispensation to read heretical books and played a key role in obtaining Cranmer' s initial recantations.69 But the most significant Dominican was Villa Garcia's mentor, Bartolome Carranza, whose writings for the Marian church would have an enormous impact on the Counter-Reformation.7o Reunion with the world of early modern Catholicism would only be complete with England's return to papal obedience. The main dispute about papal primacy for Parliament was not theological but was the question of the ownership of property that had belonged to the religious houses suppressed under Henry. Once Pole had given way on attempting to claim the property, Parliament had no qualms about reunion with Rome, and repealed the Henrician legislation detrimental to papal authority and revived the medieval heresy laws. So on the torchlit night of 30 November 1554, Pole reconciled the nation to the Catholic church through its representatives in Parliament.71 In 1556 John Harpsfield commemorated the cuuJ the Reformation, 209-12; Tout and Cowley, 'Glyn, William', ODNB 22, 515-16. 66Loacb, 'Mary Tudor and the Re-Catbolicisation of England', 19. 67Loacb, 'Reformation Controversies', 379. 68See Tellecbea's introduction, Carranza, Catechismo I, 19, 72; Duval, 'Soto, Pierre de' , DS, cols.l08485; Duffy, 'William Allen', 268, 288; Broderick, Canisius, 127, 173,243; Jedin, Crisis and Closure of Trent, 36-37; Hegarty, 'Carranza and the Englisb Universities', 157-60, 165, 169, 172. See also Venancio Carro, El Maestro Fr. Pedro de Soto, o.P. y las controversias polftico-teolOgias en el siglo XVI, 2 vols (Salamanca, 1931 -50). 6900y'ellecbea, Carranza y Pole, 29, 36,73; See Tellecbea's introduction, Carranza, Catechismo I, 19,80; Duffy, 'William Allen', 268, 288; MacCullocb, Cranmer, 586-89, 593-96, 603-4; Hegarty, 'Carranza and the Englisb Universities'; Duncan, ' Public Lectures and Professorial Chairs', 353. 70See Chapter 1. 71See Mayer, Pole, 220-24; for Pole's formula of absolution for England, see Foxe, Acts and Monuments (1576 ed.), 1407. 6~illiams, Wales

16

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

anniversary of this event with A sermon vpon saint Andrewes daye, in which he remarked that it was an 'inwarde ghostly relyfe' to be free from the 'tyrannye' of heresy and reunited with Peter's successor.72 The episcopal strategy for religious renewal was laid out shortly after reunion with Rome in the Legatine Synod of England's bishops, which Pole called in London from December 1555 to February 1556. This synod was 'fully in line with Counter-Reformation policy [in Europe)', and in numerous ways anticipated Tridentine reforms promulgated in 1564. 73 The synodal constitutions set out Catholic doctrine regarding papal primacy and the seven sacraments, 'since the greatest amount of error had arisen on those points, .74 Heavy emphasis was also laid upon the role of bishops; they, like their clergy, must reside among their people, preach, ensure the publication of orthodox theological works, and undertake extensive diocesan visitations, modelled on Bonner's thorough 1554 visitation of London. There appears to have been 'visitation on a national scale' according to Thomas Mayer, and Canterbury, London, Bath and Wells were visited twice, and Chester three times. 75 There was good reason for such thoroughness: 'the assembled clergy [of the Synod] suffered from such a scarcity of information about the state of the church in the localities that they dispersed in February 1556 with instructions to investigate the dioceses' .76 Besides inquiring into people's religious conformity and moral behaviour, visitations also inquired into the proper performance of the liturgy, and to see if altars, holy water fonts, images of Christ crucified, the Virgin Mary, St John and parochial patron saints with lights before them had been re-erected; and books, vessels and vestments for mass had been replaced. 77 In one of the most farreaching decisions of the Synod, the bishops decided that hanging pyxes, which had contained the reserved eucharist for the sick and for adoration, should be replaced with tabernacles fixed into the main altar of each church. This legislation was the first time in the Western church that the reserved eucharist would be placed at eye-level in the centre of the sanctuary, such that it became the focal point of the entire church building. This shift had a huge impact on CounterReformation sacramental theology and spirituality, lay piety and church architecture, and is a remarkable shift from the traditional English practice. 78 72Harpsfield, Sermon vpon saint Andrewes daye, B7r-v. Canons, xiv. "Ibid.,80-8l. 7SMayer, Pole, 289-95; Loach, 'Mary Tudor and the Re-Catholicisation of England', 19. 76Pogson, 'Pole and the Priorities of Mary Tudor's Church', 5. 77Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, 543-64; Mayer, Pole, 289-91; Loach, 'Mary Tudor and the ReCatholicisation of England', 19; Haigh, English Reformations, 211-13 . 78For the best discussion of the Synod, see Mayer, Pole, 235-45; Cf. Anglican Canons, xliii-xlvii;

73 Anglican

THE INTERPRETATION OF CATHOLICISM IN MARIAN ENGLAND

17

This restoration of Catholic worship had to be paid for by parishioners, and lay involvement in the re-Catholicization of Marian England was profound. Hutton, Haigh and Duffy have shown that people refurnished their parishes with objects needed for liturgy with considerable exuberance and 'homogeneity,.79 Parishes obeyed the injunctions, and Duffy notes 'the energy and for the most part the promptness with which parishes set about complying'. 80 In fact large percentages of parishes had restored altars, roods and images before they were required to do SO.81 Nevertheless, despite generous giving, lay benefactions for non-essential church ornaments never reached pre-1534 levels. No doubt the fall in giving was in part due to ambivalence or hostility of some towards Catholicism, most especially among members of the Protestant minority. But most people were taken up with refitting their parish churches with things necessary for Catholic worship, as well as aiding the needy and hospitals in grim economic times, as they were encouraged in the visitation articles.82 Mary herself tried to set an example of generous giving. As Jennifer Loach remarked, she was the only Tudor after Henry VII not to plunder the church. 83 Besides granting large benefactions to dioceses, she gave attention and money to projects associated with the crown, such as religious communities, hospitals and cults of saints; and she seemed to hope others would follow her example of large-scale giving.84 One who imitated Mary was the devout Catholic Lord Mayor of London, Thomas White, who founded numerous charitable institutions throughout England. 85 Lay support for Catholicism's return was manifestly evident. Historians have noted 'an excited sense of revived customary activity' in some regions. In order to pay for the expenses of parochial worship, church ales and games, suppressed under Edward, returned with gusto under Mary.86 Performances of Corpus Christi plays returned in many cities, and other pageants and processions, especially for Corpus Christi, came to life again.87 Besides renewing the Catholic liturgy, instructing the people in the Catholic faith was the heart of the Marian attempt at church reform, and this is clear from the decisions of Pole's Legatine Synod, as it had been in Mary's 1554 injunctions. Hughes, Rome and England, 72-84. For the position of the tabernacle, see Chapter 5, p. 179. 79Hutton, Rise and Fall of Merry England, 95-104. 8°Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, 543-55. 8'Haigh, English Reformations, 211; Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, 556-58. 82 Visitation Articles II, 341-42, 368, 406-7, 410,425. 83Loach, 'Mary Tudor and the Re-Catholicisation of England', 18. 84Page, 'Unifonn and Catholic', 68-73. 85Hutton, Rise and Fall of Merry England, \02; Page, 'Unifonn and Catholic', 148,311-17; Briscoe, A Marian Lord Mayor, 58-86. 86Hutton, Rise and Fall ofMerry England, 99-\04; Johnston and Maclean, 'Refonnation and resistance in Thames/Severn parishs', 188-190. 87Haigh, English Reformations, 213-15; Edwards, 'Corpus Christi at Kingston upon Thames', 139-5\.

18

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

Regular preaching and catechesis was the main response of both. 88 Pole himself granted preaching licences to men in the diocese of Worcester in 1555 and in the dioceses of Salisbury and Chester in 1558.89 The conventional historical interpretation has held that preaching was not a priority of the Marian church, but recent historians have successfully challenged this view. 90 The fourth synodal decree was dedicated to preaching. The bishops declared preaching was their own vocation, as well as that of parish priests, but they also realized they would be hard pressed to accomplish this task with so many other concerns. To this end the Synod commissioned four books of sermons and a catechism for parochial use and an English translation of the New Testament, and visitation articles and injunctions commanded more frequent preaching and regular catechesis, and the use Bonner's catechetical and homiletic texts throughout the country.91 In a letter to Carranza, Pole himself had emphasized the value of using printed religious texts as well as preaching to catechize people: England would be recalled to the life of Catholicism through printed books. Marian authors such as James Brooks also used the motif of death and resurrection to describe England's state, and a medal struck in Rome to commemorate England's reconciliation with the Latin church bore the inscription, 'England you shall arise, now, as at the Last Day,.92 Pole's statement implies that Marian authors were responding to what they perceived to be the deadly infection of heresy in England by borrowing one of the strategies used to uproot traditional religion, in order to renew it: the more controlled and focused use of print by the Marian regime and particularly by the Marian hierarchy, many of whom were the authors of these writings. Jennifer Loach has noted the long history of using print to educate and edify Catholics before the Reformation. 93 Pole himself noted ancient precedents for instructing Christians through written texts when personal preaching was not possible, as well as the destructive capacity of books. 94 When he wrote that 'people have been corrupted here even more by books', Pole was no doubt alluding to the official 88 Visitation Articles II, 328. "Pole, Correspondence 3, no. 2243; Mayer, Pole, 249·50; Loach, 'Mary Tudor and the Re· Catholicisation of England', 19. 9OMayer, Pole, 246·51; Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, 530·37; Loach, 'Mary Tudor and the Re· Catholicisation of England', 19·21; Haigh, English Reformations, 224·25 . 9'Anglican Canons, 100·107; for the best analysis on preaching in Mary's reign, see Mayer, Pole, 237· 39, 241-44, 246·51, 296·97; Dixon, History of the Church of England IV, 456·57; Visitation Articles II, 360·61,369,372,394,401-4,408,410,423; Loades, 'Monastery into Chapter: Durham', 329, 332. 92Brooks, Sermon very notable, A2 r.3 r , D1 r.2 r , F8 r•v , I3 v-4 v , K4 r•v ; for the medal, see Mayer, Pole, 421; the inscription reads 'ANGLIA RESVRGENS VTNVNC NOVISSIMO DIE'. 93Loach, 'The Marian Establishment and Printing', 135. 94Pole, Correspondence 3, no. 2252; Pole, Epistolarum V, 74. 'Id vero nunc ago, quod majores nostri Ecclesiarum Pastores, cum aliqua justa de causa cogerentur ab Ecclesiis suis abesse, facere consuerverunt, ut scriptis populos curae suae commissos docerent, ac monerent'.

THE INTERPRETATION OF CATHOLICISM IN MARIAN ENGLAND

19

writings published in the previous reigns in order to transform Catholicism into the Henrician and Edwardine churches, such as the 1537 Bishop's Book, the 1543 King's Book, the 1547 Homilies and the 1549 and 1552 Books of Common Prayer. These accompanied further corrosion of significant elements of Catholicism 'by trespassing on the ancient liberties of the church, by breaking the taboo of sacrilege that protected ecclesiastical property, and by condemning traditional pieties as idolatry and superstition'. Offering such books to a populace in confusing times was an 'invitation to dissent' that was taken up by many, according to Richard Rex, including authors of numerous polemical works which, with further vituperation, attacked many tenets of Catholic belief. 95 In his treatment of the Commandment, 'Thou shalt not kyll', Bonner echoed Pole's views of Protestant authors as the most wicked heretics, who 'with theyr mooste venemous bookes ... doo stynge to deathe the soules of as many, as by the readynge therof, doo consente to theyr deuelyshe doctryne,.96 More radical religious change took place under Edward and more controversial tracts appeared, and more theological discussion and debate, which Diarrnaid MacCulloch has noted now included laymen as well as clerics. 97 By 1553 evangelicals had successfully dismantled much of England's centuries' old theology and spirituality, largely through print. The Marian regime followed the precedents of Henry and Edward - and ancient ones, according to Pole - by taking up the strategy of producing official collections of catechesis, sermons and devotion; indeed, Bonner's 1555 Profitable doctryne and Homelies and the Wayland Primer were indebted to material found in Henrician and Edwardine texts. 98 Yet the Marian strategy differed from those that preceded it in a variety of ways, especially by putting 'greater weight upon the instruction of the laity by the clergy than ... on lay self-education,.99 Another difference was the decrease in the quantity of polemic. After a high point in 1554, the number of books of controversy seems to have dropped appreciably. On this count some historians have accused the Marian regime of failing to make good use of printing, but Loach's analysis has raised doubts as to this view's accuracy.100 Duffy maintains that Marian churchmen noted that it was the Protestants who, in order to attack the long-established religious tradition of Catholicism, 'needed to make an impression' through religious satire and polemic. They, on the other hand, chiefly wrote, authorized or encouraged the publication of works of catechesis and 95Rex, Henry VIII and the English Reformation, 132. 96Bonner, Profitable doctryne, Qq I r. 97MacCulloch, Tudor Church Militant, 133-34. 98See Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, 534-43. 99Loach, 'The Marian Establishment and Printing', 139. looLoach, 'The Marian Establishment and Printing', 135-37; pace Dickens, English Reformation, 31012.

20

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

devotion in order to rebuild belief in Catholic doctrine. 101 Even Marian religious polemic is noteworthy for its significant catechetical content and considerable freedom from coarse language, perhaps partly because so many of them were dedicated to the Queen; the anonymous Treatise concernynge the Masse possesses some of the most disparaging remarks. 102 While using an important strategy of the Protestant revolution, Marian churchmen and writers did not desire counterrevolution on their enemy's terms. Rather, they wished to revive a church that had died in the 'polarization of religious attitudes', and revive it especially by the printing of books of Catholic instruction and devotion. 103 However the people could only receive instruction in the life and doctrine of the Catholic religion if the clergy themselves were educated. In this regard the bishops legislated for another far-reaching element of the Counter-Reformation: seminaries, institutions in which men would be trained specifically for the ministries of pastoral care, celebrating the sacraments, and catechizing parishioners. Such diocesan seminaries were only beginning to be established in York, Durham, Lincoln, Chichester and Bath and Wells at the time of Mary's death, but Niccolo Ormanetto, the papal datary in charge of Pole's legatine judicial machinery, brought this idea to Cardinal Borromeo in Milan, who brought it to the Council of Trent, where it became one of the most important conciliar decrees. 104 It is perhaps not ironic that among the first seminaries in Europe was that of Douai in the Low Countries, founded in 1568 by William Allen, fellow of Oriel College in Marian Oxford, to educate English candidates for ordination in exile. 105 Education in Catholic life and doctrine was also being restored in the universities, which were also centres for educating the increasing number of priestly vocations. Mary was financially generous to both universities, and effectively refounded her father's establishment of Trinity College, Cambridge as a bulwark of Catholicism there, complete with a new chapel and choral foundation. 106 Fisher's statutes for St John's, Cambridge were also restored during Mary's reign. 107 Oxford experienced an 'easy and almost total reversal' of IO'Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, 529-30. I02Pace Loades, 'The Piety of the Catholic Restoration', 208; he implies that William Barlow's 'unmeasured denunciations' were representative of Marian polemic; it would appear that the 1553 reprint of his 1531 Dialogue describing these Lutheran faccions was produced to humiliate this Edwardine bishop. I03Mayer, Pole, 281-83; for a discussion of the Edwardine religious revolution see MacCulloch, Tudor Church Militant, 105-33. I04Haigh, English Reformations, 225; Fenlon, Heresy and Obedience, 256; Canons and Decrees of Trent, 175-79. IOSDuffy, 'William Allen', 272-80. '06Loach, 'Reformation Controversies', 377; Page, 'Uniform and Catholic,' 338-49. IO'Rex, Theology of Fisher, 12.

THE INTERPRETATION OF CATHOLICISM IN MARIAN ENGLAND

21

Protestant belief.l08 Education in canon law was rekindled after its suppression in the reign of Edward. 109 Trinity College and St John's College, founded by Thomas Pope and Thomas White for the education of clergy and the furthering of Catholicism, as well as family chantries, 'bespeak the enthusiasm and confidence of wealthy Catholic laymen in the Queen's religious program' .110 Students were bound to attend mass and take part in processions, and applicants for decrees were to preach in Oxford or at Paul's Cross in London before taking them. III Upon the accession of Elizabeth, twenty-five heads of colleges (six of Cambridge) and thirty-seven fellows were deprived. 112 There was also a veritable exodus of Catholic scholars and clergy from Oxford to the Continent after the imposition of the Elizabethan Settlement; seven who had experienced the 'upbeat, pugnacious and articulate' early modem Catholicism of Marian Oxford became Jesuits, almost thirty seminary priests. ll3 Loach remarked that '[n]othing so clearly demonstrates the achievement of Marian Oxford as the prominent part its graduates later played in [Elizabethan Catholic] recusant life'. 114 The universities were also centres of beautiful liturgical music composed and sung in Mary's reign. Composers and singers arranged and sang what appears to have been a complete cycle of music for the liturgical year, and these works - and musicians - were shared by Oxbridge colleges, Mary's Chapel Royal, London parish churches and St Paul's Cathedral. Choral singing also underwent a significant revival in other cathedrals. I IS Some of most distinguished composers in England's history, such as Thomas Tallis, John Sheppard, Christopher Tye, Robert Whyte, William Mundy and a young William Byrd were part of this endeavour. Moreover, according to Daniel Bennett Page, the 'succinct, orthodox, and didactic' liturgical music that these men arranged and sang was part of a strategy to effect religious feelings and so move congregations to a love of Catholic worship. I 16 But despite the revival of Catholic worship, preaching, education, and printing and music, historians have had an impression that much more could have been done. Why were so many of the institutions that had flourished before 1534 only making rather tentative reappearances by 1558? Why had so few monasteries, IO"Duffy, 'William Allen', 267. I09Russell, 'Marian Oxford and the Counter-Reformation', 218. IIOPage, 'Uniform and Catholic', 311-17. IIIRussell, 'Marian Oxford and the Counter-Reformation', 218-20. 112Hughes, Rome and England, 144. 113Duffy, 'William Allen', 269. 114Loach, 'Reformation Controversies', 378-79, 381-87; Russell, 'Marian Oxford and the CounterReformation', 222-26. IIsLemberg, Reformation of Cathedrals, 124-31; Loach, 'The Marian Establishment and the Printing Press', 141. 116Page, 'Uniform and Catholic', 153.

22

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

chantries, guilds and shrines been re-established? In Marian printed texts, why so ostensibly few references to the papacy, religious orders, the cult of saints and purgatory? Why did Marian authorities engage in bitter religious persecution, and bum alive almost 300 people, and why did Marian authors decry their victims in print, when this policy has been viewed by many historians as not only vicious but · to re l'IglOUS . counter-producbve renewa1?1I7 . The papacy, religious life, prayers to the saints and for the dead had significant roles in the Marian church - at least twelve religious communities and four shrines to saints seem to have been refounded, and the papacy and prayer for the dead was given particular emphasis in Marian religious texts. Sometimes this emphasis was discreet - perhaps to persuade people gradually about doctrines that had been excoriated for twenty years - but nevertheless uncompromising. As to the question of why was not more done, the chief cause is most likely due to the brevity of Mary's reign. If Mary Tudor had lived substantially longer, her church, it appears, would likely have survived her. lIS Another reason was the tentative nature of the reign. She was without children, and her heir was her half-sister, Elizabeth, who had adopted the beliefs of the Edwardine church. She conformed to Catholic belief under Mary, but who knew what the future held, and for many it was imprudent to invest effectively - and financially - in Catholicism until Mary had a child or Elizabeth revealed her designs after her accession. Another impediment to renewal was dire economic and social circumstances. England was still reeling from the unparalleled taxes and inflation of the reigns of Henry and Edward, and war with France only added to the bleak state of England's finances. Pole met immense difficulties in trying to take action regarding the Church's harsh fiscal situation: for example, the monasteries that had once supported poor parish livings were gone, and bishops were hard pressed to take their place. Pole hoped to redistribute funds from wealthier dioceses to impoverished ones, and he was slowly making progress. 119 However England also experienced devastating crop failures in 1555 and 1556, resulting in the doubling of food prices, and widespread famine . 120 As noted earlier, surviving episcopal visitation articles encouraged aiding the poor, no doubt due to such economic straits. Pole stipulated that clergy should move the dying to remember the poor in

117Dickens, English Reformation, 292-307; Loades, Reign of Mary, 272-85; Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, 558-6). 118Haigh, English Reformations, 236; Loach, 'Mary Tudor and the Re-Catholicisation of England', 22; Houlbrooke, 'Mid-Tudor Polity', 505-6. 119Mayer, Pole, 254-68; see also Slack, 'Social Policy and the Constraints of Govemment', 95; Loades, Reign of Mary, 259-61, 356-61, 397-98. '2°Davies, 'England and the French War', 161 ; Brigden, London and the Reformation, 620-21.

THE INTERPRETATION OF CATHOLICISM IN MARIAN ENGLAND

23

their wills over anyone or anything else. 121 He also gave national dispensations from observing Lenten abstinence in 1555 and 1557. 122 Furthermore the famine of 1555-57 was accompanied and followed by 'the greatest mortality crisis to strike England between 1485 and 1665,.123 Typhus and related diseases increased the mortality rate two to three times the norm, and England's population fell by 20 per cent. 124 In his Annales, Stow wrote that in the Autumn of 1558 'quartan agues continued in like manner, or more vehemently than they had done the last year passed, where through died many old people and specially priests, so that a great number of parishes were unserved and no curates to be gotten, and much com was lost in the fields for lack of workmen and laborers'. 125 In these horrific circumstances Mary, Pole and nine other bishops died, along with the renewal of Catholicism in England. 126 Despite the challenges of twenty years of demolition of English Catholicism, financial constraints, the opposition of a religious minority, years of famine, a devastating epidemic and a very brief reign, many elements of Catholicism were successfully renewed in Marian England. 127 Mary and her bishops, aided by other clergy and laity, reunited the church to Rome, recovered and reformed methods of episcopal governance and standards of clerical education, began the restoration of religious life. They worked to renew Catholicism, especially through inculcating Christian life and doctrine through worship, preaching and catechesis; and the books printed for the Marian church played a vital role in that renewal.

121Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, 552. 122Pole, Correspondence 3, nos. 1081, 1872 and 1881. 123Slack, The Impact of Plague in England, 71-72. 124Davies, 'England and the French War', 180; Wrigley and Schofield, Population History of England, 332-33. 125Cited in Creighton, History of Epidemics in Britain, 401. 126Loades, Mary Tudor, 310-11; Mayer, Pole, 343; Bridgett and Knox, The Story of the Catholic Hierarchy, 15. 127Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, 562; Haigh, English Reformations, 236; Loach, 'Mary Tudor and the Re-Catholicisation of England', 21, 22.

CHAPTER ONE

Marian Catholic Texts, their Authors and Dedicatees Having examined the historiography of the Marian church and the historical context of these works of theology and spirituality, it is necessary to consider the particular contexts of these texts. What were their literary gemes? Who were the authors? To whom were the books dedicated? In answering these questions light will be shed on the nature of these books, and also the priorities and strategies of their authors in their attempt to 'recall to life' Catholicism in England; strategies such as presenting printed books to clergy and literate laity, which might have been in turn read to people of all and no levels of education. It is also necessary to explain reasons for considering books that would appear to have questionable status as 'Marian' texts, because they were written or printed before 1553. The value of incorporating texts written and printed before Mary's accession lies in that they were produced by men who became leading Marian churchmen Cuthbert Tunstall, Roger Edgeworth and John White, for example. Other works reappeared in Mary's reign which had been printed before 1534, and these were chiefly works of devotion and polemic by John Fisher and Thomas More. It was probably more than pietas that moved printers to republish Fisher's 1521 sermon defending papal primacy in the same month as England's reconciliation with Rome; and William Rastell claimed that his edition of More's English works of controversy and piety would aid the rebuilding of the Catholic religion and the extirpation of heresy. It would not be surprising if Fisher's popular meditations on the Penitential Psalms still drew readers. Fisher's and More's resurrection in print might be due to Cardinal Pole's and other Marian churchmen's indebtedness to them for their religious stances in the 1520s and 1530s. Another reason for including these books is that they were written amidst doctrinal debate in Hemy's and Edward's reigns, and these debates did not cease in Mary's reign, despite the doctrinal uniformity of Marian Catholic authors. Rather the polarization of religious belief intensified, with the burning of heretics and division between 'catholikes' and 'protestantes'. For this reason it is worth comparing Marian texts with the works of some of the leading conservative apologists of the previous reigns: Stephen Gardiner, Richard Smyth and Miles Hogarde. Gardiner and Smyth became leading figures in the Marian regime, and

MARIAN CATHOLIC TEXTS, THEIR AUTHORS AND DEDICATEES

25

Smyth and Hogarde continued writing theological works in Mary's reign, so it would be worth collating their works printed before 1553. Marian writers made such comparisons themselves: Both Brooks and the author of the last sermon in Bonner's Homelies encouraged readers to refer to Gardiner's Confutatio Cavillitionum, printed initially in 1552.1 Gardiner's Responsio Venerabilium Sacerdotum, although published in 1564, was written in 1552 to respond to the controversy between Bishop Hooper, Henry Joliffe and Robert Johnson, canons of Worcester Cathedral, and considers such subjects important for the renewal of Catholicism under Mary as prayers to the saints and for the dead.2 Hogarde's two pre-1553 works offer special problems; his Excellency of mannes nature has no certain date of publication, though 1550 is a possibility; and his Abuse of the sacrament is only extant in Crowley's 1548 Confutation, so it seems likely that it was printed in 1547 or 1548. 3 Still, it is only in considering these Edwardine works that we can gain a more complete understanding of these important proponents of the Marian church and the theology and spirituality they presented.

The genres of the Marian texts Early modem religious texts in England were 'the single most important component of the publishing trade, comprising around half the total output of the industry'. Delineating the various forms of literature that these works represent is therefore far from easy, since most of them possess various elements of different genres even in what may be defined very loosely as 'religious books,.4 For example, Hogarde's spiritual writings, such as his Mirrour of {oue were both highly polemical and instructive in terms of Christian doctrine. Still, four broad categories are discernible, although most Marian religious books may fall under one or more categories: catechetical, polemical, devotional, and sermons.

Catechesis Many books offered analysis of Christian doctrine both as tenets of belief and patterns of living. The most important of these was Bonner's frequently-printed

IBrooks, Sermon very notable, F3 r-v ; Bonner, Homelies, nV [recte 71 vl_nr; Muller, Gardiner and the Tudor Reaction, 313-34 . 2Muller, Gardiner and the Tudor Reaction, 314-15. 3Martin, 'Hogarde: Artisan and Aspiring Author', 102. 4Collinson, 'Religious Printing 1557-1640',29.

26

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

1555 Profitable doctryne. s In it Bonner responded to the need for catechesis by imitating an Henrician strategy. In 1543 bishops and theologians had produced A Necessary Doctrine, commonly called the King's Book, a collection of doctrine of which Henry himself had approved. Bonner's work, compiled 'for the instruction and enformation of the people', was largely modelled on it in order 'to maintain continuity with the Henrician past, '" [and] to reform the Henrician legacy into an orthodox Catholicism'. But the Profitable doctryne also excelled it as a work of instruction, in that it continuously underlined the central role of the church and sacraments in gaining salvation, explained controverted doctrine such as papal primacy and purgatory in pivotal sections of the text, and presented extensive coverage of new material, such as on the cult of saints. 6 Bonner's Profitable doctryne, as well as his 1556 An honest instruction for Children, served as official doctrinal texts for London clergy and schoolmasters. Pole's Synod called for a catechism; until it was produced, Bonner's work was to be used in parishes. 7 Thus Bonner's book was an official text of Marian Christian doctrine. s

Another difference between Bonner's work and the King's Book - and the 1537 Bishops' Book as well - was the frequent citations and quotations of biblical and patristic sources; this was in fact characteristic of most Marian religious texts. Smyth's 1554 and 1555 Bouclier of the Catholike fayth and Seconde part of a Bucklar and Angel's Agrement of the fathers were mainly translations from the fathers, serving both catechetical and polemical ends. 9 Another translation of a patristic source was Proctor's A waie home to Christ which was Vincent of Lerins' 'Commonitorium', containing the three-part test for authentic Christian doctrine universality, antiquity and consent. This divergence was probably due to the apologetic needs of the Marian church: Bonner and his peers were responding directly to Protestants and the doubtful with passages from their adversaries' own armoury: the Bible and the fathers, to make their claim on Christian truth. It would be instructive to compare the Profitable doctryne with the catechism that was meant to replace it. Carranza's Comentarios sobre el Catechismo Christiano were printed in Spanish in 1558, in the hope that they would be translated into Latin and other tongues of Philip II's dominions, especially England. \0 It was being translated into English in 1558. 11 The Catechismo had a SThe RSTC lists five known editions: 328\.5,3283,3283.3,3283.5,3283.7. 6Bonner, Profitable doctryne, Air; for an analysis of the Profitable doctryne, see Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, 534-37 . 7Anglican Canons, 105-7; Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, 525; Haigh, English Reformations, 216-17 . 81.e., Brooks' 1556 Injunctions for Gloucester enjoined priests to use the Profitable doctryne; see Visitation Articles II, 40\. 9 For an extensive discussion of the works of Smyth, see Lowe, Richard Smyth. IOCarranza, Catechismo I, 107; 'Lo mismo pienso publicar presto en latin ... por aprovechar a todas naciones con 10 que Dios me ha dado a entender; y particularmente a Inglaterra, donde Sl! por

MARIAN CATHOLIC TEXTS, THEIR AUTHORS AND DEDICATEES

27

strange fate: it would be condemned by the Spanish Inquisition - along with its author, for largely political reasons - but the Catechism of the Council of Trent would be 'surprisingly dependent' upon it. 12 Carranza was a passionate advocate of both humanistic learning and the scholastic theology of Aquinas. He had served as an Imperial theologian at the Council of Trent, and had been chosen by Philip to accompany him to England. There he became a trusted adviser to Mary and Pole, who gave him numerous responsibilities. Carranza would later write that he had worked closely with Bonner in the task of restoring many elements of Catholicism in London. 13 He was present at Pole's Synod, which requested him to compose a catechism for the English church; he completed the manuscript in early 1558. 14 He was selected by Philip to become Archbishop of Toledo, and took possession of his see in 1558, the same year the catechism was printed in Spanish. Thereafter disputes with the Inquisition arose over his book in which he would be embroiled until his death. 15 The structures and sources of the Catechismo and the Profitable doctryne, and even the Tridentine catechism, are similar. They discuss various topics under the headings of the Creed, the sacraments, the Ten Commandments, the Pater Noster and activities closely linked with prayer: fasting and almsgiving. Interestingly, the Profitable doctryne uniquely treats the Ave Maria separately. All three works refer to the scriptures and fathers extensively. Yet unlike Bonner's volume, as well as all Marian religious books, Carranza's text relied heavily upon the works of Aquinas; Augustine is the only author whom he cited more frequently. 16 With such a remarkable history - intended for England, but destined for the CounterReformation world - the Catechismo is an important link between them, and is an invaluable means for discerning how much of Counter-Reformation theology and spirituality the Marian church had 'discovered'. Besides the works of Bonner and Carranza, other texts provided catechesis but with an even more controversial edge. The anonymous Plaine and godlye treatise,

experiencia que es necesario ... .' "Pole, Correspondence 3, no. 2252, 545; cf. Pole, Epistolarum Y, 74; 'ac te quoque Dei providentia voluit, in hoc Anglicanam nostram Ecclesiam adjuvare tuo iIIo docto et pio Catechismo, quem, dum hic esses, Hispanice scripsisti, qui nunc in nostram Iinguam vertitur'. 12See Tellechea's introduction in Carranza, Catechismo I, 88-89; 'EI muestrario de paralelismos que aduce entre el Catecismo de Carranza y el tridentino es suficiemente probativo para monstrar la soprendente dependencia del segundo respecto al primero.' 13Tellechea, Carranza y Pole, 29. 14See Tellechea in Carranza, Catechismo I, 10-51. IsFor recent scholarship on Carranza's role in Marian England see Reforming Catholicism in the England of Mary Tudor: the Achievement of Friar Bartolome Carranza, John Edwards and Ronald Truman, eds. 16See Tellechea in Carranza, Catechismo I, 88.

