Universalis Ecclesiae
Encyclopedia
Universalis Ecclesiae is the incipit
Incipit
Incipit is a Latin word meaning "it begins". The incipit of a text, such as a poem, song, or book, is the first few words of its opening line. In music, it can also refer to the opening notes of a composition. Before the development of titles, texts were often referred to by their incipits...

 of the papal bull
Papal bull
A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....

 of 29 September 1850 by which Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX
Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...

 recreated the Roman Catholic diocesan hierarchy in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, which had been extinguished with the death of the last Marian
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...

 bishop in the reign of Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

. New names were given to the dioceses, as the old ones were in use by the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

. The bull aroused considerable anti-Catholic feeling among English Protestants.

History

When Catholics in England were deprived of the normal episcopal hierarchy, their general pastoral care was entrusted at first to a priest with the title of archpriest (in effect an apostolic prefect
Apostolic prefect
An apostolic prefect is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a missionary area where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese....

), and then, from 1623 to 1688, to one or more apostolic vicars
Apostolic vicariate
An apostolic vicariate is a form of territorial jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church established in missionary regions and countries that do not have a diocese. It is essentially provisional, though it may last for a century or more...

, bishops of titular sees governing not in their own name, as diocesan bishops do, but provisionally in the name of the Pope. At first there was a single vicar for the whole kingdom, later their number was increased to four, assigned respectively to the London District
Vicar Apostolic of the London District
The Vicar Apostolic of the London District was the title given to the bishop who headed an ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church in England, the Vicariate Apostolic of the London District, from 1688 to 1850.-Background:...

, the Midland District
Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District
The Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District was the title given to the Bishop who headed the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church in England which was known as the Vicariate Apostolic of the Midland District from 1688 and 1840, then the Central District from 1840 to...

, the Northern District, and the Western District (England)
Vicar Apostolic of the Western District
The Vicar Apostolic of the Western District was the title given to the Roman Catholic bishop who, between 1688 and 1850, headed the Church's ecclesiastical jurisdiction in England known as the Vicariate Apostolic of the Western District.-Background:...

. The number of vicariates was doubled in 1840, becoming eight, the apostolic vicariates of the London district, the Western, the Eastern, the Central, and the districts of Wales, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and the North.

The legal situation of Catholics in England and Wales was altered for the better by the Catholic Relief Act 1829
Catholic Relief Act 1829
The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 24 March 1829, and received Royal Assent on 13 April. It was the culmination of the process of Catholic Emancipation throughout the nation...

, and English Catholics, who before had been reduced to a few tens of thousands, received in the 19th century thousands of converts from Anglicanism
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...

 and millions of Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 Catholic immigrants, so that Catholics came to form some 10% of the general population of England and a considerably higher proportion of church-goers.

In response to petitions presented by local clergy and laity, Pope Pius IX issued the bull Universalis Ecclesiae restoring the normal diocesan hierarchy. The reasons stated in the bull are: "Considering the actual condition of Catholicism in England, reflecting on the considerable number of the Catholics, a number every day augmenting, and remarking how from day to day the obstacles become removed which chiefly opposed the propagation of the Catholic religion, We perceived that the time had arrived for restoring in England the ordinary form of ecclesiastical government, as freely constituted in other nations, where no particular cause necessitates the ministry of Vicars Apostolic."

The London district became the metropolitan archdiocese of Westminster
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in England. The archdiocese consists of all the London boroughs north of the River Thames and west of the River Lea, together with the towns southwest of Staines and Sunbury-on-Thames and...

 and the diocese of Southwark
Archdiocese of Southwark
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark is a Latin Rite Roman Catholic archdiocese in England. The Archepiscopal see is St. George's Cathedral, Southwark and is headed by the Archbishop of Southwark...

; the Northern district became the diocese of Hexham; that of Yorkshire became the diocese of Beverley; the district of Lancashire became the dioceses of Liverpool
Archdiocese of Liverpool
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite, of the Roman Catholic church in England. The episcopal see is the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, located in Liverpool. The Archdiocese covers the south west of the traditional county of Lancashire...

 and Salford
Diocese of Salford
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford is a Latin Rite Roman Catholic diocese centred around Salford Cathedral in the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England....

