Diocesan Archives Research Articles

Traces of holiness: blessed women, holy women in the papers of diocesan archives

The article aims to focus attention on the study of blessed women and holy women through the documentation found in diocesan archives and belonging to the series of canonization processes. With the regulation of the process, narrative organization gave way to legal defense, confrontation to analysis, and narrative to texts that had evidentiary value, and all this gave rise to a mine of information not only about the lives of the blessed and holy women, but also about the society in which they had lived.

PROTESTANT FAMILIES IN THE PŁOCK DIOCESE IN THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURIES

ABSTRACT: Purpose: The purpose of this article is to present the problems of the religious minority of Protestantism in the Płock diocese in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was one of the largest religious groups that came to Poland in the 16th century. The above-mentioned diocese of Płock was also inhabited by Protestant communities which disappeared over time in the areas of some of its Roman Catholic parishes. However, they exist to this day in some other places. Methods: The following article utilizes the historical method and reconstruction of facts. The following article benefits from the materials from the Diocesan Archives in Płock, as well as resources from archival extracts regarding the inhabitants of the Protestant denomination living in the area of ​​the Płock diocese, included in the protocols of general and deanery visitations. Results: Using archival resources, this study presents the situation of Protestant families, their number in individual parishes of the Płock diocese, religiosity, i.e. the number of prayer houses, cemeteries and the number of schools founded and run by teachers, also of the Protestant denomination, for their children. Conclusion: The 18th and 19th centuries was the time when Protestant families lived in most Roman Catholic parishes in the Płock diocese. Religious tolerance resulted in the revival of the religious and intellectual life of Protestants, hence they could freely organize their own temples, houses of prayer, cemeteries and schools in individual parishes. Originality: despite many existing studies on the Reformation in Mazovia and the Płock diocese, this study is the first to present the number of Protestants in the areas of individual Roman Catholic parishes of the Płock diocese and the places where their temples or prayer houses, cemeteries and schools were located. Keywords: Martin Luther, Protestantism, religious tolerance, Płock diocese, parish.

The “Cura pastoralis” Fragment from the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia: A Completely Different Story

The fragment “Cura pastoralis” is the oldest manuscript fragment in Slovenia and is kept in the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia under the file number AS 1073, II–1r. It consists of one bifolium. One side of it is very badly damaged, as the fragment was once used for the binding of a book that served as the marriage register of the town of Trbovlje between 1669 and 1704. The register is still kept in the Diocesan Archives of Maribor. The bifolium is cataloged as a fragment of a ninth-century manuscript containing the “Cura pastoralis” of Gregory the Great. After a thorough examination, however, it turned out to be part of a work by Paterius of Brescia, Gregory the Great’s first secretary, which may have seen the light of day in the Freising scriptorium. There are some physical and content-related similarities between the fragment and the oldest complete manuscript in Slovenia, the Ecloga of Lathcen, which was written in the same period, namely at the end of the first half of the ninth century.

Wpływ duchowieństwa na rozwój oświaty wśród rodzin wiejskich diecezji płockiej w latach 1726-1893

Aim: the purpose of this article is to present the issue of assistance provided by the clergy in the aspect of introducing and maintaining education and effective upbringing among families, especially rural ones, often living even in extreme financial conditions in the Płock diocese in the Płock and Dobrzyń deaneries in the 18th and early 19th centuries. This state of affairs was caused by constant wars and marches of foreign troops throughout the country. At that time, Poland did not exist as a state but was under partition. Methods: this article uses the historical method and reconstruction of facts. Resources from the Diocesan Archives in Płock were used, as well as material from archival extracts regarding the issue of elementary education contained in the protocols of general and deanery visits. Results: using archival resources, this study managed to present not only the educational situation in the years 1726-1893 in the Płock diocese in the Płock and Dobrzyń deaneries, but above all, the importance of the help the clergy provided, especially to rural families, which did not exist at that time afford to pay for their children's education. Conclusion: the assistance provided in matters of education over the centuries, especially in the 18th and early 19th centuries by the clergy, until the emergence of the National Education Commission, laid stable foundations on which education began to develop, now available to all states. Originality: this study is the first material in Poland that presents the problem of help provided by the clergy in the field of education and upbringing of children, especially from rural families in the Płock diocese, in the Płock and Dobrzyń deaneries in the 18th and 19th centuries. Keywords: clergy, Church, education, parish, Płock diocese, families, upbringing, parish schools, National Education Commission.

