Rome and the Counter-Reformation in England

In the current book, Msgr. Philip Hughes does not repeat the work of others, important as it has been. Using the Reformation as a jumping-off point, in Rome and the Counter-Reformation in England he focuses on the ultimately unsuccessful attempts by both the Holy See and local Catholics to bring England back to the One True Faith. Ending with reigns of Kings James I and Charles I, he paints a picture that is of utmost importance to English-speaking Catholics today.

Read this book carefully; rather than feeling scandalised or pitying as we might-let us forget our 20/20 hindsight, and remember that the issues that were so confusing to our truly brave and noble forbears were as bewildering and threatening to them as the ones that face us now are to us. When we disagree over tactics in facing them with our brother Catholics, let us remember that the man or woman, with whom we may differ, may be holier than we ourselves-something of which none of us this side of the grave tend to be great judges.

-Charles A. Coulombe.




Although the author admits at the outset that the conclusion is already known by the reader before he picks up the book, that the counter-reformation failed in England still, the reader may not know why.

To that purpose, Fr. Hughes begins his study with the accession of Queen Mary and the appointment of Cardinal Reginald Pole to England as Cardinal Legate. Then he begins the study of how they refashioned the Church to be so strong that the episcopacy universally resisted Elizabeth. He also explores the condition of the average cleric, layman and other things from official documents and primary source texts.

In the next phase, he examines in detail the rise of Protestantism again under Elizabeth, and the projects of St. Pius V and Gregory XIII to help Englishmen depose Elizabeth. The importance of this study is that in the English Protestant historical tradition, Pius V and Gregory, along with the Jesuits and others, are accused of plotting the murder and assassination of Elizabeth. Fr. Hughes, by examining official papers, shows why this was not true, albeit also offering criticism of the official policy in these years. What he shows is that Rome never really had an accurate story on what was going on in England, and as a result committed many blunders in the period when the counter-reformation might have succeeded.

Following the scene to the eventual failure, Fr. Hughes also answers the pivotal questions: Were the English martyrs really traitors to the crown, as official history maintains? Were Cardinal Allen, the founder of Douay College, or Fr. Persons of the Jesuits, active tools of Spanish policy in England? Or did they rather believe the Spaniards would help the Catholic cause? Did St. Pius V try to assassinate Elizabeth?

In all this Fr. Hughes, a great reformation historian, uses primary sources, letters, and reason to paint for us the picture of the counter-reformation's failures. If one wants to know what Catholic action and life were like in England during the Marian Restoration and the Elizabethan imposition of Protestantism, this is the work.