ROMAN
122
ROMAN
documents relating to this printed by Rushworth
(I, 85-89). After that date it was generally adopted
as a non-controversial term and has long been the
recognised legal and official designation, though in
ordinary use Catholic alone is very frequently em-
ployed '- (New- Oxford Diet ., VIII, 766) . Of the illus-
trative quotations which follow, the earliest in date is
one of 1605 from the "Europa> Speculum" of Edwin
Sandys: "Some Roman Catholiques will not say grace
when a Protestant is present"; while a passage from
Day's "Festivals" of 1615, contrasts "Roman Catho-
liques" with "good, true Catholiques indeed".
Although the account thus given in the Oxford Dictionary is in substance correct, it cannot be con- sidered satisfactory. To begin with the word is dis- tinctly older than is here suggested. When about the year 1580 certain English Catliolics, under stress of grievous persecution, defended the lawfulness of attending Protestant services to escape the fines im- posed on recusants, the Jesuit Father Persons pub- lished, under the pseudonym of Howiet, a clear expo- sit ion of the " Reasons why Catholiques refuse to goe to Church". This was answered in 1801 by a writer of Puritan sjin pat hies, Percival Wiburn, who in his "Checke or Reproofe of M. Howiet" uses the term "Roman Catholic" repeatedly. For example he speaks of "you Romane Catholickes that sue for tolleration" (p. 140) and of the "parlous dilemma or streight which you Romane Catholickes are brought into" (p. 44). Again Robert Crowley, another Anglican controversialist, in his book called "A Deliberat Answere", printed in 1588, though adopt- ing by preference the forms "Romi.sh Catholike" or "Popish Catholike", also writes of those "who wander with the Romane Catholiques in the uncer- taj'ne hypathes of Popish devises" (p. 86). A study of these and other early examples in their context shows plainly enough that the qualification "Romish Catholic" or "Roman Catholic" was introduced by Protestant divines who highly resented the Roman claim to any monopolj^ of the term Catholic. In Germany, Luther had omitted the word Catholic from the Creed, but this w'as not the case in England. Even men of such Calvinistic leanings as Philpot (he was burned under Mary in 1555), and John Foxe the martyrologist, not to speak of churchmen like Newel and Fulke, insisted on the right of the Reformers to call them.selves Catholics and professed to regard their own as the only true Catholic Church. Thus Philpot repre.sents himself as answering his Catholic examiner: "I am, master doctor, of the unfeigned Catholic Church and w-ill live and die therein, and if you can prove your Church to be the True Catholic Church, I will be one of the same" (Philpot, "Works", Parker Soc, p. 1.32). It would be easy to quote many similar passages. The term "Romish Catholic" or "Roman Cathohc" undoubtedly orig- inatwJ with the Protestant divines who shared this fef'Iing and who were unwilling to concede the name Catholic to their opponents without qualification. Indw^l the writer Crowley, just mentioned, does not hesitate throughout a long tract to use the term "Prot^jstant Catholics" the name which he applies to his antagoniKts. Thurs he says "We Protestant Catholiqu<!s are not departed from the true Catho- lique religion" (p. '.Hi) and he refers more than once to "Our Protf^tant Catholique Church," (p. 74)
On the; other hand the evidence seems to show that the Catholics of the reign of Elizabeth and James I were by no means willing to admit any other desig- nation for them8f;lvf58 than the unqualified name Catholic, father SouthweH's "Humble Supplica- tion to her Majesty" (1.591), though criticized by fifjmeasover-a/lulatory in tone, always uses the simple word. \Nhat is more surijrising, the same may be said of various a/ldreswis Uj the Crown draft (h1 under the iriapiration of the "Appellant" clergy, who were
suspected by their opponents of subservience to the
government and of minimizing in matters of dogma.
This feature is very conspicuous, to take a single
example, in "the Protestation of allegiance" drawn
up by thirteen missioners, 31 Jan., 1603, in which
they renounce all thought of "restoring the Catholic
religion by the sword", profess their willingness "to
persuade all CathoUcs to do the same" and conclude
by declaring themselves ready on the one hand "to
spend their blood in the defence of her Majesty" but
on tlie other "rather to lose their lives than infringe
the lawful autliority of Christ's Catholic Church"
(Tierney-Dodd, III, p. cxc). We find similar
language used in Ireland in the negotiations carried
on by Tyrone in behalf of his Catholic countrymen.
Certain apparent exceptions to this uniformity of
practice can be readily explained. To begin with we
do find that Catholics not unfrequently use the
inverted form of the name "Roman Catholic" and
speak of the "Catholic Roman faith" or religion.
An early example is to be found in a little controver-
sial tract of 1575 called "a Notable Discom'se" where
we read for example that the heretics of old "preached
that the Pope w^as Antichriste, shewing themselves
verye eloquent in detracting and rayling against the
Catholique Romane Church" (p. 64). But this was
simply a translation of the phraseology common both
in Latin and in the Romance languages "Ecclesia
Catholica Romana," or in French "I'Eglise catho-
lique romaine". It was felt that this inverted form
contained no hint of the Protestant contention that
the old religion was a spurious variety of true Cathol-
icism or at best the Roman species of a wider genus.
Again, when we find Father Persons (e. g. in his
"Three Conversions," III, 408) using the term
"Roman Catholic", the context shows that he is
only adopting the name for the moment as con-
veniently embodying the contention of his adver-
saries.
Once more in a very striking passage in the exam- ination of one James Clayton in 1591 (see Cal. State Papers, Dom. Ehz., add., vol. XXXII, p. 322) we read that the deponent "was persuaded to conforme himself to the Romaine Catholique faith." But there is nothing to show^ that these were the actual words of the recusant himself, or that, if they were, they were not simply dictated by a desire to concil- iate his examiners. The "Oxford Dictionary" is probably right in assigning the recognition of "Roman Catholic" as the official style of the adherents of the Papacy in England to the negotiations for the Spanish Match (1618-24). In the various treaties etc., drafted in connexion with this proposal, the religion of the Spanish princess is almost always spoken of as "Roman Catholic". Indetnl in some few instances the word Catholic alone is used. This feature does not seem to o(;cur in any of the nego- tiations of earlier date which touched U])()n religion, e. g. those connected with the jjioposed (rAlen9on marriage in Elizabeth's reign, wliile in A<'ts of Par- liament, proclamations, etc., before the Spanish match. Catholics are simply described as Papists or Recusants^ and their religion as poi)ish, Romanish, or Romanist. Indeed long after this jwiriod, the use of the term Roman Catholic; continued to be a mark of condescension, and language of much more un- complimentary character was usually pref(;rred. It was perhaps to encourage a friendlier attitude in the authorities that Catholics themselves hence- forth began to adopt the qualified term in all official relations with the governinc^nt. Thus the "Humble Remonstrance, Acknowledgnu^nt, Protestation and Petition of the Roman Catholic Clergy of Ireland" in 1661, began "We, your Majesty's faithful subjects tli<; Roman Catholick clergy of Irelanfl". The same practice s(!em8 to have; obtained in Maryland; see for example the Consultation entitled "Objections
