Two Lectures at Bath: The Rev. M. Hobart Seymour and Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman and the Nunnery Question

Abstract

Prejudice against Roman Catholicism in England, always present since the Reformation, continued into the nineteenth century. In 1850, Pope Pius IX restored the hierarchy in England and Wales, and this action became the occasion for renewed hostility against Catholicism. In April 1852, the Rev. Michael Hobart Seymour, who frequently spoke against Catholicism, gave a talk at Bath which criticized Roman Catholic and, to a lesser extent, Anglican convents. In response, Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman traveled to Bath. His lecture defended Roman Catholic sisterhoods and attacked Seymour’s lack of evidence and objectivity. This article discusses the arguments which Seymour and Wiseman used in their talks dealing with Catholic convents.