28

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

concernynge the Masse, was printed as an appendix to the Wayland Primer as well as separately.17 Its conjunction with the primers is probably an imitation of evangelical polemic being integrated into primers in the previous reigns, but in this case it was appended to the end of the primers and not incorporated into the text itself.18 On the other hand, Standish's Triall of the supremacy and Bush's Exhortation to Margarete Burges, both printed in 1556, overtly responded to attacks on the papacy and Catholic eucharistic doctrine, but their tone is more catechetical than polemical. More controversial was Christopherson's 1554 Exhortation agaynst rebellion, which included ample expositions of Catholicism.

Sermons The chief source of catechesis lay in printed sermons, and many were printed during Mary's reign. 19 The Legatine Synod commanded bishops and parish priests to preach Sundays and feast days, or to depute someone capable of doing so. The call for bishops themselves to preach was doubtless in imitation of the 1546 Tridentine decree, which for the first time in the history of Western Christendom made personal episcopal preaching - rather than just providing for preaching compulsory.2o Marian bishops took this command seriously, and also stipulated the provision of collections of sermons and commanding clergy to read them from pulpits, if they would not compose homilies themselves. Such sermons were thus written and published for a general audience to instruct, persuade and edify people in Catholic life and doctrine. The Synod ordered that preachers should particularly call people to repentance for the schism of the previous twenty years and to 'instruct and admonish them against those corruptions and abuses, both in doctrine and in practice, which prevailed in the time of that schism, and with which even now the majority are infected,.21 While heretical infection does not necessarily imply widespread Protestant belief, it does seem that the bishops realized that 'the cogent presentation of reformed doctrine in the [Edwardine] homilies had to be met with an equally satisfying account of the Catholic position,.22 To this end, the bishops planned four books of homilies: on disputed doctrine, on the Pater Noster, Ave Maria, Creed, Decalogue and seven sacraments, on the 17There are five known editions: three appended to the Wayland Primer (STC 16063-5) and two printed separately (RSTC 17629, 17629.5). "Duffy, Stripping o/the Altars, 542 . 19Loach, 'The Marian Establishment and Printing', 139. 20See Anglican Canons, 102-3; Canons and Decrees a/Trent, 26-28. 21Anglican Canons, 104·5. 22Blench, Preaching in England, 285.

MARIAN CATHOLIC TEXTS, THEIR AUTHORS AND DEDICATEES

29

epistles and gospels for Sundays and feasts, and on the rites of the church, virtues and vices. 23 Two Marian collections of sermons were used to fulfil the synodal decrees. One was the frequently-printed 1555 Homelies produced for the Diocese of London by Bonner, John Harpsfield and Henry Pendleton, and often printed with the Profitable doctryne. 24 This collection included thirteen sermons on salvation history, charity, the nature of the church, papal primacy and the eucharist. These emulated the 1547 collection of sermons printed at the beginning of Edward's reign. By reproducing with small - albeit significant - changes two of the 1547 homilies, one of Harpsfield's four sermons on salvation history, 'Ofthe misery of all mankynde and of hys condempnation to death', and Bonner's 'Of chrysten loue and Charitie', Bonner's Homelies are 'another example of the [Marian] regime's willingness to absorb and use whatever remained of value' of the Edwardine church. Yet, according to Duffy, Bonner's collection exceeds the Edwardine Homilies in terms of vigour and use of scripture and the fathers to demonstrate Catholic doctrine. Pole commanded their use throughout England until the Synod's homilies appeared, so that the Homelies, like the Profitable doctryne, were an authoritative text of the Marian church. 2s Indeed, besides the printed editions of Bonner's Homelies, the British Museum possesses a contemporary manuscript - the 'Tregear Homilies' - which are a translation of twelve of Bonner's sermons into Cornish. The thirteenth, on transubstantiation, is of unknown origin. This manuscript demonstrates that some members of the Marian church were attempting to respond positively to the 1549 Western Rebellion; and it is also striking that within three years '[w]hat was initially intended as a work of Catholic instruction for the metropolis had reached the westernmost and Celtic-speaking periphery by the end of Mary's reign'. 26 The other collection was Bishop Thomas Watson's Holsome and catholyke doctryne. Printed in four known editions in 1558, it was a collection of thirty sermons on the seven sacraments and sacramental spirituality.27 The sacraments were among the subjects to be treated in the synodal collections of homilies, and Watson had been assigned to write at least one of them. In the summer of 1558 Pole reminded Carranza that the Synod had determined that

23See Visitation Articles II, 402. 2'Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, 537; Haigh, English Reformations, 216-17. The RSTC lists ten known editions: 3285.1-10, some of which are printed with the Profitable doctryne. 2SDuffy, Stripping of the Altars, 536-37. 26BL Additional 46937; see Cooper, 'Propaganda, allegiance and sedition in the Tudor south-west', 236-37. 27RSTC 25112, 25112.5, 25113-4.

30

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

concerning all those things pertaining to faith and religion, in which the people must be especially instructed and educated to fulfil their obligations, and in the first place concerning those matters that have been called into question here, homilies should be written in the English tongue by certain devout and learned men, chosen for this task; of such men two have zealously performed the task to good purpose: one Watson, who is now Bishop of Lincoln ....28

The book was Watson's response to the Synod, and of those commissioned by the that body it was the only one to be printed. Thus the Catholyke doctryne was sanctioned by the Marian church as a statement of its theology and spirituality. Watson was the most erudite member of the learned Marian episcopacy; he was the first Englishman to write a drama in Greek, and Roger Ascham and John Cheke counted him among their friends. 29 He had been student, fellow, preacher and Dean of St John's College, Cambridge; it was John Fisher's foundation, and the method of education that he had established there was the education that Watson received. 30 According to Malcolm Underwood, Fisher created statutes that emphasized the need to complement scholastic theology with knowledge and appreciation of patristic and classical literature. He also introduced the learning of Greek and Hebrew, and required the fellows to preach to the people. 3' Fisher's 1530 statutes appear to have largely remained in effect until 1545, when they were replaced with a royal constitution; this was also the year Watson left St John'S.32 There are many discernible similarities between Watson's and Fisher's humanist approaches to Catholic theology, not least of which was Watson's borrowing of 'one of Fisher's most original conceptions, an exploration of the nature of the sacrament [of the eucharist] through the multifarious names applied to it by the fathers', according to Richard Rex. 33 Both bishops founded their theological reflection in the use of scripture and the writings of the fathers and possessed a 'strongly patristic orientation'. Fisher, despite his own training in medieval theology, referred to scholastic theologians with 'relative infrequency'; 28Pole, Epistolarum V, 74; 'ut de omnibus ad fidem, et religionem pertinentibus, in quibus populi praecipue instruendi, et ad pietatem informandi sunt, de iisque in primis, quae in controversiam hic sunt vocata, Homiliae Anglica lingua scriberentur a quibusdam doctis et piis Viris, ad hoc munus delectis, ex quibus duo, alter Watsonus, qui nunc est Episcopus Lincolniensis'. The other of the two was John Boxall, Archdeacon of Ely and Secretary to the Privy Council; cf. Knighton, 'Boxall, John', ODNB 7, 4-6. 29Rex, 'English humanists', 29. lOFor a discussion of Watson's intellectual qualities, see Bridgett and Knox, The Story of the Catholic Hierarchy, 120-33. llUnderwood, 'Fisher and the promotion of learning', 26, 29-32. 121bid., 33-34. llRex, Theology of Fisher, 138-40; Watson, Twoo Sermons, K6 r-LI r.

MARIAN CATHOLIC TEXTS, THEIR AUTHORS AND DEDICATEES

31

so did Watson and most Marian theologians. 34 Both were especially concerned with 'the pastoral implications of doctrine'. 3S Bishops Fisher and Watson possessed similar approaches to Catholic theology and its sources, and presented a remarkably similar spirituality to their readers. Therefore it is important to consider how Watson's sacramental theology and spirituality had its origins in Fisher's theology, and to compare the theology of Watson and other Marian authors with that of contemporary Catholic theologians in Europe, many of whom - including Carranza - also followed Fisher's approaches to doctrine.36 Other sermons of catechetical or edifying nature include those by Leonard Pollard on the eucharist, faith, papal primacy and sacramental confession, John Harpsfield on the papacy, John Feckenham on the Creed and on preparation for death and Hugh Glasier on the unity of the church. Even homilies by St Augustine on a variety of subjects appeared in 1553 and 1557, translated by Thomas Paynell. Sermons with a more controversial tone, but nevertheless written to persuade and edify, include Brooks' Sermon very notable, a defence of the renewal of Catholicism in Marian England, printed in 1553 and with further material in 1554, and three 1554 editions of Watson's Twoo Sermons on the eucharist. 37 Other sermons reappeared from Henry's reign: Fisher's 1521 sermon on the papacy, church tradition and the relationship between faith and works; and Roger Edgeworth's Sermons very fruitfull, many of which he preached to challenge evangelical homilists in the Southwest of England, were on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Creed, on the rites of the church, and an exposition of I Peter, and were first published in 1557. With such homilies Marian writers not only hoped to move people to greater understanding and greater virtue, they also hoped to challenge Protestants on their own ground, by evangelizing in a more polemical mode. 38

Polemic

Although concentrating on persuasion, education and edification, numerous Marian writers also engaged in controversy, presenting detailed defences of Catholic belief and the refutation of heretical opinions. However only John Gwynneth attempted writing pure controversy; a series of detailed rebuttals of the 34Rex, Theology of Fisher, 62-63, 131. 35Ibid., 68, 119-20, 19\. 36Ibid ., 86-91, for Watson see also Wi zeman , SJ, 'The theology and spirituality of a Marian bishop: the pastoral and polemical sermons of Thomas Watson' , The Church of Mary Tudor, Eamon Duffy and David Loades, eds. (Ashgate, 2006), 258-80. 37RSTC 25115, 25115.3, 25115.5. 38And some responded; see Crowley, A setting open of the sophistrie of Watson , RSTC 6093.

32

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

writings of an evangelical, the long-dead John Frith. These works are the most prolix of the Marian texts, and Gwynneth was so intent on his attack that he largely fails to make Catholicism an appealing alternative to heresy. His Declaration of the Victory of Marye, which propounded God's providential care for Mary and the church, is much shorter and much more engaging. A Treatyse declaring what the churche is by John Churchson - a pseudonym, according to the RSTC - is also noteworthy for its repetitiveness and its blandness; it hardly touches upon the keystone of Marian ecclesiology, the eucharist, for example. 39 But other controversial works are much more successful, largely because they also provided cathechesis in Catholic doctrine. Miles Hogarde's works are among the most controversial and satirical of the Marian texts, but they also attempted to educate and edify. Other works combining controversy and catechesis included a treatise by Christopherson against Protestant rebellion, Thomas Martin's attack on clerical marriage, and John Standish's rejection of scripture in English. Printed in 1554, all three texts attempted to illustrate the veracity and virtues that they believed their church possessed, as well as refute Protestant views on ecclesiology. Other controversial works appeared in Latin. Cuthbert Tunstall's De veritate Corporis et Sanguinis Christi was published in Paris in 1554, and was heavily indebted to Fisher's De Veritate. 4o John White's 1553 Diacosio-Martyrion presented more than 200 witnesses to Christ's corporeal presence in the eucharist; he too was indebted to Fisher, who had presented 100 witnesses to Catholic eucharistic doctrine in his De Veritate; but unlike Tunstall, White acknowledges Fisher and his book. 4 I Several works were translations of Latin works of controversy: the anonymous translation of Erasmus' Epistle vnto Pelicanus, in which the great humanist is at his most ecclesial while discussing the eucharist, Venaeus' Notable Oration on the same subject and Redman's allegory on grace. On a more popular level of polemic, George Marshall's The firste originall sacrifice was a poem that traced the history of the mass in Britain to pre-Saxon times, and it may be for this reason that it was translated by a priest in North Wales and became 'the first attempt ... to provide Counter-Reformation literature in Welsh,.42 In London Marian broadside ballads were circulated, including Leonard Stopes' 1553 Ave Maria, which closely associated Catholic piety with Mary Tudor's apparently providential victory over the Edwardine regime, and the anonymous Exclamation vpon the sprite of heresy, which defended numerous aspects of Catholicism: the sacraments, the papacy, images and the cult ofsaints.43 39See citation for RSTC 5219. 40See Rex, Theology of Fisher, 90. "Ibid., 140-41; White, Diacosio-Martyrion, 87 r-v. 42WiIliams, Wales and the Reformation, 212-13. 43Exclamation vpon heresy.

MARIAN CATHOLIC TEXTS, THEIR AUTHORS AND DEDICATEES

33

Devotion

Marian authors and editors offered numerous works of piety: primers and other collections of prayers, allegorical poems on the spiritual life and manuals of meditation. Among these devotional texts, two works are of special import. One is the popular Wayland primer, based on the 1536 edition of the Sarum Rite primer. Bearing the approval of both Pole and the Queen, it held official status within the Marian church, but not a monopoly; there are thirty-four known editions of primers between 1554 and 1558, and only eight of those were produced by John Wayland. 44 A 1555 edition of the Wayland Primer in Latin and Englishe, a 1558 Wayland Primer in Englysh and a 1556 Primer for children will be used as examples of this form of devotional literature. 4s Immensely popular in the first half of the sixteenth century, the primers were manuals of prayer containing the Office of the Virgin Mary, an adaptation of the Liturgy of the Hours prayed by clergy and religious; it also included numerous prayers for private devotion. People prayed with them at home and in church, especially during mass; and it seems that they read them aloud, alone and to others, so that the primers were not merely for the literate. 46 The other book is William Peryn's Spiritual/ exercyses, written by one of the leading Marian religious for other leading religious, as well as for any who sought closer union with God, according to its title-page. The Exercyses, based on the writings of Flemish writer Nicholas Van Ess, were in fact a translation of some important elements of medieval spirituality of the Low Countries, but were largely based on a pivotal work of Counter-Reformation spirituality: The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. Both the primers and Peryn's book call for special attention: the primers for their popularity, and the Exercyses as a link between the spirituality of the Marian church and that of Catholicism in Europe. It also linked the Marian church and the Catholic recusants of Elizabethan England, for copies survived after 1558, and another edition would appear in 1598. 47 Other Marian works of piety include Tunstall's 1558 Certain Godly prayers, Hogarde's religious allegories entitled The Pathe waye to the towre of perfection (1554) and A mirrour of loue (1556). Others were reprints of classic spiritual texts. Fisher's popular 1508 Treatyse concernynge the penytencyall psalmes was reprinted in 1555. Thefolowinge ofChryste was Richard Whitford's translation of "Duffy, Stripping of the A/tars, 537-40. There are six Wayland editions in Latin and English, two in English only. There are thirteen other editions of English and Latin or only English; see RSTC 1605816086. 4sRSTC 16065, 16086, 16075.5. 46Reinberg, 'Prayer and the Book of Hours', 41-42. 47See Chapter 6, pp. 210-17.

34

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

the Imitation of Christ, edited by William Peto, and accompanied by the fourteenth-century work, The golden Epystell, attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux. 48 The two 1556 editions were the first English translation of the complete text of the Imitation, including - for the first time - the fourth book which concentrated exclusively on devout reception of the eucharist. This inclusion is noteworthy, though perhaps not surprising, given the Marian church's emphasis on the eucharist, and the growing call for more frequent communion by a number of its leading authors and churchmen. This book of late-medieval piety was also seen as a tool in the struggle against Protestantism. The editor remarked that the Imitation was one of the texts which taught true Christian doctrine, in contrast to heretical books that had been circulated in the past and led people out of the church. 49 Like Peryn's Exercyses, the Marian Imitation would be read by Elizabethan Catholics. Another text valuable in combating heresy was Thomas More's Workes in English (1557), which included many of his controversial writings, but also treatises on receiving the eucharist, the Passion, prayers and prison letters. It also included his Dialoge of comfort agaynst Tribulation which had been printed for the first time in 1553, copies of which were still being read by Catholic recusants in the reign of Elizabeth. 50 Thus, in looking at these Marian devotional texts, we must ask what theology and spirituality did the authors and editors hope to instil, and how did it come to continue to be instilled among Elizabethan Catholics? The religious literature of the Marian Church possesses roots in late-medieval devotion, the religious polemics of the 1520s and 1530s in England and early modem Catholic Europe, and the catechesis and sermons of the Henrician and Edwardine reformations. In terms of piety it points ahead to the Catholic minority in Elizabeth's reign. Yet even within the brief reign of Mary, possible patterns of literary change are discernible. There were more constructive works of catechesis and devotion by the middle and end of the reign. Some of the mainly polemical works, such as those by Brooks, Christopherson, Martin and Standish appeared in 1553-54, while such catechetical and devotional heavyweights as Watson's Catholyke doctryne, Edgeworth's sermons, Peryn's Exercyses and Tunstall's prayers were printed in 1557-58. 1555 appears to be the pivotal year, with the first printing of the Profitable doctryne, Homelies and Wayland Primer; this activity may well be due to Pole's Legatine Synod, which met that year and called for the publishing of sermons and intensified catechesis for the laity.51 There are 48For Peto's editorship see RSTC 23966. 49A Kempis, F olowinge of Chrysle, A2 v. SOSee Hellinga and Trapp, eds., The Book in Britain III, 24. SIAnglican Canons, 102-3; I wish to thank Thomas Mayer for suggesting the connection between the Synod and the printing of these key texts in 1555.

MARIAN CATHOLIC TEXTS, THEIR AUTHORS AND DEDICATEES

35

exceptions, such as Hogarde's Displaying of the Protestantes, which appeared in 1556. If this is an actual pattern, then we may deduce that Marian authors found it less necessary or less desirable to continue the literary struggle against Protestants, and found themselves more engaged in the struggle for the minds and hearts of the devout and doubtful members of the Marian church.

Marian theologians, authors, translators and editors The writers of Marian theology and spirituality must be studied as well. The theological stances of most of these men had undergone considerable change in the previous two reigns, and some of them would accede to the Elizabethan religious settlement. Their education, and their status and activities during Mary's reign and after may give clues to how their writings may have served Catholic renewal. These authors wrote under the shadows of Fisher and More. While most adherents of Catholicism had submitted to the Royal Supremacy, these two had refused, and would be praised by Pole and a number of authors during Mary's reign. A number of their English works of theology and devotion were also reprinted in the 1550s. Moreover, the leading Marian theologians were heavily indebted to Fisher's writings: Tunstall, Watson, Smyth and others, as Gardiner had been in his books of the previous reigns. 52 Many of these writers were also dependent upon the arguments for Catholic belief that More had given. As will be seen, the views of Marian theologians echoed or paralleled the writings of Catholic controversialists in Europe, many of whom were also indebted to Fisher and More. A number of these writers were bishops and therefore leaders of the Marian church: Bonner, Tunstall, Watson, White, Christopherson and Brooks, as well as Gardiner, although only his Canfutatia Cavillatianum was reprinted after Mary's accession. Only Gardiner, Bonner, Tunstall and Watson actually published during their episcopates. 53 Watson, White, Christopherson, Brooks published books before their consecrations, and their writings no doubt drew the attention of Mary, her Council and Pole as they appointed bishops. All these men were members of the secular clergy, had attended either of the two universities, were noted for their learning and were indeed scholars (of varying degrees of competence) in the S2Rex, Theology of Fisher, 87. s3For Gardiner see Muller, Gardiner and the Tudor Reaction ; cf. Armstrong, 'Gardiner, Stephen', ODNB 21, 433-45; for Tunstall see Sturge, Tunstall; cf. Newcombe,'Tunstal [Tunstall], Cuthbert', ODNB 55, 551-55; for Bonner see Alexander, 'Bonner and the Marian persecutions', 157-75, and Emden, Biographical Register, 57-58; cf. Carleton, 'Bonner, Edmund' ODNB 6, 552-56; for Watson see Bridgett and Knox, The Story of the Catholic Hierarchy, 120-207; cf. Carleton, 'Watson, Thomas,' ODNB 57, 665-68.

36

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

humanist milieu; Watson, Christopherson, Brooks and White had all possessed Oxbridge fellowships. Indeed, Watson had been Master of St John's and Christopherson Master of Trinity College, Cambridge - which Mary 'effectively refounded' in 1554 as a bastion of orthodoxy in the University - until their appointment as bishops in 1557; Brooks had been Master of Balliol College, Oxford, and White had been Headmaster and then Warden of Winchester College. 54 All had accepted the Royal Supremacy in 1535 but had resisted the Edwardine religious revolution. With the exception of Brooks and Christopherson (the latter having gone into exile), all had been imprisoned during Edward's reign - White for sending Catholic material to another future Marian author and fellow Wykehamist, the then-exiled Thomas Martin. Watson and Brooks had also been chaplains to Gardiner, and Christopherson considered himself a protege of John Redman, requesting in his will that prayers also be offered for his parents' and Redman's souls in his own requiem masses. Gardiner, having died in 1555, and Christopherson, having died in December 1558 after being imprisoned for preaching against Protestantism, were the only ones who did not to live to see the Elizabethan Settlement. Bonner, Watson, Brooks and White died in prison, Tunstall died while an enforced house-guest of Archbishop Parker, and Christopherson, having escaped to Europe, died in exile. 55 Another episcopal author was Paul Bush of Bristol, a one-time Oxford student. He had been provincial of the Bonshommes, a community which followed the Augustinian rule, and last prior of their house in Edington, Wiltshire. 56 He was given a canonry in Salisbury and made first bishop of Bristol in 1542. Bush held Catholic eucharistic beliefs, but he had married and ceased to be bishop in 1554, although his wife had died early in Mary's reign. Nevertheless he published A brefe Exhortation explaining Christ's corporeal presence in the eucharist in 1554. He died in 1558, and was buried in Bristol Cathedral near the tomb of Mrs Bush the latter with an inscription requesting prayers for her soul. 57 Besides Bush there were other former religious who published Marian texts, some of whom returned to their restored communities. Hugh Glasier had been a member of the Observant Franciscans in Oxford, and was Warden of their royal foundation in Greenwich at its suppression in 1538. He embraced the Henrician 54Rex, 'English humanists', 29-34; for Trinity College in Mary's reign see Page, 'Uniform and Catholic', 338-49. 55Emden, Biographical Register, 73-74, 267, 621-22; Cf. Litzenberger, 'Brooks, James' and Carleton, 'White, John', ODNB 7, 933-34 and 58, 591-93; Venn and Venn, Alumni Cantabridgienses I, 336, IV, 350; Cooper and Cooper, Athenae Cantabridgienses 1,188,491-93; cf. Wright, 'Christopherson, John', ODNB 11,561-62. 56Knowles, Religious Orders I, 202. 57Emden, Biographical Register, 89; Willis, Survey o/Cathedrals 1,771,778; cf. Betty, 'Bush, Paul', ODNB 9, 86-87.

MARIAN CATHOLIC TEXTS, THEIR AUTHORS AND DEDICATEES

37

reformation, receiving a number of livings and becoming a canon of Canterbury in 1542; he even preached at Paul's Cross in Lent, 1547. However, he received no further preferments until Mary's reign, when he became one of her chaplains and Rector of Deal in May, 1554. He remained a canon of Canterbury, and preached a sermon again at Paul's Cross in August 1555, and died in November 1558.58 Another Greenwich Franciscan was William Peto, the editor of the two Marian editions of The Imitation of Christ. A former fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge, he had been chaplain to Katherine of Aragon and defender of her cause against Henry; he had gone into exile, and became Mary's confessor when his attainder for treason was lifted in 1554. Due to his great age he declined Paul IV's efforts to name him Papal Legate and then Bishop of Salisbury, shortly before his death in late 1558.59 The former Benedictine John Feckenham published two sermons on the Creed and another that he preached at the requiem mass of Joan, Queen of Spain before he became Abbot of the restored Benedictine community in Westminster Abbey in 1556. A graduate of Oxford, he had served Bonner as chaplain after the suppression of the Benedictines, and had been imprisoned during Edward's reign. Released by Mary and made Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, he seems to have possessed extraordinary pastoral gifts, both as a preacher and as one who could communicate with Protestants on amiable terms, both when they were imprisoned under Mary and when he was imprisoned under Elizabeth; it was in that condition that he died in 1585.60 William Peryn, a Dominican and Oxford graduate, had gone into exile in 1534, returned in 1543, and left England again after the accession of Edward. He became Vicar-General of the English Dominicans in Mary's reign, and Prior of their new community at St Bartholemew's, Smithfield, where he died in February 1558. Like Feckenham, he was a noted preacher in the City.61 In 1545 he had published Thre godlye Sermons, dedicated to Bonner and lifted from Fisher's De Veritate, who was unnamed in the text. 62 Peryn did credit Continental writers for his 1557 Spiritual/ exercyses, which shows he had come into contact with contemporary currents of Catholic spirituality while exiled, notably that of the Society of Jesus.63 Other Marian authors such as Richard Smyth, John Harpsfield, Henry Pendleton, Roger Edgeworth and Leonard Pollard were professional theologians of S8Emden, Biographical Register, 233-34; Sermon at Paules crosse, tp. s9yenn and Venn, Alumni Cantabridgienses III, 353; Cooper and Cooper, Athenae Cantabridgienses, 182-83; cf. Mayer, 'Peto [Peyto], William', ODNB 43, 900-2. 6OCunich, 'Benedictine Monks at Oxford', 176, 178-80; Emden, Biographical Register, 201; Knowles, Religious Orders 111,427-37; cf. Knighton, 'Feckenham [Howman], John', ODNB 19,228-30. 61See Kirchberger's introduction to Perin [sic], Spiritual Exercises (1929), xii-xvi; and Emden, Survey of Dominicans, 422-23; cf. Wooding, 'Peryn, William', ODNB 43, 858-59. 62Rex, Theology of Fisher, 90. 63See Kirchberger in Perin, Spiritual Exercises, xiv-xv.

38

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

humanist sensibilities. Smyth had become the first Oxford Regius Professor of Divinity in 1536, and had also assisted in the writing of the Bishops' Book. Because of his Catholic views, Peter Martyr Vermigli replaced him as Regius Professor in 1548. In 1549 he was imprisoned for refusing to take part in a disputation with Vermigli conunanded by the Edwardine Visitors, but later escaped to Louvain, and became Professor of Divinity at the University there. He returned to England upon the accession of Mary, and was named 'chaplain extraordinary' to her and Philip in 1554. After initially taking up his Regius Professorship, Smyth stepped down to become Vice-Chancellor of Oxford in 1555. His latest replacement as Professor was another foreign theologian, Juan de Villa Garcia. After Mary's death, Smyth again escaped to the Continent and became Chancellor and Professor of Theology of the newly established University of Douai in 1562; he still retained his office as chaplain to Philip. In the short period between his last flight from England and his death in July 1563, he published nine Latin works of polemic, probably based on his Oxford lecture notes. 64 Like Smyth, Harpsfield, Pendleton and Edgeworth were also Oxford graduates. Harpsfield and Pendleton wrote most of the sermons in Bonner's Homelies; one of the former's on salvation history had already appeared in the 1547 collection. In 1555 Harpsfield wrote on the more controverted topics of Christ's corporeal presence in the eucharist and papal primacy, and he would return to the latter topic in a printed sermon of 1556. Like his brother Nicholas he had been a fellow of New College, but John had been the first Regius Professor of Greek and one of Bonner's chaplains. In 1554 he became Archdeacon of London, and was as zealous in the episcopal visitation of the City as his brother was as Archdeacon of Canterbury. John also preached frequently at Paul's Cross. Both brothers rejected the Elizabethan Settlement, were imprisoned and then placed in the custody of the bishops of Lincoln and London until their deaths - John in 1578 and Nicholas in 1575.65 Unlike the Harpsfields, Pendleton, a fellow of Brasenose College, had become a convinced evangelical during Edward's reign and initially remained so after the accession of Mary, but then returned to Catholicism. This change of heart led him to become chaplain to Bonner and canon of St Paul's. He was a preacher of note, being shot at in the pulpit at Paul's Cross in June 1554 and applauded by the audience for a sermon given from the same pulpit five months later. 66 Roger Edgeworth, a fellow of Oriel College, had received scholastic training but was influenced by humanist approaches to scholarship. He accepted the break with 64Emden, Biographical Register, 524-25; LOwe, Richard Smyth . 6sChambers, 'Life of [Nicholas] Harpsfield', clxxv-clxxxi, clxxxvi-cxcii; Emden, Biographical Register, 267-68; cf. Freeman, 'Harpsfield, Nicholas', and Wizeman, ' Harpsfield, John', ODNB 25, 370-73 and 369-70. 66Emden, Biographical Register, 440; cf. Wooding, 'Pendleton, Henry', ODNB 43,527-28.

