document_title: Catholic Church in England and Wales

question_text: head of the roman catholic church in england

question_tokens: head of the roman catholic church in england

text: Catholic Church in England and Wales

text: History[edit]

text: Roman Britons and early Christianity[edit]

text: Much of Great Britain was incorporated into the Roman Empire in 43 AD, after Claudius led the Roman conquest of Britain, conquering lands inhabited by Celtic Britons. The indigenous religious traditions of the Britons, under their priests the Druids were suppressed; most notably Gaius Suetonius Paulinus launched an attack on Ynys Môn in 60 AD and destroyed the shrine and sacred groves there. In the years following this, Roman influence saw the importation of several religious cults into Britain, including Roman mythology, Mithraism and the imperial cult. One of these sects, then disapproved by the Roman authorities, was the Levantine-originated religion of Christianity. While it is unclear exactly how it arrived, the earliest British figures considered saints by the Christians are St. Alban, followed by Ss. Julius and Aaron, living in the 3rd century.[13]

text: Eventually, the position of the Roman authorities on Christianity moved from hostility, to toleration with the Edict of Milan in 313 AD and then enforcement as state religion following the Edict of Thessalonica in 380 AD, becoming a key component of Romano-British culture and society. Records note that Romano-British bishops, such as Restitutus, attended the Council of Arles in 314, which confirmed the theological findings of an earlier convocation held in Rome (the Council of Rome) in 313. The Roman departure from Britain in the following century and the subsequent Germanic invasions sharply decreased contact between Britain and Continental Europe. Christianity, however, continued to flourish in the Brittonic areas of Great Britain. During this period certain practices and traditions took hold in Britain and in Ireland that are collectively known as Celtic Christianity. Distinct features of Celtic Christianity include a unique monastic tonsure and calculations for the date of Easter.[14] Regardless of these differences, historians do not consider this Celtic or British Christianity a distinct church separate from general Western European Christianity.[15][16]

text: Conversion of the Anglo-Saxons[edit]

text: In 597, Pope Gregory I sent Augustine of Canterbury and 40 missionaries from Rome to evangelise the Anglo-Saxons, a process completed by the 7th century. The Gregorian mission, as it is known, is of particular interest in the Catholic Church as it was the first official Papal mission to found a church. With the help of Christians already residing in Kent, Augustine established an archbishopric in Canterbury, the old capital of Kent, and, having received the pallium earlier (linking his new diocese to Rome), became the first in the series of Catholic archbishops of Canterbury, four of whom (Laurence, Mellitus, Justus and Honorius) were part of the original band of Benedictine missionaries. (The last Catholic archbishop of Canterbury was Reginald Pole, who died in 1558.) During this time of mission, Rome pursued greater unity with the local church in Britain, particularly on the question of dating Easter. Columbanus, Columba's fellow countryman and churchman, had asked for a papal judgement on the Easter question as did abbots and bishops of Ireland.[17] Later, in his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, Bede explained the reasons for the discrepancy: "He [Columba] left successors distinguished for great charity, Divine love, and strict attention to the rules of discipline following indeed uncertain cycles in the computation of the great festival of Easter, because far away as they were out of the world, no one had supplied them with the synodal decrees relating to the Paschal observance."[18] A series of synods were held to resolve the matter, culminating with the Synod of Whitby in 644. The missionaries also introduced the Rule of Benedict, the continental rule, to Anglo-Saxon monasteries in England.[19] Wilfrid, a Benedictine consecrated archbishop of York (in 664), was particularly skilled in promoting the Benedictine Rule.[20] Over time, the Benedictine, continental rule engrafted upon the monasteries and parishes of England, drawing them closer to The Continent and Rome. As a result, the pope was often called upon to intervene in quarrels, affirm monarchs, and decide jurisdictions. In 787, for example, Pope Adrian I elevated Lichfield to an archdiocese and appointed Hygeberht its first archbishop.[21] Later, in 808, Pope Leo III helped restore King Eardwulf of Northumbria to his throne; and in 859, Pope Leo IV confirmed and anointed Alfred the Great king, according to Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Individual Benedictines seemed to play an important role throughout this period. For example, before Benedictine monk St. Dunstan was consecrated archbishop of Canterbury in 960, Pope John XII had him appointed legate, commissioning him (along with Ethelwold and Oswald) to restore discipline in the existing monasteries of England, many of which were destroyed by Danish invaders.[22]

text: Norman Church in England and Wales[edit]

text: Control of the English Church passed from the Anglo-Saxons to the Normans following the Norman conquest of England. The two clerics most prominent associated with this process were the continental-born Lanfranc and Anselm; both men were Benedictines. Anselm later became a Doctor of the Church. A century later, Pope Innocent III had to confirm the primacy of Canterbury over four Welsh churches for many reasons, but primarily to sustain the importance of the Gregorian foundation of Augustine's mission.[23][24]

text: During mediaeval times, England and Wales were part of western Christendom. During this period, monasteries and convents, such as those at Shaftesbury and Shrewsbury, were prominent features of society providing lodging, hospitals and education.[25] Likewise, schools like Oxford University and Cambridge University were important. Members of religious orders, notably the Dominicans and Franciscans, settled in both schools and maintained houses for students. Clerics like Archbishop Walter de Merton founded Merton College at Oxford and three different popes – Gregory IX, Nicholas IV, and John XXII – gave Cambridge the legal protection and status to compete with other European medieval universities.

text: Pilgrimage was a prominent feature of mediaeval Catholicism, and England and Wales were amply provided with many popular sites of pilgrimage. The village of Walsingham, Norfolk became an important shrine after a noblewoman called Richeldis de Faverches experienced a vision of the Virgin Mary in 1061, asking her to build a replica of the Holy House at Nazareth. In 1170, Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral, by followers of King Henry II and was quickly canonised as a martyr for the faith. This resulted in Canterbury becoming a major place of pilgrimage and inspired the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. There were also shrines at Holywell in Wales which commemorated St Winefride and at Westminster Abbey to Edward the Confessor to name but a few.

text: An Englishman, Nicholas Breakspear, became Pope Adrian IV, ruling from 1154 to 1159. Fifty-six years later, Cardinal Stephen Langton, the first of English cardinals and later Archbishop of Canterbury (1208–28), became a pivotal figure in the dispute between King John and Pope Innocent III. This critical situation led to the signing and later promulgation of the Magna Charta in 1215.

text: Protestantism and Catholic Resistance[edit]

text: England remained a Catholic country until 1534, when it first officially separated from Rome during the reign of King Henry VIII. In response to the Pope's refusal to annul Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Parliament denied the Pope's authority over the English Church, made the king Head of the Church in England, and dissolved the monasteries and religious orders in England. Henry did not himself accept Protestant innovations in doctrine or liturgy – but he extended toleration, and even promotion, to clergy with Protestant sympathies in return for support for his break with Rome. On the other hand, failure to accept this break, particularly by prominent persons in church and state, was regarded by Henry as treason, resulting in the execution of Thomas More, former Lord Chancellor, and John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, among others. The See of Rome Act 1536 enforced the separation from Rome, while the 'Pilgrimage of Grace' of 1536 and 'Bigod's Rebellion' of 1537, risings in the North against the religious changes, were bloodily repressed.

text: In 1536-41 Henry VIII engaged in a large-scale Dissolution of the Monasteries, which controlled most of the wealth of the church, and much of the richest land. He disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland, appropriated their income, disposed of their assets, and provided pensions for the former residents. He did not turn these properties over to a Protestant church of England (which indeed did not yet exist): they were sold, mostly to pay for the wars. The historian G. W. Bernard argues:

text: Nevertheless, Henry maintained a strong preference for traditional Catholic practices and, during his reign, Protestant reformers were unable to make many changes to the practices of the Church of England. Indeed, this part of Henry's reign saw the trial for heresy of Protestants as well as Catholics.

text: The 1547 to 1553 reign of the boy King Edward VI saw the Church of England become more influenced by Protestantism in its faith and worship, with the (Latin) Mass replaced by the (English) Book of Common Prayer, representational art and statues in church buildings destroyed, and Catholic practices which had survived during Henry's reign, for instance the public saying of prayers to the Virgin Mary such as the Salve Regina, ended. The Western Rising took place in 1549.

text: The institutional Church in England returned to Catholic practice during the reign of the Catholic Queen Mary I from 1553 to 1558. Mary was determined to bring back the whole of England to the Catholic faith. This aim was not necessarily at odds with the feeling of a large section of the populace; Edward's Protestant reformation had not been well received everywhere, and there was ambiguity in the responses of the parishes.[27] Mary also had some powerful families behind her. The Jerningham family together with other East Anglian Catholic families such as the Bedingfelds, Waldegraves, Rochesters together with the Huddlestons of Sawston Hall were "the key to Queen Mary's successful accession to the throne. Without them she would never have made it."[28] However, Mary's executions of 300 Protestants by burning at the stake proved counterproductive, as they were extremely unpopular among the populace. For example, instead of executing Archbishop Cranmer for treason for supporting Queen Jane, she had him tried for heresy and burned at a stake.[29][30] With the assistance of Foxe's Book of Martyrs, which glorified the Protestants killed at the time and vilified Catholics,[31] this practice ensured her a place in popular memory as Bloody Mary – for centuries after the idea of another reconciliation with Rome was linked in many English people's minds with a renewal of Mary's fiery stakes.

text: When Mary died and Elizabeth I became queen in 1558, the religious situation in England was confused. Throughout the see-sawing religious landscape of the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Mary I, a significant proportion of the population (especially in the rural and outlying areas of the country), are likely to have continued to hold Catholic views, at least in private. By the end of Elizabeth I's reign, however, England was clearly a Protestant country, and Catholics were a minority.

