One of Cardinal Manning’s greatest works is his ‘Temporal Mission of the Holy Ghost,’ penned in 1866, one year after his appointment to Archbishop of Westminster. If you really want to get down to the nuts and bolts of what constitutes true Christian faith, and how reason should serve it, then this book is indispensable. In fact, this is one book that will be retype set and re-published by the Cardinal Manning Society in the near future, with an all new introduction and chapter commentaries as well. Right now we are making some final changes to the Society’s first publication, ‘The Syllabus.’ Hopefully it will be ready for purchase by the end of November. Stay tuned for that. Now back to the ‘Temporal Mission.’

Manning gives an outline at the beginning of this work which neatly lays out how the Holy Spirit works in the life of the Christian who remains in the Church. The Divine Teacher never abandons his flock, this Teacher is infallible. For Manning there is no compromise as to where the truth of Christianity remains. He says simply, “Christianity is Catholicism.”  The scope of the book is laid out to prove the core tenets of accepting the Catholic faith, which focus on the Living Voice of the Divine Teacher, faith in that Teacher, and man’s proper use of reason to understand and serve this Teacher. He outlines this in the introduction of the book, which I have produced below.

Object and method of the work. A Divine Teacher always present. Reason either a disciple or a critic. Rationalism true and false. In the former sense it signifies the use of the reason in testing the evidence of a revelation alleged to be divine, or in perceiving the harmony of the Divine Revelation with the human reason. In the latter sense defined to be an abnormal and illegitimate use of like reason. Divided into perfect Mid imperfect, or fully developed and incipient.

1.The former assumes reason to be the fountain of all knowledge relating to God and to the soul, and therefore the source, measure, and limit of what is credible in the theology of natural religion, to the exclusion of all supernatural revelation.

2. The latter assumes reason to be the supreme test or judge of the intrinsic credibility of” revelation admitted in the main to be supernatural. Both kinds of Rationalism are one in principle: both lower the reason, incipient Rationalism hi the Anglican Church. The Church teaches that Faith is an infused grace which elevates and perfects the reason.

Object of the present work to show :

1. That to believe in Revelation is the highest act of the human reason.

1. That to believe in Revelation, whole and perfect, is the perfection of the reason.

1. That to submit to the Voice of the Holy Spirit in the Church is the absolute condition to attain a perfect knowledge of Revelation.

1. That the Divine Witness of the Holy Spirit in the Church anticipates the criticism of the human reason, and refuses to be subject to it.

The four bases or motives of Faith are:

1. That it is a violation of reason not to believe in the existence of God.

2. That it is a violation of our moral sense not to believe that God has made Himself known to man.

1. That the Revelation He has given is Christianity.

1. That Christianity is Catholicism.

Each of these four truths certain by its own proper evidence, and each also confirmatory of the other.

An interesting note here is that in Manning’s eyes, the Holy Spirit will not be subject to human reason. This is the fundamental problem with Protestantism. The intellect becomes one’s compass for truth, instead of the Living Voice of the Holy Ghost. The proper use of reason is to believe in and serve the Divine Revelation revealed by the Holy Ghost in the Church, not to criticize what is revealed endlessly until you satisfy your intellect. The intellect is only perfected after it has accepted the divine truths that God reveals to it. This is a constant theme that runs through much of Manning’s work pertaining to ecclesiology. One cannot separate oneself from the Living Voice of the Holy Ghost in the Church, and remain faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For Manning, the Holy Spirit lives and breathes within the one Church, and it is only in that one Church that one can arrive at a perfect knowledge of Divine Revelation.

Manning was also a great lover of Saint Thomas, and so we frequently see him make reference to basic Thomistic principles in his writings. He clearly tells his readers that it is a violation of reason to deny the existence of God. This is classic Thomism. If you are familiar with Thomas’ Summa Theologica, Prima Pars, Article 3, and the five ways of knowing God’s existence, then these propositions are easily spotted. It was starting to become in vogue during Manning’s lifetime for theologians to shun Thomistic philosophy in favor of modern philosophical systems. Cardinal Newman was one of these theologians who shied away from classic Thomism, and you can see it in his writings. Manning however was not one of these avant-garde theologians. He often wrote in his personal letters of how great a treasure he considered Saint Thomas’ writings to be for him. This characteristic makes Manning’s writings very clear and easy to understand once you have a grasp on some basic Thomistic principles. I believe that Manning was one of the last of dying breed of theologians, and we are in his debt with the treasure trove of writings he has left us, this book being one of them. Manning was a down to earth, bread and butter type of guy and it shows in his life and in his writings. You can find the text of the complete book online here. Hopefully it will tide you over until we can reproduce a more readable copy for you.

Manning in his Harrow uniform 1820. Taken from the biography by Shane Leslie.