MARIAN CATHOLIC TEXTS, THEIR AUTHORS AND DEDICATEES

39

Rome and assisted in writing the King's Book. From 1535 to 1545 he regularly preached in Bristol, but fell into conflict with bishops Hugh Latimer and William Barlow and was forbidden to preach in Edward's reign. He became Chancellor of the Diocese of Bath and Wells in 1554 and published the sermons he had given defending the Catholic faith in the 1530s and 1540s in 1557. He rejected the Elizabethan Settlement, resigned his office in 1559 and died the following year. 67 Like Edgeworth, Leonard Pollard also published a collection of sermons and was also a controversial preacher. A scholar of Christ's, fellow of Peterhouse and vicar of St Mary the Less, Cambridge, he had maintained the sacrificial nature of the mass during the 1549 visitation, and preached on purgatory in Cambridge in early November 1553. He became a fellow ofSt John's, Cambridge in 1554 and in 1555 chaplain to Bishop Pate of Worcester, to whom he dedicated his five lucid sermons on the eucharist, the sacrifice of the mass, faith, papal primacy and confession. His Fyve homiles were printed in 1556, and he died before late March 1557.68 Other clerics who published during Mary's reign included Leonard Stopes, John Gwynneth, John Angel, Thomas Martin and John Standish, but they would respond differently to her successor's alteration of religion. Some would resist. Leonard Stopes was one of the original scholars and then fellows of St John's College, Oxford, receiving his MA in 1558. He composed verse in honour of Mary which were printed as two broadsides, one upon her accession and one upon her death. He went into exile in 1559 and returned as a seminary priest, was imprisoned at Wisbech and later exiled, dying perhaps in 1587.69 Gwynneth, a Welshman who studied music at Oxford, and his polemical writing was first printed under the auspices of the last Abbot of St Alban's, Richard Boreman.7o He was a prominent Marian church musician in London, but was imprisoned and lost his living about 1560. He appears to have arranged the marriage of his niece, Jane Vaughan, into the Wiseman family of Essex, who would become Elizabethan Catholic recusants; Jane herself would spend time in prison, and become the mother of two Jesuits and four nuns. 7 I John Angel was another musician, a possible Cambridge graduate who, as a priest of the Chapel Royal, served Edward, Mary and Elizabeth. But only under Mary did he publish: two collections of patristic and other sources in defence of the mass, prayers to the saints and for the dead and other elements of 67See Wilson's introduction in Edgeworth, Sermons very fruitfull, 13-35. 68Yenn and Yenn, Alumni Cantabridgienses III, 376; Cooper and Cooper, Athenae Cantabridgienses , 127; Worcester Record Office b. 716093 BA 2648/9(iv), 24\ 1 wish to thank Thomas Mayer for this last reference. 69Foster, Alumni Oxonienses IV, 1430; Wall, 'Stopes, Leonard,' ODNB 52, 928-29; cf. C.C. Stopes, 'Stopes, Leonard,' DNB LIY, 419. 7°Clark, 'Reformation and Reaction at St Alban's Abbey', 304-8, 315, 323. 7IPage, 'Uniform and Catholic' , 301-2; cf. Cooper, 'Gwynneth [Gwynedd), John', ODNB 24, 369-71.

40

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

Catholicism, for which he may have been rewarded with the mastership of St Katherine's Hospital, Bedminster, Somerset, a suburb of Bristol. 72 Thomas Martin had been at Winchester College and studied law at New College, but denounced the Edwardine regime while studying in Paris as an exile. He returned to England, and became Chancellor of the Diocese of Winchester under Gardiner and was one of the commissioners for the visitation of Oxford in 1555. He was later appointed by Mary as a Master of Requests and then of Chancery, becoming one of her commissioners for investigating heresy in 1557; he had already taken part in the proceedings against Cranmer, Hooper, Rowland Taylor and John Cardmaker. Nevertheless, he continued work in the legal profession under Elizabeth. He had other interests, including horticulture, on which subject he corresponded with Cecil in 1578. 73 John Standish was a graduate of Oxford who, although having written a treatise against Robert Barnes in 1540, acceded to the religious revolution under Edward. He married and was briefly Archdeacon of Colchester, but with the accession of Mary he lost his office and livings. He conformed and wrote treatises on the papacy and the perils of scripture in English, finally regaining his Archdeaconry a month before Mary's death. He was deprived of this office in 1559, as well as of his canonry in St Paul's. He conformed again under Elizabeth and was restored as canon, but never regained Colchester. 74 There are two writers of whom we know very little, other than their common penchant for defending Marian Catholicism in polemical verse. Almost nothing is known of George Marshall, who dedicated his First originall Sacrifice to the gentleman Richard Wharton of Suffolk, a leading servant of the Duke of Norfolk. He may have been the George Marshall who, having studied at both universities, received a Cambridge BA in 1531-32, and became rector of Cockley Cley, Norfolk, on 18 July 1554.75 If Marshall was a priest, he may have been among the clerics associated with 'Wharton's retinue', described by John Bale as casting horoscopes anticipating the demise of Wharton's erstwhile friend, Cromwell, as well as others.76 The other author was Miles Hogarde, hosier to Queen Mary. Although mocked by Protestants for lack of education, his devotion to Catholicism and sarcastic wit exude from his one work of prose and seven of verse. Some of these were polemic aimed at heretics, but others encourage reflection on Catholic spirituality; all of them were influenced by medieval allegory.77 72Ibid., 103-4; Cooper and Cooper, Athenae Cantabridgienses I, 57; cf. Summerson, 'Aungell [Angell, Angel), John', ODNB 2, 954. 73Emden, Biographical Register, 384; cf. Hindle, 'Martin [Martyn), Thomas', ODNB 36, 982-83. 74Emden, Biographical Register, 533; cf. Usher, 'Standish, John', ODNB 52, 96. 75Emden, Biographical Register, 380. 76Bale, Works, 443; cf. Rex, 'Marshall, George', ODNB 36, 84344. "Martin, 'Hogarde: Artisan and Author', 83-85; cf. Bradshaw, 'Huggarde, Miles', ODNB 28, 605-6.

MARIAN CATHOLIC TEXTS, THEIR AUTHORS AND DEDICATEES

41

Although Henry Joliffe and Robert Johnson wrote a work during Edward's reign that was not published until 1564, Gardiner's and their Responsio Venerabilium Sacerdotum is relevatory in that it sheds light on Catholic stances on some of the most controverted issues of the Reformation. Joliffe and Johnson were both Cambridge graduates and canons of Worcester Cathedral who disputed the visitation articles of their Edwardine bishop, John Hooper. Their writings, along with those of Gardiner on the same issues, were published by Joliffe while he was in exile in Louvain in the 1560s, after he had been Marian Dean of Bristol; he also wrote the preface for the 1569 edition of Pole's De summi pontificis officio, dedicated to Pius V. Johnson had died in 1559, having been Marian Chancellor of Worcester and then York from 1555. 78 Another author who wrote, and indeed died, during Edward's reign but was worthy of note during Mary's was John Redman. In Henry's reign Redman became first Master of Trinity College, Cambridge and Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, and was part of the committee that compiled the Bishops' Book. It appears that he for the most part cooperated with the Edwardine programme for religious change, even preaching at the funeral of Bucer. He died in 1551, and it is uncertain what religious views he possessed at the end. One of the clergy at Redman's deathbed was Thomas Smith, the translator of Redman's De Gratia, printed in 1556 as The complaint of Grace, who believed that this work sufficiently proved Redman's Catholic views. 79 Smith had been a fellow of St John's, Cambridge before becoming one of the original fellows of Trinity College. 80 In 1555 Tunstall also printed his nephew Redman's De Iustificatione, a text which attacked Protestant soteriology, perhaps with the same intention as Smith's.8l There were other translators and editors of religious literature in Mary's reign. John Proctor had been a scholar at Corpus Christi, Oxford, receiving his MA in 1545. In 1553 he was appointed Headmaster of Tonbridge School, and remained in that post until his death in 1558. He translated Vincent of Lerins's 'Commonitorium' and entitled it The waie home to Christ; he was also the author of original polemic, The fal of the Late Arrian, printed in 1549 with a dedication to then-Princess Mary, which was probably 'a subtle denunciation' of the

7aYenn and Yenn, Alumni Cantabridgienses II, 480, 483; Cooper and Cooper, Athenae Cantabridgienses, 203, 320; Cooper and Chibi, 'Joliffe, Henry', ODNB 30, 413-14; Worcester Record Office, 1555 file, Will of William Huband; [ wish to thank Thomas Mayer for this last reference; cf. Wooding, 'Johnson, Robert', ODNB 30, 300. 7!lyenn and Yenn, Alumni Cantabridgienses III, 436; Cooper and Cooper, Athenae Cantabridgienses, 107,542; Redman, Complaint a/Grace, A3'; Null, 'Redman, John', ODNB, 46,270-71. sOVenn and Yenn, Alumni Cantabridgienses IY, 493; Cooper and Cooper, Athenae Cantabridgienses, 427-28. 81Sturge, Tunstall, 336-38.

42

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

Reformation; and The historie of Wyates rebellion, printed in 1554 and 1555.82 William Rastall was the nephew of Thomas More and cousin by marriage to Dorothy Clement, one of the dedicatees of Peryn's Exercyses. A printer-turnedlawyer, he had gone into exile in Louvain during Edward's reign, and returned to become a sergeant-at-law under the patronage of Cardinal Pole and William Roper, justice of the King's and Queen's Bench and a royal conunissioner for investigating heresy and seditious books, as well as editor of the 1557 edition of More's English works. He returned to Louvain shortly after the accession of Elizabeth. 83 Thomas Paynell translated numerous works from Latin during the reigns of Henry, Edward and Mary, and would also assent to the Elizabethan Settlement. He was a former Augustinian canon of Merton Priory, Surrey, who had studied at Oxford and became chaplain to Henry after participating in a mission to the German princes in 1539. He had translated works of Erasmus under Henry and also compiled works dedicated to Mary as Princess; this and other works demonstrate 'that Paynell was aligned with more conservative humanistic patronage'. During Mary's reign he translated two editions of sermons by St Augustine, prayers by Tunstall and St Ambrose's preparatory prayer for receiving communion; he also compiled the militantly-Catholic index for Rastell 's edition of More's Workes .84 Like Paynell, John Bullingham also conformed under Elizabeth, becoming bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, despite having resisted the Edwardine Reformation as a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. He received his MA in 1554, and translated a 1536 exhortation on Christ's corporeal presence in the eucharist by the untraced Parisian theologian, John Venaeus, to which Bullingham attached his translation of Tunstall's introduction to his De Veritate. 85 Marian theologians, authors, editors and translators were important figures in the mid-Tudor period. Most had acceded to the Henrician religious polity, but many resisted the Edwardine religious revolution; some, such as Smyth, Peryn, Christopherson, Martin and Rastell had gone into exile. Most of them were leading members of the Marian church hierarchy. Most had preached from 'official' pulpits in London: Harpsfield, Watson, Feckenham, White, Peryn and Pendleton were frequent preachers in the City, especially at Paul's Cross.86 Many took part in royal and episcopal visitations of the dioceses and universities, and many played 82Emden, Biographical Register, 465; MacCulloch, Tudor Church Militant, 116-17; cf. Loades, 'Proctor, John', ODNB 45, 46J. 83Emden, Biographical Register, 475; Hellinga and Trapp, eds., The Book in Britain III, 425-26; Baker, 'Rastell, William ', ODNB 46, 82-83. 84McConica, English Humanists, 138-40; Rex, 'English Humanists', 32, 38-39; Emden, Biographical Register, 437; Eatough, 'Paynell, Thomas ' , ODNB 43, 225-27. 8sFoster, Alumni Oxonienses I, 208. 86See Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials III, i, 32, 78,113-14,321-23,347,499-500,507,513; ii, 2-3, 5, 8, 21, 26, 108-9.

MARIAN CATHOLIC TEXTS, THEIR AUTHORS AND DEDICATEES

43

active roles in the persecution of heresy. All of their activities, especially the production of books of catechesis, religious polemic, devotion and sermons, were elements of the attempt to recall English Catholicism back to life. Although some of these men acceded to the 1559 Elizabethan Religious Settlement and many died in the epidemic that carried away Mary and Pole, many of these writers were deemed successful enough by the Elizabethan regime to be seen as a threat to restored Protestantism, and were to spend the rest of their lives in confinement.

Dedicatees and readership Dedications of literary works began with those of medieval manuscripts and even classical works. In their quest for literary patronage, humanist scholars increased the number of dedications. This growth in dedicatees continued in England throughout the sixteenth century, though in the first half of the century only more substantial texts - original writings, translations and religious polemic, for example - were dedicated. By Mary's reign works of catechesis and piety were also being addressed to distinguished persons, though Pollard's Fyve Homilies were the only sermons so honoured. 87 Assessing what impact these books may have had on readers and listeners is difficult, especially since most of them were in open circulation for only three to four years. Yet some clues may be obtained by examining those to whom these authors dedicated their writings. What were these men expressing in their letters of dedication to such as Queen Mary, bishops such as Pole, Gardiner and Richard Pate, two nuns, a gentleman and a woman of doubtful faith, other than a desire for literary patronage? What might the dedicatees tell us about possible readership, and what information were the authors giving to their audience by such dedications? Did these letters of dedication aid their authors in a strategy for reviving Catholic theology and spirituality in England? The overwhelming number of dedications - fourteen - are to Mary, perhaps because of the authors' personal regard for her and her devotion to Catholicism, and possibly in hopes of encouraging buyers and readers who held themselves loyal subjects. White dedicated his Diacosio-Martyrion on Christ's corporeal presence in the eucharist to Mary because of her steadfast adherence to that doctrine during Edward's reign.88 Moreover, her contemporaries universally perceived Mary as the restorer of Catholicism in England, and deemed her God's instrument in that regard. Thus authors praised God and the Queen, often simultaneously. 'What love by your grace god to vs did showe, / When hope was 87Williams, Index ofdedications, ix-xi. 88White, Diacosio-Martyrion, A2r.

44

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

almost past, as al men do knowe', wrote Hogarde in A mirrour of loue. 89 Other books dedicated to the Queen were presented as aids in the renewal of Catholicism among her subjects. Mary's chaplain, Christopherson, told her that the best remedy for any disaffection after Wyatt's Rebellion - which was due to heresy, he iterates throughout the text - is by persuading them of the Catholic faith's veracity.90 Smith gave two reasons for translating Redman's De Gratia: so that men might gain Christian wisdom by it, and simply to dedicate it to Mary, a veritable beacon of virtue. 91 Paynell translated Tunstall's prayers 'to encrease (yf it may be encreasyd)' Mary's 'deuotion', but Tunstall had composed them to give solace to all Christians; Paynell also translated several sermons of Augustine to recall her people to their Christian vocations and adhere to Augustine's teaching. He selected sermons on subjects forbidden under Edward, such as keeping the feasts of saints, the sacrament of penance and purgatory; he described these topics as 'most necessarye to be knowen' by Christians, 'but to be folowed, much more necessary,.92 Proctor's Waie home to Christ, printed in 1554 and 1556, was 'by the Quenes higlmes authorised to be sette furthe' to aid people in seeing that the universal church was the means of salvation, and heresy the means to perdition. 93 Angel, Mary's chaplain, presented his translation of patristic texts in support of Catholic belief such as prayer to the saints and for the dead, the sign of the cross, the sacraments of the eucharist and penance as 'very necessary for all curates', so that they could present their congregations confused by heresy with the 'medecyne of veri tie ' found in the fathers' writings, he told the Queen in his dedicatory epistle.94 Hogarde presented the second edition of The Displaying of the Protestantes to Mary in order to reveal heresy's mendacity and the Catholic church's veracity, in hopes of strengthening 'constant catholikes' and 'those that be wauering' in the faith; but in 1556 he saw no hope of convincing 'those whiche are peruerse in opinion'. 95 Hogarde expressed a similar intent in publishing his Assault of the Sacrament, also dedicated to the Queen: by revealing those who attacked Catholic doctrine about the eucharist, he demonstrated their own heretical divisions regarding the sacrament. 96 Rastell presented More's English works to Mary as an instrument in her 'most godly purpose': the 'purging' of 'all wicked heresies' in England, which would surely perish if God allowed the Queen to reign 89HogaTde, Mirrour ofloue, A2T; cf. HogaTde, How Christ was banished, A2T_3T. 9OChristopheTson, Exhortation agaynst rebellion, a2 T_S V , OITff. 9IRedman, Complaint of Grace, A3 V • 9lTunstall, Godly prayers, A2T-V ; Augustine, Certaine Sermons, A I v_2T, A3 T_S v . 93PToctOT, The waie home to Christ, tp. "Angel, Agrement of the fathers, tp, AIT_3 v. 9SHogarde, Displaying of the Protestantes, 3T_S T• 96HogaTde, Assault of the Sacrament, A2T.

MARIAN CATHOLIC TEXTS, THEIR AUTHORS AND DEDICATEES

45

longer, and the renewal of Catholicism and formation of the consciences and character of her subjects in Christian virtue. 97 This dedication also explains why only More's works 'of unimpeachable Catholic orthodoxy', and much of it polemical, appear in the collection. 98 Smyth, chaplain to Mary and Philip, also presented A bouclier of the catholike fayth to assist the Queen in the proclamation and defence of the Gospel truth, for Smyth believed it was his 'bounden duety to put my helping hand therunto'. 99 Martin dedicated his treatise attacking clerical marriage to Mary in token of his commitment to advance her desire for 'the reformation of the churche of Englande, and restoryng the catholike feith again to the same'. 100 Many Marian authors therefore saw themselves as aiding the revival of the Catholic religion that Mary had commenced, and of this view they wished to inform the Queen and their readers. 101 Marian writers made a few dedications to bishops. Standish dedicated his work on papal authority to Cardinal Pole, 'a chiefe and head pyller of Christes church' who was also instrumental in restoring papal primacy in England. Standish explicitly stated that he made this dedication so that his Triall of the supremacy would be more readily accepted and read, and so be of greater aid in renewing the church. 102 Pole's friend and fellow participant in the Council of Trent, Bishop Richard Pate of Worcester, because of his 'byshoplyke zeale', also received a dedication in the book of sermons by his chaplain, Leonard Pollard. Pate had been a student of Juan Luis Vives, and was Hemy VIII's ambassador to Charles V in 1540, but had fled into exile that year. He returned with Pole in 1554, rejected the Elizabethan Settlement; it is uncertain whether he died in the Tower in 1565, or in exile.103 Remarkably, Pollard echoed Pole's remark to Carranza - or vice versa that just as evangelicals had ruined the church through books, so Marian Catholics must build up the church with books and with at least equal passion. Like Standish, Pollard stated that his sermons were so dedicated in order that they would be 'better accepted, both by God and man' .104 Bullingham addressed his translations of Venaeus' Notable Oration and Tunstall's introduction to his De Veritate to 97More, Workes, C2 V • 9'See Hellinga and Trapp, eds., The Book in Britain III, 4-5; see also McConica, English Humanists, 272-77.

99Smyth, Bouclier of the catholikefayth, C5 v -C6r l~artin, The marriage of Priestes, 1t A4r. lOlThe only dedication to Philip II was Carranza's Catechismo; Gardiner, Responsio Venerabilium was also dedicated to him by Joliffe; see A2r. I02Standish, Triall of the supremacy, 83 r . lO3Emden, Biographical Register, 435; Fenlon, Heresy and Obedience, 149-60; cf. Carleton, 'Pates [Pate], Richard' ODNB 43,33-34; for the view that Pate died in the ToweT, see PhiIlips, Extinction of the Hierarchy, 199-200, 251-7 \. I04Pollard, Fyue homiles, A2T_3 T.

46

lHE lHEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TIJOOR'S CHURCH

Gardiner, as a sign of both his 'Ioue and good will' for the bishop and chancellor, and of better things to come from Bullingham's pen, if Gardiner so willed. He translated these two texts on the eucharist because the heresies regarding it were most pernicious; and also in hope that heretics might read it and regain the true faith. 105 Though Bonner had received a dedication from Peryn in his Thre sermons in 1546, his only dedication in the 1550s was Paynell's translation of St Ambrose's preparatory prayer for receiving communion. I06 Like most of Mary's dedications, all those addressed to bishops express the author's intent to combat heretical belief and restore Catholicism in England. Catholics of less prominence were also addressed. Marshall dedicated his verse history of the doctrine of the sacrifice of the mass to Richard Wharton, Esquire. He had adhered to Catholicism despite 'the blastes of Antichristes preachers' and so merited 'a crown incorruptible' . 107 Wharton was a faithful steward to the Duke of Norfolk - released from the Tower by Mary in 1553 - though he had been a onetime friend of Cromwell. Nor was he above enjoying the former monastic lands which he praised in his poem, though he would suffer under Elizabeth.I08 Peryn dedicated his Exercyses to those for whom the work was particularly intended: two nuns, Katherine Palmer and Dorothy Clement, although he stated that it would be 'very profytable ... for al other that desire to come to the perfecte loue of god' . 109 Peryn had likely met these women while in exile, for Palmer was the superior of the exiled Bridgettine nuns and monks of Syon; she led her austere community back to England in 1557, and would lead them back into exile in 1559. 110 Clement had entered the convent of the cloistered Poor Clares in Louvain and remained there for the rest of her life. She was one of the daughters of John Clement, More's friend, and Margaret Giggs, More' s adopted daughter.ll1 It is remarkable that Peryn dedicated a book of largely outward-focused spirituality of recent conception to strictly enclosed nuns. Such a dedication suggests the influence of Counter-Reformation spirituality then taking shape in Catholic Europe. One Marian text was addressed to someone of problematic faith. Paul Bush dedicated his treatise on the eucharist to his neighbour Margaret Burges, the wife of John Burges, clothier of Kingswood, Wiltshire, near Bristol. Having met Margaret at a dinner in Gloucestershire, Bush was impressed by 'the blynde ignorance, permyxte with arrogancye', that had moved her to accept one of the IO~Venaeus , Notable Oration, A2r-6 v. J()6See Williams, Index ofdedications, 20; Emden, Biographical Register, 438. 100Marshall, The First Sacrifice, A2r. I08Diarmaid MacCulloch, Suffolk and the Tudors, 66, 229-30; Loach, Parliament and Crown , 9. 1000eryn, Exercyses, 7t1 r, tp. II°Guilday, English Catholic Refugees on the Continent, 56-57 . IJISee Kirchberger in Peryn, Spiritual Exercises, xiv.

MARIAN CATHOLIC TEXTS, THEIR AUTHORS AND DEDICATEES

47

standard Protestant arguments against Christ's corporeal presence in the eucharist. To her mind Christ's corporeal nature could only be in heaven. Bush told her to forego her pride and 'Englyshe pamflettes' and believe what the universal church taught. John Burges, whom Bush described as 'my very louinge frend', had also held heretical views: he had been previously tried for 'mockyng and dispysynge the blessed masse'.112 Perhaps by such means Bush hoped to move 'weake and feble chrystyans' like the Burgeses to accept Catholic doctrine, as Proctor, Angel and Hogarde purposed with their works. 113 This pastoral intent, even for polemical texts, is far removed from Gardiner's strategy of addressing a work to evangelicals in the 1540s, which would be taken up by Elizabethan Catholics in the 1560s. 114 Marian writers chose their dedicatees for many reasons, such as to express gratitude to them for their labours, especially Mary Tudor. However most authors expressed a desire to aid the renewal of the Catholic church in England, and in their dedications stated the belief that their writings would serve this cause. It appears from the choice of highly-placed, well-regarded dedicatees, from the content of these works and the intentions expressed in the title-pages and dedicatory epistles, that they hoped to encourage the revival of Catholicism chiefly among intelligent lay and clerical readers of the middling sort; but the works of Bush, Marshall, Hogarde and the broadside ballads also point to a wider audience. Whoever the readers were, Marian authors concentrated on edifying those of solid faith and persuading the many of 'wauering' faith, who had been confused by the previous years of religious tumult. By the middle of Mary's reign they had seen how almost impossible it was to convert the minority of convinced Protestants, as Hogarde remarked in The displaying of the Protestantes. Gwynneth concurred. Only God's grace could heal them, but since they could not even know that they were heretics, they were the farthest from cure. liS Perhaps because of this growing polarization, the number of polemical works declined during Mary's reign, whereas books of catechesis and devotion increased.

The Marian strategy for religious printing Having considered these works, their genres, authors and to whom they were dedicated and for whom they were written, it appears to be the case that these authors created, intentionally or otherwise, a literary programme for religious 112Sush, Exhortation to Margarete Burges, A2 r-v, A6 v, C5 v; Stokes, ed., Records of Early English Drama: Somerset, 256-57 . I13S ush, Exhortation to Margarete Burges, A3 v. Il4l.e., see Gardiner, Declaration, 2r; Stapleton, A Forlresse of the Faith, 2r-4 v IIsGwynneth, Declaration, 2v_4v.

48

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

renewal in England. The Marian bishops were also very much involved in it. Besides the fact that many of these works were written by bishops and other leading members of the Marian hierarchy, Watson's Catholyke doctryne and Carranza's Catechismo were works commissioned by Pole's Legatine Synod, which also commanded the use of Bonner's Profitable doctryne and Homelies at least until the Catechismo was translated and the other collections of sermons produced. Other works advertised episcopal approval. Harpsfield's 1556 sermon on papal primacy and Glasier's Sermon made at Paules crosse had been printed at Bonner's command, and Pollard's sermons possessed his approval. 116 The Wayland Primer possessed Pole's approval. lI7 Such episcopal control of publications are all examples of the second decree of Pole's Synod, which stipulated that no religious work was to be printed without episcopal examination; a decree that also anticipated the tenth of the 'Rules concerning prohibited books' of the Council of Trent. 118 Indeed, the Synod's emphasis on the role of bishops in the church, especially regarding social discipline - including censorship - would also be echoed in the Trent's decisions.'19 Being so involved, the Marian bishops appear to have directed the print campaign for English Catholic renewal. 120 Mary authorized the Wayland Primer, but such examples of royal involvement in producing religious literature should not be seen as an exercise of the supreme headship. Cooperation between rulers and the church was nothing new - it was deemed necessary, and was most clearly seen in the attendance of envoys of rulers at general councils, as bishops represented the national churches. 121 Pole remarked to Carranza how closely he and Mary were working together. 122 Thus, besides the Wayland Primer, Mary and her Council seem to have encouraged the production of other books. Brooks' two editions of his Paul's Cross sermon on the English church's resuscitation were prefaced by the statement: 'set forth at the request of suche, whose aucthoritie coulde not well bee withst[oo]de'; Feckenham's Sermon for the exequies of lone of Spayne possessed similar wording on its title-page. 123 1I6See Harpsfield, Sermon vpon saint Andrewes daye, tp; Glasier, Sermon made at Paules crosse, tp; Pollard, Fyve homilies, tp . 117See Mayer, A Reluctant Author, 99,109-10; Cf. Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, 537-39. IISAnglican Canons, 78-79; cf. Canons and Decrees of Trent, 276-78. 119Decrees 3-10 and 12 of the twelve decrees of Pole's Synod dealt chiefly with episcopal duties; See Anglican Canons, 95-127,131-37; and Evennett, Spirit of the Counter-Reformation, 99-102. I20See also Walsham, ' "Domme Preachers"?', 78. I2ISee Jedin, Crisis and Closure of Trent, 17-18, 33-36. 122Pole, Correspondence 3, no. 2252; Pole, Epistolarum V, 71-2; 'quae quidem, nisi judicaret, meam praesentiam, dum res Ecclesiasticae melius constituantur, utiliorem hic esse Reipublicae, et praecipue ipsi Ecclesiae, quam ullo alio in loco, nec ipsa pro sua pietate animum inducere posset, ut me, apud se tandiu, retineret .. .'; 'hic'; i.e., at court, rather than in Canterbury. Mary and Pole seemed to have worked in tandem for the foundation of new religious communities; see Mayer, Pole, 283-86. '23Brooks, Sermon very notable, A I v; Feckenham, Sermon at the exequies oflone of Spayne, tp.

MARIAN CATHOLIC TEXTS, THEIR AUTHORS AND DEDICATEES

49

Watson's Twoo Sermons were preached before Mary and were printed with royal licence. 124 The works dedicated to her by her chaplains, Christopherson, Angel and Smyth, presumably also possessed royal approval. Hogarde wrote that his 1556 edition of The displaying of the Protestantes had been enlarged, produced and dedicated to Mary with the help of an anonymous friend. This friend must have had considerable influence; given their involvement in producing other texts; Bonner and Pole are possible candidates. 125 Mary and her Council also gave approval to works already printed. The Bodleian copy of Gardiner's 1551 Explication of the Sacrament has a note attached to the title-page stating 'And nowe aucthorised by the Queenes highnesse Counsaile.' 126 These authors also referred to each other's works. Brooks and the last of Bonner's Homelies recommended Gardiner's 1552 Confutatio, Smyth promoted Martin's work, The marriage of Priestes, and found an earlier reference to a story related by Angel about reverence for the Cross; Standish - once Archdeacon in the heartland of religious radicals - referred to Proctor's 1549 Fall of the Late Arrian. Watson and Harpsfield recommended the Vincentian canon, conveniently translated by Proctor in 1554 - and cost 'lesse then syxe pence', according to Watson - and reprinted in 1556. 127 They also referred to each other, outside of dedications and recommended reading: White, Martin and Standish to Gardiner, and Standish and Smyth to Pole. 128 These referrals are not surprising, since the leading Marian churchmen met in convocation during her frequent Parliaments, and there was no doctrinal polarization among them; English bishops had not been so united since the schism. It seems there was much cooperation among Marian authors, with episcopal and royal encouragement and interaction. They certainly had a common strategy with a pastoral edge: to present to faithful 'catholykes' and 'feble chrystyans' a coherent Catholic theology and spirituality, the elements of which shall now be considered.