text: Elizabeth's first act was to reverse her sister's re-establishment of Catholicism by Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity. The Act of Supremacy of 1558 made it a crime to assert the authority of any foreign prince, prelate, or other authority, and was aimed at abolishing the authority of the Pope in England. A third offence was high treason, punishable by death. The Oath of Supremacy, imposed by the Act of Supremacy 1558, provided for any person taking public or church office in England to swear allegiance to the monarch as Supreme Governor of the Church of England. Failure to so swear was a crime, although it did not become treason until 1562, when the Supremacy of the Crown Act 1562[32] made a second offence of refusing to take the oath treason.

text: However, during the first years of her reign there was relative leniency towards Catholics who were willing to keep their religion private, especially if they were prepared to continue to attend their parish churches. The wording of the official prayer book had been carefully designed to make this possible by omitting aggressively "heretical" matter, and at first many English Catholics did in fact worship with their Protestant neighbours, at least until this was formally forbidden by Pope Pius V's 1570 bull, Regnans in Excelsis, which also declared that Elizabeth was not a rightful queen and should be deposed, formally excommunicated her and any who obeyed her and obliged all Catholics to attempt to overthrow her.[33]

text: In response, the "Act to retain the Queen's Majesty's subjects in their obedience", passed in 1581, made it high treason to reconcile anyone or to be reconciled to "the Romish religion", or to procure or publish any papal Bull or writing whatsoever. The celebration of mass was prohibited under penalty of a fine of two hundred marks and imprisonment for one year for the celebrant, and a fine of one hundred marks and the same imprisonment for those who heard the Mass. This act also increased the penalty for not attending the Anglican service to the sum of twenty pounds a month, or imprisonment till the fine be paid, or till the offender went to the Protestant Church. A further penalty of ten pounds a month was inflicted on anyone keeping a schoolmaster who did not attend the Protestant service. The schoolmaster himself was to be imprisoned for one year.[34]

text: In the setting of England's wars with Catholic powers such as France and Spain, culminating in the attempted invasion by the Spanish Armada in 1588, the Papal bull unleashed a nationalistic feeling which equated Protestantism with loyalty to a highly popular monarch, rendering every Catholic a potential traitor, even in the eyes of those who were not themselves extreme Protestants. The Rising of the North, the Throckmorton plot and the Babington plot, together with other subversive activities of supporters of Mary, Queen of Scots, all reinforced the association of Catholicism and treachery in the popular mind.

text: The climax of Elizabeth's persecution of Catholics was reached in 1585 by the "Act against Jesuits, Seminary priests and other such like disobedient persons". This statute, under which most of the English Catholic martyrs were executed, made it high treason for any Jesuit or any seminary priest to be in England at all, and felony for any one to harbour or relieve them.

text: The last of Elizabeth's anti-Catholic laws was the "Act for the better discovery of wicked and seditious persons terming themselves Catholics, but being rebellious and traitorous subjects". Its effect was to prohibit all recusants from removing more than five miles from their place of abode, and to order all persons suspected of being Jesuits or seminary priests, and not answering satisfactorily, to be imprisoned till they did so.[35]

text: However, Elizabeth did not believe that her anti-Catholic policies constituted religious persecution, finding it hard, in the context of the uncompromising wording of the Papal Bull against her, to distinguish between those Catholics engaged in conflict with her from those Catholics with no such designs.[36] The number of English Catholics executed under Elizabeth was significant, including Edmund Campion, Robert Southwell, and Margaret Clitherow. Elizabeth herself signed the death warrant that led to regicide, the beheading of her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots.

text: Because of the persecution in England, Catholic priests in England were trained abroad at the English College in Rome, the English College in Douai, the English College at Valladolid in Spain, and at the English College in Seville. Given that Douai was located in the Spanish Netherlands, part of the dominions of Elizabethan England's greatest enemy, and Valladolid and Seville in Spain itself, they became associated in the public eye with political as well as religious subversion. It was this combination of nationalistic public opinion, sustained persecution, and the rise of a new generation which could not remember pre-Reformation times and had no pre-established loyalty to Catholicism, that reduced the number of Catholics in England during this period – although the overshadowing memory of Queen Mary I's reign was another factor that should not be underestimated. Nevertheless, by the end of the reign probably 20% of the population were still Catholic, with another 10% dissident "Puritan" Protestants, and the remainder more or less reconciled to the "official" church.

text: The reign of James I (1603–1625) was marked by a measure of tolerance, though less so after the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot conspiracy of a small group of Catholic conspirators who aimed to kill both King and Parliament and establish a Catholic monarchy. A mix of persecution and tolerance followed: Ben Jonson and his wife, for example, in 1606 were summoned before the authorities for failure to take communion in the Church of England,[37] yet the King tolerated some Catholics at court; for example George Calvert, to whom he gave the title Baron Baltimore, and the Duke of Norfolk, head of the Howard family.

text: The reign of Charles I (1625–49) saw a small revival of Catholicism in England, especially among the upper classes. As part of the royal marriage settlement Charles's Catholic wife, Henrietta Maria, was permitted her own royal chapel and chaplain. Henrietta Maria was in fact very strict in her religious observances, and helped create a court with continental influences, where Catholicism was tolerated, even somewhat fashionable. Some anti-Catholic legislation became effectively a dead letter. The Counter-Reformation on the Continent of Europe had created a more vigorous and magnificent form of Catholicism (i.e., Baroque, notably found in the architecture and music of Austria, Italy and Germany) that attracted some converts, like the poet Richard Crashaw. Ironically, the explicitly Catholic artistic movement (i.e., Baroque) ended up "providing the blueprint, after the fire of London, for the first new Protestant churches to be built in England."[38]

text: While Charles remained firmly Protestant, he was personally drawn towards a consciously 'High Church' Anglicanism. This affected his appointments to Anglican bishoprics, in particular the appointment of William Laud as Archbishop of Canterbury. How many Catholics and Puritans there were is still open to debate.[39][40]

text: Religious conflict between Charles and other "High" Anglicans and Calvinists - at this stage mostly still within the Church of England (the Puritans) - formed a strand of the anti-monarchical leanings of the troubled politics of the period. The religious tensions between a court with 'Papist' elements and a Parliament where the Puritans were strong was one of the major factors behind the English Civil War, in which almost all Catholics supported the King. The victory of the Parliamentarians meant a strongly Protestant, anti-Catholic (and, incidentally, anti-Anglican) regime under Oliver Cromwell.

text: The restoration of the monarchy under Charles II (1660–85) also saw the restoration of a Catholic-influenced court like his father's. However, although Charles himself had Catholic leanings, he was first and foremost a pragmatist and realised the vast majority of public opinion in England was strongly anti-Catholic, so he agreed to laws such as the Test Act requiring any appointee to any public office or member of Parliament to deny Catholic beliefs such as transubstantiation. As far as possible, however, he maintained tacit tolerance. Like his father, he married a Catholic, Catherine of Braganza. (He would become Catholic himself on his deathbed).

text: Charles' brother and heir James, Duke of York (later James II) converted to Catholicism in 1668–1669. When Titus Oates in 1678 alleged a (totally imaginary) 'Popish Plot' to assassinate Charles and put James in his place, he unleashed a wave of Parliamentary and public hysteria which led to anti-Catholic purges, and another wave of sectarian persecution, which Charles was either unable or unwilling to prevent. Throughout the early 1680s the Whig element in Parliament attempted to remove James as successor to the throne. Their failure saw James become, in 1685, Britain's first openly Catholic monarch since Mary I (and last to date). He promised religious toleration for Catholic and Protestants on an equal footing, but it is in doubt whether he did this to gain support from Dissenters or whether he was truly committed to tolerance (Contemporary Catholic regimes in Spain and Italy, for example, were hardly tolerant of Protestantism, while those in France and Poland had practised forms of toleration).[41][42]

text: James' clear intent to work towards the restoration of the Church of England to the Catholic fold encouraged converts like the poet John Dryden, who wrote "The Hind and the Panther", celebrating his conversion.[43][44] Protestant fears mounted as James placed Catholics in the major commands of the existing standing army, dismissed the Protestant Bishop of London and dismissed the Protestant Fellows of Magdalen College and replaced them with a wholly Catholic board. The last straw was the birth of a Catholic heir in 1688, portending a return to a Pre-Reformation Catholic dynasty.

text: In what came to be known as the Glorious Revolution, Parliament deemed James to have abdicated (effectively deposing him, though Parliament refused to call it that) in favor of his Protestant daughter and son-in-law and nephew, Mary II and William III. Although this affair is celebrated as solidifying both English liberties and the Protestant nature of the kingdom, some argue that it was "fundamentally a coup spearheaded by a foreign army and navy."[45][46][47]

text: James fled into exile, and with him many Catholic nobility and gentry. The Act of Settlement 1701, which remains in operation today, established the royal line through Sophia, Electress of Hanover, and specifically excludes any Catholic or anyone who marries a Catholic from the throne. This Act was partially changed when the ban on the monarch's marrying a Catholic was eliminated (along with the rule of male succession).[48]

text: Henry Benedict Stuart (Cardinal-Duke of York), the last Jacobite heir to publicly assert a claim to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland, died in Rome in 1807. A monument to the Royal Stuarts exists today at Vatican City. Franz, Duke of Bavaria, head of the Wittelsbach family, is the most senior descendant of King Charles I and is considered by Jacobites to be the heir of the Stuarts.[49][50]

text: Recusants and moves towards Emancipation[edit]

text: The years from 1688 to the early 19th century were in some respects the nadir for Catholicism in England. Deprived of their dioceses, four Apostolic Vicariates were set up throughout England until the re-establishment of the diocesan episcopacy in 1850. Although the persecution was not violent as in the past, Catholic numbers, influence and visibility in English society reached their lowest ebb. Their civil rights were severely curtailed: their right to own property or inherit land was greatly limited, they were burdened with special taxes, they could not send their children abroad for Catholic education, they could not vote, and priests were liable to imprisonment.

