The Poor Man’s Catechism

Abstract

Catechisms in the vernacular for the Catholic community in England appeared surprisingly early after the break with Rome, and were published continuously from the 1560s by English and continental presses, although many have not survived. Catechetical material is also often found within books dealing primarily with apologetical, educational, devotional and liturgical subjects. From the beginning, there seems to have been types of catechism written for particular groups such as teachers, children or the illiterate. Laurence Vaux, who taught English exiles’ children in Louvain in the 1560s, published the first extant catechism for the simple and unlearned in 1568, and with the publisher John Fowler’s encouragement, his later catechisms carried illustrations ‘for those not yet able to read’. Vaux’s catechisms were followed by popular European catechisms translated into English by the Jesuits.