Representing England in Rome: Sermons from the Early Modern English College to Popes and Cardinals

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores how preaching at the English College in Rome, c.1580–1603, can illuminate questions of national identity, Anglo-Italian exchanges, inter-confessional conflict and the symbiotic relationship of religious and national identities for English Catholics. It investigates in detail texts from a hitherto little-studied manuscript at the English College, Rome, whose large collection of homiletic and other rhetorical texts offers an unequalled insight into preaching at the College and adds valuably to our knowledge of preaching in Counter-Reformation Rome. The article looks at how English College preachers dealt with subjects such as persecution and martyrdom, England's ‘apostasy’, England's history and relations with Rome, and their place in the international Church. It reveals how the College and its members positioned themselves in both their English and their Roman contexts.