text: There was no longer, as once in Stuart times, any notable Catholic presence at court, in public life, in the military or professions. Many of the Catholic nobles and gentry who had preserved on their lands among their tenants small pockets of Catholicism had followed James into exile, and others, at least outwardly, conformed to Anglicanism, meaning fewer such Catholic communities survived intact. A bishop at this time (roughly from 1688 to 1850) was called a Vicar apostolic. A Vicar Apostolic was a titular bishop (as opposed to a diocesan bishop) through whom the pope exercised jurisdiction over a particular church territory in England. Interestingly, English-speaking colonial America came under the jurisdiction of the Vicar Apostolic of the London. As titular bishop over Catholics in British America, he was important to the government not only in regard to its English-speaking North American colonies, but also after the Seven Years' War when the British Empire, in 1763, acquired the French-speaking (and predominantly Catholic) territory of Canada. Only after the Treaty of Paris in 1783 and in 1789 with the consecration of John Carroll, a friend of Benjamin Franklin, did the U.S. have its own diocesan bishop, free of the Vicar Apostolic of London, James Robert Talbot.[51][52][53][54][55]

text: Most Catholics retreated to complete isolation from a popular Protestant mainstream, and Catholicism in England in this period is politically, if not socially, invisible to history, Alexander Pope being one memorable English Catholic of the 18th century and the other being a member of the Catholic gentry, the Duke of Norfolk, the Premier Duke in the peerage of England and as Earl of Arundel, the Premier Earl. In virtue of his status and as head of the Howard family (which included the Earl of Carlisle, the Earl of Suffolk, the Earl of Berkshire, and the Earl of Effingham), the Duke was always at court. Pope, however, seemed to benefit from the isolation. In 1713, when he was 25, he took subscriptions for a project that filled his life for the next seven years, the result being a new version of Homer's Iliad. Samuel Johnson pronounced it the greatest translation ever achieved in the English language.[56] Over time, Pope became the greatest poet of the age, the Augustan Age, especially for his mock-heroic poems, Rape of the Lock and The Dunciad. Around this time, in 1720, Clement XI proclaimed Anselm of Canterbury a Doctor of the Church. In 1752, mid-century, Great Britain adopted the Gregorian calendar decreed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. Later in the century there was some liberalisation of the anti-Catholic laws on the basis of Enlightenment ideals.

text: In 1778 a Catholic Relief Act allowed Catholics to own property, inherit land and join the army. Hardline Protestant mobs reacted in the Gordon Riots in 1780, attacking any building in London which was associated with Catholicism or owned by Catholics. Other reforms allowed the clergy to operate more openly and thus allowed permanent missions to be set up in the larger towns. Stonyhurst College, for example, was re-established in 1791 for wealthier Catholics. In 1837, James Arundel, the tenth Baron Arundel of Wardour, bequeathed to Stonyhurst the Arundel Library, which contained the vast Arundel family collection, including some of the school's most important books and manuscripts such as a Shakespeare First Folio and a manuscript copy of Froissart's Chronicles, looted from the body of a dead Frenchman after the Battle of Agincourt. Yet Catholic recusants as a whole remained a small group, except where they stayed the majority religion in various pockets, notably in rural Lancashire and Cumbria, or were part of the Catholic aristocracy and squirearchy.[57] One of the most interesting contemporary descendents of recusants is Timothy Radcliffe, former Master of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) and writer. Radcliffe is related to three former cardinals—Weld, Vaughan and Hume (the last because his cousin Lord Hunt is married to Hume's sister), and his family is connected to many of the great recusant English Catholic families, the Arundels, Tichbournes, Tablots, Stonors, and Weld-Blundells.[58] Finally, history cannot forget the famous recusant, Maria Fitzherbert, who during this period secretly married the Prince of Wales, Prince Regent, and future George IV in 1785. The British Constitution, however, did not accept it and George IV later moved on. Cast aside by the establishment, she was adopted by the town of Brighton, whose citizens, both Catholic and Protestant, called her "Mrs. Prince". According to journalist, Richard Abbott, "Before the town had a [Catholic] church of its own, she had a priest say Mass at her own house, and invited local Catholics", suggesting the recusants of Brighton were not very undiscovered.[59][60]

text: In a new study of the English Catholic community, 1688–1745, Gabriel Glickman notes that Catholics, especially those whose social position gave them access to the courtly centres of power and patronage, had a significant part to play in 18th-century England. They were not as marginal as one might think today. For example, Alexander Pope was not the only Catholic whose contributions (especially, Essays on Man) help define the temper of an early English Enlightenment. In addition to Pope, Glickman notes, a Catholic architect, James Gibbs, returned baroque forms to the London skyline and a Catholic composer, Thomas Arne, composed "Rule Britannia." According to reviewer Aidan Bellenger, Glickman also suggests that "rather than being the victims of the Stuart failure, 'the unpromising setting of exile and defeat' had 'sown the seed of a frail but resilient English Catholic Enlightenment.'"[61] Yale University historian Steve Pincus likewise argues in his book, 1688: The First Modern Revolution, that Catholics under William and Mary and their successors experienced considerable freedom.[62]

text: Coming of the Irish and English converts[edit]

text: After this moribund period, the first signs of a revival occurred as thousands of French Catholics fled France during the French Revolution. The leaders of the Revolution were virulently anti-Catholic, even singling out priests and nuns for summary execution or massacre, and England was seen as a safe haven from Jacobin violence. Also around this time (1801), a new political entity was formed, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, which merged the Kingdom of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland, thus increasing the number of Catholics in the new state. Pressure for abolition of anti-Catholic laws grew, particularly with the need for Catholic recruits to fight in the Napoleonic Wars. Despite the strong opposition of King George III, which delayed reform, 1829 brought the culmination of the liberalisation of the anti-Catholic laws.[63] Parliament passed the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, giving Catholics almost equal civil rights, including the right to vote and to hold most public offices. If Catholics were rich, however, exceptions were always made, even before the changes. For example, American ministers to the Court of St. James's were often struck by the prominence of wealthy American-born Catholics, titled ladies among the nobility, like Louisa (Caton), granddaughter of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, and her two sisters, Mary Ann and Elizabeth. After Louisa's first husband (Sir Felton Bathurst-Hervey) died, Louisa later married the son of the Duke of Leeds, and had the Duke of Wellington as her European protector. Her sister, Mary Ann, married the Marquess of Wellesley, the brother of the Duke of Wellington; and her other sister, Elizabeth (Lady Stafford), married another British nobleman.[64][65][66][67] Though British law required an Anglican marriage service, each of the sisters and their Protestant spouses had a Catholic ceremony afterwards. At Louisa's first marriage, the Duke of Wellington escorted the bride.[68]

text: In the 1840s and 1850s, especially during the Great Irish Famine, while much of the large outflow of emigration from Ireland was headed to the United States to seek work, hundreds of thousands of Irish people also migrated across the channel to England and Scotland, and established communities in cities there, including London, Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow, but also in towns and villages up and down the country, thus giving English Catholicism a numerical boost. Also significant was the rise in the 1830s and 1840s of the Oxford Movement, which claimed Catholic validity for Anglican orders and sought to revive some elements of Catholic theology and ritual within the Church of England (creating Anglo-Catholicism).

text: A proportion of the Anglicans who were involved in the Oxford Movement or "Tractarianism" were ultimately led beyond these positions and converted to the Catholic Church, including, in 1845, the movement's principal intellectual leader, John Henry Newman. More new Catholics would come from the Anglican Church, often via high Anglicanism, for at least the next hundred years, and something of this continues.

text: Prominent intellectual and artistic figures who turned to Catholicism in the 19th and 20th centuries included the leading architect of the Gothic Revival, Augustus Pugin, the artist Graham Sutherland and literary figures such as Newman, Gerard Manley Hopkins, G. K. Chesterton, Ronald Knox, Siegfried Sassoon, Evelyn Waugh, Edith Sitwell, Graham Greene and Muriel Spark.[69] Prominent cradle Catholics included the film director, Alfred Hitchcock, writers such as Hilaire Belloc, Lord Acton, and J. R. R. Tolkien and the composer Edward Elgar, whose oratorio The Dream of Gerontius was based on a 19th-century poem by Newman.

text: At various points after the 16th century hopes have been entertained by many English Catholics that the "reconversion of England" was near at hand. Additionally, with the arrival of immigrant masses of Irish Catholics, some considered that a "second spring" of Catholicism across Britain was developing. Rome responded by re-establishing the Catholic hierarchy in 1850, creating 12 Catholic dioceses in England from existing apostolic vicariates and appointing diocesan bishops (to replace earlier titular bishops) with fixed sees on a more traditional Catholic pattern. The Catholic Church in England and Wales had 22 dioceses immediately before the Reformation, but none of the current 22 bear close resemblance (geographically) to those 22 earlier pre-Reformation dioceses.