124Watson, Twoo Sermons, tp, &7 r. 125See below, Chapter 4, p. 148. 1268 G. 82 Th. RSTC 11592. 127Brooks, Sermon very notable, F3 r-v, Bonner, Homelies, 72 v [recte 71 Vj_72 r; Smyth, Seconde parte of a bucklar, H4r, Bouclier of the catholike fayth, 79r [see Angel, Agrement of the fathers; 99r-v j; Standish, Whether scripture should be in English, D8 v ; Watson, Twoo Sermons, N4 r, Bonner, Homelies,3S v . 128White, Diacosio-Martyrion, 89 r_90v; Martin, The marriage of Priestes, F2r; Standish, Whether scripture should be in English, D7v; Smyth, Bouclier of the catholikefayth, CSr.

CHAPTER TWO

Marian Catholic Theology of Revelation and its Transmission Revelation

In order to understand Marian Catholic theology and spirituality, it is necessary to explore how these authors treated the subject of their texts: revelation, which they referred to as the Word of God. Paynell described the content of Tunstall's prayers to the Trinity, the saints and for the dead as 'the sincere and true word of God'.1 The Word of God disclosed the truths necessary for salvation via a panorama of sources. These included, according to Watson, the doctrine taught by Christ and the Evangelists, the witness offered in martyrs' deaths and the miracles of God and the saints, the explications of the fathers and the confirmation given by the authority of the universal church and the general councils. 2 Bonner described 'Gods word' as containing the Apostles' and other creeds, the scriptures, the writings of the fathers and tradition 'not so distinctly ... expressed in Scrypture', but 'the matter, the foundation and grounde' of which may be found in the Bible, and 'by ... wordes confyrrned by other sufficient aucthoritie' .3 Marian writers were responding to the Protestant notion of sola scriptura, in which all truths necessary for salvation were found in the literal interpretation of the Bible, contrasting with traditional beliefs rooted either in ecclesial tradition or the allegorical, moral or anagogical reading of scripture. Spirit-inspired scripture was also its own interpreter; its message was deemed self-evident, though it could be elucidated by patristic and reformed commentators. 'In other words', Euan Cameron remarks, 'the reformer arrived at his beliefs (through scripture) and then interpreted and translated scripture as it best conformed to those beliefs'. 4 Protestant and Catholic views on revelation diverged in that, for the latter, the Word of God was transmitted through the scriptures and church belief, and interpreted in the light of that belief by the consensus of fathers, councils and bishops through history.

ITunstall, Godly prayers, A2f 2Watson, Catholyke doctryne, 41 v. 3Bonnef, Profitable doctryne, C1 v _2f. 4Cameron, European Reformation, 141.

MARIAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY OF REVELATION AND ITS TRANSMISSION

51

The apprehension of revelation How did Christians accept revelation as demonstrated in the Word of God? To answer this question, it is necessary to evaluate the mode of accepting the Word of God: the act of faith, in contrast to the usual forms of receiving knowledge, deductive and inductive understanding, known to these writers as 'human reason'. Yet the contrast was not as sharp as these theologians make it appear in their response to Protestants. Marian authors were indebted to the nominalist Gabriel Biel, and ultimately to Augustine, in their belief that reason must seek to understand revelation, but within the context of faith given by God.

The roles of faith and reason In his Assault of the Sacrament, Miles Hogarde presented the Catholic doctrine of the eucharist in an extended tableau which illustrated the role of faith and reason in assenting to revelation as transmitted through scripture and tradition. The beautiful protagonist, 'Lady Faith', stands upon a three-cornered stone inscribed 'Christus', and reverently holds aloft the eucharist for all to adore. Faith is defended by scripture and tradition as represented by the four evangelists, St Paul and the doctors of the church who bear swords traced with the words, 'verbum dei', and who proclaim scripture in the literal sense, especially 'hoc est corpus meum'. 5 While Hogarde kneels in worship, the personification of reason stands in a comer, mocking Hogarde as idolatrous. Then Reason, bearing a standard emblazoned with 'how, how, how' - presumably in opposition to the 'holy, holy, holy' of the sanctus of the mass - calls others to attack the eucharist and Lady Faith. Hogarde and the band of holy men drive back five successive waves of heretics, from Berengar to Luther, who are armed with bows marked with 'incredulitie' and shafts 'feathered with scripture falsely underst[00]d,.6 Reason, however, leads the sixth and final assault to victory, which consists of an army of Edwardine bishops and clergy, wearing black armour with the sleeves of their wives bound to their helms, gathered under the banner of 'ignoraunce'. In their successful attack Cranmer is described as ripping out passages from patristic works, then chewing and spitting them at Lady Faith. By such means evangelicals defeat the biblical authors and doctors, and imprison bishops Gardiner, Bonner and Tunstall as well, who had come to Faith's succour; she and the eucharist are then veiled from sight. Only upon the appearance of Queen Mary, victorious in her coup d'etat, is Faith lHogarde, Assault of the Sacrament, C2 r -v , C4 r 6Ibid., C2 v -EJ r.

52

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

and the eucharist restored, by Mary pulling back the veil and kneeling in worship.? This image of the struggle between sublime faith and baneful reason over revelation is emblematic of the Marian theologians' vision of the conflict between Catholic and Protestant religion. Some might think that the insistence on the dominance of faith over reason by Marian writers made them more 'solifidian' than their adversaries, or even anti-intellectual. Marian authors did not deny the role of logical reasoning in their theological inquiries and the Christian life; rather they rejected Protestant accusations that they stressed faith over reason because they were unsure of the principles of their belief and did not dare inquire further. 8 To their minds, Christians must assent to the gift of faith before they could gain some understanding of the divine wisdom that gave purpose and order to revelation. Thus, the rhetoric of their stance on revelation appears to have been partly a polemical design to challenge the Protestant self-conception of being founded on faith alone, and to counter denunciations of Catholic belief as lacking scriptural and logical foundations. 9 Their advocacy of faith over reason reveals the Marian desire to reclaim this virtue from their religious enemies, who had rejected so much of Catholicism, not only on the grounds that many of its tenets were illogical, but also that its soteriology and ecclesiology denied the primacy of faith.

The assent of faith

Modem theologians describe faith as knowledge of and assent to divine truths given to adherents of revelation. Faith is the understanding and compliance with 'the reality' of these truths. 10 The foundation for this 'faith-knowledge' resides in the believer's experience of the trustworthiness of both the witness and of the faithknowledge. 11 Near the beginning of the Profitable doctryne, Bonner gave an excursus on the role of faith in the apprehension of divine truth that is close to this modem formulation, and in it he stated themes that would be repeated by his fellow authors. While he considered numerous forms of faith, he gave considered attention to the divine and gratuitously-given 'perswasion and beleif in the truths of God as revealed in creation, according to Paul's Letter to the Romans, and also in scripture and ecclesial tradition, both as interpreted and taught by the church. Intimations of the divine in the created world, combined with the Bible and Christian life and doctrine as experienced through history, formed the 'true and 'Ibid., E1 v_3 f . 8Crowley, Confutation ofHoggarde, E2f. 9See Pelikan, Reformation of Church and Dogma, 165-67. IOFiofenza and Galvin, Systematic Theology I, 104-5. IIIbid., 109.

MARIAN CATHOLIC THEOWGY OF REVELA nON AND ITS TRANSMISSION

53

perfecte doctryne apostolyke'. 12 Watson too stressed that revelation was not limited to scripture. In an allusion to the communion service of the 1552 Prayer Book, he gave an oblique rebuttal to its eucharistic doctrine by remarking that Christians 'be fedde spiritually in theyr soules by faith' by hearing the Word of God proclaimed at mass, whereas they were fed both spiritually and substantially in receiving the eucharist. 13 Paul Bush encouraged Margaret Burges to unite scriptural proofs of Christ's corporeal presence in the eucharist to her doubting senses with the 'chaine of stedfast fayth', and so receive the key to salvation. 14 In his sermon on faith, Pollard defined faith according to Hebrews 11 as confidence in unseen things: God, heaven, the soul and the devil. Faith, he emphasized, was the ground of all other forms of knowledge and the most essential, being the means of apprehending revelation. 15 Moreover, Christians must not passively receive revealed truths, but actively apprehend them. Faith, according to Bonner's interpretation of Hebrews, united with hope and the good works of charity, moved from knowledge of revelation to assimilation of it. 16 By engaging with revelation in an active, faith-filled response to its truths, Bush wrote, Christians cooperated with 'the heauenlye prouydence of God' so they would not be led astray. 17

The distrust of reason

In Hogarde's The excellencie of mannes nature, reason, or knowledge based on logical consideration of evidence, was rightly the ruler of the will and understanding, and distinguished humans from other creatures. 18 Yet Marian theologians appeared to deny reason a large role in the apprehension of revelation. In this they may have been swayed by humanist disdain for both the synthesis of faith and reason and the speculative nature of scholastic theology.19 It also seems likely that Marian authors were inheriting the 'shift of emphasis from the primacy of intellect (as this had been expounded by Aquinas) to the primacy of will (as this had been maintained by Augustine and Bonaventure)' in the theology of the latemedieval period. This shift resulted in a move from speculative theology to a method that gave emphasis to affective apprehension, although both often co12Bonner, Profitable doctryne, B1r-v. 13Watson, Catholyke doctryne, K5 r-v; see First and Second Prayer Books, 389. "Bush, Exhortation to Margarete Burges, A8 v_B8 v. ISPollard, Fyve homiles, C12 r-v; cf. A4v-BI v 16Bonner, Profitable doctryne, B I r-2 v. 17Bush, Exhortation to Margarete Burges, C4 r-v. 18Hogarde, The excellency ofmannes nature, A3 r, BI r. 19Rex, Theology of Fisher, 28; O'Malley, First Jesuits, 251-52; Tracy, Erasmus of the Low Countries, 55-56.

54

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

existed in the thought of the same theologian. 20 Faith cannot be based on evidence as such, otherwise it is not 'faith,.21 For Bush the works of God, especially in creating the world ex nihilo, and the deeds of Christ, especially in instituting the eucharist, could not be judged by reason, but only by faith informed by the Holy Spirit.22 In the Plaine Treatise concernynge the Masse, the raising of Lazarus was due to miraculous causes, not natural ones; God was not bound by the laws of nature. 23 Therefore reason remained insufficient to attain Christian truths, Bonner, Harpsfield and Edgeworth underlined.24 Since the object of faith was revelation, faith was more trustworthy than reason to early modem theologians, according to Heiko Oberman, for God was more worthy of trust than any human mode of investigation. 25 Such distrust of reason's ability to confirm revelation perhaps explains why Marian writers were ambivalent towards the complementary nature of faith and reason as iterated in scholasticism.26

Contrasting faith and reason Marian theologians underlined the dichotomy between faith and reason, as Hogarde had in the Assault of the Sacrament. Faith's virtue lay in Christians' clinging to God's Word without the props of intellectual- and sense-knowledge; the more they tested faith with curious reasoning, the less divine merit they received. 27 Alluding to II Corinthians 10.5, Tunstall explained that 'all ... vnderstandinge ought to be brought into captiuitie thoroughe fayth into the obedience of Christe'. 28 Christians must trust 'the infallible trueth' of scripture's literal sense, 'thoughe reason and sence saye nay ' .29 Edgeworth knew it was hard to forgo reason's desire for proof; thus God-given humility and child-like trust in God were needed. 'Modestye' was the key to grasping the truths of God's Word. 30 Yet the gap between faith and reason was not quite as great as these theologians declared. Besides challenging Protestant attempts to monopolize faith, and 2°Pelikan, Reformation of Church and Dogma, 62-63 . 2'Fiorenza and Galvin, Systematic Theology I, 109. 22Bush, Exhortation to Margarete Burges, B7v_8 r. 2lTreatise concernynge the Masse, E2r. 24Bonner, Profitable doctryne, BI v; Bonner, Homelies, 51 r-v [recte IS r-v); Edgeworth, Sermons very fruitfull, 290-1. 2'Oberman, Harvest of Medieval Theology, 71. 26See O'Malley, First Jesuits, 249. 27Trealise concernynge the Masse, F4 r-v ; cf. Oberman, Harvest ofMedieval Theology, 83. 28Yenaeus, Notable Oration, BSr. 29Treatise concernynge the Masse, E4r lOEdgeworth, Sermons very fruitfull, 290-91 .

MARIAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY OF REVELATION AND ITS TRANSMISSION

55

doubting - like good humanists - the value of scholasticism's speculative nature, they were maintaining the relationship between faith and reason inherited from late-medieval nominalism, which had come to deny reason a significant role in apprehending revelation in favour of religious experience. 31 For Marian theologians, revelation was in accord with divine wisdom. Although human understanding remained unable to investigate that wisdom, yet with divinely-given faith Christians could gain some understanding of it within some elements of revelation. Faith was not only based upon the reliability of God and divine revelation, Heiko Oberman observed, but upon 'probable considerations appealing to practical reason' which could illuminate the more obscure elements of revelation.32 Once in possession of faith, it was possible to receive a greater measure of understanding by using reason, in accord with Augustine's phrase, 'I believe so that 1 may understand', such that those more mysterious areas of revelation could also be accepted by the will. 33 For example, once Christians accept the wisdom of a doctrine, they may be able to consider the rationale for it. 34 Yet for these authors Protestants were grossly lacking in humility and therefore lacking in right belief.3s Natural reason was viewed as one of the chief supports of their doctrine, and Marian theologians uniformly accused them of engaging in what Jaroslav Pelikan has described as 'rationalistic hermeneutics' in their reading of scripture; contemporary Catholic theologians made the same charge against the reformers, especially on the question of Christ's corporeal presence in the eucharist. The reformers denied that they were bound by reason, but they also denied that revelation contained such notions as Catholic eucharistic doctrine. 36 To Hogarde however they were rationalists who contemptuously responded to Christ's love as revealed in Catholicism by denying it according to 'reason blinde'; only by faith and hope, John Venaeus stated, could Christians apprehend that love. 37 Protestant insistence on the proof of logical reasoning and the senses .revealed them as no better than Turks and other non-believers. 38 Such as these could not apprehend Christ mysteriously at work in the world, Pollard remarked, and so the possession of faith distinguished Christians from all others.39 Tunstall accused the adversaries of Marian Catholicism of waxing eloquent on faith's role in salvation but relying on reason, deeming it sufficient to understand revelation; )'Macek, Loyal Opposition, 116, 115. 320bennan, Harvest of Medieval Theology, 88. )3Macek, Loyal Opposition, 116. )40bennan, Harvest ofMedieval Theology, 82 . )SPolIard, Fyve homiles, D3 v_4r. )6Pelikan, Reformation of Church and Dogma, 194-95. )7Hogarde, Mirrour ofloue, C3 r; Venaeus, Notable Oration, Dl r-v. )8Treatise concernynge the Masse, F5 r . )9Pollard, Fyve homiles, B 1r-v

56

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

for both Tunstall and Hogarde heretics interpreted scripture according to reason, not faith, as it suited them. 40 And the consequences of such infidelity had brought divine punislunent on England through famine and influenza. 'God hath so plag[u]ed vs Englyshe men oflate', Pollard wrote, 'bycause we haue offended hym in leauynge of our catholyke and true fayth, and in steede therof haue embraced presumptuous reasonynge vpon his holy mysteries and faythlesse heresy,.41 Faith excelled reason, and Christians experienced faith's power and reason's frailty in the church's worship and teachings, especially in understanding the eucharist. 42 In their strategy of stressing faith in contrast to reason, Marian theologians were following the example of Erasmus. His 1525 letter to Conrad Pellikan, a translation of which was printed in 1554 as well as appearing in White's and Angel's compilations of sources, emphatically related that reason should not lead Christians from belief in Catholic doctrine and interpretation of scripture. For Erasmus, the beginning phrase of Genesis bore more weight 'then all the arguments and reasons of Aristotle and all the other Philosophers'. Furthermore, Erasmus viewed the reasoning of Protestants in their scriptural interpretation as flimsy: 'these wordes may be taken thus, therfore they must be taken thus'; but such paltry reasoning was the result of their rejection of Catholic interpretation of scripture as found in the fathers and the general councils. 43 For Erasmus and early modern Catholic theologians in England, therefore, the assent of faith was inextricably bound up with membership in the church; and not only in England. Hogarde quoted Juan Luis Vives as remarking that while his reason might be deceived at times, the church was not; therefore he had believed the latter, even if it was antithetical to 'most manifest reason,.44 The similarity of this remark to Ignatius Loyola's famous - or infamous - thirteenth of his 'Rules for thinking with the Church' is noteworthy: 'what seems to me white, I will believe black if the hierarchical church so defmes'. 4S As Marian writers underscored their claim to faith, so they strove to reclaim scripture and the fathers, and church authority to interpret them.

The transmission of revelation The very nature of revelation as the disclosure of divine truths only comes into existence when it is received in the act of faith; in other words, it must be 4Gyenaeus, Notable Oration, B4v-5 v ; cf. Hogarde, The exce/lencie of mannes nature, B 1v _2V. 4lPollard, Fyve homiles, II r. 42 Treatise

concernynge the Masse, D7 r -v, E 1r-v.

4lErasmus, Epistle vnto Pelicanus, A5 v, A6v . «Hogarde, Displaying of the Protestantes, 12v. 4SLoyola, Spiritual ExerCises, no. 365.

MARIAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY OF REVELATION AND ITS TRANSMISSION

57

communicated. This transmission of the Word of God, in its variety of forms, needs to be mediated in forms by which it can be apprehended. 46 Adherents of Catholicism stressed two modes of mediated revelation: scripture and tradition. But these two categories had become largely redefined in the twenty years of religious revolution in England. It is necessary to see how Marian theologians attempted to reclaim the older defmitions of scripture and tradition from 'the new learning', and if they themselves also reshaped those traditional definitions.

Scripture Scripture, the canon of Jewish and Christian texts held sacred by the church, possessed the chief place among the channels of revelation. Both Catholic and Protestant writers viewed the Bible as the chief source of Christian life and doctrine, and believed that every word it contained was written for the instruction of Christians. 47 The abundance and placement of biblical texts in Marian Catholic books, as with Protestant ones, was in reverence to 'the spiryte oftruthe', who was 'the author of al holye scrypture'. 48 While these two groups of opponents honoured the Word of God contained in sacred texts, their opinions on the interpretation of those texts diverged when the Bible was related to the church and its heritage.

The interpretation of scripture And to gamishe it godly, I saw on the wall, The four Euangelistes and the Apostels all. 49 Hogarde's description of the tower of perfection, the allegorical goal of his Pathe waye to perfection, as adorned with the compilers of the New Testament, gives an example of Marian Catholic veneration of the Bible. Marian theologians employed scripture not just for 'garnishe' to demonstrate their esteem for the written Word of God, however. Theologians were to interpret scripture to defend Catholicism and elucidate church tradition. But such interpretation and clarification, as well as translation, always took place under the auspices of ecc1esial authority. Lucy Wooding contrasts Marian theologians of the 1550s with Catholic theologians of the 1560s and 1570s in that the latter held that '[t]he church, rather 46Fiorenza and Galvin, Systematic Theology 1,116-17. "Crowley, Con/utation of Hoggarde, A3 v . "Bonner, Profitable doctryne, H4 r 49Hogarde, Pathe waye to perfection, E3 r .

58

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

than scripture was "the pill our and sure stay of truth",' but this seems to be a false dichotomy. 50 Ironically, this phrase that the church is the pillar and foundation of truth is itself a quotation from scripture: I Timothy 3.15 . Marian theologians such as Bonner, Harpsfield, Watson, Tunstall, Hogarde, Brooks, Standish, Proctor, Pendleton, Gwynneth, the author of A treatise concernynge the Masse, Churchson and Carranza cited the text with relish. 51 Moreover, like the Catholic writers of Elizabeth's reign, they believed in the church's authority to interpret the Bible, lest people be 'ledde and caried with euery waue, and winde ofnewe learninge, .52 Christ had given the church authority to interpret the Bible, for he had promised the continual presence of the Holy Spirit to govern the church's worship and doctrine for all ages. 53 This stance was advocated by Fisher and More, and taken up by Marian theologians. 54 For the true understanding of Christian doctrine contained in the Bible, and the uprooting of false doctrine, ecclesial authority, guided by the Spirit, was necessary. 55 Standish cited three proofs that 'th[e] autoritye of the churche is aboue the auctoritie of scripture': the existence of truths essential for salvation not contained in scripture, the biblical canon was determined by the church, and the church is the ultimate judge of the meaning of biblical texts in 'matters of controuersie'. 56 His peers repeated the same proofs. Harpsfield declared 'that scrypture must be vnderst[ oo]d after the generall meanynge of Chrystes churche,.57 He and his peers held that the church, which had determined the canon of scripture in accordance with the Holy Spirit, was given the task of interpreting that canon: again guided by the Spirit, and in accord with the church's life and doctrine throughout history. Thus it was only 'by the exercise and labour of catholike clerkes' that 'hard' passages 'be made very soft' and so rendered intelligible to the church at large, Edgeworth stated. Indeed, only the pure of heart could produce faithful interpretations of some of the greatest biblical truths, which 'lyeth so priuely hid like a heauenly treasure,.58 But Thomas Martin gave the final SOWooding, Rethinking Catholicism, 243 . slBonneT, Profitable doctryne, ZI T; BonneT, Homelies, IS v, 32 T, 67v; Watson, Catholyke doctryne, 41 v, 47T, and Twoo Sermons, BST; Tunstall, De Veritate, 47 T, II7 T, and in Venaeus, Notable Oration, B2T; HogaTde, Displaying of the Protestantes, 12 v, I3 T; BTooks, Sermon very notable, BST; Standish, Whether scripture should be in English, AS T, 1ST; ProctOT, The waie home to Christ, AvT; Gwynneth, Dec/aration,40 v ; Treatise concernynge the Masse, CIT; ChuTchson, What the churche is, AS v, D6 T, I7T; Carranza, Catechismo I, 390; cf. Smyth, Defense, 7\ Confutation, I3 v. s2BonneT, Homelies, 32 r S3Ibid., 37T_SV. s4MoTe, Response to Luther, 2, 21, cited in Pelikan, Reformation of Church and Dogma, 264; Rex, Theology of Fisher, 107-9. SSHogaTde, Displaying of the Protestantes, I3 T-V. s6Standish, Whether scripture should be in English , G4T_Sr s7BonneT, Homelies, 19T. S8EdgewoTth, Sermons very fruitfull, 141, 19 J.

MARIAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY OF REVELATION AND ITS TRANSMISSION

59

judgement on the interpretation of scripture not so much to 'catholike clerkes' but to the bishops, who were heirs to the apostles. Guided by the Holy Spirit, the bishops, especially the bishops of Rome, determined Christian doctrine, 'the scriptures being witnesses, thei being iudges'. For Martin, 'the holye ghoste dwelleth not in the dead letter [of the Bible, uninterpreted], but in the liuelye bodie oflesus Christe, whiche is the Churche that he gouemeth,.59 The written Word of God was lifeless without ecclesial interpretation, and could be transformed by heretics into an easy weapon against the truth. 60 'The dead letter' could only be enlivened by the church's reading of it, especially in the context of ecumenical councils. 61 The Holy Spirit, according to the writings against Luther by Henry VIII '(GOD pardone his Soule), before his break with Rome, assured both the truth of scripture and the church's interpretation of it. 62 For such reasons scripture could not be used as the final arbiter of orthodoxy. Standish flatly declared that 'when ye heare any scripture alleged (Sayeth Origen vpon Mathue) contrary to that which the vniuersal church obserueth beleue them not,.63 Alluding to a passage from Augustine, 'I would not believe the gospel, unless the authority of the church compelled me to do so', Standish, as well as Pendleton, Brooks, Pollard, Angel, Erasmus, More and medieval theologians stated that the gospel, whether contained in scripture or tradition, received their authority and authoritative interpretation from the church. 64 Lucy Wooding is quite incorrect in her belief that '[t]he authority derived from this universal church remained, however, an extension of scriptural authority. In no sense was it seen as a separate authority, maintained by the church hierarchy, and itself having authority over scripture, which was to be the later Catholic view' .65 The church and the modes of transmitting revelation - scripture and tradition - were indeed seen as inseparable, and the church was itself judged by the contents of revelation - the good news of Jesus Christ. In no way was ecclesial authority seen as an extension of scriptural authority; the prerogatives of church, Bible and tradition all originated in the supremacy of revelation. The church, directed by the Spirit, possessed the mission and authority to interpret the means of conveying revelation; thus, revelation could 59Martin, The marriage of Priestes, D3 r -4 v , FI r-v ~atson, Twoo Sermons, B7r-v. 6IMartin, The marriage of Priestes, D3 r 62Brooks, Sermon very notable, B5 r -v . 63Standish, Triall of the supremacy, R2r. 64 Augustine, Contra epistolam Manichaei, I, 5, in Writings, Stothert, trans. Bonner, Homelies, 36r [recte 39 r); Tunstall, De Veri/ate, 119r ; Standish, Triall of the supremacy, R2v_3 r, and Whether scripture should be in English, I5 v ; Angel, Agrement of the fathers, A4 r , 44 v ,IOI v; Brooks, Sermon very notable, B4r; Pollard, Fyve homiles, E3 v ; Erasmus, Epistle vnto Pelican us, A5 r; for medieval theologians on this text see Cameron, European Reformation, 89. 65Wooding, Rethinking Catholicism, 124.

60

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

only be properly understood within the context of the church. 66 For Marian theologians the ecclesial context was inherent to scriptural interpretation, and their stance contrasted sharply with the Protestant approach to biblical study.67 In their insistence on ecclesial authority in expounding upon the Bible, Marian authors were responding to Protestants' reliance on the concept of sola scriptura, which had corroded the Catholic appeal to the authority of the church. 68 Protestant theologians had given the written Word of God priority not only over tradition, but over the church itself. To the minds of Marian writers, the Christian community that had determined and interpreted the canonical scriptures, now found itself judged by the dead letter of scripture, devoid of the life-giving Spirit that the church possessed and the delineation these texts needed. Therefore the Bible could be not only lifeless but deadly, when Protestants twisted texts to their own heretical and lascivious ends, while claiming to accede to their manifest meaning, according to Tunstall. 69 Harpsfield equated biblical interpretation outside the church's authority with 'priuate interpretation' by which heretics lost the 'catholyke meanyng' of the sacred texts; and so, according to Bonner, their 'owne iudgemente and fantasye' replaced the understanding of the universal church. 70 Watson wrote that these 'maysters of the new learninge' who denied the Catholic reading of scripture were necessarily disputing with the authors of the New Testament, since Catholic theologians had been faithful to their intended meaning since the foundation of the church.71 Heretical preachers were persons of questionable intelligence and virtue, and those who heeded them missed the intended meaning of the Bible, as construed by learned and saintly theologians throughout the church's history.72 While Protestants believed that they proclaimed and taught nothing but scripture, 'whiche can not deceiue vs', they instead used the Bible as a 'cloake' which was 'lined with lyes and false interpretacion,.73 By contrast, Marian theologians underlined several points in the reading of scripture. In the humanist mode, Standish recommended considering the circumstances in which the books of the Bible were written, as well as comparing scriptural passages to each other and to the opinions of the fathers. All these activities needed to be accompanied by long study, prayer and the grace of

""See Congar, Tradition and Traditions, 117, 67Blench, Preaching in England, 49-S2. 68See Wilson in Edgeworth, Sermons very fruitfull, 48-49; for a discussion of the notion of 'scripture alone' see Cameron, European Reformation, 137-44. 69yenaeus, Notable Oration, Blr_2v. 7ClBonner, Homelies, 19v; Bonner, Profitable doctryne, Hh3 v_4r, 7'Watson, Twoo Sermons, FSv, 04T• 72Treatise concernynge the Masse, AS r -v , 73Hogarde, Displaying of the Protestantes, l3 r, 3S v,

MARIAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY OF REVELATION AND ITS TRANSMISSION

61

humility.74 Scholars required humility in order to comprehend the 'right' or 'true sense' of scripture: the way in which the church delineated doctrine and challenged Christians to live holier lives. Books such at the Imitation of Christ were extolled as teaching true Christian life and doctrine 'accordyng to the right sense of holy scripture, and the doctryne of S. Paule' in contrast to heretical books by which readers had 'fallen so so[o]ne' from that 'ryght sense,.75 This right sense of the written Word of God for Marian theologians also generally meant the literal interpretation of the Bible. 76 Blench thought that Marian homilists had hardly fulfilled what they claimed, however, and largely returned to a form of the allegorical method. However, it is important to remember that typology, especially in interpreting the Old Testament as pointing to the new, was also a Protestant exegetical tool. 77 Certainly typology played a large role in Marian treatment of scripture, but it is inaccurate to say that 'literal interpretation does not pre-dominate,.78 Blench did not cite, for example, Bonner's important Homelies, Watson's Catholyke doctryne or John Feckenham's three sermons, where there are few allegorical expositions. Moreover, Marian homilists were emphatically literalist in treating one of the most important texts to Catholicism. Again and again they remarked that Christ's words of institution of the eucharist appeared without further elucidation, unlike the explanations offered in Christ's parables, images and metaphors found in John's Gospel. Therefore, 'this is my body' was to be understood as literally true and not figuratively, as non-Lutheran Protestants insisted. 79 The need for priestly absolving of sins and to do penance or make satisfaction for sin was based on literal reading of the Parable of the last Judgement in Matthew 25 and Christ's commission to the Apostles in Matthew 16 and John 20. 80 Literal understandings of Mark 6 and James 5 were foundational for the necessity of Extreme Unction. 81 Although there were exceptions, they held that the Bible should, in general, be interpreted literally, and the allegorical, moral and anagogical senses of scripture, employed by theologians in the Middle Ages, should be eschewed; in this perspective they concurred with humanist opinion. Bonner's Homelies cited Gardiner as an exponent of this view. 82 Even in stressing literal interpretation the impact of medieval scholasticism may be discerned, for Aquinas had given primacy to the literal sense in biblical exegesis. And while 7'Standish, Whether scripture should be in English, E5 r_6r. 75A Kempis, Folowing of Chryste, A2 v.

