Wiseman

Wiseman, NICHOLAS PATRICK, Cardinal and Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, was born 2d August 1802, at Seville, of an Irish family settled in Spain. He was brought to Ireland in his childhood, and received his first education at Waterford, whence he was removed to the Roman Catholic college at Ushaw near Durham. In his sixteenth year he entered the English College at Rome, received holy orders at Rome in 1825, and was made S.T.D. and vice-rector of the college. In 1828 he published his Horæ Syriacæ, and became rector. As such in Rome he delivered his Lectures on the Connection of Science and Revealed Religion (1836); in London he first became known by a series of lectures on The Doctrines of the Catholic Church (1836). In the same year he was mainly instrumental in establishing the Dublin Review. In 1840 he was named Coadjutor Vicar-apostolic of the Central District of England, with the title of Bishop of Melipotamus in partibus, and appointed president of St Mary's College at Oscott. In 1846 he was transferred as Coadjutor Vicar-apostolic to the London district. From shortly after the Reformation the Roman Catholic Church in England had resorted to the expedient of a system of bishops In Partibus Infidelium (q.v.), with the title and authority of Vicars-apostolic (q.v.); but from the date of the passing of the Catholic Emancipation Act a desire had gradually sprung up among Catholics for the restoration of the normal form of church government by the establishment of a regular hierarchy. This measure was finally determined on by the pope in the year 1850, and Dr Wiseman was named archbishop of the see of Westminster, being at the same time created cardinal. This measure called forth a storm of religious excitement, which led to the passing of the futile Ecclesiastical Titles Assumption Act (q.v.). During the excitement Wiseman published an explanatory address of great ability and moderation entitled An Appeal to the Reason and Good Feeling of the People of England on the Subject of the Catholic Hierarchy. Notwithstanding these unfavourable circumstances, the undoubted abilities and literary eminence of Cardinal Wiseman eventually compelled the admiration of the British public. He took frequent occasion, moreover, by public lectures and addresses on the neutral subjects of education, literature, and art, to identify himself with the spirit of progress, and with the national sentiments of his fellow-countrymen; and in spite of failing health he published a succession of works which possessed much congenial to the sympathies of all cultivated Englishmen. The Lectures on Religion and Science already referred to; On the Connection between the Arts of Design and those of Production; on the Influence of Words on Thought and Civilisation; on the Points of Contact between Science and Art; Recollections of the Last Four Popes, and other similar works, obtained an extensive circulation. He died in London, 15th February 1865. He was a scholar of rare and various attainments, a distinguished orator, a graceful and vigorous writer, and an accomplished critic. In addition to the works mentioned above, he published The Real Presence in the Eucharist (1836); Reply to Dr Turton on the Eucharist (1839); Lectures on the Ceremonies of Holy Week (1839); Essays on Various Subjects (3 vols. 1853); Fabiola, or a Church of the Catacombs (1854), a singularly life-like picture of early Christian life in classic Rome; Sermons (2 vols. 1864); with many polemical tracts and other short publications. In 1866 appeared The Witch of Rosenburg, a Drama in Three Acts; and Daily Meditations in 1868. See the Lives by G. White (1865) and by Wilfrid Ward (2 vols. 1897).