text: The re-established diocesan episcopacy specifically avoided using places that were seats of Church of England dioceses as seats, in effect temporarily abandoning the titles of Catholic dioceses before Elizabeth I because of the Ecclesiastical Titles Act of 1851, which in England favoured a state church (i.e., Church of England) and denied arms and legal existence to territorial Catholic sees on the basis that the state could not grant such "privileges" to "entities" that allegedly did not exist. Some of the Catholic dioceses, however, took the titles of bishoprics which had previously existed in England but were no longer used by the Anglican Church (e.g. Beverley - later divided into Leeds and Middlesbrough, Hexham - later changed to Hexham and Newcastle). In the few cases where a Catholic diocese bears the same title as an Anglican one in the same town or city (e.g. Birmingham, Liverpool, Portsmouth, and Southwark) — this is the result of the Church of England ignoring the prior existence there of a Catholic see and of the technical repeal of the Ecclesiastical Titles Act in 1871. Of course, the Act was only carried out in England. For example, the official recognition afforded by the grant of arms to the archdiocese of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, brought into being by Lord Lyon in 1989, was made on the grounds that the Ecclesiastical Titles Act of 1851 never applied to Scotland.[70] In recent times, former Conservative Cabinent Minister, John Gummer, who is a prominent convert to Catholicism and columnist for the Catholic Herald in 2007, objected to the fact that no Catholic diocese can have the same name as an Anglican diocese (such as London, Canterbury, Durham, etc.) "even though those dioceses had, shall we say, been borrowed."[71]

text: Contemporary English Catholicism[edit]

text: English Catholicism continued to grow throughout the first two thirds of the 20th century, when it was associated primarily with elements in the English intellectual class and the ethnic Irish population. Numbers attending Mass remained very high in stark contrast with the Anglican church (although not to other Protestant churches),[72] Clergy numbers, which began the 20th century at under 3,000, reached a high of 7,500 in 1971.[73]

text: By the latter years of the twentieth century low numbers of vocations also affected the church[74] with ordinations to the priesthood dropping from the hundreds in the late 20th century into the teens in 2006-2011 (16 in 2009 for example) and a recovery into the 20's thereafter, with a prediction for 2018 of 24.[75][76][77]

text: As in other English-speaking countries such as the United States and Australia, the movement of Irish Catholics out of the working-class into the middle-class suburban mainstream often meant their assimilation with broader, secular English society and loss of a separate Catholic identity. The Second Vatican Council has been followed, as in other Western countries, by divisions between traditional Catholicism and a more liberal form of Catholicism claiming inspiration from the Council. This caused difficulties for not a few pre-conciliar converts, though others have still joined the Church in recent decades (for instance, Malcolm Muggeridge and Joseph Pearce), and public figures (often descendants of the recusant families) such as Paul Johnson; Peter Ackroyd; Antonia Fraser; Mark Thompson, Director General of the BBC; Michael Martin, first Catholic to hold the office of Speaker of the House of Commons since the Reformation; Chris Patten, first Catholic to hold the post of Chancellor of Oxford since the Reformation; Piers Paul Read; Helen Liddel, Britain's High Commissioner to Australia; and former Prime Minister's wife, Cherie Blair, have no difficulty making their Catholicism known in public life. The former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, was received into full communion with the Catholic Church in 2007.[78] Catherine Pepinster, Editor of Tablet, notes: "The impact of Irish immigrants is one. There are numerous prominent campaigners, academics, entertainers (like Danny Boyle the most successful Catholic in showbiz owing to his film, Slumdog Millionaire), politicians and writers. But the descendants of the recusant families are still a force in the land."[79][80][81]

text: Since the Council the Church in England has tended to focus on ecumenical dialogue with the Anglican Church rather than winning converts from it as in the past.[citation needed] However, the 1990s have seen a number of conversions from Anglicanism to the Catholic Church, largely prompted by the Church of England's decision to ordain women as priests (among other moves away from traditional doctrines and structures).[citation needed] The resultant converts included members of the Royal Family (Katharine, Duchess of Kent, her son Lord Nicholas Windsor and her grandson Baron Downpatrick), a number of Anglican priests. Converts to Catholicism in Britain, for this reason, tend to be more conservative and even traditionalist than Catholics on the European mainland, often opposing trends within the Catholic Church similar to those which induced them to abandon Anglicanism in the first place.[citation needed]

text: The spirit of ecumenism fostered by Vatican II resulted in 1990 with the Catholic Church in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, joining Churches Together in Britain and Ireland as an expression of the churches' commitment to work ecumenically. Recently, for example, a memorial was put up to St John Houghton and fellow Carthusian monks martyred at the London Charterhouse, 1535. Anglican priest, Geoffrey Curtis, campaigned for it with the current Archbishop of Canterbury's blessing.[82] Also, in another ecumenical gesture, a plaque in Holywell Street, Oxford, now commemorates the Catholic martyrs of England. It reads: "Near this spot George Nichols, Richard Yaxley, Thomas Belson, and Humphrey Pritchard were executed for their Catholic faith, 5 July 1589."[83] And at Lambeth Palace, in February 2009, the Archbishop of Canterbury hosted a reception to launch a book, Why Go To Church?, by Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP, one of Britain's best known religious and the former master of the Dominican Order. A large number of young Dominican friars attended. Fr Radcliffe said, "I don't think there have been so many Dominicans in one place since the time of Robert Kilwardby, the Dominican Archbishop of Canterbury in the 13th century."[84]

text: The Church's principles of social justice influenced initiatives to tackle the challenges of poverty and social inclusion. In Southampton, Fr Pat Murphy O'Connor founded the St Dismas Society as an agency to meet the needs of ex-prisoners discharged from Winchester prison. Some of St Dismas Society's early members went on to help found the Simon Community in Sussex then in London. Their example gave new inspiration to other clergy, such as the Revd Kenneth Leech (CofE) of St Anne's Church, Soho who helped found the homeless charity Centrepoint, and the Revd Bruce Kenrick (Church of Scotland) who helped found the homeless charity Shelter. In 1986 Cardinal Basil Hume established the Cardinal Hume Centre[85] to work with homeless young people, badly housed families and local communities to access accommodation, support and advice, education, training and employment opportunities.

text: In 2006 Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor instituted an annual Mass in Support of Migrant Workers[86] at Westminster Cathedral in partnership with the ethnic chaplains of Brentwood, Southwark and Westminster.

text: Organisation[edit]

text: The Catholic Church in England and Wales has five provinces: Birmingham, Cardiff, Liverpool, Southwark and Westminster. There are 22 dioceses which are divided into parishes (for comparison, the Church of England and Church in Wales currently have a total of 50 dioceses). In addition to these, there are four dioceses covering England and Wales for specific groups which are the Bishopric of the Forces, the Eparchy for Ukrainians, the Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Great Britain and the Personal Ordinariate for former Anglicans.

text: The Catholic bishops in England and Wales come together in a collaborative structure known as the Bishops' Conference. Currently the Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Gerard Nichols, is the President of the Bishops' Conference. For this reason in the global Catholic Church (outside England), he is de facto Primate of England though not in the eyes of English law and the established Church of England. Historically, the avoidance of the title of "Primate" was to eschew whipping up anti-Catholic tension, in the same way the bishops of the restored hierarchy avoided using current titles of Anglican sees (Archbishop of Westminster rather than "Canterbury" or "London"). However, the Archbishop of Westminster had certain privileges: he was the only metropolitan in the country until 1911 (when the archdioceses of Birmingham and Liverpool were created) and he has always acted as leader at meetings of the English bishops.

text: Although the bishops of the restored hierarchy took new titles, such as that of Westminster, they saw themselves very much in continuity with the pre-Reformation Church. Westminster in particular saw itself as the continuation of Canterbury, hence the similarity of the coat of arms of the two sees (with Westminster believing it has more right to it since it features the pallium, no longer given to Anglican archbishops). At the back of Westminster Cathedral is a list of Popes and, alongside this, a list of Catholic Archbishops of Canterbury beginning with Augustine of Canterbury and the year they received the pallium. After Cardinal Pole, the last Catholic incumbent of Canterbury, the names of the Catholic vicars apostolic or titular bishops (from 1685) are recorded and then the Archbishops of Westminster, in one unimpaired line, from 597 to the present, according to the Archdiocese of Westminster.[87][88] To highlight this continuity or unimpaired line today, the installation rites of pre-Reformation Catholic Archbishops of Canterbury and earlier Archbishops of Westminster were used at the installation of the current Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Gerard Nichols.[89][90][91] He became the forty-third of English cardinals since the 12th century.

text: Hierarchy[edit]

text:
Diocese
Province
Approximate Territory
Cathedral
Creation

01Diocese of Arundel and Brighton
Bishop of Arundel and Brighton
15Southwark
Surrey and Sussex
Cathedral Church of Our Lady and St Philip Howard
201965
(from Diocese of Southwark)

02Archdiocese of Birmingham
Archbishop of Birmingham
01Birmingham
West Midlands, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Oxfordshire north of the Thames
Metropolitan Cathedral Church and Basilica of St Chad
021850
(elevated to Archdiocese 1911)

03Diocese of Brentwood
Bishop of Brentwood
19Westminster
Historic County of Essex
(including North-east Greater London)
Cathedral Church of St Mary and St Helen
171917
(from Archdiocese of Westminster)

04Archdiocese of Cardiff
Archbishop of Cardiff
04Cardiff
Eastern Glamorgan, Herefordshire, Monmouthshire
Metropolitan Cathedral Church of St David
031850
(originally as Diocese of Newport and Menevia; as Diocese of Newport from 1895; elevated to Archdiocese of Cardiff 1916)

05Diocese of Clifton
Bishop of Clifton
02Birmingham
Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire
Cathedral Church of Ss Peter and Paul
041850

06Diocese of East Anglia
Bishop of East Anglia
20Westminster
Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk
Cathedral Church of St John the Baptist
211976
(from Diocese of Northampton)

07Diocese of Hallam
Bishop of Hallam
08Liverpool
South Yorkshire, High Peak, North Derbyshire, Chesterfield, Bassetlaw
Cathedral Church of St Marie
221980
(from Dioceses of Leeds and Nottingham)

08Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle
Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle
09Liverpool
Tyne and Wear, Northumberland, County Durham
Cathedral Church of St Mary
051850
(originally as Diocese of Hexham; as Hexham and Newcastle from 1861)

09Diocese of Lancaster
Bishop of Lancaster
10Liverpool
Cumbria and Northern Lancashire
Cathedral Church of St Peter
181924
(from Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle and Archdiocese of Liverpool)

10Diocese of Leeds
Bishop of Leeds
11Liverpool
Historic West Riding of Yorkshire excluding South Yorkshire
Cathedral Church of St Anne
131878
(from Diocese of Beverley)

11Archdiocese of Liverpool
Archbishop of Liverpool
07Liverpool
Merseyside north of the Mersey, West Lancashire, Isle of Man
Metropolitan Cathedral Church of Christ the King
061850
(elevated to Archdiocese 1911)

12Diocese of Menevia
Bishop of Menevia
05Cardiff
Brecknockshire, Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, Radnorshire and Western Glamorgan
Cathedral Church of St Joseph
161898
(from Vicariate Apostolic of Wales)

13Diocese of Middlesbrough
Bishop of Middlesbrough
12Liverpool
Historic North Riding of Yorkshire, historic East Riding of Yorkshire, York
Cathedral Church of St Mary the Virgin
141878
(from Diocese of Beverley)

14Diocese of Northampton
Bishop of Northampton
21Westminster
Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire north of the Thames
Cathedral Church of St Mary and St Thomas
071850

15Diocese of Nottingham
Bishop of Nottingham
22Westminster
Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Lincolnshire
Cathedral Church of St Barnabas
081850

16Diocese of Plymouth
Bishop of Plymouth
16Southwark
Cornwall, Devon, Dorset
Cathedral Church of St Mary and St Boniface
091850

17Diocese of Portsmouth
Bishop of Portsmouth
17Southwark
Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Berkshire and Oxfordshire south of the Thames, The Channel Islands
Cathedral Church of St John the Evangelist
151882
(from Diocese of Southwark)

18Diocese of Salford
Bishop of Salford
13Liverpool
Part of Greater Manchester, South-east Lancashire
Cathedral Church of St John the Evangelist
101850

19Diocese of Shrewsbury
Bishop of Shrewsbury
03Birmingham
Cheshire, Shropshire, the Wirral and Manchester south of the Mersey
Cathedral Church of Our Lady Help of Christians and Saint Peter of Alcantara
111850

20Archdiocese of Southwark
Archbishop of Southwark
14Southwark
Kent, Greater London south of the Thames
Metropolitan Cathedral Church of St George
121850
(elevated to Archdiocese 1965)

21Archdiocese of Westminster
Archbishop of Westminster
18Westminster
Hertfordshire, historic County of Middlesex (i.e. North-west Greater London)
Metropolitan Cathedral Church of the Most Precious Blood
011850

22Diocese of Wrexham
Bishop of Wrexham
06Cardiff
Anglesey, Caernarfonshire, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Merionethshire and Montgomeryshire
Cathedral Church of Our Lady of Sorrows
241987
(from Diocese of Menevia)

23Eparchy of the Holy Family of London
Bishop Hlib Lonchyna
23Kiev–Galicia
Great Britain
Cathedral Church of the Holy Family in Exile
191957
(elevated to Eparchy 2013)

Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Great Britain
Mar Joseph Srampickal

Ernakulam-Angamaly
Great Britain
Syro-Malabar Cathedral of St Alphonsa
2016

24Bishopric of the Forces
Bishop of the Forces
24Holy See
HM Forces both in Britain and abroad
Cathedral Church of St Michael and St George
231986

25Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham
Monsignor Keith Newton
25Holy See
Former Anglican clergy, religious and laity resident in England, Wales and Scotland.
Principal Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory
252011

text: Chaplaincies[edit]

text: Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham[edit]

text: In October 2009, following closed-circuit talks between some Anglicans and the Holy See, Pope Benedict made a relatively unconditional offer to accommodate disaffected Anglicans in the Church of England, enabling them, for the first time, to retain parts of their liturgy and heritage under Anglicanorum coetibus, while being in full communion with Rome. By April 2012 the ordinariate numbered about 1200, including five bishops and 60 priests.[92][93] The ordinariate has recruited a group of aristocrats as honorary vice-presidents to help out. These include the Duke of Norfolk, the Countess of Oxford and Asquith and the Duchess of Somerset. Other vice-presidents include Lord Nicholas Windsor, Sir Josslyn Gore-Booth and the Squire de Lisle, whose ancestor Ambrose de Lisle was a 19th-century Catholic convert who advocated the corporate reunion of the Anglican Church with Rome. According to the group leader, Mgr Keith Newton, the ordinariate will "work on something with an Anglican flavour, but they are not bringing over any set of Anglican liturgy."[94] The director of music at Westminster Abbey (Anglican), lay Catholic James O'Donnell, likens the ordinariate to a Uniate church or one of the many non-Latin Catholic rites, saying: "This is a good opportunity for us to remember that there isn't a one size fits all, and that this could be a good moment to adopt the famous civil service philosophy - 'celebrating diversity'."[95] In May 2013, a former Anglican priest, Alan Hopes, was appointed the new Bishop of East Anglia, whose diocese includes the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.[96]

text: Eastern Catholic rites[edit]

text: There exists the Apostolic Exarchate for Ukrainians which serves the 15,000 Ukrainian Greek Catholics in Great Britain, with a cathedral and various churches across the country.

text: The Lebanese Maronite Order (LMO) runs in England and Wales. The LMO is an order of the Maronite Catholic Church, serving Maronite Catholics in England and Wales. The Revd Augustine Aoun is the parish priest for Maronites. The LMO runs a few churches, for example Our Lady of Sorrows in Paddington and Our Lady of Lebanon in Swiss Cottage.

text: There are also Catholic chaplains of the Eritrean, Chaldean, Syriac, Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malankara, and Melkite Rites. For information about the Syro-Malabar chaplaincy within the Diocese of Westminster in London, see Syro-Malabar Catholic Church of London.

text: Mass in the Syro-Malabar rite is celebrated each Sunday in St Joseph's Catholic Church, New Zealand Road, Cardiff.

text: Demography[edit]

text: General statistics[edit]

text: Migration from Ireland in the 19th and 20th centuries and more recent Eastern European migration have significantly increased the numbers of Catholics in England and Wales. While figures for England and Wales alone are difficult to estimate, the ethnic make-up of the Catholic population in the UK (which includes Northern Irish as British) in 2008 was as follows :[citation needed]

text:
White British
74.6%

White Eastern European
9.5%

White Irish
4.4%

White Other
3.9%

Black African
2.5%

Mixed other
1.9%

Afro-Caribbean/Other
1.7%

Asian
1.5%

text: The White Eastern European members are mainly from Poland, with smaller numbers from Lithuania, Latvia, and Slovakia.

text: Polish Catholic immigration[edit]

text:
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text: Polish-speaking Catholics first arrived in England in some numbers after the partitions of Poland during the 19th century. One of the most notable Poles at this time, who eventually settled in England, was Joseph Conrad. At the end of the Second World War, many Polish servicemen were unable to return to their homeland following the imposition of a communist regime hostile to their return, and the Polish Resettlement Corps was formed by the British government to ease their transition into British life. They were joined by several thousand Displaced Persons (DPs), many were their family members. This influx of Poles gave rise to the 1947 Polish Resettlement Act which allowed approximately 250,000 Polish Servicemen and their dependents, to settle in Britain. Many assimilated into existing Catholic congregations. According to the Polish Catholic Mission in England and Wales[97] in 1948 the Catholic hierarchy in England Wales agreed the appointment of a vicar delegate, nominated by the Polish Episcopate, with ordinary power over the Polish clergy and laity throughout England and Wales with certain exceptions relating to marriage. Subsequently, whenever a Polish Catholic community emerges within England and Wales, the vicar delegate appoints a Polish priest to organise a local branch of the Polish Catholic Mission. A priest thus appointed is the priest in charge, not a parish priest. There are no Polish parishes or quasiparishes in England and Wales (in accordance with Canons 515 §1 and 516 §1) with the exception of the church at Devonia Road in London. A Polish Community is sometimes referred to as a "parish" but is not a parish in the canonical sense. Hence the Community is not a juridical person. The canonical juridical personality which represents the interests of all Polish Communities is vested in the Polish Catholic Mission.[98]

text: Since the 2004 accession of Poland to the European Union there has been further large-scale Polish immigration to the UK. Currently the Polish Catholic Mission includes around 219 parishes and pastoral centres with 114 priests.[99] The current rector of the Polish Catholic Mission is Rev. Stefan Wylężek. In Poland, the Polish Bishops Conference has a delegate with special responsibility for émigré Poles. The current postholder is Bishop Ryszard Karpiński. The Tablet reported in December 2007 that the Polish Catholic Mission says these parishes follow a pastoral programme set by the Polish conference of bishops and are viewed as "an integral part of the Polish church".[100]

text: In December 2007 Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor said "I'm quite concerned that Poles are creating a separate Church in Britain – I would want them to be part of the Catholic life of this country. I would hope those responsible for the Polish Church here, and the Poles themselves, will be aware that they should become a part of local parishes as soon as possible when they learn enough of the language." Mgr Kukla stressed that the Polish Catholic Mission continues to have a "good relationship" with the hierarchy in England and Wales and said "Integration is a long process."[101]