76Treatise concernynge the Masse, F3 v . 77See Cameron, European Reformation, 140-41. 7881ench, Preaching in England. 52. 79Treatise concernynge the Masse, 83 r -v , F3 v . 8°8onner, Profitable doctryne. R1 r-v; Watson, Catholyke doctryne, 156r-v . 818onner, Profitable doctryne. Ddr-v ; Watson, Catholyke doctryne, 186r -v . 828onner, Homelies, 72 v [recte 71 v j_2 r.

62

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

Janet Wilson has noted Edgeworth's use of the different senses of scripture as well as more humanistic methods, she also held that his 'diversity of approach is certainly rare in Catholic homilies of the period'. 83

Scripture in translation In their works, Marian churchmen translated considerable amounts of the Vulgate into English. They also produced biblical translations in the primers, and more importantly legislated for a new translation of the New Testament at Pole's Legatine Synod.84 Most Marian theologians appear to have produced their own translations of scripture in their works. 85 The biblical texts found in the sermons of Edgeworth and others witness to the evolution of a heritage 'of Bible translation and the formation of a diction which by the time of Queen Mary had come to be associated with the beliefs' of English Catholics. According to Wilson, this legacy 'includes the principles of translation which were fully expressed in the Catholic Bible of early modem England, the Douai-Rheirns version of 1581 and 1609,.86 In their translations of biblical texts, Marian theologians not only adhered to a key humanist principle, they also responded to Protestant accusations of propounding obfuscatory theology by presenting their sources in English for all to read or hear, and especially to counter Protestant translations. 87 Early modem Catholic theologians in Europe had noted how '[t]he very translation of the Bible had provided opportunities for ... distortions' .88 Marian theologians also used More's arguments against the biblical translation and interpretation of heretics in his Dialogue Concerning Heresies. 89 To Harpsfield, Protestants had been able to 'peruert' the church's interpretation of scripture with 'newe fangled termes' .90 Protestants were guilty of such 'vngodly translations' that even the Lollards would not have dared to produce, according to Bonner.91 So the biblical translations of their opponents confirmed some Marian authors in the belief that English Bibles had resulted in 'disobedience, fleshely libertie, losse of deuotion, swarmes of errours, and heresies'. Standish's work, Whether scripture should be in English, perhaps points to the Marian ambivalence about vernacular scripture: it was the 83See Wilson in Edgeworth, Sermons very fruitfull, 419, 51-52, 236. 8'See Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, 530. 8Sl.e., see Bridgett in Watson, Sermons on the Sacraments, xiv. USee Wilson in Edgeworth, Sermons very fruitfull, 70 . 87Rex, 'The role of English Humanists', 23. 88Pelikan, Reformation of Church and Dogma, 266. 89See Daniell, William Tyndale,267-69. 9OBonner, Homelies, 19v. 9lBonner, Profitable doctryne, Hh3 r

MARIAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY OF REVELATION AND ITS TRANSMISSION

63

only work to condenm the Bible in English, but it was printed twice in Mary's reign. There had been translations before Wycliffe, Standish wrote, when the English had been faithful Christians; but many of his contemporaries treated the scripture like ' a Canterburye tale, .92 He blamed the English Bible especially for bringing many to doubt Christ's corporeal presence in the eucharist. In this regard it was a soul-killer and Standish prayed 'let it kyll no moo[re]'.93 Like Carranza, Standish advocated caution if the Bible were to be made available, especially as to which books could be read by the devout. Matthew, but not John, Acts, but not the Apocalypse, and Colossians, but not Romans could be given to people, as a parent would give one child a knife in order to eat, and take the knife away from another for safety's sake. 94 Carranza, however, who employed scripture 'incessantly' in the Catechismo - this was one of its distinctive features - remained more positive, and held that there was much in vernacular scripture that would be helpful in people's growth in Christian life and doctrine. 95 Yet while his Marian colleagues usually gave an English translation of the Vulgate text that they cited regarding a particular issue, and sometimes just the translation, Carranza often gave scriptural paraphrases in his Catechismo, not scripture itself, such as the infancy narrative in Luke, and the resurrection accounts in the gospels. 96 Despite extolling scripture for the laity, Carranza was in some ways more cautious than his English peers. A chief reason Standish gave for the reluctance to make translations available was the obscurity or contradictory nature of many biblical texts in translation and interpretation. The fathers had held that wisdom resided in every word of scripture, but many of these words were 'darke sayinges'. Standish wryly quoted Erasmus, the great proponent of vernacular scripture, as stating that even he found that God's 'pleasure was to bee harde, and not vnderst[oo]de' in Matthew's gospel. Some difficult texts included Jesus' statement that he was leaving his peace to his disciples, but also that he came not to bring peace but the sword, and the multiple versions of Paul's conversion. 97 Even Carranza noted that those texts that were most helpful to the Christian were often mixed with obscure passages. 98 Besides countering the influence of heretical translations, Marian theologians also had to deal with the obscurity of the written mode of transmitting revelation. 92Standish, Whether scripture should be in English, A2 r , A7r-v. 93Ibid., D8 r , E4v. 94lbid., A5 V ; cr. Carranza, Catechismo I, 113-14. 9SSee TeJlechea in Carranza, Catechismo I, 88; 'Esta utiliza incesantemente la Biblia' . Carranza, Catechismo I, 113-14; 'De aqui vengo a decir que, si hay en la Escritura algunas partes sin esta mezcla, las cuales solamente contengan consejos, y preceptos, y amonestaciones y ejemplos para bien vivir, que las deben leer todos, hombres y mujeres.' 96Ibid., 205-11, 268-82. 91Standish, Whether scripture should be in English, B4 r _C4 r, C7v_8 r 98Carranza, Catechismo I, 112, 114.

64

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

To the minds of Marian churchmen, Protestants had removed scripture from the ecclesial context, and so the dead letter of scripture, when translated and interpreted by heretics, had become deadly to souls. In response, Marian authors reiterated the authority of the church to judge the orthodoxy of interpretation and translation, in accord with the Catholic understanding of scripture. 99 This unambiguous stance on the part of Marian theologians coincides with the 1546 Tridentine decree on the use of sacred texts, which stipulated that no explication of the Bible must contradict the church's exposition, 'to whom it belongs to judge of their true sense and interpretation'. 100 These theologians were at pains to emphasize the inseparability of church and written Word of God: the latter always had to be pondered and preached in the context of the Spirit-ruled church.

Tradition For Marian authors, tradition was the Word of God not contained in scripture: the living faith of dead Christians, which originated in the teachings of the apostles. Having been preserved by their successors, the bishops, and expounded upon by the fathers, this mode of revelation had been believed by devout and saintly Christians for over 1500 years. Marian authors defended ecclesial tradition, as had those writing before 1553. Smyth had produced A treatyse settynge forth truthes left to the church by the apostles tradition in 1547, and the anonymous Of Vnwryten verytyes of the following year has been attributed to him. In his 1521 sermon, reprinted twice in Mary's reign, Fisher had believed that Luther and other Protestants were creating an artificial division among the doctrines of the church: between the truths found in scripture, and those found in the church's heritage of learning and worship.101 Rather, tradition complemented biblical revelation. For these authors, such as Gardiner, scripture needed to be interpreted in comparison to tradition - as Fisher had advocated. 102 In the Profitable doctryne, Bonner explained that all the wordes and sayinges of God (whyche be reueled and opened in the scrypture) are of the mooste certayne trueth and infallible veritie. And not that these thinges onely are to be credited and assented vnto, but also that all thinges els (whyche were taught by the Apostles, and ~Iench, Preaching in England, 49-S2.

IOOCanons and Decrees of Trent, 18-19. IOIFisher, Sermon very notable, E2v_3 r ; See Rex, Theology of Fisher, 99. I02Gardiner, Responsio Venerabilium, 114v_Sr [regarding invocation of the saints] Quapropter vt finiam, cum tot Patrum in veteri ecclesia exemplis (quorum in responsione quaedam citantur) Ecclesiastica regula et doctrina, vsa tam longo confirmata, et ab ipso scripturae sensu deducta, Sanctorum inuocatio probata sit' ; see Rex, Theology of Fisher, 109.

MARIAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY OF REVELATION AND ITS TRANSMISSION

65

whyche haue bene by a whole vniuersall consent of the Churche of Christe, euer sythe that tyme contynually taught, and taken alwayes for true) ought to be receaued, accepted taken and kepte, as a true and perfecte doctryne apostolyke.103 Moreover, the content of tradition, like scripture, was determined by the church, which possessed the authority to use the former to interpret the latter. Besides the biblical canon, Marian theologians defended and drew upon the elements of tradition: the unwritten practices, forms of worship and spirituality believed to have been held by Christians since foundation of the church at Pentecost, the writings of fathers, the decrees of ecumenical councils, and miracles performed by saints. While Protestants believed that the only truths necessary for salvation resided in scripture, advocates of Catholicism accepted that 'beside the scripture written we must receyue many traditions not written: many generall councels in whom the holy ghost did speake: and sundrie interpretations vppon scriptures made by the holy fathers replenished wyth Gods spirite'. 104

'Vnwryten verytyes' Marian authors were vehement in defending the traditions that they believed the church to have adhered to since its beginning, many of which had not been recorded until many years after the deaths of the apostles. Bonner iterated this point in the introduction to the Apostles' Creed in the Profitable doctryne. Not only were those doctrines essential for salvation contained in the Bible, but also by expresse wordes confyrmed by other sufficient authoritie. And seynge the Catholyke Church hath soo receyued, beleued, allowed and approued, the sayd thinges, time out of mynd, therefore it shalbe a very great presumption and an vncomely part, [for] any man to ... contempne any such thinges so receiued .... 105 Despite their devotion to truths not found in scripture, Marian authors such as Martin looked to written sources to confirm the trustworthiness of unwritten verities. Scriptural proofs included John 21.25, in which Christ 'spake and didde manye thinges that be not penned of the Euangelistes,.I06 In his reprinted 1521 sermon, Fisher had cited II Thessalonians 2.15, which stated that Christians were I03Bonner, Profitable doctryne, BI v. I04Standish, Whether scripture should be in English, Ur-v. losBonner, Profitable doctryne, C2 r. I06Martin, The marriage of Priestes, B2r.

66

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

to hold firm to the traditions taught by Paul and his fellow missionaries, by spoken word or by writing. 'Here ye may see by the expresse scripture of S. Paule', Fisher proclaimed, 'that we be bounde to beleue manye mo[r]e thynges, th[a]n bee written and put in the Byble'. He traced the origins of adherence to truths not in scripture to the prophets of the Old Testament who had spoken the Word of God not recorded in scripture but which had been later collected in the Jewish Cabala. 107 Of Marian writers, however, only Standish followed Fisher in citing this source. 108 The fathers confirmed the sacred texts cited above. Regarding 'the churches vnwritten traditions', Martin remarked that Christians 'ought with like faith to credit as the Scriptures written, sayeth Chrisostome,.109 According to Basil the Great, 'manye mysteries be receyued in the Churche of Christ, which neuer were written', Standish remarked. 110 Harpsfield stated that Irenaeus held that even if there were no writings of the apostles on some matter of belief, then Christians should trust the tradition they had handed down to their successors. 111 Martin also quoted Origen and Basil to demonstrate that the fathers taught truths not explicitly in scripture, such as the doctrine of the Trinity. The church had believed many things before the writing of the New Testament, he stated; why could it not after its composition? 112 Therefore the church and its universal agreement on a given doctrine or practice remained 'the pillar of truth'; though in need of reform of individuals and elements of some practices, Christ's church was and forever would be inherently sound, due to Christ's promises of fidelity to his community, as interpreted from Matthew 28.20. Christ's Spirit presided over and resided in the church, Carranza wrote; all that the church possessed it received from Jesus at the hands of the apostles, 'partly by writing and partly by tradition', under the guidance of the Spirit. JJ3

The fathers of the church Like Fisher, the main sources of tradition cited by Marian theologians were the fathers of the church. 114 In fact their theology could be described as largely I07Fisher, Sermon very notable, DS v_6 v, DSr-v. '08Rex, Theology of Fisher, 60; Standish, Whether scripture should be in English, F3 v. '09Martin, The marriage of Priestes, B4 r-v "OStandish, Whether scripture should be in English, C6r. IIIBonner, Homelies, 19v_20r 112Martin, The marriage of Priestes, B2 r-4 v. 113Carranza, Catechismo J, 384; 'Todo 10 que agora tenemos en la Iglesia 10 habemos recebido de Cristo manos de los Ap6stoles, parte por escrito y parte por tradici6n, que son muchas cosas que han venido de mano en mano y de padres a hijos yasi iran hasta la fin del mundo.· 114Rex, Theology of Fisher, 100.

MARIAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY OF REVELATION AND ITS TRANSMISSION

67

patristic in its inception and stances. The origins of this esteem for patristic works can be found in the later Middle Ages, when many theologians had even described them as part of scripture: these works were the 'continuation' of scripture, for the fathers had interpreted the Bible in accord with the Spirit ruling the church. lIS The fathers were the learned and holy bishops and theologians of the early church, whose writings both Catholics and Protestants studied with great zeal. The reason for such enthusiasm for the opinions of the men - and a very few women who lived from the apostolic period to the advent of scholasticism was not just for the love of humanist learning, but to [md support for the antiquity of their doctrinal positions.'1 6 And as at Trent, patristic writings were also seen as the best form of expressing the unity of ecc1esial doctrine. 117 Brooks held that the 'thei nothing varied, but constauntlye syngeth all one note'. 1\8 Marian theologians produced a panorama of authorities to corroborate Catholic eucharistic doctrine and devotion. "9 The patristic authors, because of the great wisdom and holiness attributed to them, and especially because of their proximity in time to Christ and the apostles, were seen as witrlesses to the veracity, antiquity and uniformity of the doctrines of early modem Catholicism. For the author of A Treatise concernynge the Masse, the endurance of martyrs and the constancy of confessors testified to the truth of the church's teaching. He and other theologians were confident that their church and the church of the fathers were the same, and so was the doctrine found in their works and in the practice of the Marian church. Therefore most of the fathers they cited lived in the first four-hundred years of Christianity. Gregory the Great, Bede and Bernard were among very few exceptions. The anonymous author of a Treatise concernynge the Masse discussed this chief reason for the honour given to these men: [n]owe forasmuche as the holy wryters what are dead and gone many yeares passed, can now not be iustly suspected to fauour specyally any part sauing the only sync ere truthe, they ought therfore of reason to be taken and credited, as to geue most wayghty, euidente and true testymonye in the matters of oure fayth, specially as God hath declared, and set forthe by many miracles, bothe in theyr lyfe and after their deathe to haue ben hys faythfull electe and true seruauntes in theyr holy lyfe and conuersacyon. 120

Il5CongaT, Tradition and Traditions, 157; cf. Ball, 'Opponents of Bishop Pecok', 243-62. Il6Parish, Clerical Marriage and the Reformation, 69. 117Pelikan, Reformation of Church and Dogma, 28 \. Il8Brooks, Sermon very notable, E7T-F8 T; cf. Bush, Exhortation to Margarete Burges, A8 T-v; Treatise concernynge the Masse, D6T- v. Il9l.e., BonneT on the euchaTist; Profitable doctryne, T2Tff. 12°Treatise concernynge the Masse, G2 T_3 T, C2v_3 r

68

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

The fathers corroborated the necessity of unwritten traditions, and the very trustworthiness of Marian Catholicism. 121 In demonstrating their own uniformity with patristic teaching, these authors also intended to demonstrate Protestantism's novelty.122 Therefore Angel's Agrement of the fathers, Smyth's two-volume Bouclier of the catholike fayth and White's Diacosio-Martyrion were largely collections of patristic proof texts. The array of patristic sources in Watson's Twoo Sermons was itself proof that 'oure bokes be full of suche like aucthorities'. 123 Marian authors, however, intended that citing the fathers would not be merely proof-texting. Watson believed that patristic writings had been twisted by heretics to confuse people; therefore Marian scholars needed to demonstrate that the opinions they propounded were held by a number of fathers. Readers of ancient texts must also consider the writer, his intent and the circumstances in which a work was written. Yet all this study of the fathers was no guarantee that the conclusions of Marian theologians would be accepted as true, Watson believed, for no age had searched patristic texts as had the sixteenth century. 124 The sources they cited represent a fascinating array of material from previous centuries. Marian writers most frequently referred to Augustine, Chrysostom, Cyprian, Jerome and Cyril of Alexandria. But the doctors of the church whom they cited included Anselm and Hugh of St Victor, as well as Bernard and Bede. White was the only Marian author to emulate Fisher in including women among his references, perhaps in rebuke to the activity of female radicals like Joan Bocher: the twelfth- and thirteenth-century German mystics, Saints Hildegard of Bingen, Elizabeth of SchOnau and Mechtild of Hackeborn. 125 Their eucharistic visions of Christ's corporeal presence and transubstantiation illustrated Christ's refusal to reject women, especially those renowned for sanctity, as well as supported the tenets of Catholicism. 126 Yet unlike many Protestants, these writers did not question the antiquity of the works of Pseudo-Dionysius and Pseudo-Cyprian's extremely popular De Cena Domini, which Watson translated into English as spiritual reading for the laity, probably during his confinement under Elizabeth. 127 Watson also based a highly problematic doctrinal stance regarding Confirmation on a work falsely attributed to Augustine. 128 In filling their works with authorities both authentic and spurious, some Marian theologians reveal a lack of critical 121 Angel, Agrement of the fathers, A3 v-4r. 122Parish, Clerical Marriage and the Reformation, 69-70. 123Watson, Twoo Sermons, B3 v. 1241bid., CI v_2r, HI v. 12SFor Bocher, see MacCulloch, Cranmer, 424, 474-78. 126White, Diacosio-Martyrion, 61 r_2v; for Fisher's use, see Chapter 5, pp. 165-66. 127Watson, 'Unpublished Translation by Watson', 419-50. 128See Chapter 5, pp. 189-91.

MARIAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY OF REVELATION AND ITS TRANSMISSION

69

analysis which weakened their emphasis on tradition. Besides reverence for the ancient doctors, Marian authors also seemed to make Bede an honorary father of the church. His Ecclesiastical History was viewed as a most trustworthy account of the primitive church in England. For writers like Brooks, Christopherson, Hogarde, Marshall, Martin and Smyth, Bede's works were a gold mine of proof texts for the unity of Christian life and doctrine in England for the one-thousand years of its existence. 129 For them, Bede demonstrated the link between the church of King St Ethelbert of Kent and that of Mary Tudor. 130 By such means Marian writers claimed that the faith of early modem Catholicism was that of the primitive church. 131 Christopherson understood Bede and the other doctors as successors of the apostles and 'the authors' of Catholicism, and he contrasted them with Wycliffe, Hus, Luther, Zwingli, Bucer and Calvin, the founders of a heresy barely two centuries 01d. 132 For Marian theologians the novelty and lack of harmony of Protestant authors' opinions only brought the antiquity, universality and consensus of the fathers into greater prominence, as well as the continuity of Catholicism with their views.

General councils

Along with their medieval predecessors and Protestant adversaries, Marian writers gave the ecumenical councils particular emphasis in buttressing their defence of Catholicism. For these authors, the councils historically had been one of the main forms of interpreting revelation, since the participants represented 'the hole bodie of Christendome', and, moreover, 'the cheife and most learned' of that 'bodie': bishops, representatives of Christian rulers, abbots, heads of religious orders and theologians, many of whom were saints and doctors of the church. \33 Martin verged on equating councils with the church, since if either of them erred, then Christ was shown to be a liar, for he had promised to keep his church in the truth. 134 In this statement Martin expressed the common opinion that ecumenical councils could not err in their doctrinal decisions. In the 1554 translation of his '29Christophefson, Exhortation agaynst rebellion, X7 f _Y2 v 13°BfOOks, Sermon very notable, GS f ; Christophefson, Exhortation agaynst rebellion, X7 f , y)v_2v; Hogafde, Displaying of the Protestantes; 9)v_2f; Marshall, The firste Sacrifice, C)f_2f; Martin, The marriage of Priestes, S2 v ; Smyth, Bouclier of the catholike fayth, 7S f - V [recte 73 f - V j, Seconde parle of a Bucklar, I3 f - V . 131 Treatise concernynge the Masse, AS f , 132Christophefson, Exhortation agaynst rebellion, R2 v_3 f . mBonnef, Profitable doctryne, Y4V_Z)f, Ii)f; cf. Watson, Twoo Sermons, L7v_Sf; Treatise concernynge the Masse, ASf -v, C) f-V. 134Martin, The marriage of Priestes, D2f.

70

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

letter to Pellikan, Erasmus described the 'common councels' of the church as bulwarks of orthodoxy, to which Christians should cling. 135 Councils, Martin also wrote, had been called in response to the growth of heresy, and these assemblies were the most important means of extirpating false doctrine. To deny their authority would be akin to denying the authority of civil courts, which would quickly lead to the end of the rule of law and thus to chaos. \36 Marian authors, like their Protestant counterparts, revered the authority of the councils of the primitive church, which had established orthodox doctrine in the midst of the christological controversies: Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus and Chalcedon. 137 In contrast to their adversaries, however, they also venerated the councils of the medieval church: Nicaea II, Constance, Florence, Basle and especially Lateran IV, which had also 'determined those thynges, that pertayne to the fayth of Christ, and the purgyng ofhys churche,.138 Watson, Bonner, Tunstall, Smyth, Angel, Standish, White, Glasier and the author of A Treatise concernynge the Masse made no distinction between the authority of councils that had met before and after Chalcedon in 451. The bishops of Nicaea II had proclaimed the merit of venerating images, the bishops of Constance had denied the necessity of communion under both kinds, and the bishops at Florence had reiterated the Catholic teaching on the sacraments; Christians were bound to accept all these determinations. \39 According to Watson, as the word 'consubstantial' had been established by the bishops at Nicaea to end confusion regarding the Trinity, so had the term 'transubstantiation' been defined 'in the greatest general counsell that euer was, which was called the counsell Lateranense, where there were present seuenty Archbyshoppes and foure hundred bishops'. 140 Tunstall, Angel and White also gave Lateran IV a foundational role in establishing transubstantiation, the last two emphasizing the number of bishops present as well. 141 Watson further underlined this council's role in stipulating annual confession and communion and the reservation of the eucharist, and Standish described how this council had confirmed Rome's primacy over the patriarchates of the Eastern churches. 142 '35Efasmus, Epistle vnto Pelicanus, A3 v, A5 f , A8 f . '36Martin, The marriage of Priestes, D2f_3 V. 137Bonnef, Profitable doctryne, C2f; cf. Watson, Twoo Sermons, LS f_M6f ; Angel, Agrement of the fathers, 103 f-v, I04f. 138Watson, Catholyke doctryne, 43 f, I v; Twoo Sermons, L8 f , M6 f _7v, NI v. 139Bonnef, Profitable doctryne, IiIf; Smyth, Bouclier of the catholike fayth , 66 v_7f; Treatise concernynge the Masse, C2 f-V; Watson, Catholyke doctryne, If, 46 f, 114V; Glasief, Sermon made at paules Crosse, B6 f . 140Watson, Catholyke doctryne, 43 r 14ITunstall, De Veritate, 46 f-47 f ; see Quinn, 'Tunstall's treatise on the Eucharist', 683; Angel, Agrement of the fathers, 73 f-V; White, Diacosio-Martyrion, 63 v 142Watson, Catholyke doctryne, 61 f, 62f, 66f-V; Standish, Trial/ of the supremacy, P2 f -V.

MARIAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY OF REVELATION AND ITS TRANSMISSION

71

Carranza too stated that the church that had convened Nicaea had also convened Lateran IV.143 For these writers, the continuous history of ecumenical councils also illustrated the continuous history of Catholicism. An important reason for emphasizing the councils was that there was truth in numbers. As Watson and others had remarked on the many bishops at Lateran IV, so Fisher before them counted the bishop~ present at the three earliest councils. While God spoke through individual fathers of the church, he did so all the more at such gatherings of its pastors. 144 Large numbers of bishops and Christ's promised guidance of the Spirit ensured the infallibility of general councils; and since the fathers believed that these councils could not err, Marian theologians believed they possessed an unbeatable combination. 145 Nevertheless, according to Standish, Nicaea and other general councils had held that the See of Rome was the final court of appeal for church disputes, not a general council, and that no council could be held without the pope's agreement. The emperors who had convened councils had only been acting as 'ministers and executors of the bishops will, [and] counsellours[,] ayders and defenders with the swearde'. 146 Only Watson made a reference to the contemporaneous Council of Trent, in a translation from its fourteenth chapter of the Decree on Justification, regarding satisfaction for sin.147 Why did he or his English and other contemporaries, such as Franyois Le Picart, the Parisian theologian and preacher credited by Calvin with keeping Paris Catholic, decline to refer more to Trent?148 The likely reason was that the Tridentine canons and decrees 'had no binding force, because they had not been confirmed by the Pope', in Hubert Jedin's analysis. 149 The second period of the Council's sessions had been suspended in 1552, and Paul IV (1555-59) had no intention of resuming proceedings; and there was a possibility that Trent's previous sessions might have been abandoned and a completely new council convened in 1562. 150 The reforms of Trent would not receive papal approbation until after its completion in 1564; and it would still require the assent of secular rulers as wellWatson listed them as members of any general council, along with bishops and theologians - in order for reforms to be promulgated and enforced in their dominions. lSI Furthermore, an attempt to enforce the 1547 Tridentine decree for 143Carranza, Catechismo 1,160. '''Fisher, Sermon very notable, E1 r-v 14sFisher, Sermon very notable, E2 r-v ; cf. Tunstall in Venaeus, Notable Oration, B2r-v. '46Standish, Triall of the supremacy, D2r, N6r-v. 147Watson, Catholyke doctryne, 143 r; cf. Canons and Decrees of Trent, 39. 148Taylor, Heresy and Orthodoxy, 165-66. 1491serloh, Reformation and Counter-Reformation, 479. IsoJedin, Crisis and Closure of Trent, 11-13, 15-17. ISICanons and Decrees of Trent, 270-71; Watson, Twoo Sermons, 17v; for the role of secular rulers in medieval and early-modem general councils, see Jedin, Crisis and Closure of Trent, 17-18.

72

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

the visitation of cathedral chapters before 1564 had led to a considerable crisis in Portugal. 152 During Mary's reign, therefore, none of the Tridentine reforms could be enforced in England, and thus it is not surprising that Pole declined to refer to Trent in his Legatine Synod. 153 As Legate to a church so recently reunited with Rome, one of his concerns was careful adherence to canonical procedure; Thomas Mayer also believes that Pole modelled his synodal decrees on those of the Council of Florence, because of his detestation of the Decree on Justification that Watson cited. 154 Despite Watson's boldness, other Marian churchmen prudently neglected to cite Trent, though many of their synodal decrees anticipated its reforms.

Miracles

Miracles had been very much part of late-medieval religiosity, even with the church's attempt to shift devotion from myriads of saints to Christ and the Mother of God. The growth in popularity of such shrines as the Holy Blood of Christ at Hailes and Our Lady of Walsingham, as well as similar pilgrimage centres in Europe, were accompanied by miraculous signs. 155 But miracles attributed to God and the saints were another means by which revelation was transmitted and its veracity defended, and Marian theologians employed them to defend Catholicism. This strategy had numerous precedents in medieval Europe. Andre Vauchez has noted the shift in the processes of canonization beginning in the fourteenth century from miracles of healing to more doctrinally-specific miracles, such as a brief restoration of sight to the blind who wished to see the host. 156 Eamon Duffy has also cited numerous miraculous tales regarding the eucharist employed both for pious and polemical reasons, to support Catholic belief regarding Christ's corporeal presence. 157 Earlier in the sixteenth century, in his controversy over the identity of Mary Magdalen with Jacques Lefevre d'Etaples, Fisher had defended Catholic tradition by invoking the miracles associated with her cult. 158 Later in the century, polemicists would use miracles to support Catholic doctrine throughout the Counter-Reformation world. 159 In Mary's reign, therefore, Brooks was in line with these strategies to confirm religious belief with miracles when he quoted 152Jedin, Crisis and Closure of Trent, 10-11. IS3Cf. Mayer, Pole, 240-41, where he acknowledges John Marmion as the first to suggest Pole's reliance on Florence; Anglican Canons, xliv; pace Loades, Reign of Mary, 294. IS4Pogson, 'Pole and the Priorities of Government', 7-14; see Mayer, Pole, 240-41. IssFinucane, Miracles and Pilgrims, 195-202. IS6Yauchez, Sainthood in the Later Middle Ages, 473. IS7Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, 102-8. IS8Rex, Theology ofFisher, 69. IS'See Soergel, Wondrous in his Saints, 93-96; Walsharn, Providence in Early Modern England, 228.

MARIAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY OF REVELA nON AND ITS TRANSMISSION

73

Augustine's reasons for remaining in 'the lappe of his Mother the catholike church', including that he was 'holden in, by aucthoritie, begonne with miracles, nourished with hope, encreased with Charitie, confirmed with auncientnes'. He went on to declare how 'meruelous Reuelations, and wounderful Myracles wrought of GOD' had confirmed the truth of Christ's corporeal presence in the eucharist. 160 By contrast Protestants could claim no miracles confirming their doctrines; but they did possess marvels, Gwynneth wrote, such as clergy who had been married only four or five years, yet possessed children aged sixteen or seventeen. 161 The lack of miracles among heretics, 'perceived as one of Protestantism's most glaring weaknesses', according to Philip Soergel, would be taken up frequently by Catholic polemicists throughout Europe later in the century. 162 Marian authors did not make indiscriminate use of miracles as testimonials of Catholicism. The signs they discussed were those usually recorded in biblical and patristic sources. Gardiner had remarked that the power of saints to intercede had been demonstrated, 'if we wish to trust our ecclesiastical histories' .163 According to Standish, the many miracles associated with St Peter revealed his preeminence among the Apostles.l 64 Smyth related a sign associated with the cross as recorded by Eusebius, as well as a miracle performed by St Paulinus of Nola in making the sign of the cross, and pointedly added that Paulinus had been a contemporary of Augustine. 165 These writers did not seek miraculous support from medieval saints, though it is uncertain whether this was due to the influence of humanist methods, in which 'miracles were for the most part excluded' from hagiography 'to promote the saint as a model of piety', or fears that readers would doubt such references, after years of vociferous attacks upon the saints in England. l66 Certainly Marian authors stressed the saints as powerful, if not miraculous, intercessors. 167 Yet their medieval predecessors could also be discerning about wonders, according to Tunstall. For example, the bishops of Lateran IV had rejected other modes of Christ's eucharistic presence, and the numerous miracles associated with them, for transubstantiation, because this doctrine seemed more in accord with Christ's words of institution as found in scripture. 168 While Marian authors agreed on the continuance of miracles since the time of I60Brooks, Sermon very notable, C3 v , F7v. 161Gwynneth, Dec/aration, 42v. 162Soergel, Wondrous in his Saints, 94. 163Gardiner, Responsio Venerabilium, 114r; 'Quod si historiis noslris ecclesiasticis fidere volumnis, constabit audire Sanctos, qui inuocati praesentes opitulati sunt, et certa sui specie innotuerunt'. 164Standish, Triall of the supremacy, E5 r_6 r . 16sSmyth, Bouclierofthe catholik.efayth, 74v_6r , 52r_3 v . I66Soergel, Wondrous in his Saints, 96. 167See Chapter 7. '68Tunstall, De Vertitate, 46r - v ; see Chapter 5.

74

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

the early church, some also held that miracles performed by Christ and the ancient saints had sufficiently fulfilled their role in aiding Christian belief; there was no need for their repetition, at least for the sacraments. 169 Carranza wrote that miracles associated with the sacraments had ceased. Faith coupled with the Word of God in scripture and tradition were sufficient for belief; there was no further need for signs like tongues of fire to corroborate the gift of the Spirit in the sacrament of confirmation, for example. Miraculous testimony could take away from the authority offaith and God's Word. 170 Yet Marian writers echoed theologians of the Middle Ages, as well as Protestants who claimed the cessation of miracles. 171 A number of medieval theologians, according to laroslav Pelikan, believed that Christ had established his church with miracles in its beginning, as Brooks had quoted from Augustine, but miracles as proofs of true religion had become less necessary with the growth of Christianity. For some medieval theologians, 'faith itself was the greatest miracle of all. ' 172 The author of A treatise concernynge the Masse may have held such a view. The author warned Protestants who demanded miraculous proofs of the eucharist that Christ ascended the crosse not to woorke myracles nor to come Myraculouslye downe at the pleasure of the blasphemous lewes, but to dye thereon for our redempcion: euen so he is verely in the Sacrament, not to woorke miracles at the pleasure of the vnfaithful people, but to bee the goostIye fo[o]de and heauenlye bread of the true faythfull folke. 173

Marian writers, like their medieval predecessors, did not preclude further miracles, with the exception of Standish, who based his view on Augustine.174 Bonner seemed to imply that the working of 'miracles and wondres' still existed in the church. 175 England had witnessed a recent sign 'miraculously' performed, in the words of Hogarde, Gwynneth, Marshall and Christopherson: Mary's accession and the restoration of Catholicism against all odds and without bloodshed. 176 '6"Treatise concernynge the Masse, F6r _7v . 17°Carranza, Catechismo II, 16S; 'Despues que se asent6 bien la fe en la Iglesia, cesaron los milagros y estas seilales visibles del cielo: porque, para creer 10 que se hace por los sacramentos, basta la fe con la palabra de Dios, y querer otros testimonios deroga a su autoridad.' I7'For Protestant views on miracles, see Walsham, Providence in Early Modern England, 226-32 . 172Pelikan, Growth of Medieval Theology, 180, 181. 173Treatise concernynge the Masse, F7v. ' 74 Standish, Whether scripture should be in English, D3r; Augustine, De vera religione, 2S, De Civita dei 18,46; see Pelikan, Growth of Medieval Theology, 180. 175Bonner, Profitable doctryne, LJ3 r . ' 76Hogarde, Assault of the Sacrament, E2v_3 r , Displaying of the Protestantes; 84r ; Gwynneth, Declaration of the Victory of Marye, B7 r-v , CSr; Marshall, Thefirste Sacrifice, C3 v_4r; Christopherson, Exhortation agaynst rebellion, Aal v, Ff3 r, FfSv_6r

MARIAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY OF REVELATION AND ITS TRANSMISSION

75

The role of the church in the transmission of revelation

As stated earlier, Marian theologians believed that Christ had given the church the authority to interpret the Bible, the power of the Holy Spirit ensuring the veracity of the church's doctrinal determinations based upon it. This interpretation of the Bible needed to concur with ecclesial tradition inspired by the same Spirit. Like their medieval predecessors, Marian churchmen believed in the 'essential coherence of scripture and tradition ... and the true meaning of the Bible could be understood only in light of the church's traditions,.177 Any notion of sharply distinguishing between the scripture and the church 'was a false alternative; the two belonged together' along with ecclesial tradition.178 As Joliffe and Johnson wrote to Hooper earlier in the 1550s regarding prayer to the saints, 'although few of these things can be clearly proved openly from the scriptures, nevertheless, since there is the consensus of the holy fathers, and this is not contrary to the scriptures, it cannot be a fond thing and vainly invented' .179 Marian theologians also used the Bible to defend and elucidate church tradition. For example, Bonner insisted that 'the scryptures lefte for our instruction', revealed how prayer, coupled with alms and fasting, was particularly satisfying to God. The Bible also confIrmed devotion to the Virgin Mary. Bonner reminded Christians that Gabriel and Elizabeth had praised the Virgin Mary with scriptural words that had become a key prayer in the Catholic tradition. Furthermore the biblical words of the Magnificat, which stated that all generations would call Mary blessed, was faithfully fulfilled by those who prayed the Ave Maria. 180 I and II Maccabees also confirmed prayer for the dead and prayer to the saints. Interestingly, Marian theologians such as Bonner, Watson, Angel and Standish, writing in Mary's reign, felt no need to defend the canonicity of these texts, unlike those writing in Edward's reign. 181 Joliffe, Johnson and Gardiner had felt the need to respond to Hooper's attacks on these books, the last remarking that Jerome had deemed the book edifying, and therefore not contrary to Christian doctrine, although it had not been included in the Jewish canon of scripture. 182 177Marshall, 'The Debate over "Unwritten Verities" ',6 J. 178Pelikan, Reformation of Church and Dogma, 265. 179Gardiner, Responsio Venerabilium, I04 v ; 'Et quamuis ex apertis scripturis pauca horum possunt euidenter probari, tamen, quoniam sanctorum patrum est consensus, neque reluctatur scripturis, non potest esse res futilis et inaniter conficta', 18°Bonner, Profitable doctryne, Uu2 r , Bbb2 r . '8IIbid., FtY; Watson, Twoo Sermons, X3 r - v ; Angel, Agrement of the fathers, 84r ; Standish, Whether scripture should be in English, B I r. 182Gardiner, Responsio Venerabilium, 90r [Joliffe and Johnson]; 'Primum videlicet ex 12. capite 2. libri Machabaeorum legitur: Sancta et salubris est cogitatio pro defunctis exorare, vt a peccatis soluantur. Augustinus de Ciuitate Dei lib. 21. cap. 24. super his verbis, Quicunque dixerit verbum contra Filium

76

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

Yet as with the scripture, so too patristic sources could not be the court of last resort in determining doctrine. 'God forbidde, we shoulde geue them more authoritie than to the worde of god', Martin wrote. 183 Rather than depending upon anyone of the forms of the transmission of divine revelation, advocates of Marian Catholicism believed in an authoritative ecclesial consensus rooted in the unity of scripture and tradition which transmitted revelation. This consensus was 'the crucial dogmatic concept' for Marian theologians as it had been for Fisher, as Richard Rex has noted; but, as Peter Marshall has stated, it was not so much the consensus of 'the contemporary church, as the consensus among its faithful down the ages' that stood as the test for authentic doctrine. 184 The same held true for Erasmus; his chief criticism of Protestants was the lack of consensus with the church and with each other. 185 The best means for determining authentic teaching lacking in scriptural reference was the canon of Vincent of Lerins. 'There are thre meanes to trye a churche, or doctrine,' Pendleton wrote, 'the fust is antiquitie, the seconde is vniuersalitie, the thyrde is vnitie.' 186 Proctor provided a translation in two editions, fittingly enough entitled The waie home to Christ and truth /eadinge from Antichrist and errour, although Marian theologians failed to note that it had been written to counter Augustine's extreme views on predestination. 187 Catholic writers, including Carranza, stressed the church's unity, given in general councils and in fidelity to the fathers' common teachings throughout the church's history. 188 BOlmer also defmed ecclesial consensus on doctrine found in revelation. It consisted of the faith as practised by the Catholic church, the writings of the fathers, the 'open places of scripture, by continuall usadge, acception, and interpretation, so allowed, ratifyed and approued'. 189 Although the faith of the church and the 'open places of scripture' are broad categories, this definition implies that Marian theologians did not make sharp distinctions between their sources. The role of scripture and tradition within revelation had not been hominis, remittetur ei etc. Ex hac scriptura no veretur Augustinus Puragatorium esse docere.'; 94 v [Gardiner]; 'Mihi vero videtur Hieronymus Iibrum Machabaeorum, quoad dogmata non reiicere, sed quoad authoritatem dogmaticam: vt non sit vullum dogma ecclesiasticum quod ex iIIis libris ortum, et tanquam ab authore profectum sit, ne cum aperto scandalo Iudaeorum nos libris, intra canonem non repertis, sidere, tanquam authoribus, videamur. Sed ad aedificationem tamen Iibrum Machabaeorum pertinere Hieronymus profitetur; quod haud ita esset, si dogma impium, et fidei nostrae aduersum contineret ... .' IS3Martin, The marriage of Priestes, D3 r . 184Rex, Theology of Fisher, 102; Marshall, 'The Debate over "Unwritten verities" " 66. IssRummel, Humanist-Scholastic Debate, 137-39. IS6Bonner, Homelies, 35 v ; cf. Christopherson, Exhortation agaynst rebellion, RI r_2v . IS7The Marian editions appeared in 1554 and 1556; for the origins of the Vincentian canon, see Pelikan, Emergence of the Catholic Tradition, 333. I88Carranza, Catechismo I, 390. IS9Bonner, Profitable doctryne, 01 v.

MARIAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY OF REVELA TJON AND ITS TRANSMISSION

77

delineated by medieval or early modem Catholic theologians, nor would it be at Trent. All that can be said of the Tridentine decree on revelation was that the bishops wished 'to reaffmn that truths existed which had not been formulated in scripture,' and that they, unlike Carranza, specifically chose not to describe revelation as consisting 'partly in scripture' and 'partly in tradition'.I90 Marian theologians declined to describe the transmission of revelation as 'partly' from the two forms of revelation. They possessed no 'dual-source theory' of revelation. 191 It appears that they saw the reception of revelation through, in the words of Congar, 'two modes of transmission of the same apostolic deposit.' 192 The determinations of councils and the consensus of the fathers had been labelled 'scriptura sacra' in the past, but medieval and early modem Catholic theologians had distinguished between the Spirit's proximate illumination of the authors of scripture and the inspiration given to councils and the fathers. The church found the Word of God in the Bible and in its lived tradition. 'Scriptural sufficiency,' in this sense, 'was .. . a commonplace among medieval theologians', as well as early modem ones. 193 For these authors, distinguishing the ways of transmitting revelation was not as vital as stressing the church interpreted scripture and tradition with absolute authority. 194 To Marian theologians, the English had left the unity of the church, denied its precepts, the church's reading of scripture and the inerrancy of the general councils, and exchanged them for their own individual opinions on religion. 195 Under Mary they were given the opportunity to embrace the authority of the church again. Christians were to put aside their 'busye questions' and trust the beliefs held by 'the whole congregation of Christen people', Edgeworth wrote. 196 These authors rejected the stance of Protestants, that scripture possessed 'ultimate authority' in determining Christian life and doctrine. 197 Still the struggle for ecclesial consensus over scripture, the fathers, the councils and other elements of the church's heritage was hardly clear-cut: Proctor's translation of the Vincentian canon reappeared a third time, in 1565, without its dedication to Mary Tudor. I90Canons and Decrees of Trent, 17-20; Congar, Tradition and Traditions, 165; see Jedin, History of Trent II, 52-98, passim; Marshall, 'The Debate over "Unwritten Verities .. ', 62; Carranza, Catechismo I, 383-84. 191Cf. Macek, Loyal Opposition, 117; for a discussion ofOberrnan's dual-source theory, see McGrath, Intellectual Origins of the Reformation, 141-43, 146-50. 192Congar, Tradition and Traditions, 48. 1930' Grady, Conforming Catholics, 46. 194Bonner, Profitable doctryne, CI v_2r; Bonner, Homelies, 37r_36v [recte 39V j; Standish, Triall of the Supremacy, R2 r -4 v . 19l5tandish, Triall of the supremacy, A8 v . 196Edgeworth, Sermons very fruitfulI, 170. 197Marshall, 'The Debate over "Unwritten Verities" " 72.

78

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

Theological methodology Marian theologians attempted to discuss revelation according to the humanist influences they had received in their university education and printed literature. But they had also been trained in scholasticism, and the influences of the methods of the schoolmen may also be discerned in the writings of these authors. How did these two patterns of inquiry shape the theology ofthese men?

Humanism The scholars of England who had been influenced by humanist ideals of learning, piety and church reform only slowly fell into groups that clearly divided and became known as 'catholike' and 'protestante' during Mary's reign. Most Marian theologians may be described as humanists because of their education, teaching, translations of classical works, composition of classical verse and other works in the forms of oration and dialogue. 198 In their reliance on scriptural and patristic, rather than medieval and scholastic sources, and their general use of methods of historical criticism in the study of these sources, Marian writers, like their Protestant peers, were very much part of the humanist milieu. 199 They usually presented scripture and the writings of the fathers in Latin with an English translation, presumably to aid other scholars in their study, as well as to demonstrate the faithfulness of their translations to readers. Marian theologians attempted to cite their sources at length and generally place them in their historical contexts. In these endeavours they took advantage of the achievements of humanist scholarship: a greater historical consciousness and contextualization of biblical, patristic and historical writings, the study of the Bible in its original languages, and greater appreciation of the contribution of the Greek and Latin fathers to theology. Marian authors looked to the leaders of humanism in their writing, but with varying attitudes to their personalities. The scholarship of most of these authors depended upon John Fisher, who had been instrumental in bringing humanist methods to Cambridge. 2°O And their writings also depended upon England's other renowned humanist, Thomas More, for their theological and polemical arguments. 201 William Rastell took a page from More when, in true humanist style, he claimed that he offered his edition of More's English works to both inculcate

1985ee Rex, 'English humanists', 23. '99Rex, 'English humanists', 31·35. 2°°Rex, Theology of Fisher, 87,89·90; Dowling, Fisher of Men, 22-23, 28-29. 20lSee Wilson in Edgeworth, Sermons very frnitfull, 55.

MARIAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY OF REVELATION AND ITS TRANSMISSION

79

Catholic belief and virtue and also 'the eloquence and propertie of the Englishe tonge,.202 Some writers, such as White, referred to contemporary humanists and religious controversialists of England and Catholic Europe: Fisher, More, Juan Luis Vives, Clicthove, Cochleus, Eck, and Pighius. 203 Standish also cited Pighius' principle work, Hierarchiae Ecclesiasticae Assertio, in defence of papal authority.204 Some theologians even employed sources of the 'new learning' to embarrass Protestants and demonstrate the disparity of their beliefs. Angel and White quoted from such sources as Wycliffe, Luther, Oecolampadius, Bucer, Melanchthon, and the 1549 Prayer Book and Cranmer's Catechism. 2os Gardiner's successful use of the Prayer Book against Cranmer may have encouraged them.206 Marian authors' references to and regard for contemporary Catholic theologians, especially Fisher and More, differed considerably from their references to Erasmus. While they generally adhered to the principles of humanist biblical scholarship advocated by Erasmus, they also demonstrated a strong measure of ambivalence towards the scholar himself and his vision of church reform. 207 Edgeworth demonstrated the influence of Erasmus' methodology when he remarked that John 1.42 did not demonstrate papal primacy: 'whiche thoughe it be very true, yet this text proueth not so much,.208 Carranza was an avid reader of Erasmus, and his insistence on strict clerical oversight of shrines to prevent superstition and his distrust of perpetual chantries is certainly reminiscent of the reforms that Erasmus desired. 209 Marian writers infrequently cited him. His 1525 letter to Pellikan regarding Christ's presence in the eucharist - 'a prime example of Erasmus' willingness to defer to the tradition and authority of the church' - was the exception: it was his only theological work translated in Mary's reign, and it was also cited at length by Angel and White. 2lO Angel also translated his letter to Bishop Balthasar Mercklin, the Imperial Vice-Chancellor, in which he used the term transubstantiation; at the end Angel added that '[t]hese be the wordes of the famous clerke Erasmus Rothordame, whereby all Christian people maye knowe what was his opinion in the Sacrament, not disagreing from the olde fathers here

202More, Workes, e2 r. 203White, Diacosio-Martyrion, 87 r-v, 84r -v, 92 r, 93 r. 204Standish, Triall of the supremacy, H2r-v. 20SAngel, Agrement of the fathers, 74 r_5 r, 8Ir_73 r [recte 83 r ]; White, Diacosio-Martyrion, 67 r_8 v, 80 v_ I r,87 v_8 v. 206MacCulloch, Cranmer, 506. 201See Wilson in Edgeworth, Sermons very fruitfull, 56, 20, 50; Rex, 'English humanists', 30-31. 208Edgeworth, Sermons very fruitfull, 193-94. 209See Tellechea in Carranza, Catechismo I, 11,82; see Chapter 7. 21°Erasmus, Epistles, 344-50; Angel, Agrement of the fathers, 7Sr_6v ; White, Diacosio-Martyrion, 8S v _ 7r .

80

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

before written. ,211 There is also a definite note of sarcasm when Gardiner had commented that Erasmus, who had been 'among vs so esteemed', yet 'did speake of all the abuses in the church liberally,.212 He had pointed out to Hooper that he had attributed a statement to Augustine, which Erasmus, 'whom learned men do not impugn', had demonstrated to be false. 213 With relatively few references to him or his works, Erasmus could hardly be described as 'a constant source of inspiration' whose 'name was always treated with great reverence,.214 More Marian writers cited Fisher and More with greater frequency and with greater regard. 215 Yet such opinions of Erasmus should not cast doubt on the humanist credentials of Marian authors. Rex has cautioned against the 'tendency to conflate all humanism with Erasrnianism'. 216 Despite their ambivalence towards Erasmus, Marian theologians stood as humanists in their theological sources and methods.

Scholasticism Rather than maintaining the scholastic synthesis of faith and reason, Marian authors looked upon scholastic theology with ambivalence. They, like other humanists, would 'either shy away from medieval authorities altogether or qualify their use'. 217 Edgeworth described 'the scholasticall doctours' as learned, but most Marian theologians chose not to mention them.218 Even Edgeworth's sermons, despite his having lectured on Lombard's Sentences while at Oxford, appear to reveal 'only a passing interest in scholasticism', in Wilson's view.219 Gwynneth equated suspect reason with scholasticism because neither the scriptures, the fathers nor 'any scholasticall leming, that is to saie, any dewe and perfit order or reason' could support Protestant views.22o While praising the masters of that 2II Angel, Agrement of the fathers, 78 v , 80 v ; see Erasmus, Epistolarum VIII, 380; for Mercklin, see Epistolarum V, 323. 212Gardiner, Explication, 6 v . 2t3Gardiner, Responsio Venerabilium, 102 v ; 'Postremo a sagacitate ad errorem dilabitur, vt solidam Augustini doctrinam ex eo opere probet: quod tum ipsa phrasi apertissime, tum Erasmi cesura (quam docti non improbarunt) non sit Augustini.' ll4Pace Wooding, Rethinking Catholicism, 29. lI5For example, Marian authors followed More on the essential quality of tradition in transmitting revelation; see Marshall, 'The Debate over "Unwritten Verities" ',66; for references to the nascent cult of Fisher and More, see Chapter 7. ll6Rex, 'English humanists in the Reformation', 23-24. ll1Rummel, Humanist-Scholastic Debate, 12. ll8Edgeworth, Sermons very fruitfull, 227. l\9See Wilson in Edgeworth, Sermons very fruitfull, 20-21, 17. lloGwynneth, Declaration, 41 r

MARIAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY OF REYELA TION AND ITS TRANSMISSION

81

scholastic bulwark, the University of Paris, John Venaeus had also underlined reason's inability to comprehend the mysteries of Christian doctrine.221 Tunstall was one of the very few writers who cited Scotus, to state views on eucharistic presence prior to Lateran IV.m The main scholastic text, Lombard's Sentences, was cited only once each in Bonner's Profitable doctryne and Angel's Agrement of the fathers, but more extensively in the latter; Gardiner defended this work in his response to Cranmer's eucharistic doctrine, but mocked the Archbishop at length for trying to use Lombard to support his views. 223 Aquinas, the greatest of the scholastics, holds the distinction of being the most frequently cited in Marian works, but even those references are rare. Watson referred to him twice in his thirty sacramental sermons. 224 White offered two short sentences from Aquinas on the eucharist accompanied by an uncomplimentary remark: 'I am able to offer you more, 0 reader, but if the author [Aquinas] is pleasing to you, these [words] are enough; anything else is too much,.225 It often seems that Marian theologians discussed the theology of the schoolmen only when Protestants attempted to demonstrate contradictions in Catholicism. Thus Watson remarked that Aquinas meant 'private mass' as merely 'contrarye too solempne,.226 Gardiner had also debated Aquinas' views of satisfaction for sin with Hooper earlier in the decade, and Smyth had cited Aquinas to Cranmer as 'a greate clearke, and a holy father,.227 This ambiguous view of Aquinas contrasts with Fisher's and More's regard for his works, but it is worth noting that although they followed Pico della Mirandola in calling Aquinas the 'flower of theology', he and other scholastics had a small place in their writings.228 In the Catechismo of Aquinas' fellow Dominican, Carranza, however, he is referred to again and again Augustine is the only author named with greater frequency; but no other schoolmen appear. 229 Aquinas was Carranza's favourite theologian, but Marian

221Yenaeus, Notable Oration, C8 r-D1 v. 222TunstaJl, De Veritate,46 r-v . 223Bonner; Profitable doctryne, Dd3 v ; Angel, Agrement of the fathers, 47v_9 r ; Gardiner, Explication, 135 v , 145r -v , 147r_9r 22·Watson, Catholykedoctyne, 14 r,I22r mWhite, Diacosio-Martyrion, 63 r . 'Possum plura tibi (lector) proferre, sed author / Si placet, ista satis sun\. Aliasque nimis' . 226Watson, Twoo Sermons, X8 r -v . 227Gardiner, Responsio Venerabilium, 97v_8 r ; 'Et diuus Thomas satisfactiones pro peccatis debitas non inteJligit de reatu, sed de poena peccati: nisi forte inteJligas peccatum 1eue et veniale, cui us, vI docet Augustinus de Ciuitate Dei, post hanc vitam potest esse remissio.'; Smyth, Confutation, 39 r,120r . 228Rex, Theology of Fisher, 63-64, 188-89. There is a single reference to Aquinas in More's Dialogue Concerning Heresies, 223, and five in his Confutation of Tyndale's Answer, 685, 707, 711 , 713, 716, 727. 229Rex, Theology of Fisher, 63; See TeJlechea in Carranza, Catechismo I, 88.

82

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

theologians did not follow in depending so heavily on him.230 What 'crime' had the scholastics committed to make them unpopular among Marian authors? Rex holds that the scholastics became disreputable in Henrician England because of their adherence to the papacy, not their methodology.231 In any case Marian writers probably accused scholasticism of the same offence as did Erasmus, Fisher, the early Jesuits - those in Rome were noted for mocking Aquinas - and their religious adversaries: the speculative nature of scholasticism had led to 'the baneful distinction between theology on the one hand and spirituality and ministry on the other'.m John O'Malley has also noted that the systematic nature of scholastic theology seemed, to its critics, to claim to comprehend the mysteries of revelation.233 Yet medieval theologians had also lost their dominance at the universities when most of these men were students. They were certainly not pre-eminent at St. John's College, Cambridge, largely due to Fisher's efforts, when a young Thomas Watson began his studies in 1529.234 Scholastic theology had been losing favour before the break with Rome, and this process had accelerated since then. However, Marian authors were not so far removed from scholasticism as it seems. Their belief in the cooperation of human nature with grace in salvation coincided with the elemental tenet of 'compatibility' of nature and grace in scholastic doctrine, which was also enshrined in Trent's 1546 Decree on Justification.235 Many of them had completed much of their education before Cromwell's 1535 injunctions to the universities which ended most scholastic study.236 Furthermore, they, like the contemporary Jesuits in Europe, used their sources with 'a basically scholastic mind-set'. 237 Marian theologians printed extracts, of varying length, from scripture and the fathers to verify Catholic stances, using them 'chiefly as an arsenal of illustrative texts to illuminate and confirm Catholic doctrine'. Blench was correct when he remarked that he found 'no attempt at general exegesis of any portions of scripture' among Marian sermons. 238 At times, some of these writers' efforts in following humanist criteria is not so clearly apparent. Furthermore, scholasticism was being restored in Marian Oxford by humanist churchmen. The members of Pole's Legatine visitation of Oxford, led by the 230See Tellechea in Carranza, Catechismo I, 13,88,90,91 . 23IRex, Theology of Fisher, 14. mO'Malley, First Jesuits, 251; cf. Rummel, Humanist-Scholastic Debate, 183 . mO'Malley, First Jesuits, 25 I. 234Rex, Theology of Fisher, 50-64. mSee O'Malley, First Jesuits, 249-50; for Marian views on justification, see Chapter 3. 236Rex, Theology of Fisher, 14. 237See O'Malley, First Jesuits, 260. 23881ench, Preaching in England, 52.

MARIAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY OF REVELATION AND ITS TRANSMISSION

83

bishop and Marian author, James Brooks, were pleased to have the scholasticallytrained Dominicans, De Soto and Villa Garcia, dominating theological instruction at Oxford. 239 It seems possible that neo-scholastic humanism, which would dominate Catholic, and especially Jesuit, education in the latter sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, had also begun to take shape in Marian Oxford, and under the auspices of men with humanist training. 24o How can this antipathy and embracing of scholasticism among Marian humanists be reconciled? It seems likely that the measured approbation of scholastic theology was due to similar reasons why the Jesuits and especially Fisher valued it, despite its prolixity and acute systemization. While the fathers were able 'to rouse the affections so that we are moved to love and serve God', Loyola wrote, 'it is more characteristic of the scholastic doctors ... to define and state clearly, according to the needs of our times, the doctrines that are necessary for eternal salvation, and that ... refute all errors and expose all fallacies,.241 Fisher also felt more affinity to the fathers, but cited the scholastics in debating religious controversy.242 Marian churchmen were attempting to inculcate Catholic doctrine, both on intellectual and affective levels. While scholasticism could aid intellectual formation, especially in clerical education, humanism could serve spiritual formation, both for clergy and laity. Which leads to another possible reason for reluctance to cite scholastic theologians in Marian works: Aquinas, Scotus and others had been so maligned by Protestants that references to them would have been counter-productive outside the universities. The books of Marian churchmen, if laden with scholastic citations, would have been dismissed as sophistry by those whom they were trying to persuade.

Conclusion For Marian theologians, Christian revelation could only be disclosed through the prism of authority. Faith in revelation was built on assent to and assimilation of the saving truths contained therein, not wilful questioning of divine mysteries by reason. Revelation was transmitted in the literal interpretation of scripture and ecclesial tradition as found in the opinions of the fathers and the uniform doctrine of the church. 243 Scripture and tradition, the latter including the decrees of ecumenical councils, the church's forms of worship and the acts and miracles of 139See Hegarty, 'Carranza and the English Universities', 157-70. 24°O'Malley, First Jesuits, 254-57. 241Loyola, Spiritual Exercises, no. 363. 242Rex, Theology of Fisher, 62-64, 188-90. 243Watson, Twoo Sermons, B7r-v.

84

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

saints, were complementary means of conveying revelation. The guarantee of the veracity of that communication rested in the teaching authority of the church. It was the conservator of tradition and the final arbiter of the interpretation of the static biblical text. Adherents to Catholicism must accept this interpretation with childlike faith, for of such was the Reign of God. Thus, according to Pollard, ' it is to be sene, that god doth onely remayne amongst the Catholykes, that is, amongst such as haue theyr fayth generall, for they be so humble and meke, that they are all afrayde to reason vpon gods mysteries'. 244

244Pollard, Fyve homiles. IZr-v.

CHAPTER THREE

Marian Catholic Christo logy and Soteriology Marian Catholics and Protestants claimed Christ and his redemption exclusively as the centre of their theology and spirituality. Protestants believed Catholicism muted Christ's salvi fie power through its adherence to the intercession of the saints, participation in the rites of the church and the performance of good works in order to receive deliverance from punishment, whether temporary in purgatory or eternal in hell. Some historians continue to express doubt as to whether Christ played the pivotal role in the soteriology of Catholicism as asserted by Marian theologians. For example, Dickens believed that emphasis on Christ was ebbing in the face of 'saint-worship', Diarmaid MacCulloch states that purgatory was 'the central organizing principle of traditional theologies of salvation', and Christopher Marsh believes that charitable works could provide 'a surge of acceleration' towards salvation. I However, Christ and the salvation he offered held the pivotal role in the theology of Marian authors; this is demonstrated by first considering Christ and how he redeemed humanity and how humanity participated in that redemption, particularly through grace, faith and good works. Indeed, the other elements of the theology and spirituality of the Marian church - ecclesiology, sacramental theology, eschatology, for example - hinged upon the soteriology these theologians presented, just as justification by faith alone was the cardinal point of the Protestant vision of redemption. And in their emphasis on Christ and his redemption, the theologians of the Marian church generally chose not to engage in polemical point-scoring in their writing on Christ, but rather attempted to instil the Catholic vision of how humanity was justified by God. 2 That vision of Christ and Christian redemption was not unique, but in unison with that of early modem Catholic theologians in Europe.