Kościół parafialny w Kokaninie w świetle spisów i wizytacji z przełomu XVIII i XIX stulecia

The Parish Church in Kokanin in the Light of Censuses and Visitations at the Turn of 18th and 19th Centuries The aim of the article is to present materials related to the history of the parish church in Kokanin, located near Kalisz. The materials are located in the Diocesan Archives in Włocławek and have never been published before. The presented documents come from 1790 and 1801 and present the financial condition of the parish at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Церковные архивы Московской епархии в 1812 г.: проблемы сохранности документов в условиях оккупации Москвы армией Наполеона

The diocesan archives of the Moscow diocese in 1812 were never the subject of a special study. Because of the wide spread of the church institution, the archives of the diocese often found themselves in the offensive zone of the Great Army. This circumstance made the documents of the church extremely vulnerable to the invaders. The events connected with the occupation of Moscow are widely reflected in the memoirs of eyewitnesses of the French stay in Moscow. Decades later, diocesan officials, with all the distortions of reality inherent in this type of memoirs, testify to the archive of the Consistory. N. P. Rozanov's analysis of the testimonies, which more or less concern the destruction of the records of church institutions, demonstrates the low reliability of the information provided by consistory officials. This article reconstructs the state of archives in the autumn of 1812 on the basis of the documents of the Synodal Consistory and the Moscow Consistory, the fonds of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Greece and the Central State Archive of Moscow: orders of the public prosecutor, the prosecutor of the Synodal Consistory, reports on the state of archives, and the reports of the Spiritual Boards. In the context of the evacuation of Moscow archives not quite successful decisions of the military administration and the diocesan leadership of the organization of the removal of records of the Synodal office and the Moscow Ecclesiastical Consistory are considered. The soldiers of Napoleon's army ravaged the archives of all levels of diocesan administration - the Synodal Office, the Consistory, ecclesiastical boards and parishes. The way in which the archives were treated depended on such factors as the orders of the occupying army and the behaviour of the enemy units quartered in the church buildings, which were not always in favour of plundering. Before the French withdrew from the city, some inhabitants of Moscow district were looting in the immediate vicinity of the diocesan archives. The participation of local residents in the spoiling and plundering of archives is confirmed by postwar reports sent to the Consistory by the diocesan boards of church authorities of the Moscow districts. The post-war restoration work that followed, in addition to revealing serious documentary losses, created the prerequisites for the establishment of an archival committee that was not attached to the office and focused solely on the handling of archival documents. It is concluded that the 1812 war not only caused material losses, but also made it necessary for the diocesan leadership to seek non-trivial solutions which, in the long run, would have a positive effect on the consistory's archives.

Women health providers: materials on cures, remedies and sexuality in inquisitorial processes (15th-18th century).

The first inquisitorial trials were against Muslims and Jews. Later, they focused on women, especially caregivers. Progressively, they were linked to witchcraft and sorcery because of their great care, generational and empirical knowledge. The historiography of health in the 15th-18th centuries still has important bibliographical and interpretative gaps in the care provided by women. To analyse the care provided by healers as health providers, accused by the Inquisition, justifying the importance of nursing in the diversity of community care in the 15th-18th centuries. A scoping review was conducted following the Dialectical Structural Model of Care (DSMC). A database search was conducted for the period 2013-2022. Bibliographic and legislative resources were used. Cases and convictions from Castilla la Nueva were found in the National Historical Archive and the Diocesan Archive of Cuenca. The concepts of healer, witch and sorceress envolved during the study period. They reflect and reveal the collective imaginary of the social structure. They had healing laboratories, practised psychological and sexual care. They used to accompany their therapeutic action with prayers and amulets. They shared their professional activity with their main denouncers, doctors, apothecaries and priests. They were usually women in socially vulnerable situations, who did not conform to social stereotypes. They were predecessors of today's nursing, they overcame socio-cultural difficulties, although they were condemned for it. Healers did not manage to regulate their profession, but they acted as agents of health in a society that demanded them while participating in the "witch-hunt".