text: Significantly, the Polish Mission co-operated fully with the English hierarchy's recent research enquiry into the needs of migrants in London's catholic community. "The Ground of Justice"[102] report by Francis Davis[103] and Jolanta Stanke et al. Von Hügel Institute[104] at St Edmund's College, Cambridge was commissioned by Archbishop Kevin McDonald of Southwark, and Bishop Thomas McMahon of Brentwood. 1000 people attending Mass in three London dioceses were surveyed using anonymous questionnaires available in Polish, Lithuanian, Chinese, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and English. The congregations were from mainstream Diocesan parishes, ethnic chaplaincies, and churches of the Polish Vicariate. The report findings described how 86% of eastern Europeans said the availability of Mass in their mother tongue was a reason for their choosing to worship in a particular church. The report's recommendations emphasised cooperation with key overseas bishops conferences, dioceses, and religious institutes on the recruitment and appointment of ethnic chaplains; the recognition of language skills as a legitimate training activity and cost for seminarians, clergy, parish volunteer and lay employees; and the consolidation of dispersed charitable funds for pastoral development and the poor in London.[105]

text: Adoption controversy[edit]

text: On November 3, 2016, John Bingham reported in The Daily Telegraph that Cardinal Vincent Nichols officially acknowledged that the Catholic Church in England and Wales had pressured young, unmarried mothers in the country to put their children up for adoption in agencies linked to the Catholic Church throughout the decades following World War II and offered an apology.[106]

text: Catholic saints of the United Kingdom[edit]

text: Saints and Doctors of the Church, notable and Pre-Reformation:

text:
St. Alban - (d. 251 or 304), Martyr
St. David - (500-589), Monk, Bishop, and Teacher
Augustine of Canterbury - (d. 605), Professed Religious Priest of the Order of St. Benedict and Bishop
Padarn Early 6th century, Bishop
Bede - (672?-735), Professed Religious Priest of the Order of St. Benedict and Doctor of the Church
St. Anselm - (1033-1109), Professed Religious Priest of the Order of St. Benedict, Bishop, and Doctor of the Church
Thomas Becket - (1118-1170), Bishop and Martyr
Richard of Chichester - (1197-1253), Bishop

text: Saints from the period of the Reformation to the present:

text:
John Fisher - (1469 - 1535), Bishop of Rochester; Cardinal
Thomas More - (1478 - 1535), Married Layperson of the Archdiocese of Westminster
John Houghton - (1487 - 1535), Professed Priest of the Carthusians
Robert Lawrence - (d. 1535), Professed Priest of the Carthusians
Augustine Webster - (d. 1535), Professed Priest of the Carthusians
Richard Reynolds - (d. 1535), Professed Priest of the Carthusians
John Stone - (d.1539), Professed Priest of the Augustinians
Cuthbert Mayne - (1544 - 1577), Priest of the Apostolic Vicariate of England
Edmund Campion - (1540 - 1581), Professed Priest of the Jesuits
Ralph Sherwin - (1550 - 1581), Priest of the Apostolic Vicariate of England
Alexander Briant - (1556 - 1581), Professed Priest of the Jesuits
John Paine - (d. 1582), Priest of the Apostolic Vicariate of England
Luke Kirby (priest) - (1549 - 1582), Priest of the Apostolic Vicariate of England
Richard Gwyn - (1537 - 1584), Married Layperson of the Apostolic Vicariate of England
Margaret Clitherow née Middleton - (1550 - 1586), Married Layperson of the Apostolic Vicariate of England
Margaret Ward - (d. 1588), Layperson of the Apostolic Vicariate of England
Edmund Gennings - (1567 - 1591), Priest of the Apostolic Vicariate of England
Swithun Wells - (1536 - 1591), Priest of the Apostolic Vicariate of England
Eustace White - (d. 1591), Priest of the Apostolic Vicariate of England
Polydore Plasden - (d. 1591), Priest of the Apostolic Vicariate of England
John Boste - (1543 - 1582), Priest of the Apostolic Vicariate of England
Robert Southwell - (1561 - 1595), Professed Priest of the Jesuits
Henry Walpole - (1558 - 1595), Professed Priest of the Jesuits
Philip Howard - (1557 - 1595), Married Layperson of the Apostolic Vicariate of England
John Jones - (1559 - 1598), Professed Priest of the Franciscan Friars Minor (Observants)
John Rigby - (d. 1600), Layperson of the Apostolic Vicariate of England
Anne Line née Higham - (1565 - 1601), Married Layperson of the Apostolic Vicariate of England
Nicholas Owen - (1550 - 1606), Professed Priest of the Jesuits
Thomas Garnet - (1575 - 1608), Professed Priest of the Jesuits
John Roberts - (1576 - 1610), Professed Priest of the Benedictines
John Almond - (1577 - 1612), Priest of the Apostolic Vicariate of England
Edmund Arrowsmith - (1585 - 1628), Professed Priest of the Jesuits
Edward Barlow - (1585 - 1641), Professed Priest of the Benedictines
Bartholomew Roe - (1583 - 1642), Professed Priest of the Benedictines
Henry Morse - (1595 - 1645), Professed Priest of the Jesuits
John Southworth - (1592 - 1654), Priest of the Apostolic Vicariate of England
William Plessington - (1637 - 1679), Priest of the Apostolic Vicariate of England
Philip Evans - (1645 - 1679), Professed Priest of the Jesuits
John Lloyd - (1630 - 1679), Priest of the Apostolic Vicariate of England
John Wall - (1620 - 1679), Professed Priest of the Franciscan Friars Minor (Recollects)
John Kemble - (1599 - 1679), Priest of the Apostolic Vicariate of England
David Lewis - (1616 - 1679), Professed Priest of the Jesuits
John Ogilvie - (1579 - 1615), Professed Priest of the Jesuits

text: Blesseds

text:
Margaret Pole - (1473 – 1541), Martyr, Countess of Salisbury
Dominic Barberi - (1792 - 1849), Professed Priest of the Passionists
John Henry Newman - (1801 - 1890), Professed Priest of the Oratory, Theologian, Cardinal

text: Venerables

text:
Mary Potter - (1847 - 1913), Founder of the Little Company of Mary
Margaret Sinclair - (1900 - 1925), Professed Religious of the Poor Clare Colettine Nuns
Bridget Teresa McCrory - (1893 - 1984), Founder of the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm
Joan Ward - (1585 - 1645), Founder of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Loreto Sisters) and Congregatio Iesu

text: Servants of God

text:
Elizabeth Prout - (1820 - 1864), Founder of the Sisters of the Cross and the Passion
George Spencer - (1799 - 1864), Professed Priest of the Passionists
Margaret Hallahan - (1802 - 1868), Founder of the Dominican Sisters of the English Congregation of Saint Catherine of Siena
Frances Taylor - (1832 - 1900), Founder of the Poor Servants of the Mother of God
Teresa Helena Higginson - (1844 - 1905), Layperson of the Archdiocese of Liverpool
Mary Janet Erskine Stuart - (1857 - 1914), Professed Religious of the Society of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

text: Other Open Cause

text: Miracles[edit]

text: A number of events which Catholics hold to be miracles are associated with England.

text: Marian apparitions[edit]

text: A number of Marian apparitions are associated with England, the best known are the following;

text:
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, associated with Simon Stock at Aylesford
Our Lady of Walsingham, associated with Richeldis de Faverches at Walsingham
Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, associated with Helsim the Abbot in the North Sea
Our Lady of Evesham, associated with Egwin of Evesham at Evesham
Our Lady of Canterbury, associated with Dunstan and Anselm at Canterbury
Our Lady of London, associated with Thomas a Becket and Hildegard von Bingen at London
Our Lady of Jervaulx, associated with Abbot John Kingston of Byland at Jervaulx
Our Lady of Durham, associated with Godric of Finchale at Durham
Our Lady of Ipswich, associated with Anne Wentworth at Ipswich

text: Incorruptibility[edit]

text: A number of cases of alleged incorruptibility of some Catholic saints are associated with England;

text:
Æthelthryth of Ely, hand discovered in 1811
Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, relics destroyed under Henry VIII
Werburgh of Chester, relics destroyed under Henry VIII
Wihtburh of East Anglia, relics destroyed under Henry VIII
Winibald of Wessex, tomb found empty in 1968
Guthlac of Crowland, relics destroyed by Vikings
Ælfheah of Canterbury, buried at Canterbury Cathedral
Edward the Confessor, bodily allegedly intact in 1269, skeleton by 1685
Hugh of Lincoln, tomb pillaged in 1364, shrine destroyed under Henry VIII
Edmund of Abingdon, taken to Pontigny Abbey in France
John Southworth, returned to Westminster Cathedral in 1927

text: Stigmata[edit]

text: Two cases of alleged stigmata are associated with England, neither have been approved by the Vatican;

text:
1880: Teresa Helena Higginson, at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire
1986: Patricia de Menezes, at Surrey


document_title: You Light Up My Life (film)

question_text: who sang you light up my life in the movie

root

text: You Light Up My Life (film)

text: Synopsis[edit]

text: Laurie Robinson (Conn) is a young woman who earns a living by performing in commercials and hosting a children's show on public television, but she would rather concentrate on songwriting and singing than doing comedy with her small-time comedian father Si (Joe Silver). One night, Laurie goes to a restaurant where she meets a young film director, Chris Nolan (Michael Zaslow); she drives him back to his apartment and they spend the night together. The next morning, Laurie confesses to Chris that she is engaged and has to be at her wedding rehearsal. He asks if the previous night was just a final fling before marriage, and she says she cannot see him anymore.