IDickens, English Reformation, 28, 19; MacCulloch, Tudor Church Militant, 5; Marsh, Popular Religion, 24. 2See Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, 529-30.

86

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

Christology In the second sermon in Bonner's Homelies, Harpsfield described how the 'God of all consolation' bestows 'charytie and exceadyng loue' upon humanity. Christ was the pivotal expression of the Trinity's 'voluntary goodnes' towards human beings, and this stance is iterated throughout the Marian theological works. Redemption came from no source other than the merits of God the Son. 3 Marian Catholic christo logy not only emphasized the redemptive significance of Christ's death, a commonplace of Protestant doctrines, but also of his incarnation and risen life, a feature shared with their medieval precursors and continental contemporaries. Marian writers also discussed the essential quality of union with the Saviour in this present life and in eternity, and Christians' desire for that union.

The incarnate Christ The incarnation of Christ 'in whome', Bonner wrote, 'the fulnesse of the diuinite doth dwell corporallye', was an essential component of the divine plan for redemption.4 Stress on Christ's humanity seems to have been increasing in the practice of Catholic theology and spirituality since the late Middle Ages, and Marian theologians continued in this vein. s They did not follow, however, the scholastic theologians in their attempts to pinpoint the nature of the incarnation in respect to Christ's humanity and divinity.6 In fact their common emphasis on God becoming human reveals an incarnational spirituality that they hoped to inculcate in the English church both through works of piety and catechesis. Christians must understand, Peryn wrote in his Spirituall Exercyses, that God "hath geuen him selfe vnto vs, by his birth, as a felow in our nature".7 In his Mirrour of Loue, Hogarde described how human beings regained their 'high estate' through the Son of God becoming human: it united them inextricably to God, both in this life and the next. 8 In the Profitable doctryne's explication of the Creed, Bonner began to describe Jesus by depicting the incarnation according to the biblical infancy narratives, and gave translated excerpts of the Lucan and Matthean accounts of the Annunciation. 9 In the treatment of the Ave Maria, the incarnation was explained 3Bonner,Homelies,ll v -12 r 'Bonner, Profitable doctryne, M I roy. lSee Bossy, Christianity in the West, 7-8; Finucane, Miracles and Pilgrims, 196-98. 60berman, Harvest ofMedieval Theology, 249-65 . 7Peryn, Exercyses, B I v; Peryn's translations ofYan Ess are given in double quotation marks. 8Hogarde, Mirrour ofloue, C2 v. 9Bonner, Profitable doctryne, C4 v-D I r, D3 r-4 v.

MARIAN CATHOLIC CHRISTOLOGY AND SOTERIOLOGY

87

clearly, and was stressed along with Mary's unique role in salvation, for by these wordes, Oure Lorde is with the[e], is sygnyfyed that God was in the vyrgyn Mary, not onely by essence, power, and presence, (as he is in al creatures) nor onelye with his speciall grace (as he is in all holye men and women) but he was also in her by receyuynge of our nature and flesshe of her substance, yea the hole Trinitye was with her by a synguler and specyall sorte .... 10 Thus, in the exposition of the most important of prayers to the Virgin, Jesus was the focus. And the incarnate Christ was not merely the fullness of grace, but its source. In his Complaint of Grace, first translated and published in 1556, Redman's personification of grace stated that 'I rested with this childe [Christ] and in him remained as the water in the fountain or continual spring. ,II Christ became incarnate not only to save humanity by dying as a human, but also to teach them how to live by his example. 12 Edgeworth preached that God became human so that humanity, with its powers of sense and reason, had the opportunity to comprehend the good news that Jesus embodied. 13 Peryn encouraged readers to come to an affective knowledge of God by pondering the humanity of Jesus. This understanding should move Christians to implore the Lord for succour, who through 'his moost blessid and holy humanitie' came into the world like a good Samaritan, to heal the wounds of sin.14 The incarnation taught humility, since God chose to become a creature. '0 vanitie of mankind, see how the lorde of glorie confoundeth thy pryde in hys natiuite', Redman wrote. 15 For Watson, the church's sacramental nature had been established when God became human. The incarnation was 'the greatest grace and benefite that god hath geuen man, wherupon mans saluation doth holly depend'. Receiving the eucharist was the exemplary way in which the incarnational spirituality emphasized by Marian theologians could be experienced. Christ commanded the church to offer the mass as a memorial for the wonders of the incarnation, passion and resurrection. 16 As Christ was in God through Christ's divinity, and Christians were in Christ through the incarnation, so Christ was in Christians through the eucharist. Thus 'we are incorporate into hys fleshe, that for our salvation was made our fleshe'. Watson employed an analogy comparing the incarnation and IOIbid., Aaa4T. IIRedman, Complaint of Grace, E4V. 12Tunstall, Godly prayers, C4 v. 13Edgeworth, Sermons very fruitful!, 222. I·Peryn, Exercyses, El T, D7v. ISRedman, Complaint of Grace, E4T. 16Watson, Catholyke doctryne, 168v, 68 T- V.

88

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

transubstantiation, in order to explain the latter. As Christ's divinity was hidden in his humanity and known only by faith, so Christ's corporeal presence in the eucharist was known only through faith. As the Virgin accepted the tidings of the incarnation from the angel, so must Christians give credence to the church, ' when it teacheth by the woorde of God that the holy gost ouershadow[ e Jth this mistery, and maketh present the body of Christ aboue the speach and reason of man'. 17 For Marian Catholics, Christ abided among them in the eucharist. It was the same Christ who had been born and had walked upon the earth whom they beheld or received at mass under the guise of bread. Through the eucharist, Christ became incarnate in their lives. The communicant was 'more inwardly ioined to Christes mistical body, not onely spirituallye by fayth and charytye but also by naturall and corporall participation with Christ and his church'. But that union with Christ was such that it also affected the body: 'by healynge it, by defendinge, sanctifyinge, strengthening, and reducing it to immortalitye'. 18 The incarnational spirituality of Marian authors such as Watson focused on the sacraments, especially the eucharist, as a means of union with the God. In the incarnational emphasis of his sacramental sermons, however, Watson declined to follow Hogarde in a polemical attack against the Protestant denial of Christ's corporeal presence in the eucharist. A proof text for this denial was 10M 6:63, in which Christ remarks that the flesh profits nothing. If such an interpretation were accurate, Hogarde remarked - as Fisher had done in the 1520s - then of what value was Christ's incarnation?19 Possibly these authors believed they had hit upon a larger problem for Protestant theology, in that it stressed Christ's divinity far more than his humanity, a problem also noted by contemporary theologians and modem historians.20 Indeed, in the 1550 evangelical Postill of Godly Doctrine, the sermon for Christmas - the feast of the incarnation - emphasized not God becoming one with humanity but the contrast between the purity of Christ's birth and the 'uncleane' nature of human birth, due to original sin. In the sermon for the Epiphany, the feast of the revelation of Christ incarnate, it related how the fruit of the flesh was sin. In neither sermon was the incarnation discussed at any length.21 For Marian Catholics, the doctrine of the incarnation was a means of asserting the corporeal presence of Christ's body and blood.

17Ibid. , 53 v , 43 v -44v . •8Ibid., 39 v , 50v . '9Hogarde, Mirrour of loue, C3 r-v ; Rex, Theology of Fisher, 141 . 2°Calvinist theologians,for example, accused Lutherans of denigrating Christ's humanity; see Pelikan, Reformation of Church and Dogma, 353-54, 358-59; Bossy, Christianity in the West, 94-95, and Cameron, European Reformation, 119. 2'Postill of Godly Doctrine, C7 v , elT.

MARIAN CATHOLIC CHRISTOLOGY AND SOTERIOLOGY

89

The suffering Christ

'What toungue can worthelye expresse', Tunstall wrote, 'those innumerable paynes, ... whyche [Christ] an innocente haste suffred?,.22 The 'incomprehensible' incarnation and death of Christ were the joint sources of human salvation, according to Harpsfield's sermon on the redemption. 23 He and other Marian theologians did not follow Biel in underlining the incarnation to the detriment of the paschal mystery in Christ's redemption. 24 Rather, Bonner noted that the crucifix recalled the inseparable quality of these two mysteries of redemption, for in this image worshippers beheld the incarnate Lord, dead for the sake of all. 2s Here Bonner also referred to the chief religious image of the later Middle Ages which had been swept away in the Edwardine iconoclasm. 26 It appears that the Marian programme for parochial renewal was both a response to the destruction of images and a way of negating Protestant claims that Catholicism compromised the value of Christ's redemptive death. 27 The insistence on the restoration of the Rood in all parish churches attests to the priority given to Catholic devotion to Christ crucified by Marian ecclesiastical authorities. 28 In Archdeacon Nicholas Harpsfield's 1557 visitation returns for the Canterbury Archdiocese, parishes were also specifically commanded to obtain paxes 'with the image of the crucifixe', and reredoses portraying the passion. 29 These returns also present another example of Marian stress on Christ's passion: those who did not venerate the Cross on Good Friday were forbidden to receive their Easter communion. 30 There was nothing more central to the theology of Marian Catholic writers than Christ's redemptive passion, and in this concentration they emulated the focus of much of the theology and spirituality of the Middle Ages, as well as that of the Catholic Reformation. 3l Like Carranza, they treated the passion extensively but without graphic detail. 32 They declined to imitate medieval devotional writers in extrapolating upon the physical details of Jesus' suffering; instead, they

22Tunstall, Godly prayers, C5 v _6 r . 23Bonner, Homelies, 13v _4v, 16r _7r. 24See Oberman, Harvest ofMedieval Theology, 134-35, 266-70. 25Bonner, Profitable doctryne, Ii2r. 26For literary images of the passion in late medieval England, see Ross, The Grief of God, IS-53; for Edwardine iconophobia, see MacCulloch, Tudor Church Militant, 70-73. 27Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, 564. 28Ibid., 546, 547, 555-57. 29Jbid., 564; for paxes, see Harpsfield's Visitations II, 198-99, 20 I, 259-60, 265, 271-72. 30Harpsfield's Visitations 11,177,179,183,185. 31See Pelikan, Growth of Medieval Theology, 129-33; Duffy, Stripping of the Altars, 35-37; Evennett, Spirit of the Counter-Reformation, 41. 32Carranza, Catechismo I, 213-59.

90

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

concentrated on its redemptive significance.33 Nevertheless, they continued the emphasis on affective devotion to the one who died for the sake of humanity found in the late Middle Ages. 34 Peryn gave several examples of such writing in his Exercyses. Christians moved with compassion for the suffering Jesus, he wrote, should commend themselves to him who so generously offered his life for their sakes, saying: I Laud and prayse the[e] ... for the great sorrow and heuines of thy most swete louyng and moost godly hart launcyd with a knightes spere in the sight and presens of thy most sorowful mother mary. I commend ... al my whole harte with al my affeccyons and desires hereof, into thy precyus wo[ u]nd of thy most dyuyne hart, the weI of al goodnes. 35

Marian authors also responded to Protestant accusations of Catholic mitigation of the unique and essential quality of Christ's passion for salvation. Watson underlined humanity's salvation through Christ's merits alone, in his innocent death for all. It was Christ who loued us so vehemently, that to bringe vs to life, was content to dye, and for the pryce and ransome of the same Iyfe vouchsafed to geue his own body to death: doth styli vouchsafe to nouryshe vs so redemed and brought to life with the swete and holsom milke of his owne bloude, and geueth vs his fleshe to eate ....36

The Christian was to turn from sin for the health of the soul, 'which Christe hathe preferred before hys own bloode, in that he hath geuen one to redeeme the other,.3? Through his passion, Pendleton explained, Christ made the entire Christian community holy and restored it to God's love. Harpsfield preached that Christ's suffering and death was 'a moost parfyt myrour .. . to behold the exceding great loue of god towards VS, .38 Christians looked into this 'glasse' more deeply, Bonner held, through participation in the sacraments, in which humans receive spiritual realities through visible signs. 39 In this participation Watson wrote that Christians were sanctified by Christ and became participants in his salvific death. Christ's one sacrifice was accomplished on Good Friday. Yet, in the mass, for example,

33Bossy, Christianity in the West, 6-7. 34S ee Duffy, Stripping of the Allars, 234-56. 3SPeryn, Exercyses, HSr-v. 36Watson, Calholyke doctryne, 6S r, 36r 37Ibid., 146r . 38Bonner, Homelies, 32 r, 16v 39Bonner, Profitable doclryne, M1r-v.

MARIAN CATHOLIC CHRISTO LOGY AND SOTERIOLOGY

91

the operation and vertue of this passion, is a longe thing, extended to the salvation of man, from the begynning of the worIde to the laste ende .. .. [T]he effect of it which is mans redemption and satisfaction ceaseth not ... therefore Christe oure Savioure wyIleth that the Sacrifice of thys redemption shoulde neuer cease, but bee alwayes to all men present in grace, and alwayes be kept in perpetuall memorye. The church lived under the conunand of Jesus 'to renew hys passion, not by sufferyng of deathe againe, but after an unbloody maner' in the daily celebration of the eucharist. 40 Watson ended his Catholyke doctryne by describing the seven sacraments as means of healing in which believers participated in the merits of the passion. 41 God was bounteous with these merits: for Redman, grace had 'gushed out as the sea wh[e]n it over runneth the bankes, and ouerfloweth the lande', when the side of Christ was pierced.42 Clearly the focus of Catholicism, as described by these writers, was the world's redemption by Christ's death. Christ not only brought redemption through his passion, but also through his example of humility in the face of suffering. Jesus underwent his passion 'lyke an innocent lambe', not only as a saving sacrifice for humanity, but as a saving 'example, that we shoulde folowe the steppes of hym in pacience and humilitye, and that we shoulde also beare our owne crosse, as he dyd beare hys, and that we shoulde also hate and abhore all synne,.43 To experience such contrition, Christians must prayerfully address the humble Saviour of humanity with empathy, and recall how he had led 'a moost poore and painfulilife, full of muche labour and trauell, in moche sorowe and heuines of harte, sufferinge many and innumerable rebukes, confusions, wronges and iniuryes', especially during his passion.44 By focusing on such manifestations of Christ's suffering, Peryn encouraged readers to seek union with God through self-abnegation. Christ was the model, for through suffering and an ignominious death this man had been humbled, who was nothing less than God. Through meditation on his suffering, readers might be moved to imitate him "as thoughe we were become one with him in his lyfe and passion". Believers must beg for the grace to be united with Jesus, so that their thoughts, actions and words would be his; this experience would only occur if they prayed for the desire to be held in contempt as Jesus had been, a point to which the spirituality of Loyola's Exercises, so important to Counter-Reformation piety, also gave emphasis. 45 40Watson, Catholyke doctryne, 7f, 69 v_70f. "Ibid., 190f . 42Redman, Complaint o/Grace, E5 v. 43Bonnef, Profitable doctryne, E4 v "Pefyn, Exercyses, CS f . 4slbid., I6 f , I(3f_6 v; Loyola, Exercises, nos. 95, 98, 146-47, 167; Melloni, Exercises 0/ Loyola in the Western Tradition, 51-54.

92

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

Peryn also promoted prayer for the needs of daily life by emphasizing the passion. 'Merciful lesu .. . [fJor thy sorowfull nayling of thy blessed feet, hold & fasten my feate from all steppes to euyll, ... and make them quick and spedye to do all deeds of charytie ... to thy only honour' .46 If people found it difficult to forgive others, they needed to recall how Christ suffered and died for sinners, including themselves. 47 To this end, children were to memorize a variant of the 'Jesus prayer' that looked to Pilate's inscription on the Cross: '0 Iesu of Nazareth, Kinge of the lewes, sonne of god, haue mercie vpon me'. 48

The risen Christ and his relationship to the church Yet Marian theologians did not morbidly stress Jesus' passion to the point of overshadowing the resurrection, a charge made against late-medieval spiritual writers. 49 Redman had the personification of grace proclaim that on '[t]he third daye I pearsed the cloude, and droue awaye all the power of darknesse. ,50 Bonner revered the risen Christ as the sole source of salvation, since 'death coulde not holde Chryste, euen so it cannot holde vs, whyche are by a Chrysten fayth, the verye members, and body of ChrYSt'.51 For Redman, the risen Lord was the 'author, maker, and founder' of the life of grace.52 Bonner and Feckenham depicted the grace which the risen Christ proffered and Christ's relation to his body, the church, through his names and titles. He is saviour since he is 'Jesus' ('God saves'), and he is anointed ('Christ') as king and priest to fulfil his mission as saviour. As king, Christ freed humanity from the grip of the devil's power, and he takes all people as his own. As priest, he offered himself as a sacrifice, for the sake of humanity, upon the cross and in the eucharist until the end of time. Through his royal and priestly offices, Bonner wrote, Christians become 'his peculiar people, redemed by him, ... and be made hys owne proper, and obedient seruauntes,.53 In his Pathe waye to perfection, Hogarde wept for joy because Jesus desired to save him, and paraphrased the Magnificat in gratitude.54 Marian theologians noted the intimacy of the risen Christ's relationship with his 'proper seruauntes' . Union with Christ, now and in the life to come, stood as the 46Peryn, Exercyses, El r 47Bonnef, Profitable doctryne, &&2f. "Bonner, Honest instruction, A4 r-v OSee Dickens, English Reformation, 34. sORedman, Complaint of Grace, E6 f. slBonnef, Profitable doctryne, F3 v. s2Redman, Complaint of Grace, I5 r 13Bonner, Profitable doctryne, C4 v_D2v; Feckenham, Two homilies, B3 f. S4Hogafde, Pathe waye to perfection, D4f.

MARIAN CATHOLIC CHRISTOLOGY AND SOTERIOLOGY

93

goal of Catholic belief. Feckenham told Christians that Jesus desired them to share intimately in his life, his joy, the merits of his conception, birth, life, passion and death, his resurrection and ascension, as well as his attributes, which thwarted the power of evi1. 55 Traditionally Christ had been called 'Our Lord'; for theologians like Bonner, Christopherson and Standish, it denoted a close, affective relationship with Jesus, which the 'protestaunt' use of 'the Lord' did not. 56 Such a familiar relationship with the risen Jesus, according to Peryn, enabled Christians to become dependent upon God alone. God was indeed the 'most faythful frind and true louer' and 'cheryshed' Christians 'both in body and soule' all through life, despite sin. God redeemed humanity from sin and death by the death of his son, and so one must "rnaruayle at the infynite goodnes and lyberalitie of almighty god, that bought there] wyth so great a price".57 How should Christians respond? With mutual love, according to Pollard, who wrote that our sauyour seemeth to moue vs, when he sayth, yf ye loue me kepe my com-maundementes. Se[e] here the louyngenes of our heauenly father, who moueth not for feare of punyshemente, but for naturall loue and pitie due vnto suche a father, moueth vs ... to obserue and kepe his commaudementes thorowe loue ....58

Feckenham also described God as 'a very deare and tender father' whom Christians should love and believe. 59 Pollard claimed that Christians needed God more than an infant its mother. 60 Peryn translated a surprising metaphor from Van Ess, no doubt to awaken readers to the wonder of the gift of Christ's salvation. [L]yke as the worldly or fleshely louer hath styl his bumyng desyre to his paramour, and is redy in euery place and corner wher he me[e]tith with his loue to expres by louely and swete wordes his feruent and hote desyre that he beryth vnto her loue ... euer so ... we do open vnto our louer Iesu, our feruent desyre of his moost blessyd loue wyth ... harty deuoute desyres where euer we mete hym, that is, as oft as he commyth to oure mynd, where euer we be or what euer we dO. 61

Christ, the soul's paramour, is available to satisfy the deepest human longings. SSFeckenham, Two homilies, 83 v-4v. s68onner, Profitable doctryne Dl v, D2v; Christopherson, Exhortation agaynst rebellion, Slv_2v; Standish, Whether scripture should be in English, H7r-1l r; see Marc'hadour, 'Lord,' Moreana II, 8790. S7Peryn, Exercyses, 86r_7r, N6r, N5 r, K2r. s8Pollard, Fyue homiles, E I r. s9Feckenham, Two homilies, A3 v_4v. 6OPollard, Fyue homiles, H4r. 61Peryn, Exercyses, N7v.

94

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

Through his sacraments, Watson wrote, the risen Christ made himself intimately present in the life of his church. For example, he graciously accommodated himself to frail humanity by making the sacraments visible. 62 Venaeus noted Christ's compassion in his magnanimous death and proffering of himself in the sacraments; Christians should be 'cleane ouercome' by such incredible love. 63 Christ reigned in heaven, as Protestants emphasized, but he was also truly present in the sacraments, and corporeally in the eucharist, according to the author of A Treatise concernynge the Masse. 64 Therefore the Spirit of Christ risen did not abide beyond the reach of humanity, but was embodied under the common signs of bread, wine, water and oil, so that humanity might have recourse to that same life-giving Spirit. As the sacraments were central to the spirituality of Catholicism, so Christ, who had given them to his church to foster closer union with him, was at the heart of that sacramental theology and spirituality. Nevertheless, the relationship with Christ also required effort on the believer's part. '[R]eformacyon of the soul' was essential for drawing closer to Christ and his salvation. Peryn attested that "[t]hou muste submyt and giue thy selfe vnto the disciplyne of swete Iesu and become hys scoler, choisinge hym vnto thy Lorde and maister".65 While God's providence was marked above all by mercy, according to Tunstall, Christ could also move his people through fear, and woe to those who remain unmoved by either. 66 For such individual reformation, Hogarde stated that all must follow the pattern of their risen saviour' s life and teaching, recalling that they could fulfil this vocation with the support of grace, faith, hope and charity.67 Watson concurred. To accomplish what God loved most, '[l]ette him labour to imitate our saviour Christ' by being reconciled with others, for which Christ had instructed Christians to pray in the Pater Noster. And in receiving the eucharist, Christians renewed their commitment to Christ; the necessary corollary was 'to expresse in our lyues that we imitate and folow his footesteps, and so keepe a perpetuall commemoration of him that died for vs, and rose againe' .68 Christ the redeemer, incarnate, suffering and risen, was the uncompromising focus of Catholic theology and spirituality in Marian England. Marian theologians insistently portrayed Jesus as the the lord of all and the sole redeemer of creation. 62Watson, Catholyke doctryne, 6r 63Yenaeus, Notable Oration, EI r_2v. 64Treatise concernynge the Masse, DSr_E5 r 6SPeryn, Exercyses, D3 v. ~unstall , Godly prayers , C3 r -v; for views that natural calamities were punishment for sin, see Pollard, Fyue homiles, EI v and Walsham, Providence in Early Modern England, 150-66. 67Hogarde, Pathe waye to perfection, E2v_3 v. 68Watson, Catholyke doctryne, 136v, 67 v

MARIAN CATHOLIC CHRISTOLOGY AND SOTERIOLOGY

95

They followed Anselm's Christ-centred soteriological vision, but, probably out of pastoral solicitude for prospective lay readers and listeners in turbulent times, they declined to delineate it in detai1. 69 Their concern was that Christians perceive that their saviour, in Peryn's words, "hath geuen him selfe vnto vs, by his birth, as a felow in our nature, in the sacrament, as our foode. In hys death, as the pryce of our redempcion, and reigninge in heauen, as our euerlasting rewarde which he graunt vs of hys mercy and chari tie" .70 Christ was also the examplar of how to live the Christian life, and Christians were to desire and seek an affective, dependent and fervent relationship with him. For example, Eamon Duffy correctly described Harpsfield's sermon on human misery in the 1555 Homelies as 'striking for its uncompromising christocentricity,.71 That this Marian churchman's work first appeared in the 1547 collection of homilies does not take away from its Catholic vision.72 Harpsfield's other sermons in the 1555 collection, such as those on the redemption, the breaking of charity, the papacy and the eucharist could be described in the same way. In his sermon on the redemption, for instance, both Christ's incarnation and passion were reiterated, as they were stressed throughout the religious works published in Mary's reign. 73 Jesus also stood at the heart of Peryn's Exercyses, and the attention directed towards Christ throughout the work was to lead readers to a deepening relationship with him. Yet the principal means of deepening that union was through Christ's sacramental presence in the eucharist, the chief sacrament and the element of Catholic practice that Marian authors most strenuously maintained. In their concentration on Christ and the love and salvation he offered, two patterns are evident in the approach of Marian theologians in their treatment of other aspects of theology and spirituality. These writers, in rarely choosing to engage in polemic and controversy - Hogarde on Christ's humanity and Bonner and Christopherson on 'Our Lord' are exceptions - are shown to be men with a way of Christian living that they wanted to bestow upon others; they were not fighting a rearguard action of a reactionary church. Secondly, Catholic christology in Tudor England was not a resuscitation of medieval theology, but parallelled contemporary Catholicism. Carranza's Catechismo also instilled christo centrism, in which 'faith consisted in the ... personal acceptance of Christ's redemption,.74 69Fiorenza and Galvin, Systematic Theology I, 277-80; Pelikan, Reformation of Church and Dogma, 2325. 70Peryn, Exercyses, B 1r_2v. 7lDuffy, Stripping of the Altars, 536. 72MacCulloch, Cranmer, 372-73. 73Bonner, Homelies, \3 r _17r. 74See Tellechea in Carranza, Catechismo I, 89; 'La fe consiste en la aceptaci6n profunda y personalisima de la redenci6n de Cristo'.

96

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

The content of Peryn's Exercyses, as well as that of the sermons of Feckenham, Pollard and Watson, were similar to Le Picart's sermons in the latter's focus on Christ, his presentation of God 'in relational terms', and his 'almost wholly positive and reassuring' description of God. 7s Moreover, the foundation ofPeryn's book can actually be traced to Van Ess and Loyola, whose methods of prayer are also noted for their affective christocentrism.76 As their books testify, Marian writers advocated the 'increased veneration' of Christ's humanity, life and passion, which was to become a hallmark of Counter-Reformation spirituality.77

Soteriology Soteriology, or the doctrine of how Christ saves or justifies humanity, was the central controversy for the magisterial reformers and one of the first dealt with by the Council of Trent. Along with the nature of Christ's eucharistic presence, the debate on how Christians were united with Christ in this mortal life and eternally in the next caused enormous shifts in how Christians in England perceived their relationship with God. In their works, Marian authors responded to the soteriological innovations that had been mooted in Henry VIII's reign, and which had been established as doctrine under Edward VI. Several points are noteworthy in their response. While it is true, as Lucy Wooding states, that Marian theologians chose to stress the sacraments as means of receiving grace, she is mistaken in her belief that they were 'avoiding, for the most part, any direct discussion of the process of justification'.78 I believe that their writing, while not highly sophisticated, was nevertheless overt and insistent in presenting the soteriological doctrine of Catholicism, whether in terms of justification, ecclesiology or sacramental theology. Moreover, Ellen Macek has noted that the number of Marian writings treating soteriology at some length was considerable, including Redman's De Iustificatione and Tunstall's Contra Impios, Blasphematores Dei Praedestinationes, both printed in Antwerp in 1555. Secondly, while their stances on justification were not seamless, the uniformity of the views of Marian theologians is remarkable. Macek is correct in noting the 'striking' correspondence among their writings on salvation. 79 Furthermore, these writers not only paralleled each other's views, they also defended a theological synthesis on soteriology that had been expounded by John Fisher in the 1520s, and had been defined by the 7STaylor, Heresy and Orthodoxy in Paris, 79, note 39; 136-40. 76Ampe, 'Eschius', DS IV, cols. 1065-66. 77Evennett, Spirit of the Counter-Reformation, 41 . 78Wooding, Rethinking Catholicism, 212 . 79Macek, Loyal Opposition, 42, 39.

MARIAN CATHOLIC CHRISTOLOGY AND SOTERIOLOGY

97

Council of Trent in 1547. This uniformity was despite Pole's initial views on justification, and Carranza's and Bishop Pate's sympathy to the notion of 'twofold justice'- first proposed in the 1541 Regensburg Colloquy - at Trent; they all acceded to Trent's decree, though it would not be binding until 1564.80

Sin Rooted in self-love, sin was the inordinate attachment of humanity to the good things of this life. To Hogarde's mind, sin was due to humans' refusal to live in accord with their nature, which had been created in God's image. 8t He remarked that sin entrapped merchants and farmers in their greed, the married in their lust for those to whom they were not married, and heretics in their proud disdain of the church. 82 Other sins for which people should beg God's forgiveness, Peryn held, were infidelity to God's church, heretical beliefs, and political timidity in the face of government-enforced religious revolution; to Marian Catholic minds, these were the chief sins of the previous twenty years.83 But sin, according to the soteriology of Marian theologians such as Bonner - and Fisher before them - in contrast to views initially propounded by Luther, was not equated with concupiscence or the inclination or temptation to sin; temptation became sin when persons submitted to the desire to do evil. 84 Following Augustine, these theologians rejected the notion of humanity'S utter depravity.8s Humans freely chose to sin; they could not blame God for their moral weakness. Hogarde was hard-hitting on this point, yet he insisted that pelagianism - gaining salvation by gaining holiness through force of will- was no answer. The resolution came through grace, God's free gift. 86 The remedy for sin was the grace merited by Christ's passion and death, which he had undergone, Tunstall wrote, for the 'abolyshment of our synnes'; again, in contrast to Protestant soteriology - with the exception of Osiander's unique views - Christians were utterly free from sin, due to their saviour's compassionate, loving forgiveness. 87 In an overt rebuttal to Protestant belief, Smyth declared that baptism 'taketh cleane away our sinnes, [and] not as it were to shaue them, that

80See Fenlon, Heresy and Obedience, 174-95; Mayer, Pole, 153-69; Jedin, History of Trent II, 245, 286. 81Hogarde, The excellency ofmannes nature, A2r-v. 82Hogarde, Mirrour of loue, DI r-v. 83Peryn, Exercyses, H8 V • 84Bonner, Profitable doctyne, N3 r-v ; Rex, Theology of Fisher, 121-23. USee Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines, 364-65; Pelikan, Emergence of the Catholic Tradition, 300-1. 86Hogarde, The excellency of mannes nature, D I r-v. 87Tunstall, Godly prayers, A6r_7r, C5 r; for Osiander's views on redemption, see Pelikan, Reformation of Church and Dogma, 151-52; Cameron, European Reformation , 365.