Szkolnictwo parafialne na terenie archidiakonatu płockiego w dekanacie płockim, w latach 1725-1890 na podstawie wizytacji kościelnych

Parish education is one of the least studied problems in the history of education in Poland. The literature on this issue is primarily church visitations, found only in diocesan archives. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to reach the news we are interested in, this is due to various reasons. Many documents of interest to us have been lost in the past under various circumstances. Those that have survived to this day are incomplete. Also, the inspectors themselves did not always record all the information about schools, teachers or the learning program that was conducted during classes at that time. Looking through church visitations in this respect, it can be seen that the subject of education has not always been seriously taken into account by them, hence, in some parishes there is longer and more interesting information, and in some only a mention of an existing school. In order to present the state of parish education in the Archdeaconry of Płock in the Płock deanery, it was to be expected that it would not be a comprehensive report. Despite some shorcomings, the following article presents the best history of parochial schools located in this area in the years 1725-1890. Keywords: parish education, education, archdeaconate, deanery, parish visitations, Płock, archive.

The Apostolical Tree: A Visual Aid used by Catholic Missionaries in Western Oceania

When Catholic Missionaries first went to Western Oceania in the 1840s, they encountered established Protestant mission stations and worshipping Christian communities. The first Vicar Apostolic of Western Oceania, instructed his missionaries to present their church as “the ancient Church, the mother Church, the foundation Church, the true and only Church, which exists everywhere on earth.” The diocesan archives in Auckland New Zealand preserve a single copy of a poster which communicated those ideas. This article identifies the source of that visual aid which was widely used in the first thirty years of the Catholic Mission to Western Oceania.

„Megbízottam szoborral hétfőn este indul…” Az egervári Straub-szobrok múzeumba kerülésének és másoltatásának története dokumentumok tükrében

The rococo wooden statues of St Sebastian and St Roch were purchased by the Museum of Fine Arts in 1916. Earlier they had adorned the high altar of the church of St Catherine of Alexandria in Egervár (Zala county) flanking the tabernacle. Their first researcher, Mária Aggházy attributed them to the Graz sculptor Philipp Jakob Straub (Wiesensteig 1706–Graz 1774). The Egervár church of mediaeval origin belonged after the Ottoman era to the advowson of the Széchényi family who had trade and art relations with Styria, too; they had the church rebuilt and furnished in baroque style in the mid-18th century.As part of the contract of sale, the museum undertook and financed the making of exact copies of the statues to replace the original ones on the high altar, where they still are. It can be reconstructed from the correspondence of 1912–’22 preserved in and Museum of Fine Arts Archives and the Archives of the Diocesan Archives in Szombathely that probably little before 1912 the statues were transferred to the Szombathely episcopacy for conservation. Bishop János Mikes had them restored and maybe also exhibited. Their sale became necessary for the parish to be able to renovate the deteriorating Egervár church. The deal was concluded with an ordinary procedure, but World War I and the inflation it entailed greatly protracted the making of the copies and boosted the costs. Eventually, the replicas were completed in two phases by teachers of the National Royal Hungarian School of Applied Arts, sculptor Sándor Matéka (St Sebastian) and decorator and furniture designer Béla Kajdy (St Roch).

Религиозные организации в Тольятти (1989–1998 гг.)