tag: p

text: Laurie later meets with her fiancé, Ken Rothenberg (Stephen Nathan), and attends a recording session where she records her song, then sings background vocals and directs the musicians during overdubs. From there, she goes to the wedding rehearsal where Si has arranged an elaborate setup with an old friend who owns the Wedding Palace. The next day, Laurie auditions for a film that needs a singing voice for the leading lady. The director, she discovers, is Chris, who is as surprised as she is. Chris asks to see the songs in her portfolio. Laurie's voice and the orchestra's performance of her song "You Light Up My Life" impresses everyone, and Chris asks her if she would be interested in auditioning for the lead in his movie.

text: Later, Chris sings "You Light Up My Life" for Laurie at his piano, giving it a more subdued treatment, then takes her for a walk along the beach. Laurie visits her best friend Annie (Melanie Mayron) to confess that she loves Chris, and adds that she may have the lead in his film. Meanwhile, when Laurie meets with Ken to call off the wedding, Chris auditions another girl for his movie and tells her she has the part, then gives his assistant the job of calling Laurie with the bad news. When Laurie asks why Chris did not call himself, the assistant explains that Chris has been in meetings all afternoon, and when she calls Chris's office, the receptionist tells her he is probably at home because he does not have any meetings. Laurie arrives at Chris's apartment as he and his new leading lady are leaving for dinner with friends. He apologizes and tells her she is special enough to get other roles.

text: Later that night, when Laurie and Si perform at the Family Komedy Hour, her routine falls flat, tears flood her eyes and she walks off. In the dressing room, Laurie tells Si she hates the act because she is not funny, all she wants to do is sing and that Columbia Records is interested in her. She gives Si a cassette tape of her songs and tells him he has to let go of her, because she needs to depend on herself; she is going to New York City alone. They hug and kiss goodbye, and Laurie drives away. Sometime later, Laurie's song "You Light Up My Life" climbs the music charts and reaches number one.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Didi Conn as Laurie Robinson
Joe Silver as Si Robinson
Michael Zaslow as Chris Nolan
Stephen Nathan as Ken Rothenberg
Melanie Mayron as Annie Gerrard
Jerry Keller as Conductor
Lisa Reeves as Carla Wright
John Gowans as Charley Nelson
Simmy Bow as Mr. Granek
Bernice Nicholson as Mrs. Granek
Ed Morgan as Account Executive
Joseph Brooks as Creative Director (credited as Joe Brooks)
Amy Letterman as Laurie
Marty Zagon as Mr. Nussbaum
Martin Gish as Harold Nussbaum
Ken Olfson as 1st Commercial Director

tag: ul

text: Title song[edit]

text: The film received the Academy Award for Best Original Song, the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song as well as the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for the title song "You Light Up My Life." The song was written by Joseph Brooks and sung for the film's soundtrack by Kvitka "Kasey" Cisyk.[3]

text: The song was later recorded by Debby Boone, and upon its release, it was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a record-setting 10 consecutive weeks, making it the biggest hit of the 1970s. It earned Debby Boone a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

text: Production[edit]

text: The film was picked up by Columbia who spent $10,000 on shooting a new, more positive ending, and $2.8 million on marketing.[1]

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text: The film's soundtrack was composed, arranged and produced by Joseph Brooks with lead vocals provided by Kasey Cisyk.

text: Reception[edit]

text: The film was widely panned by critics, garnering a 20% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[4] Some cited Didi Conn's sensitive portrayal and the title song as its most worthwhile features.[4]

text: The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

text:
2004: AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
"You Light Up My Life" – Nominated[5]


document_title: Orange Beach, Alabama

question_text: where is orange beach alabama on the map

text: Orange Beach, Alabama

text: Geography[edit]

text: Orange Beach is located along the Gulf of Mexico, and is the easternmost community on Alabama's Gulf Coast, with Florida's Perdido Key bordering it to the east. The city of Gulf Shores is to the west.

text: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 15.9 square miles (41.3 km2), of which 14.7 square miles (38.1 km2) is land and 1.2 square miles (3.2 km2), or 7.83%, is water.[3]

text: Climate[edit]

text: Orange Beach has a humid subtropical climate, with mild-to-warm wet winters, and hot and humid summers.

text:
hideClimate data for Orange Beach, Alabama

Month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Year

Record high °F (°C)

85 (29)

87 (31)

92 (33)

97 (36)

101 (38)

105 (41)

107 (42)

108 (42)

103 (39)

98 (37)

89 (32)

83 (28)

108 (42)

Average high °F (°C)

61 (16)

64 (18)

70 (21)

75 (24)

83 (28)

88 (31)

90 (32)

90 (32)

87 (31)

79 (26)

71 (22)

64 (18)

77 (25)

Average low °F (°C)

43 (6)

45 (7)

52 (11)

57 (14)

65 (18)

72 (22)

74 (23)

74 (23)

70 (21)

59 (15)

51 (11)

45 (7)

59 (15)

Record low °F (°C)

4 (−16)

9 (−13)

19 (−7)

29 (−2)

38 (3)

52 (11)

66 (19)

60 (16)

44 (7)

28 (−2)

25 (−4)

7 (−14)

4 (−16)

Average precipitation inches (mm)

5.72 (145.3)

4.86 (123.4)

6.32 (160.5)

3.97 (100.8)

4.41 (112)

5.17 (131.3)

7.09 (180.1)

6.11 (155.2)

6.75 (171.5)

4.26 (108.2)

4.43 (112.5)

4.02 (102.1)

63.11 (1,602.9)

Source: IntelliCast.com

tag: table

text: Demographics[edit]

text:
Historical population

Census
Pop.

%±
19902,253—20003,78468.0%20105,44143.8%Est. 20176,029[2]10.8%U.S. Decennial Census[4]2013 Estimate[5]

text: As of the census[6] of 2010, there were 5,441 people, 2,492 households, and 1,544 families residing in the city. The population density was 370 per square mile (140/km2). There were 11,726 housing units at an average density of 737.5 per square mile (284.8/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 94.3% White, 0.6% Black or African American, 0.7% Native American, 0.8% Asian, 1.4% from other races, and 2.2% from two or more races. 2.6% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

text: There were 2,492 households out of which 21.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.2% were married couples living together, 7.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.0% were non-families. 30.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.18 and the average family size was 2.70.

text: In the city, the population was 18.7% under the age of 18, 6.7% from 18 to 24, 23.7% from 25 to 44, 31.7% from 45 to 64, and 19.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.1 males. The median income for a household in the city was $66,656, and the median income for a family was $69,964. Males had a median income of $54,806 versus $47,019 for females. The per capita income for the city was $40,153. About 1.2% of families and 3.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 0.0% of those under age 18 and 2.8% of those age 65 or over.

text: Sports[edit]

text: The city of Orange Beach hosts many sporting events and tournaments at the Orange Beach Sportsplex. The Sportsplex, located north of the Gulf State Park and a short distance from The Wharf, comprises a football/soccer stadium with a seating capacity of 1,500. The facility also has several baseball and softball fields.[7] The Backcountry Trail system through the Gulf State Park has a trailhead located at the Sportsplex.[8]

text: The Sportsplex has hosted the SEC Women's Soccer Tournament on numerous occasions, in addition to the NCAA Division II men and women's soccer tournament. The facility once served as home to the Alabama Lightning of the North American Football League.[citation needed]

text: A 112 feet (34 m) high Ferris wheel is located at The Wharf in Orange Beach.[9]

text: Orange Beach is home to the Orange Beach Running Club, which meets every Monday evening to run a 5K.

text: Education[edit]

text: Orange Beach is part of the Baldwin County Public Schools system. Orange Beach Elementary School is the city's only school and serves students in grades kindergarten through sixth grade. Students in grades seven and eight attend Gulf Shores Middle School and those in grades ninth through twelfth attend Gulf Shores High School in neighboring Gulf Shores, Alabama. A new middle and high school on Canal Road is scheduled to open in 2019.[10]

text: Columbia Southern University is a private online-only university that is located in Orange Beach, with a campus in Orange Beach on Canal Road and a larger campus on the Beach Express road.

text: Recreation[edit]

text: Orange Beach offers a wide selection of family beach vacation opportunities, from condos directly on the beach to just across the street, dolphin cruises, recreational centers with tennis and basketball courts, golf course condo communities, beach houses and everything in between.

text: For entertainment, locals and visitors head to the Orange Beach Islands, also known as the Islands of Perdido Pass, consisting of Bird Island, Robinson Island, Gilchrist Island, and Walker Island. All 4 islands of the Perdido Pass are located within minutes of each other. There is no safe way of getting to the Orange Beach Islands by foot, and the currents make it unsafe to swim. The best way to get to the Orange Beach Islands is by boat, kayak, paddleboard, or jet ski.[11]

text: Alabama portal


document_title: Prison Break: The Final Break

question_text: who ends up with the money in prison break

text: Prison Break: The Final Break

text: Plot[edit]

text: This episode's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (April 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: The story starts off with Sara being arrested for the murder of Christina (Scofield) Hampton, during her and Michael's wedding reception. It is implied that surveillance video was altered by agents loyal to the General (Jonathan Krantz) (Leon Russom) by removing Christina's gun to make it look as if Sara shot Christina in cold blood rather than self-defence. She is held in the Miami-Dade State Penitentiary, where overcrowding necessitates that the female prison and jail inmates are housed in the same building. Gretchen Morgan watches from a distance, having been imprisoned after the events in "The Sunshine State".[2] Sara is attacked as revenge by the Miami-Dade COs for having left the infirmary door unlocked,[3] allowing the "Fox River Eight" to escape and eventual dismissal or suspension of several staff members of Fox River.