HARROW SCHOOL: THE FOURTH FORM ROOM

Harrow School: Original Building

Cardinal Manning: From Anglican Archdeacon to Council Father at Vatican I- James Pereiro

Pius IX- Roberto de Mattei

Matthew J . Bellisario. Oct 8th, 2010

About Cardinal Manning

Henry Edward Cardinal Manning is sadly a well kept secret in the Catholic world today. Although well known throughout England in the mid to late 19th century for feeding the poor, educating children of lesser means, resurrecting Catholicism in England, being one of the instrumental theologians at Vatican I, and standing up for the Catholic faith against the new wave of modernism, he was quickly dismissed by the following new crop of modern theologians as being rigid and Ultramontane. When the great Cardinal went to his repose on Jan 14th, 1892, Victorian London had never witnessed such a large funeral. What happened in the short time after his death that virtually erased his memory from the minds of the Catholic world? How did his reputation become so controversial? Often accused of being self centered, Ultramontane and rigid, he quickly fell under the shadows of other English converts such as John Henry Newman, who had nowhere near the influence or reputation that Manning had when the two were alive.

Manning unfortunately fell prey to a biographer who did not like Manning, and his reputation was quickly scarred by his biased attitude towards the Cardinal. As Fr. James Pereiro writes in his book ‘Cardinal Manning-From Anglican Archdeacon to Council Father at Vatican I,’ “Manning was unfortunate in having Edmund Sheridan Purcell as his first biographer.” It seems that Purcell published his biased work which painted Manning as Pereiro writes, “in the mould of the ambitious authoritarian and unscrupulous schemer,…” At least two authors read Purcell’s work before it was published who knew Manning, and they tried to convince Purcell to rewrite his scathing mischaracterization. Unfortunately Purcell persisted and it was his biography that took hold in the imagination of the masses concerning the Cardinal. Since then there have been a few other biographies written to correct Purcell’s work, but the sands of time seem to have already covered the life and thought of Cardinal Manning, and has seemingly sealed it off forever in the dusty annals of history, only to be discovered by blessed few who may accidentally stumble upon him when researching that era of English history.

Despite this heavy cloud that now hangs over the great Cardinal, it is the light of God that will eventually break through the obscuring cover. Fortunately for us, we have all of the Cardinal’s formal works available to us today, many in the public domain which are easily accessible to anyone with an internet connection. We also have most of his written correspondence that he had with many people like Gladstone, the Wilberforces and Newman. We have many testimonies to the great heart and spirit of Manning from the lips of both Protestants and Catholics, applauding his work in the realm of social justice, that is the social justice in the true sense of the term. Likewise they recognized his efforts to feed the poor and educate the children of England. He rightfully believed that education was not only for the elite class, but for everyone. Manning always tried to bring the Catholic faith into action in the lives of working men and women, that is he sought to bring it to the “average Joe.” What impresses me about the Cardinal as a theologian was, he did not write theology for an elite class in an ivory tower to be discussed among some haughty inner circle of theologians who shared in some cryptic language that only they could understand. He wrote theology for the enrichment of all Catholics so they could live their lives in the love of God, not for the pride of theological knowledge. Manning did not set out to stretch the boundaries of the theological realm to make a name for himself as so many have done after him. He wrote simply to communicate the known Catholic faith to anyone who sought to understand it, embrace it and live it.

What other testimony is greater than that of Pope Pius IX who welcomed Manning with open arms, having him ordained a priest just 10 weeks after coming into the Church. Later Pope Pius IX would reject the opinion of other bishops to appoint someone else other than Manning to Archbishop of Westminster, and instead moved Manning straight from priest to Archbishop. By the conservative orthodox Catholics, he was viewed as a champion of the faith, by the later arrogant “New Theologians” he was viewed as a simpleton, who was too rigid in his thoughts. Yet who’s ideas were used at the Vatican Council I when the dogma of infallibility was defined? Who was appointed to the Committee “De Fide” to help define the dogma? No it was not John Henry Newman, it was Henry Edward Manning.

When Manning’s writings and life are closely examined, I believe that we as Catholics will come to realize what a tragedy it has been to neglect this long lost friend of ours. It is with great joy that I present to you this website promoting the life and work of Henry Edward Cardinal Manning. Take the time to enrich yourself with his writings and use them to deepen and strengthen your faith. I have made his writings easily accessible in both written and audio book formats. Spread the word about the Cardinal so he can become once again a great friend to all Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Perhaps he may even intercede on your behalf from the heavens above!

May God bless and keep you always,
Matthew J. Bellisario. Oct 8, 2010

Do not fear to be thought over-strict ; do not fear to be reproached as extreme ; do not fear to be in a minority. Cardinal Manning.

‘. . . God knows I would rather stand in the lowest place within the Truth, than in the highest without it. Nay, outside the Truth, the higher the worse. It is only so much more opposition to Truth, so much more propagation of falsehood.’ Cardinal Manning