ENGLEFIELD
471
ENGLEFIELD
also organized conventions of representative clergy
and laity in each of the States in his diocese, to meet
annually. In 1840 these were merged into one gen-
eral convention. He held a synod of the clergy, 21
Nov., 1831, and in 1832 established a seminary and
college under the name of "The Philosophical and
Classical Seminary of Charleston", hoping with the
income from the collegiate department to maintain
the seminary. Notwithstanding his many and varied
duties he devoted himself to this institution as teacher
of classics and professor of theology. Organized
bigotry soon assailed it, reducing the attendance from
one hundred and thirty to thirty; but he continued
and it became the alma mater of many eminent lay-
men and apostolic priests. In the words of Chancellor
Kent, "Bishop England revived classical learning
in South Carolina". In 1822 he organized and in-
corporated a Book Society to be established in each
congregation, and in the same year his indefatigable
energy and zeal led him to establish the " United States
Catholic Miscellany", the first distinctively Catholic
newspaper published in the United States. It con-
tinued to be published until 1861 and is a treasury
of instructive and edifying reading. He also com-
piled a catechism and prepared a new edition of the
Missal in English with an explanation of the Mass.
He was an active member of the Philosophical Soci-
ety of Charleston, assisted in organizing the Anti-
duelling Society, and strenuously opposed Nullification
in a community where it was vehemently advocated.
His intense loyalty to his faith led him into several
controversies which he conducted with a dignity and
charity that commanded the respect of his opponents
and elicited touching tributes from some of them at
his death.
In 1830 he established in Charleston the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy "to educate females of the mid- dling class of society; also to have a school for free col- ored girls, and to give religious instruction to female slaves ; they will also devote themselves to the service of the sick ". "Subsequently their scope was enlarged, and branch houses were established at Savannah, Wilming- ton, and Sumter. In 1834 he further promoted educa- tion and charity by the introduction of the Ursulines. In 1835 Ht. Rev. William Clancy arrived from Ire- land as the coadjutor of Bishop England, but, after a year's dissatisfied sojourn, he requested and obtained a transfer to another field. Bishop England had orig- inally asked for the appointment of the Rev. Dr. Paul Cullen, then rector of the Irish College, Rome (afterwards the first Irish cardinal), as his coadjutor.
A striking phase of Bishop England's apostolic character was manifested in his spiritual care of the negroes. He celebrated an early Mass in the cathe- dral for them every Sunday and preached to them at this Mass and at a Vesper service. He was accus- tomed to deliver two afternoon sermons; if unable to deliver both, he would disappoint the rich and cul- tured who flocked to hear him, and preach to the poor ignorant Africans. In the epidemics of those days he exhil)ited great devotion to the sick, while his priests and the Sisters of Mercy volunteered their services in the visitations of cholera and yellow fever. His per- sonal poverty was pitiable. He was known to have walked the streets of Charleston with the bare soles of his feet to the ground. Several times the excessive fatigue and exposure incurred in his visitations and ministrations prostrated him, and more than once he was in danger of death. Twice he visited Hayti as Apostolic Delegate. In 1823 he was asked to take charge of East Florida and, having been given the powers of vicar-general, made a visitation of that territory.
In the interests of his impoverished diocese he visited the chief towns and cities of the Union, crossed the ocean four times, sought aid from the Holy Father, the Propaganda, the Leopoldine Society of Vienna,
and made appeals in Ireland, England, France, Italy,
wherever he could obtain money, vestments, or books
After Easter, in 1841, he visited Europe for the last
time. On the long and boisterous return voyage there
was much sickness, and he became seriously ill through
his constant at tendance on others. Though very weak,
notwithstanding, on his arrival in Philadelphia, he
preached seventeen nights consecutively, also four
nights in Baltimore. With his health broken and his
strength almost exhausted, he promptly resumed his
duties on his return to Charleston, where he died, sin-
cerely mourned by men of every creed and every
party. His apostolic zeal, saintly life, exalted char-
acter, profound learning, and matchless eloquence
made him a model for Catholics and an ornament of
his order.
Most of his writings were given to the public through the columns of the "United States Catholic Miscellany", in the publication of which he was aided by his sister, a woman of many-sided ability and talents. His successor, Bishop Reynolds, collected his various writings, which were published in five vol- umes at Baltimore, in 1849. A new edition, edited by Archbishop S. B. Messmtr of Milwaukee, was pub- lished at Cleveland in 1908.
Reynolds. The Works of the Rt. Rev. John England, 5 vols. (Baltimore. 1849; Cleveland etl. Messmir. 1908); Shea, Hist. Cath. Ch. in U. S. (New York. 1889-92); O'Gorman, A Hist, of the R. C. Ch. in V. S. (New York, 1895); Clahke, Lives of the Deceased Bishops (New York, 1872); Catholic Miscellany (Charleston, April. 18-12) file^; Reuss, Biog. Cycl. Cath. Hier- archy of U. S. (Milwaukee. 1898); The Messenger (New York. 1892). 370-74; Ibid. (1890), 769-82; Am. C.\th. Hist. Soc, Records (Philadelphia, March-June, 1895); Read, Sketch of Bishop England; Cl'CoNNELL, Catholicity in the Carolinas and Virginia; MoRA2i in The Seven Hills Magazine (Dublin, June, 1907). P. L. Duffy.
Englefield, Felix, a Franciscan friar, d. 1767. He was the younger son of Henry Englefield of White Knights, Reading, and Catherine, daughter of Ben- jamin Poole of London. His elder brother, Henry, suc- ceeded their cousin Charles as sixth baronet in 1728. It is uncertain whether his own baptismal name was Charles or Francis. He joined the Franciscans at Douai and was ordained there, probably about 1732, when he was approved for preaching and hearing con- fessions. He had been teaching philosophy there be- fore ordination, and from 1734 to 1746 he taught theology. In 1744 and 1745 he was titular guardian of York, but remained in residence at Douai. From 1746 to 1749 he acted as definitor, and at the end of that period was in England, for in March, 1749, he was sent to Rome on behalf of his own order and other regulars to procure the repeal of the papal decree of 1745 regu- lating the relations between the vicars Apostolic and the regulars. In this he failed, as Benedict XIV sup- ported the vicars Apostolic by the " Rules of the Eng- lish Mission", issued in 1753. In 1749 Father Felix was titular guardian of Oxford, and in the following year he attended the general chapter at Rome in place of the provincial. Father Thomas Holmes, who was too infirm to undertake the journey. In 1750-1751 he was titular guardian of Greenwich; custos 1752-1755, and finally, on 19 Aug., 1755, he was elected provin- cial and held that office till 1758, living for part of the time at Horton in Gloucestershire. While provincial he drew up a valuable list of all the Franciscans then (1758) in England, with their addresses. Father Thad- deus, O.F.M. (op. cit. inf., p. 14) states that he was the reputed author of the "Miraculous Powers of the Church of Christ", published anonymously in 1756. But this was really written by William Walton, after- wards Vicar Apostolic of the Northern District, whose name appears on the title-page of a subsequent issue. Father Englefield died probably at Douai, though one account says he was on the English mission at the time.
KiBK, Biofiraphie.-! nf Eifjhiri-nth Cenluni Cnthnlics (London, 1908); GiLLOW, Bibl. Diet. Eng. Cath. (London, 1886), II, 169; Thaddeos, Franciscans in gnghnd, ;50O-;wo (London, 1898).
Edwin Burton.