text: Across the yard is the neighboring men's jail and prison, where Krantz and Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell (Robert Knepper) are being held. T-Bag continues to help the general, even though the General claims poverty when asked to pay for contraband T-Bag gets him. The General contacts Gretchen and offers her $100,000 to kill Sara. When Gretchen does not get the job done immediately, it is offered as a bounty for whoever kills Sara. Sara is quickly poisoned with strychnine, but is given medical treatment in the infirmary that saves her life and pregnancy. The correctional physician informs her that she will have thirty minutes with her baby when she gives birth before the baby is taken away from her. His advice is to consider herself to be a surrogate mother to her own fetus so as to avoid crippling depression due to the inevitable separation.

text: Michael learns of the attacks from Sara's lawyer, and asks the warden to protect her, which she declines to do. She also denies Sara visits from anyone except her lawyer. After learning about the bounty on her head, Michael decides the only way to keep her alive is to break her out. He once again enlists Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) and Fernando Sucre's (Amaury Nolasco) help. Lincoln and Sucre scope out the prison, taking measurements and photographs to create a map of the prison. Gretchen sees Lincoln and Sucre, and demands Sara include her in any escape plan that may be developing.

text: After analyzing the photographs and plans of the prison, Michael finds a fault in the security system: a blind spot the cameras cannot see. Alexander Mahone (William Fichtner) then arrives and offers his aid, although his true intentions are unclear. He has just been offered reinstatement with the FBI if he finds and reports any evidence incriminating Michael.

text: Michael develops an escape plan which he relays to Sara using a hidden message in a letter. While he is out however, FBI Agent Todd Wheatley (Chris Bruno) breaks into Michael's apartment, and sees the plans laid out on table. When Michael arrives, he points out that while the plans may look incriminating, he was merely looking for weaknesses to report to the prison warden (Amy Aquino) in the hopes that she may grant him visitation rights.

text: Sara's attorney secures a court order allowing Michael to visit her. Because the visit is supervised, he subtly asks her if she understood the hidden message, and she indicates she did. As he is leaving the prison, however, Michael sees the camera system being adjusted to eliminate the blind spot he planned to exploit. Special Agent Wheatley apparently discovered it while looking at the documents he had seen in Michael's apartment.

text: Meanwhile, Sara joins the "Family" of the leader of the prisoners, an inmate who goes by the name of "Daddy" (Lori Petty). Daddy helps her get work in the motor pool, which makes Wife jealous and other Family members suspicious.

text: Michael comes up with a new plan to parachute into the prison and rescue Sara. Lincoln is sent to offer T-Bag $5,000 to light a fire and set off the fire alarm at 7:00 the night of the escape. T-Bag demands $100,000, and suggests they can get it by robbing the General of the money he has to pay the bounty on Sara. T-Bag did this to settle grudges with the General, including the General's refusal to pay T-Bag for favors in jail. T-Bag provides Lincoln with the name and phone number of Joe Daniels, (Richmond Arquette) the General's agent. Lincoln agrees to steal the money and put it in T-Bag's account by 7:00. Lincoln and Sucre then steal the $100,000 from Daniels.

text: Wanting to get to Sara away from the Family, Gretchen persuades one of the guards to search Daddy's room. The guards do so, and take Daddy to solitary confinement after finding drugs in her cell.

text: Sara is attacked by a fellow Family member (Alicia Lagano) but Gretchen comes to her rescue, killing the attacker in the process. Gretchen again demands Sara include her in the escape because she wishes to see her daughter, Emily, and give her a gift. When one of the guards tells Daddy of the death of her family member, and mentions that Sara and Gretchen are thought to be behind her killing, Daddy becomes infuriated.

text: Following several phone calls with Agent Wheatley in which Mahone divulged Michael's parachute plot, it appears that Mahone has betrayed Michael. But Michael continues to trust him, and gives him a piece of paper and a DVD which he asks Mahone to give to Sara in the event of his death. Michael then visits Sara once more, telling her that the previous escape plan was now impossible. He cryptically tells her of the new plan, in which she must get to the chapel. Michael has discovered they can get from the chapel to an administrative building that has an emergency escape tunnel.

text: Daddy is eventually freed from lockup, and appears to be stalking Sara and Gretchen. Just before the escape begins, Gretchen distracts a guard, and Sara confronts Daddy. Sara picks a fight with Daddy and purposely pushes her into a powerful and frightening inmate Skittlez (Dot Marie Jones), who then retaliates by attacking Daddy. At the same time, Gretchen punches the guard and knocks her to the ground, but gets stabbed in the leg during the altercation. Sara quickly grabs the guard's keys, and the two of them hide in the kitchen amidst the chaos.

text: Michael then begins the escape. Knowing of the plan thanks to Mahone's information, agent Wheatley orders all lights shut off, and positions armed officers near Michael's expected landing site. When the parachute comes down, it is riddled with bullets. Upon inspection, Wheatley discovers the parachute is attached to a dummy. Michael is then seen sneaking out from under Wheatley's car and running into the prison.

text: With the escape underway, Gretchen admits to Sara that she cannot continue on without help due to her injuries. Gretchen then asks her to choose, either to leave her behind or help her. Sara chooses to help Gretchen, however, as they run to the chapel, Gretchen is spotted by guards. She is asked if she's alone but Gretchen covers Sara's presence and stalls the guards. Though Sara is almost spotted by a guard, she manages to unlock the door and get into the chapel undetected. The guards are recalled and they take Gretchen. Sara picks up the necklace that Gretchen made for her daughter, Emily, presumably so she may pass it on to Emily later.

text: Michael meets Sara in the chapel, and they wait for 7:00 when T-Bag was to start the fire to trip the fire alarm. We see Sucre racing to a money transfer store to transfer the $100,000, but he gets there after the shop is closed. When T-Bag finds out that the transfer did not take place by 7:00 as promised, he angrily reveals the plot to the warden, and tells her that he was instructed to set off the fire alarm. Special Agent Wheatley responds by demanding the fire alarm and other systems that would cover other noises be turned off.

text: This however, turns out to be part of Michael's plan, as he assumed that T-Bag would double-cross them. With the alarms off, he burns through a locked door with a blowtorch. However, the electronic lock on the next door does not open with the device Michael brought. He needs to cause a power surge from a fuse panel to unlock the door, so he instructs Sara to leave him behind. Sara refuses to leave if Michael cannot go with her, but he emphasizes that there is no other way, touching her stomach and saying that he will be going with her. In one final act of sacrifice, Michael causes the surge, and sparks are shown coming from the fuse box. Sara runs, meeting Lincoln, Sucre, and Mahone just outside the fence. Stunned, Sara is unable to describe to Lincoln what just happened. Mahone revealed that he knew of Michael's plan from a previous discussion and tells Lincoln, "He's gone." They get into the van and drive away, still shocked over Michael's fate.

text: Back at the prison, T-Bag is put into solitary confinement for aiding Sara's escape.

text: The next day, just before Lincoln and Sara board a boat to escape to the Dominican Republic, Sucre gives Sara the $100,000 they stole from the General, apologizing for not being able to wire the money to them the night before as planned. Mahone gives Sara the paper Michael asked him to deliver, the results of a medical exam revealing that his brain tumor had returned and his condition was terminal. Mahone also gives the DVD to Lincoln who watches it with Sara while they escape on the boat. In the video, Michael tells Sara and Lincoln that he wouldn't have had much time to live because of his tumor, and that he doesn't regret his choice. He asks Lincoln to promise that he will always be there for his child (which turns out to be a son) no matter what, and he asks Sara to watch out for Lincoln. He says that life is wasted on what people want to, but don't ever, say. He then says what he wants to say is that he loves them both, very much. He tells them to make sure his child is told every day how much he is loved and how lucky he is to be free. The video, and the entire series, ends with Michael's message that they are finally free:

text:
“
Well, if you're watching this, I'm glad, because it means you're safe. And that's all I ever wanted. I wish I could be there with you, but as you probably know now, I wouldn't have had much time anyway. So I made my choice, and I don't regret it. Anyway, not too long from now there's going to be another little Scofield running around. And Linc--I want you to promise me, no matter what, they're going to grow up knowing their uncle is never far away. And Sara, I want you to promise me that you're going to keep an eye on Linc. As you may have noticed, he has a tendency to get in trouble.
You know, we spend so much of our lives not saying the things we want to say. The things we should say. We speak in code and we send little messages, origami. So now, plainly, simply... I want to say that I love you both... very much. And I want you to promise me that you're going to tell my child... that you're going to tell my child how much they're loved every day. And remind them how lucky they are to be free. Because we are. We're free now. Finally. We're free.

”

text: Cast[edit]

text: Starring[edit]

text:
Dominic Purcell as Lincoln Burrows
Wentworth Miller as Michael Scofield
Amaury Nolasco as Fernando Sucre
Robert Knepper as Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell
Jodi Lyn O'Keefe as Gretchen Morgan
Sarah Wayne Callies as Sara Tancredi
William Fichtner as Alexander Mahone

text: Guest starring[edit]

text:
Leon Russom as General Jonathan Krantz
Chris Bruno as FBI Agent Todd Wheatley
Barbara Eve Harris as FBI Agent Felicia Lang
Kim Coates as Richard Sullins
Lori Petty as "Daddy"
Aisha Hinds as Guard Cowler
David Starzyk as Blue Phillips
Amy Aquino as Warden Alice Simms
Dendrie Taylor as Guard
Richmond Arquette as Attorney Joe Daniels
Damien Leake as Detective Marlin
Alicia Lagano as Agatha Warren
Joseph Will as Doctor
Sufe Bradshaw as Wife
Dot Marie Jones as Skittlez
Rainbow Borden as Seags
Livia Trivino as Hucks
Ian Patrick Williams as Bearded man
Peggy Dunne as Guard