"Charge of the Irish Bishops"

Considering my search term: "pernicious books", and the periodical in which it appears, United States Catholic Miscellany (1822-1835), I was fairly sure of what to expect from this article before even opening it. The title of the article struck my attention, "Charge of the Irish Bishops", but I was surprised to find that the article wasn't written originally for the US Catholic Miscellany, but rather from the London Truthteller. "Charge of the Irish Bishops" appears in the March 30, 1825 edition of the American periodical, as a reprint of a "pastoral charge" that had been issued by the Irish Catholic Bishops, so the piece is literally a charge sent down from Catholic higher ups to the people of the Catholic church, and it's purpose is to reaffirm the church's position on "pernicious books" and to forbid "the use, the perusal, the reading, or retaining of them".

Several things struck me about this article, the first being the way that it was framed by the US Catholic Miscellany by a brief introduction which serves to inform the reader of the periodical's position on the following charge:

• " 'A pastoral charge has been issued by the Irish Catholic Bishops, couched in the most impressive, admonitory, and eloquent language. Indeed it reminds us of the primitive times of Christianity, and reflects a lustre on the illustrious Catholic Hierarchy of Ireland. Our limits will not allow us to copy the whole, but we cannot refrain from laying the following extract before our readers, as it has been the subject of much animadversion and gross misrepresentation in the prints in the interest of the Biblicals."

It was around here that I decided to look up the United States Catholic Miscellany, and I discovered that it, apparently, was the first Catholic newspaper in the US, and that the founder, Bishop John England (who likely wrote the preface to the charge, above) was kind of a big deal. The more you know!

This, however, lead me to all sorts of other questions about the article, in particular the motivations Bishop England may have had in reprinting the charge (he was a native of Ireland himself), how the readership may have responded to the charge and what kind of value they placed on the publication, and most importantly, if there had ever been anything printed in the United States Catholic Miscellany, which would've been deemed inappropriate by those leaders issuing the strongly-worded charge.

Another aspect I found interesting was the transatlantic connection between the US Catholic Miscellany and the London Truthteller. Because the majority of the article is a reprint of what appeared in the Truthteller, there isn't a lot of opportunity to observe the interplay between the charge and the American publication reprinting it. The most we have is the introduction, which reads enthusiastically, but offers no other information.

This is a bit of a tangent, but out of curiosity I managed to track down the US Catholic Miscellany's prospectus from the original publication. In describing the goals of the publication, Bishop England includes: "The correct statement of occurrences regarding the Catholic religion: for the purpose of better discharging which duty, communications and periodical publications from Rome, Paris, London, Dublin, Canada, South-America, the various parts of the United States, and other portions of the world will be obtained, and are, solicited." Clearly this article reflects this, and it would be interesting to see how often Bishop England ran these types of stories.

Finally, I have to point out some of the highlights of The Charge itself. There are so many excerpts that surprised me by the strong wording, but I've plucked out one in particular. Here, the Irish Bishops are urging their followers not only to avoid pernicious books, those that "are not sanctioned by us, or by any competent authority in the Catholic church", but also to avoid incorrect interpretations of the scriptures:

• " 'In reading, therefore, the sacred scriptures, dearly beloved, seek only to become wise to salvation, and avoid that most perverse of all errors, that source of numberless evils, that pride and presumption which has desolated the church, and which would tempt you to set up your own weak and fallible judgment against the judgment of the ONE HOLY CATHOLIC and APOSTOLIC CHURCH, which is THE PILLAR AND GROUND OF TRUTH, illuminated by the Holy Spirit, and directed and governed in all her decisions by the son of God.' "

Okay, so I was not surprised to find that the Irish Bishops weren't terribly fond of books which contained blasphemy, criticisms of the church, or something crazy like witchcraft, but I have to say that I was surprised that they seem to be offering very little alternatives, and even discourage reading the Bible for fear of "good scriptures" being "badly understood". The charge continues on to focus more and more on pernicious books and describes several heartbreaking historical instances of book burnings as shining examples of the power of the church, but I am trying to keep in mind that this is an excerpt, and that there may have been a lot more in the original London Trtuthteller publication.

Though reading Starr's introduction and first chapter had me somewhat prepared, the idea of censorship has never been so clear to me as it is after reading this piece. It exhibits a real fear of the literacy and intellect of the people, and does so in an authoritative tone that is not afraid to use words like "suppression" and "prohibited", and is also not afraid to insinuate a bit of hellfire to drive its point home:

• " 'Hence, dearest brethren, such books have been, and ever will be, execrated by the Catholic church; and hence also those salutary laws and ordinances, whereby she has at all times prohibited her children to read or retain them; nay, why she has frequently ordered them to be committed to the flames.' "

Yikes.

- Charge of the Irish Bishops. United States Catholic Miscellany (1822-1835); March 30, 1825; 4, 13; American Periodicals pg.204
- Prospectus. United States Catholic Miscellany (1822-1835); June 5, 1822; 1, 1; American Periodicals pg.1