Milner and the Miraculous in Post-Enlightenment England

Abstract

In post-Enlightenment England Catholic Bishop John Milner wrote repeatedly about miracles. He defended the continuation of miracles in contrast to Protestant thinkers who believed that miracles had ceased after the apostolic age. Milner held that miracles supported the truth of Catholicism, distinguished it from Protestantism and provided consolation to Catholics. Milner criticised a report in which fellow Catholic Joseph Berington rejected the miraculous nature of events at Ancona, Italy in 1796 where a painting of the Virgin Mary purportedly moved its eyes. Upon becoming a bishop he investigated a cure that occurred at St Winefrid's Holywell and found that the cure was miraculous. Milner participated in the debate over the miracles of Prince Hohenlohe, the wonder-working German priest, and found in the priest's favour. Given that Protestants for three hundred years had attacked post-scriptural miracles, and that modern philosophers rejected all miracles, Milner's views appeared to be reactionary. Nevertheless, his views were not immune to historical developments, and he thought of himself as a sharp critic of excessive belief in miracles. Although his views anticipated a revival of miracle piety in English Catholicism, he could not prevent the long-term decline of the miracle apologetic.