English Catholic Charity and the Irish Poor in London

Abstract

‘It was merry Christmas at St. Geneviève. There was a Yule log blazing on every hearth in that wide domain, from the hall of the squire to the peasant's roof. The Buttery Hatch was open for the whole week from noon to sunset; all comers might take their fill, and each carry away as much bold beef, white bread, and jolly ale as a strong man could bear in a basket with one hand. For every woman a red cloak, and a coat of broadcloth for every man. All day long, carts laden with fuel and warm raiment were traversing the various districts, distributing comfort and dispensing cheer. For a Christian gentleman of high degree was Eustace Lyle. (Disraeli, 1844.)The English priest had to serve the Irish in England, by virtue of his priesthood. But the English Catholic layman could stand aloof, and it has usually been alleged that the English laity in their cliquish callousness shunned and despised immigrant Catholic Irishmen, and refused to help the Church provide them with chapels and schools. The notorious Monsignor George Talbot's strictures upon their selfishness were especially fierce; indeed his letters have a social dimension which his detractors have conspired to ignore, for he assailed English Papists in the name of the Papist poor.