98

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

rootes of them remayne styl'. 88 The sacraments of baptism and penance were the means for receiving this grace. They conferred the grace of divine forgiveness, Bonner wrote, so that sin 'shall neuer after ... be imputed vnto vs'. Baptism freed Christians from the imputation of original sin, and penance freed them from the imputation of the sins they committed since their last confession. Repentance required grace, Bonner underlined, since 'it is not in oure power to delyuer our selues from the tyrannye of the Deuyll, but onely by Goddes helpe,.89 Nevertheless, Redman and Hogarde asserted, the gift of grace always remained available to Christians who responded to God's initial prompting to tum from sin. 90 Sin had made humanity the enemy of God, Hogarde told readers of his Mirrour of laue, but God became reconciled with humanity by the offering up of the life of God's son. 91 Bonner iterated that those who sinned might, by the grace gained through Christ's sacrificial death, feel remorse for their sins, employ remedies for it, and be reconciled to God.92 In discussing repentance, Watson did not dwell upon the fear of hell, but the need for hope and trust in God's compassion, who punishes only '[f]or our profytte and correction' . He urged sinners to open their hearts to God immediately and also to someone trustworthy for counsel, for 'it is not so euil to take a fal, as it is to lye styl after the fall'. 93 God is ready to 'embrace' the sinner in a 'moste fatherlye' way, with the incomparable gift of grace, God's own self. Watson quoted the prophet Jeremiah to encourage Christians in their rejection of sin: 'I am a God that is nere [at] hande, and not God a farre of[f]'. Moreover, true penitence should be rooted in a relationship with God, rather than dread of infamy or fear ofpunishment. 94

Grace No one stood outside 'Godes helpe' in the struggle against sin - help in the form of the divine gift of grace, God's own self at work in the world. Christ came into the world longing to save all people, Bonner wrote, no matter what their sins. 95 He and other Marian theologians followed Fisher and concurred with Trent's decree on justification in stressing the paramount place of God's free gift of grace in human 88Smyt h, The seconde parte of a Buck/ar, FS v, 89Bonner, Profitable doctyne, J(3r, Yyl r-v. 9ORedman, Complaint of Grace, B2V. 91 Hogarde, Mirrour of loue, C2 v, 92Bonner, Profitable doctyne, B4r 93Watson, Catholyke doctryne, S6 T_S T, 86 v,90r. 94Ibid., 88 v, 91 r, I02 r-v, 9sBonneT, Profitable doctyne, Q3 r-v,

MARIAN CATHOLIC CHRISTO LOGY AND SOTERIOLOGY

99

salvation. 96 Harpsfield remarked that it was erroneous to believe that Christians could possibly have redeemed themselves. 97 According to Redman's Complaint of Grace, grace must initiate the relationship of love between Christ and persons by reminding them of their nature, their last end, what God desires of them, and especially how essential God's help was for salvation. 98 Hogarde's works, such as A treatise dec/a ring howe Christ was banished, are imbued with the sense of the primacy and indispensable quality of grace in the transformation of human activity towards the good.99 Gwyrmeth remarked that conversion from sin and accomplishment of good works occurred through grace's mediation. loo From the beginning of his Exercyses, Peryn insisted that Christian perfection could only be attained by divine instigation and support; "highe studye and outward laboure" do not serve in this quest. Christians must desire to love God passionately and faithfully, but they must leave God to kindle and fulfil that desire. lol God could not be approached without divine aid. And when grace moved believers to turn from sin and love God, any labour accomplished for the sake of that conversion and love was also due to grace. For God was the one "workyng and doing all goodnes and good workes, be they neuer so lytel, in all men, yea and it be but the mouing of thy finger vnto a good dede". Thus Christians must pray God to '[g]raunt me ... grace in al thynge[s] to chose euermore, that whiche may be most to thy honour, or conformable to the example of my lord Iesu ... or moost shameful to the worlde'. 102 Peryn told readers that grace disposes human beings to conversion, "the true tuminge or conuersion of thy loue to god", whether in an initial change of heart or after falling from grace into sin. By this gift of the divine self, believers increased in self-knowledge and were so enabled to recognize their sins. Grace also led to the desire to imitate Christ's holiness of life, and to seek what is 'moost shameful to the worlde': his humility and rejection of earthly wisdom. A longing for transformation would result from meditation on Christ and his ways. Such reflection had "perced the harte of holye saint Augustine and other fry[ e]ndes of God" such that they were united or "transformed in maner into almyghty god". 103 Grace was the only way in which Christians could follow the example of the repentant publican in the Temple, Glasier wrote, rather than the pharisee. l04 As 96Rex, Theology 0/ Fisher, 125; Canons and Decrees o/Trent, 31-32. 97Bonner, Homelies, 14v_5 r. 98Redman, Complaint o/Grace, HI v_2r. 99Hogarde, Howe Christ was banished, A4v, CI r-v; A New ABC, A2r-v,3 v, 4r, BI r-v; Path waye to perfection, passim. looGwynneth, Declaration o/the Victory 0/ Marye, A3 r_4v IOlperyn, Exercyses, AI r-v, A5 v. I021bid., A6r-v, A5 r-v, N4v, M3 r-v, PI r '03Ibid., B2v, B I v; for an analysis of Peryn's spirituality, see Chapter 6. I04Glasier, Sermon made at Paules crosse, A7r_Sr

100

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

Paul had been humbled before he became a great apostle, so Christians could learn humility through grace-inspired repentance and use of the sacrament of penance, in order to become what Redman described as 'able souldiers vnder the baner of ChriSt'.105 Grace was the only hope for convinced Protestants, according to Gwynneth, for they could not even comprehend that they were heretics. 106 For God freely offered grace, as Hogarde stated in his Path waye to perfection; none are forced to receive this gift of the divine self, and so transform their lives. 107 Nevertheless, grace was always available to all who sought God's presence in their lives, no matter how grave their sin. 108 Christ's meritorious grace could also be conferred by the church to particular Christians and particular needs, as with masses and prayers offered for specific intentions. Protestants perceived this view as an excuse for creating a market for the sale of sacraments. Yet Bonner, Harpsfield and Watson responded in the official texts of the Marian church that without the specific application of Christ's grace on the part of the church, even unbelievers and sinners would partake of his salvific grace.109 In 1547 Smyth had expressed this argument in his Confutation of Cranmer on the eucharist. If Christ's merits need not be applied, and the 'sacrifice of christ made vpon the crosse, neade no application, why shold we neade to beleue in hym? to hope? to feare god? to do penaunce for our synnes? to praye? to fast? to gyue almes? to loue god? to keep his conunaundmentes? or to do any good?' All would be saved without a free response and effort on their part. I 10 Watson and Carranza also concurred that while Christ had died to save all, not all were saved, because individuals could freely choose not to participate in Christ's redemption. One could apply the merits of Christ's sacrifice through interior acts of faith, hope and charity, or works of fasting, prayer and almsgiving, and most especially through the sacraments, particularly the celebration of the eucharist. III Watson remarked that it was not the priest who applied the merits of the mass for a particular intention, but the priest prayed God to apply the merits. 112 Christians IOSRedman, Complaint of Grace, I4r-v; for the grace of sacramental penance, see also Hogarde, Path waye to perfection, C4 v _D3 v I06Gwynneth, Dec/aration, 2 r -v, 4 r -v , soy. I07Hogarde, Path waye to peifection, C2 r-v ; cf. Gardiner, Dec/aration, 84r -v I08Hogarde, Path waye to peifection, Bl r _C2 v I09Watson, Catholyke doctryne, 76 r_7v; Twoo Sermons, XSv_8r ; Bonner, Profitable doctryne, Q3 r _RI r; Bonner, Homelies,l7 v ; cf. Smyth, Defense, 16S v _74r II°Smyth, Confutation, 2Sr_6 v . IIIWatson, Twoo Sermons, N6 r _7v; Carranza, Catechismo II, 283; '[H]a de entender cualquiera cristiano que son casas muy diferentes la satisfaci6n de Cristo par todos los hombres y la aplicaci6n de ella. Porque Christo sin niguna diferencia padeci6 y satisfizo par todos los que descendieron en Adim y Eva par la orden de la generaci6n natural, y todos han ten ida y tienen necesidad de su redenci6n; pero no todos los hombres gozan de este beneficia, porque no se aplica a todos.' 112Watson, Twoo Sermons, XSv_8 r

MARIAN CATHOLIC CHRISTOLOGY AND SOTERIOLOGY

101

therefore prayed to God to apply the merits of the one sacrifice for their renewal in the Spirit and forgiveness of their sins. 113 Therefore the church aided believers in their quest for healing and vivifying grace, especially through the sacraments. The Marian Catholic explication of justification followed the process of salvation described by Fisher and the Tridentine decree on the doctrine. God freely offers initial or prevenient grace to sinners and is freely accepted such that they repent of their sins. In participating in the sacraments of baptism and penance they gain the grace that justifies, and they may continue in this grace by cooperating with it by adhering to God's commands, and repenting and making satisfaction for sins in the sacrament of penance. 114 Therefore the role of the sacraments was particularly important. In his sacramental theology, Watson did not delineate an explicit theology of grace, but defended the medieval synthesis of the church's doctrine of grace, rooted in the traditional interpretation of Augustine's writings and solidified at Trent. 115 He, as well as Bonner, confirmed that the sacraments, as instruments of God's grace, were God's free gift to sinful humanity and the means to attain its supernatural end of personal union with God. These 'medicynes', as vehicles of grace, were to heal human nature bound by sin, and to raise that nature to a participation in the life of Christ. Through the sacraments of baptism and penance that establish or renew a person in the life of grace, and through the eucharist, the necessary sustenance for that life, the person was enabled to respond to God with works of merit. 116 While some of the sacraments were not absolutely necessary for salvation, it would be foolish to forgo the spiritual benefits that they offered. ll7 Watson's concentration on the sacraments in the life of grace not only paralleled the Tridentine determinations, but also the views of Carranza; for the latter, 'the sacraments signify the will and grace of God, the remedy for sin, memorials of the passion and death of Christ, confer grace and justification, are distinctive signs of Christians and of the true church'. 118

113Watson, Catholyke doctryne, 70r-v. l"Rex, Theology of Fisher, 128; Canons and Decrees of Trent, 31-3. 115For discussions of Augustine's soteriology, see Fiorenza and Galvin, Systematic Theology II, 91-92, 120-22; Pelikan, Emergence of the Catholic Tradition, 294-307; for Cranmer's interpretation of Augustine, see Null, Cranmer's Doctrine of Repentance, 157-212. l16Watson, Catholyke doctryne, 6r-v , 36r-v ; Bonner, Profitable doctryne, B4 r-v , IAv-M1 v, M4r-v , P3 r-v . 117Watson, Catholyke doctryne, 189v . llBSee Tellechea's Introduction, Carranza, Catechismo I, 91; 'Los sacramentos son seftales y testimonios ciertos de la voluntad de Dios y de su gracia, remedio contra el pecado, memoriales de la pasion y muerte de Cristo, sellos de la justicia y gracia que confieren, signos distintivos de los cristianos y de la verdadera Iglesia .... '

102

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

Faith

After the divine gift of prevenient grace, faith in Christ's salvation possessed first place in the process of justification, according to Smyth and his peers. 119 Bonner described this form of faith as 'a sure confidence, and hope, to attayne all whatsoeuer God hath promised for Christes sake, and it signifieth ... also, a hartye loue to God, and an obedience to his commandementes,.120 For Pollard and Feckenham, too, faith was an abiding trust in God and the promise of salvation. 121 God gratuitously and generously offered grace leading to faith in Christ, Redman had proclaimed, so undeserving humanity could enter further into the life of grace, won for humanity by Christ. 122 If Christians accepted and exercised the gift of faith, they were given grace which justified or saved them, enabling them to share in God's own divine life in their mortal lives and forever in the Kingdom of God. If believers exercised their faith so that it was fruitful in charity, in this sense Christians may be called worthy, for God granted salvation only to those who cooperate with grace in union with the divine will. Therefore grace, according to Redman, inspired Christians, as exemplified by the saints, to 'holde faste [to] ... faithe, by whiche they ouercame kingdoms, they wrought ryghtwysenes, and obtained the promises [of Christ]' . \23 In comparing the Marian Catholic understanding of faith with that of Protestants, strong similarities may be noted in terms of understanding it both as confidence in God, the gratuity of God in granting it and its essential quality for salvation. 124 Trent also described faith as 'the beginning of human salvation, the foundation and root of all justification'. However, to Marian Catholic minds, faith had been shaken in the time of heretical ascendancy, which had proclaimed, 'with untiring fury', the primacy of faith as the means of gaining salvation and, therefore, its primacy in the life and worship of the church. 125 This corrupt notion of faith had instead caused the deterioration of faith, Pollard told readers. 126 For Hogarde, the doctrine of salvation by faith alone, 'lyke a conqueror[,] had discharged hope, and charitiee, out of office'. 127 However, Marian authors did not make crude caricatures of sola fides as encouragement to sin, as More and

119Smyth, Seconde parte ofa Bucklar, cs r. 12°Bonner, Profitable doctryne, B2 r I2IPol\ard, Fyue homiles, C13 r; Feckenham, Two homilies, A2v. 122Redman, Complaint of Grace, I1 r-v, HI v_2v, I5 r-v. I23lbid., F5 r; cf. Gardiner, Declaration, 31 r_5 r. 124See Cameron, European Reformation, 117-19. 125Canons and Decrees of Trent, 35. 126Pol\ard, Fyve homiles, CII v 127Hogarde, Displaying of the Protestantes, 39 r.

MARIAN CATHOLIC CHRISTOLOGY AND SOTERIOLOGY

103

Gardiner had done in Henry's reign. 128 For the most part, Marian writers appear not to have been threatened by the remnants of evangelical soteriology in England, or to have desired to score debating points; they were rather concerned with reuniting faith with hope and charity, and so presenting Catholicism's understanding of salvation.

'Lyuely fayth' and good works

Lucy Wooding believes that there was very little difference between Catholics and their opponents on the role of faith and good works in justification, except for 'one or two finer points of doctrine'; she asserts that, like Protestants, 'Marian authors, ... used their writings on the mass to stress the degeneracy of man and the irrevelancy of his works in the granting of salvation as a free gift from God'. 129 Yet the differences were in fact very sharp, and on this issue Marian theologians were in the vanguard of the Counter-Reformation; for example, Catholic belief in the need for applying grace and the church's authority to make the application, discussed above, was utterly repugnant to the reformers. Bonner also asked if there were any who held to justification by faith alone and denied the value of good works in his Visitation Articles. 130 Wooding particularly notes Harpsfield' s sermon 'of the miserye of mankinde and of hys condempnation ... by hys owne synne' as an example of a strong degree of similarity between Catholic and evangelical stances, since it first appeared in the 1547 collection of homilies, and was reprinted in Bonner's Homelies with few changes. Yet these changes are nonetheless significant, and if Harpsfield's other sermons in the 1555 collection are taken into account, important differences emerge. 131 The passages omitted in the 1555 sermon on 'the miserye ofmankinde' include a statement that Christians cannot 'chalenge' or demand as due 'any part of justificacion by our merites or works'; that Christians cannot claim heaven because of their 'awne desertes, merites, or good deedes (whiche of our own selfes wee have none)'; finally an extended passage that states that humans are of themselves 'verely, synfull, wretched, damnable', and 'not hable either to thynke a good thought or worke a good deede' and that

128More, Confutation, 401, 779; Gardiner, Declaration, 37 r_9 r . Pace Wooding, who maintains that Gardiner's writings 'incorporated these reformed ideas on faith and the diminished significance of good works'; Wooding, Rethinking Catholicism, 97. See also further references to Gardiner's Declaration below. '29Wooding, Rethinking Catholicism, 163,212. 130 Visitation Articles II, 349. 13lIbid., 162-64.

104

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

Christ is generous to them 'without our merites or desertes,.132 Also in 1547 Christians could not 'rejoyse in any woorkes' they accomplished; in 1555 Christians could not 'bragge' of their works. 133 Through these omissions it seems that Harpsfield is rejecting the depravity of human beings and the worthlessness of their actions for the sake of justification. Furthermore, in the following sermon on human redemption he states unequivocally 'that God requyreth in vs certayne thynges, to be accomplyshed by our owne wyll and consent, without the whyche, we can not be saued, no more than yf Chryste had neuer dyed for vs'. 134 God required a free response to the gift of grace, otherwise Christ's passion would be of no avail in the believer's life. He goes on to state the response 'requyred' of Christians in the third sermon, on how redemption is applied to Christians: they must profess orthodox belief and 'to liue vpryghtly', both of which can only be accomplished in the context of the church. 13s Harpsfield's sermon on the peril of breaking charity also stressed the need to 'paynefully, and manfully' strive against evil for the sake of charity with the help of grace; he also chided those who preached 'Chrystyan libertie' and that 'paynefull trauell is not requyred of vs' for the sake of charity.136 By looking at Harpsfield's sermons, we see the Marian Catholic emphasis on the essential requirement of Christians to respond with good works to God's gifts of grace and faith. Marian Catholic and Protestants did not have 'an essentially similar understanding' of the role of faith and works in the process of justification. 137 Marian authors and Protestants chiefly differed on the idea of justifying faith, especially in the former's distinction between 'unformed' and 'formed' faith, a notion which the latter rejected. 138 Unformed faith was the belief in Christ's salvation without grace-inspired adherence to Christ's commands, which could obtain even if justification were lacking. 139 Such faith remained insufficient for salvation. Referring to the Letter of James, Bonner insisted that faith must be formed by union with other virtues and with action, otherwise it is 'a deade faythe' of knowledge only. For Bonner, the faith described in Romans is not the 'late inuented' kind of 'fayth alone'; St Paul is to be understood as describing the true 'lyuelye' and 'effectuall faythe', given in grace, that moves Christians to follow God's will and live according to the divine commands. The believer must be I32Cer/ain Sermons, 73, 75; cf. Bonner, Homelies, lOY, II Y, 12 Y. 133Certain Sermons, 74; cf. Bonner, Homelies, II Y • IJ'Bonner, Homelies, 17 r , cf. 16Y • IJSlbid., 18 r , cf. \7Y. IJ6Ibid., 29 r , 28 Y, cf. 30 v IJ7Wooding, Rethinking Catholicism, 163. IJ8Cameron, European Re/ormation, 117-18; Null, Cranmer's Doctrine 0/ Repentance, 126-68, 164-71. IJ9Aquinas, Summa Theologiae 2a2ae. 4, 4; 6, 2; 22, 7; MacCulloch, Cranmer, 345-46.

MARIAN CATHOLIC CHRISTO LOGY AND SOTERIOLOGY

105

baptized, do penance for sins as well as forgive others' sins, and try faithfully to follow Christ's example. God redeemed humanity not by faith alone, as was recently held, but by faith united with a dynamic adherence to Christ's gospel. Salvation thus necessitated humanity's active cooperation with Christ's redemption. 14o Thus Bonner, and Fisher before him in his 1521 sermon reprinted twice in Mary's reign, rejected the Protestant interpretation of Romans on the role of faith and works; to such Catholics, that reading of Romans was a novelty which had not been propounded by the fathers and contradicted other scriptural texts, such as the Epistle to James and passages in Romans itself. 141 Other Marian authors agreed. Watson told his readers that '[t]he iustice of god can not iudge otherwise, but as oure woorkes deserue' .142 While Hogarde acknowledged that Christ's meritorious death was sufficient for salvation, without good works his death 'yieldeth no comfort'. Those who depended upon faith alone refused to cooperate with Christ in the work of their salvation. 143 Fisher had remarked in his sermon that devils believed in Christ: were they justified? St Peter's faith to walk on water needed the strength of hope to sustain him.144 Therefore, Edgeworth asserted, 'the fayth by whyche GOD keepeth vs, is a lyuelye faithe adorned with Charitie and with good workes accordinglye' .145 Believers possessed the grace to become the children of God, Hogarde declared, and therefore must 'do the louers part' in returning Christ's love with charity.146 Just as a tree produces buds in the warm weather of Spring, so Christians must accomplish charitable acts under the influence of divine grace, Fisher had told readers. 147 While unmerited grace tendered the gift of faith in Christ's salvation, Bonner and Edgeworth maintained, as Fisher had before, that good works, such as those of hope and charity, must be united with faith.148 Peryn wrote that '[a]t the least you muste haue a verye good wyll and an vnfayned desyre to folowe and to expresse them [good works] in your life and deedes to your power by goddes assistence'. Peryn emphasized the need to respond to faith through acts of charity. 'This most perfect vertue [of charity] workith in vs liuely fayth, and stronge belefe, it bryngeth hope and trust in [God]' .149 Nevertheless, Smyth reminded readers that 14°Bonner, Profitable doctryne, BI v-4 r, RI r l"Ibid., B4r; Fisher, Sermon very notable, C7 r_D4r. Fisher cited Romans 2.13 and 8.13. 142Watson, Catholyke doctryne, 9S v; cf. 2v. 143Hogarde, Displaying of the Protest antes , I I2v_ISr; Path waye to perfection, E 1r. "4Fisher, Sermon very notable, C7 v, C3 r -v. '4SEdgeworth, Sermons very fruitfull, 169, 209. 146Hogarde, Mirrour ofloue, C4 r-v. 147Fisher, Sermon very notable, CI r_Sr. 148Bonner, Profitable doctryne, B3 v _4r; cf. RI r. Edgeworth, Sermons very fruitfull, 116; Fisher, Sermon very notable, C3 r-v; cf. D2 r 149Peryn, Exercyses, A4 r, L7v.

106

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

such acts of charity came about through God's inspiration, as Redman and Fisher had done. 150 Peryn also stated at the beginning of his Exercyses that growth in the Christian life was due to the generous gift of grace, not human labour. Therefore one must persistently do the good work of praying for the Spirit's aid, as well as for the intercession of the Virgin Mary and the saints, in doing good works. 151 Among the works that Christians must accomplish is satisfaction for their sins, according to such theologians as Bonner and Watson; as stated earlier, Watson even translated the not-yet promulgated Tridentine decree on the need to make satisfaction in the process of justification. 152 Believers should make satisfaction "as weI as thou canst", Peryn informed readers, by taking bodily penance, for example, under the guidance of a spiritual director. 153 Rebutting Protestant claims that the Catholic doctrine of satisfaction was derogatory to Christ's saving death, Hogarde remarked that 'Nay it settes furth his glory, syth he wyll thus, / Crown his own workes wrought by him in vs'. Christians could never make complete satisfaction for their sins, but Christ made up that which was lacking in their efforts. 154 In his controversy with Hooper, Gardiner had referred to Aquinas in explaining that satisfaction was required for the punishment due to sin that had been forgiven in the sacrament of penance, by means of deeds of charity or mortification. He also cited Augustine as stating that satisfaction for the punishment of venial sins could be accomplished in purgatory. ISS Justification received through good works was not imputed to Christians, Watson and Gardiner insisted; it was inherent justice given through grace, and the virtue of their charity and mortification would accompany them on the Day of Judgment. 156 The Christian life consisted of 'labouringe dayly to continue and to increase the same [grace] in the feare and loue of GOD and good workes'.1S7 This 'labouringe' ISOSmyth, Seconde parte 0/ a Bucklar, E7 v, E8 v ; Redman, Complaint o/Grace, I6r ; Fisher, Sermon very notable, C2 v _3 r ISlperyn, Exercyses, Al r-v. IS2Bonner, Profitable doctryne, QI v _2 r , S2 v _4 r ; Watson, Catholyke doctryne, 139v-46 v ; see Chapter 5, p.184. IS3Peryn, Exercyses, C3 v-4 v . IS4Hogarde, Path waye to peifection, D3 r _4r IssGardiner, Responsio Venerabilium, 97v_8 r; for citation, see Chapter 2, p. 82, note 227. IS6Watson , Catholyke doctryne, 140v-4l r, 147r [recte 145r ); Gardiner, Responsio Venerabilium, 93 v _ 94 r ; 'quos non sola iustitia imputatiua ... scilicet, quae intelligatur tantum in Christo haerere, non in nobis esse, sed ipsa inhaerens Christi Spiritu iustitia iustificauit, qua ab iniustitia reditur ad iustitiam, expoliatione veteris hominis, et induitione noui, vt imago Dei detrita in illis resarciretur: qui in bonis operibus ambulauerunt, et vi am veritatis ingressi, ... qui iIlis laboribus excocti et purgati fiduciam gloriae et spei, vsque ad finem, firmam retinuerunt: terque quaterque beati in Domino moriuntur, et amodo beati: Quoniam et a laboribus quieuerunt, et opera iIlorum comitantur iIlos.' lS7Watson, Catholyke doctryne, \7r-v, 12 r-v ; Bonner, Profitable doctryne, Ee4 v _Ff2 r, Ggr -v ; Redman, Complaint o/Grace, Hiv_2v, I2r_4v

MARIAN CATHOLIC CHRISTOLOGY AND SOTERIOLOGY

107

was the work of growth in holiness or 'sanctification', as Watson and Redman called it. 158 Marian theologians again concurred with Trent's decree, and disagreed with Protestants that the process of growth in grace was inherently imperfect, since to the latter the sanctified were still sinners. 159 Through prayer and humble dependence on God's grace, Watson declared, believers could 'continue stedfaste and immouable from the hope of the Gospell, increasing in good workes' as they grew in holiness. l60 For Smyth, these works were the 'thynges necessarie' for redemption: 61 Redman's personification of grace, 'the nourse of good works', called upon rulers, clergy and the commons to undertake charitable deeds according to their stations in life. 162 While it remained impossible to merit redemption solely through effort, Bonner wrote, Christians needed to demonstrate the love that Christ commanded by cooperating with the grace he offered. 163 In their underlining of 'lyuely fayth' and the essential quality of sanctification, Marian theologians not only harmonized with the Council of Trent, they also foreshadowed Counter-Reformation spirituality, which was exacting, in that it demanded continuous heroic effort at prayer and self-control and self-improvement and good works; practical in that it closely linked active good works and self-improvement, and assumed the placing of a high value on the former in the sight of God of justification .... 164

Human freedom Marian theologians continually insisted upon human freedom, in contrast to Protestant theologians, who reduced human freedom to underline God's freedom in the gift of grace to sinful humanity.165 For example, in order to cooperate with grace in the mystery of salvation, Tunstall held that humans were given the gift of freedom to avoid sin and commit themselves to virtuous deeds. 166 According to Smyth's 1554 Bouclier of the catholikefayth, grace, in its transformation of human freedom, worked through freedom, particularly by the gifts offaith, repentance and IS8Watson, Catholyke doctryne, 12T; Redman, Complaint of Grace, 12V. 'S9Macek, Loyal Opposition, 58-61; Canons and Decrees of Trent, 38; CameTon, European Reformation, 125-28. I60Watson, Catholyke doctryne, 33 r_34v. 161Smyth, Seconde parte of a Bucklar, C6 r_8 r. '62Redman, Complaint of Grace, 16T_K8 V 163BonneT, Profitable doctryne, QI r 164Evennett, Spirit of the Counter-Reformation, 41. 16sFiorenza and Galvin, Systematic Theology II, 120. '66Tunstall, Godly prayers, C3 r.

108

THE THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY OF MARY TUDOR'S CHURCH

conversion, in correspondence to the supernatural goal of human nature. 167 God offered the gift of grace in order for Christians to live according to his commands, as well as 'voluntary workes' which God did not require; in this way divine grace and human free will worked together to bring salvation. 168 Humanity possesses 'a semiautonomous freedom', in which persons act freely within the context of God's creation and concern for the world. 169 In his sermon on the redemption, Harpsfield encouraged readers to 'lyfte vp your hartes and open them a wyde, to receaue in, vnto them, a great loue towardes God, who soo nobly created vs' and redeemed humans from sin, and desires Christians to freely cooperate with divine grace. 170 Christ was able to save all humanity, Watson stressed in his Twoo Sermons, but not all were saved, because some freely refused the grace Christ offered. 171 Christians were called, not compelled, to align their free wills with grace, Hogarde reiterated. 172 To deny free will was to blame God for the sins of humanity, but God did not play the role of a tyrant. 173 For Bonner and his peers, God does not cause sin; rather, the devil tempts, and free will accedes to it. 174 Believers accepted or rejected the grace that God offered them, Edgeworth wrote, as revealed in the moral quality of their actions.175 Therefore, in accord with free will, humans could still sin; Marian writers followed Fisher in stipulating that there was 'no sin without the consent of the will'. 176 The 'gracious presence' of the Spirit could be withdrawn in the case of serious sin, but could be restored through the sacrament of penance. 177 The forgiving God continually proffered the gift of the divine self in grace, so Christians could repent and continue to strive for holiness. 178 It is therefore not surprising that Watson devoted eleven of the thirty sermons in a Catholyke doctryne to the sacrament of penance and a spirituality of penitence. Through the outpouring of grace, the person, absolved from sin, would be 'inwardelye beautified and imiched and made an happy man'. 179

16'Smyth, Bouclier of the catholikefayth, 2T_3 v , IOT_14r 168Ibid., ST_lO v 169FioTenza and Galvin, Systematic Theology II, 84. 170SonneT, Homelies, )7T. "'Watson, Twoo Sermons, N7 T-v 172HogaTde, Path waye to perfection, C2T; Displaying of the Protestantes, lIT. 173HogaTde, The excellency of mannes nature, A2 T-v, D I T-V. I7