; the Welsh district, with some neighbouring territory added to it, became the two dioceses of Shrewsbury
Diocese of Shrewsbury
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury is a Latin Rite Roman Catholic diocese in England. The diocese encompasses parts of the North West of England and parts of the West Midlands...

 and of Menevia and Newport; the Western district became the dioceses of Clifton and Plymouth
Diocese of Plymouth
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Plymouth is a Latin Rite Roman Catholic diocese in England. The episcopal see is Cathedral Church of St Mary and St Boniface, located in Plymouth, Devon. The diocese covers the counties of Cornwall, Devon and Dorset, stretching from Penzance and the Isles of Scilly in...

; the Central district became the dioceses of Nottingham
Diocese of Nottingham
The Diocese of Nottingham is a Roman Catholic diocese of the Latin Rite which covers covers an area of 13,074 km², taking in the counties of Nottinghamshire , Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Rutland and Lincolnshire. The see is in the City of Nottingham where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church...

 and Birmingham; and the Eastern district became the diocese of Northampton. Thus the restored hierarchy consisted of one metropolitan archbishop and twelve suffragan bishops.

Ancient Catholic sees in England not restored

The sees thus assigned to the new Catholic residential bishops of England did not correspond to the pre-Reformation
English Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....

 dioceses, and were instead newly erected ones. Thus there was not to be a Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury. Instead, the Archdiocese of Westminster was created with its own archbishop. The Archbishop of Westminster
Archbishop of Westminster
The Archbishop of Westminster heads the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster, in England. The incumbent is the Metropolitan of the Province of Westminster and, as a matter of custom, is elected President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, and therefore de facto spokesman...

 was likewise not declared Primate of All England. However, he and his successors see themselves as successors to the Catholic Archbishops of Canterbury. Accordingly, the heraldic arms of Westminster, featuring the pallium
Pallium
The pallium is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Roman Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the Pope, but for many centuries bestowed by him on metropolitans and primates as a symbol of the jurisdiction delegated to them by the Holy See. In that context it has always remained unambiguously...

, is similar to that of Canterbury, with Westminster claiming to have better right to display the pallium, which is no longer granted to the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...

.

The bull Universalis Ecclesiae did not indicate the reason for choosing to erect new dioceses rather than to restore the old. The main factor is likely to have been the law enacted under King George IV which "forbade the use of the old titles, except by the clergy of the Protestant Church by law established".

John Henry Newman declared: "A second temple rises on the ruins of the old. Canterbury has gone its way, and York is gone, and Durham is gone, and Winchester is gone. It was sore to part with them. We clung to the vision of past greatness, and would not believe it could come to nought; but the Church in England has died, and the Church lives again. Westminster and Nottingham, Beverley and Hexham, Northampton and Shrewsbury, if the world lasts, shall be names as musical to the ear, as stirring to the heart, as the glories we have lost; and Saints shall rise out of them if God so will, and Doctors once again shall give the law to Israel, and Preachers call to penance and to justice, as at the beginning."

In contrast with what was done in England and Wales, when in 1878 the normal Catholic hierarchy was reestablished in Scotland
Restoration of the Scottish hierarchy
The Restoration of the Scottish hierarchy refers to the re-establishment of the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland on 15 March 1878...

, where the established Reformed Church did not maintain an episcopate, the old dioceses were reestablished, Until then, Catholics in Scotland were, as in England and Wales, under the pastoral care of vicars apostolic. The first apostolic vicar for Scotland was appointed in 1694, and the country was divided into two vicariates in 1727, the Lowlands District and the Highlands District, which became three vicariates in 1827, Eastern, Western and Northern.

In Ireland, the Catholic Church maintained without break the succession in the old sees, with a parallel succession claimed, with government support, by the Church of Ireland
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...

.

Anti-Catholic reaction

Publication of the bull was met with an outburst of hostility. The Reformation Journal published an article under the heading The Blight of Popery. "No Popery" processions were held all over England, and windows of Catholic churches were broken. And Parliament passed the Ecclesiastical Titles Act 1851
Ecclesiastical Titles Act 1851
The Ecclesiastical Titles Act 1851 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed in 1851 as an anti-Roman Catholic measure, repealed 20 years later by the Ecclesiastical Titles Act 1871...

