Cisalpinism

Cisalpinism (derived from "this side of the mountains") was a movement amongst English Roman Catholics arguing that Catholicism, while not rejecting the supreme teaching authority of the Pope, should not be based on his dominance.

This traditionalist but non-authoritarian view of Catholicism was common in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and stressed the English as well as the Roman dimension to the Roman Catholic Church in England, particularly in the sense of allegiance to the Crown as symbol of the liberties of Englishmen not being incompatible with allegiance to the Pope as guarantee of authentic Christian teaching. Cisalpinism supposedly sought accommodation of the English Roman Catholic Church within the Protestant State in the 17th century, when the Penal Laws persecuting the Catholic Church were still in place. 30 Catholic Laymen met in 1782 to elect a "Catholic Committee" of five.

Although it looked liked a way to safeguard the English Catholic population, Bishop Charles Walmesley (1722-1797), the Vicar Apostolic of the west of England, thought Cisalpinism would mean a new oath of allegiance that would "exclude the Pope's spiritual jurisdiction" and "diminish our dependence in spirituals on the Church in Rome, and by degrees to shake it off entirely; likewise to take off the abstinence of Saturday, to reduce Lent to a fortnight before Easter, and to have the Liturgy in English".

After the publication of the "Staffordshire Creed" published by some Staffordshire clergy to Bishop Walmesley complaining about the excommunication of the Benedictine Joseph Wilks which among other things contained the Rights of the Priesthood against the Episcopacy (at a time when many Catholic laity were still been accused of treason).

In 1797 Bishop Walmesley publicly excommunicated the signatories of the "Staffordshire Creed". One of the defenders of the Cisalpine tradition who even objected to the Asperges (sprinkling of Holy Water) before Mass was John Lingard, author of the hymn Hail Queen of Heaven the Ocean Star and first Rector of Ushaw College Seminary. Fr Daniel Rock continued briefly elements of the Cisalpine tradition and was chaplain to Lord Shrewsbury of Alton Towers from 1827 to 1841. It was the chance meeting at Alton Towers of Lord Shrewsbury with Fr F W Faber that promoted Ultramontanism.

References

• J A Hilton, Catholic Lancashire (1994)
• The London Oratory Centenary (1884-1984) Published 1984
• Fr Faber by G Chapman
• P McPartland, The Eucharist Makes the Church, published by T and T Clark 1983

See also

• Cisalpine Club