The installment this week examines the effects that the religious and political situations in England had on the settlements in America.

Our Catholic Roots 1492—1865

3: The English Contribution (Part 1)
England in the 1500s, like its French rival across the channel, was taken up with all the internal disorder and religious conflict that arose from the Protestant Reformation. When Henry VIII became England's king in 1509, he was a loyal Catholic and had no quarrel with the Church's teachings. However, like many other kings in Europe, he was upset about the Church's great wealth. In England, the wealth of the Church exceeded Henry's own wealth. In addition, he was disturbed by the tendency of the popes to interfere in English affairs.

The crisis came in the 1530s when the pope refused to grant Henry VIII a divorce from the Spanish princess who was his wife. Henry responded by declaring himself head of the Church of England, and by closing down all the Church's monasteries in order to seize the lands, buildings, and other wealth belonging to the Catholic Church. Next he required all Englishmen to take the Oath of Supremacy, swearing total allegiance to the English king as both spiritual and temporal ruler.

 

 

King Henry VIII seized Church lands and buildings. What other cases do you know of when Church lands were taken away?

The Church of England
In the beginning, the split between Henry VIII and the pope was really a political and economic matter, rather than a religious one. The Church of England went on much as before, except that now the Mass was celebrated in English instead of Latin. However, when Henry's young son became King Edward VII, extreme English reformers wanted even more changes, and they briefly succeeded in making the Church of England very Protestant. But the sickly Edward soon died, and was replaced by his sister, Queen Mary. She reversed his policies, re-instated the Catholic Church, and persecuted the Protestants. Before long, the Catholic Queen Mary was herself succeeded by Henry's last living child, the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I. England was in for another round of change.

This time, the monarch managed slowly to restore some stability to England by imposing a religious compromise. This was to be neither extreme Protestantism nor restored Catholicism. Nevertheless, the Oath of Supremacy became the rule once again, priests were sought out and executed, and even those people who harbored priests were declared criminals.

Late in Elizabeth's reign, Spain, ever loyal to the Church and the pope, made one last attempt to stamp out Protestantism in England. A great fleet of warships was sent to attack England. However, the great Spanish Armada was destroyed in 1588. Now, with a measure of peace at home, and with its greatest international rival defeated at sea, England was at last ready to look to the New World.

 

English Colonies
Not long after James I succeeded Queen Elizabeth in 1603, preparations for the first permanent English settlements in North America began. Jamestown, Virginia, was the first area to be settled, mainly by fortune seekers who were also members of the Church of England. In the 1620s the colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts were settled, but with a fundamental difference from the Virginia colony. Their founders were far more serious about religion than their Virginia neighbors, and were members of the unpopular radical Protestant group known as Puritans.

Yet, in spite of their religious differences, all English colonists shared one prejudice with the English at home in England: in their eyes Catholics were superstitious and corrupt, and were agents of a foreign power, the pope. Catholics were no more welcome in the new colonies than they were in England.

In 1624 Sir George Calvert, soon to be Lord Baltimore, announced to his friend King James that he had left the established Church of England, of which the king was the head, and had become a Catholic. This violation of the Oath of Supremacy forced Calvert to resign from his post as Secretary of State. King James, however, refused to abandon his friendship, and kept Lord Baltimore as a trusted advisor. This close relationship continued under James' son, Charles I.

Lord Baltimore recognized that most English Catholics did not share his advantages and that they led the life of outcasts in their own country. Therefore, he successfully petitioned the king for a grant of land in the New World, where Catholics could live as English men and women without fear. The king named the colony Maryland, in honor of his French Catholic wife, and approved the charter in 1632. Added to the king's own marriage to a Catholic, this tolerant action of his toward Catholics roused much dissatisfaction and resentment among English Protestants.

 

"Ark" and "Dove"
On their first voyage from England to Maryland, more than 200 persons survived the four-month trip on two tiny ships named the Ark and the Dove. Most of the people were Protestants— farmers, tradesmen, and mechanics— who were anxious for a fresh start in the New World. There were about forty Catholic passengers, many of them English landowners. They, too, were anxious to begin a new life, free of religious intolerance.

Both groups spent the long voyage on these crowded ships in peace and harmony with each other, as they would try to do in Maryland.

Maryland Missions
Two ships, the Ark and the Dove, sailed into Chesapeake Bay in 1634. They landed at what would become St. Mary's City in southern Maryland, the first permanent Catholic settlement in English America. Of the several hundred who made the voyage from London, only a minority were Catholics. Two of those were Jesuit priests, Father John Altham and Father Andrew White.

The instructions sent along by Lord Baltimore were cautious, but very wise for so delicate a situation. All who believed in Christ were to be welcomed into Maryland and treated as equals. But Catholics were to celebrate the Mass with as little fanfare as possible, and they were to refrain from any public discussion of religion. Baltimore understood that, if Catholics were to have any hope of maintaining their religious freedom in the face of a hostile majority, they would have to avoid the slightest word or action which might offend their Protestant neighbors.

Before long, there was small chapel at St. Mary's City, and five Jesuits were ministering to the tiny flock that was scattered about southern Maryland. In their reports the Jesuits expressed both surprise and satisfaction at the religious seriousness of the Catholics in the colony, and also at the number of original settlers who converted from Protestantism to Catholicism. But their hopes of converting the Indians had to be put aside for almost five years because of their own limited numbers and the hostility of some neighboring tribes.

Since there was no officially established church in the colony, there was not state support for the church as there was in New France and New Spain. Therefore, in addition to their priestly duties, the Jesuits had to take on the responsibilities of supporting themselves by acquiring large tracts of land and raising saleable crops such as tobacco. Still, Father White found time to learn several of the Native American languages, and even to write a dictionary and grammar book for the help of others who wanted to learn the Indians' language. Once this was done he was able to prepare a catechism in one of the Indians' own languages. He had this book printed on the first press introduced into the English colonies. Others among the Jesuits began conducting schools for the children of the Catholic colonists.

Terms

monastery: a dwelling place for people with religious vows, especially monks

fundamental: of central importance, basic, deep-rooted

Questions for Reflection

How did the English church come to break with Rome? What were the immediate consequences for the English people?

Why did Lord Baltimore insist that the Catholic settlers of Maryland be so cautious and quiet in practicing their religion?

In terms of financial support, how did the church in Maryland differ from the church in New France and New Spain? Were there any advantages with the Maryland arrangement?

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