, making it a criminal offence for anyone outside the "united Church of England and Ireland
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

" to use any episcopal title "of any city, town or place, or of any territory or district (under any designation or description whatsoever), in the United Kingdom".

However, this law remained a dead letter and was repealed 20 years later.

Subsequent adjustments

In 1861 the name of the Hexham diocese was changed to Hexham and Newcastle. In 1878 Beverley was divided into the two new dioceses, that of Leeds
Diocese of Leeds
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Leeds is a Roman Catholic diocese of the Latin Rite centred around Leeds Cathedral in the city of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 20 December 1878, with the splitting of the Diocese of Beverley which had covered all of Yorkshire...

 and that of Middlesbrough
Diocese of Middlesbrough
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough is a Latin Rite Roman Catholic diocese based in Middlesbrough, England and is part of the province of Liverpool. It was founded on 20 December 1878, with the splitting of the Diocese of Beverley which had covered all of Yorkshire...

. The Diocese of Portsmouth was formed in 1882 by the division of the Diocese of Southwark into the Dioceses of Southwark and Portsmouth. In 1895 the Diocese of Newport and Menevia was divided into the Diocese of Newport  (destined to become in 1916 the Archdiocese of Cardiff) and that of Menevia.

Three ecclesiastical provinces

Thus, the metropolitan archdiocese of Westminster came to have fifteen suffragan sees, the largest number in the world. Accordingly, by the Apostolic Letter Si qua est of 28 October 1911, Pope Pius X
Pope Pius X
Pope Saint Pius X , born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, was the 257th Pope of the Catholic Church, serving from 1903 to 1914. He was the first pope since Pope Pius V to be canonized. Pius X rejected modernist interpretations of Catholic doctrine, promoting traditional devotional practices and orthodox...

 erected the new provinces of Birmingham
Archdiocese of Birmingham
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham is one of the principal Latin-rite Catholic administrative divisions of England and Wales in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church....

 and Liverpool
Archdiocese of Liverpool
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite, of the Roman Catholic church in England. The episcopal see is the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, located in Liverpool. The Archdiocese covers the south west of the traditional county of Lancashire...

, making these two dioceses metropolitan archdioceses. There remained under Westminster the suffragan sees of Northampton, Nottingham, Portsmouth, and Southwark; to Birmingham were assigned those of Clifton, Newport, Plymouth, Shrewsbury, and Menevia; and to Liverpool, Hexham and Newcastle, Leeds, Middlesbrough, and Salford.

It had for many years been felt that a division was necessary, but there had always been the fear of causing disunion thereby, especially if, as in pre-Reformation times, the division would be between north and south. This was obviated by ignoring the precedent of York and Canterbury, and arranging for three instead of two provinces. Under the new Apostolic Constitution, the Archbishop of Westminster was granted the right to "be permanent chairman of the meetings of the Bishops of all England and Wales, and for this reason it will be for him to summon these meetings and to preside over them, according to the rules in force in Italy and elsewhere." He ranks over the other two archbishops.

Instead of the natural geographical division into a northern, a midland, and a southern province, formed by drawing a line from the Humber
Humber
The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal River Ouse and the tidal River Trent. From here to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between the East Riding of Yorkshire on the north bank...

 to the River Mersey
River Mersey
The River Mersey is a river in North West England. It is around long, stretching from Stockport, Greater Manchester, and ending at Liverpool Bay, Merseyside. For centuries, it formed part of the ancient county divide between Lancashire and Cheshire....

, and another from The Wash
The Wash
The Wash is the square-mouthed bay and estuary on the northwest margin of East Anglia on the east coast of England, where Norfolk meets Lincolnshire. It is among the largest estuaries in the United Kingdom...

 to the Bristol Channel
Bristol Channel
The Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean...

, the Westminster or eastern province and the Birmingham or western province reach from the south-east and south-west to the Humber and Mersey respectively. In this way the northern province is contiguous to both the other two, bringing all three into closer intercommunication.

In pre-Reformation times, an attempt was made in 787 to have a third English province, roughly covering the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, with a metropolitan see at Lichfield, but in 803 this was abandoned and the bishops of central England were again made subject to Canterbury.
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