Introduction. The article examines the activities of non-Orthodox religious organizations of 1989– 1998 in the city of Togliatti before and after the adoption in 1990 of the USSR Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations” and the RSFSR Law “On Freedom of Religion.” The regulation of religious activity by the state, according to these laws, was not provided for, the authorities ceased to interfere in the affairs of religious organizations, which received full independence in resolving internal church issues, and citizens could freely register religious societies. Religious organizations, new to Togliatti, inevitably took advantage of this. Methods and materials. The work used materials from the state, municipal, diocesan archives, and the author’s personal archive: reports of officials, both secular and ecclesiastical, on the religious situation in the Samara region and the city of Togliatti, memoirs of the leaders of religious organizations, periodicals. Analysis. If in 1989 there were 2 registered religious organizations in Togliatti and 2 more carried out their activities illegally, then in 1997 there were already 34 of them. They very actively positioned themselves; some were registered under the guise of public organizations. Almost all religious organizations used youth houses, palaces of culture, cinemas, and libraries, assembly halls of colleges and schools for prayer meetings and Sunday schools. Results. Religious organizations attracted residents of Togliatti with a system of mutual assistance in their structures. Representatives of some traditional and new religious organizations formed in Togliatti in the 90s of the 20th century were engaged in charitable activities. Mostly, they were attended by those who saw the church not only as a doctrinal institution, but also as a social one. Despite the relatively small number, they showed activity, which alarmed the representatives of both the ROC and Islam.

Epitaphium Ministri Generales Totius Ordinis Minorum S.P.N. Francisci From the Manuscript of the Former Bernardine Library in Karczówka (today the Diocesan Archives in Kielce)

The Diocesan Archives in Kielce keeps a manuscript unknown to a wider circle of researchers, entitled “Mortuologium seu Calendarium ...” by Timotheo Kaffka. It probably found its way into the collection of the said archives following the cassation of the Bernardine monastery at Karczówka in 1864. The manuscript, inconspicuous in appearance, contains information on the history of the Friars Minor, both the older branch – the Conventual Franciscans, the Observants (the Reformati) and the Bernardines. Mortuologium, as a work of commemorative nature, constitutes a universal type of written source, typical of the monastic Latin culture. Franciscan calendars are no exemption to this rule. Therefore, the following publication supplemented with the source appendix in the form of the list of generals OFM unpublished so far, may become both an important contribution to the existing literature on the subject and continuation of the research into the writing culture of the Polish Bernardines.

Korespondencja ks. dra Jana Kwolka z ks. prof. Janem Fijałkiem za lata 1919–1936 (część 2)

The correspondence of Rev. Dr Jan Kwolek and Rev. Prof. Jan Fijałek between 1919 and 1936 (part 2) The second part of the correspondence between Rev. Dr Jan Kwolek (Przemyśl) and Rev. Prof. Jan Fijałek (Kraków) presented here covers eight years: 1928-1936. As for the former priest it was the prime of his spiritual, intellectual and organizational development, whereas the latter was approaching the end of his life, enjoying deserved renown in the field of historical research; he died in 1936. No wonder then that the subject matter of the letters – in vast majority authored by the Przemyśl priest – was largely an account of his successive achievements, in particular in the field of modern organization of the Diocesan Archive which he headed, requests for academic consultations about the formation of a reference library, and discussions on current academic work. Rev. Jan Kwolek would regularly write to his correspondent about concentrating the records from the parish churches of the whole Przemyśl diocese, systematically deposited in Przemyśl. He also used to tell him about the positive reception of his work all over Poland, he shared his joy about significant interest among local theology students in archive work, he did not hide his concern for the fate of the Diocesan Archive due to lack of a successor; finally, he would inform Rev. Fijałek about current events in the local church: changes in managerial positions, deficiencies of the personal policy and his own successive promotions. On the other hand, Rev. Fijałek would spontaneously respond to his younger colleague’s requests, not so much instructing him on the matters of organizing the archive, as that was something Rev. Kwolek managed perfectly well, as indicating the titles of academic books indispensable in an archive library. He did not spare words of praise, which must have been an incentive for the younger priest to keep up the good work. The correspondence makes the reader admire the enormous achievements of one person in the field of establishing in the interwar Przemyśl a second modern research and academic institution (after the Archdiocesan Archive) accessible to historians dealing with matters of the church. The letters published here enhance the reader’s knowledge and awareness by so far unknown facts from the history of research under the aegis of Roman Catholic Church in the Second Republic of Poland.

Patronage, Performance, and Reputation in Sterne’s Early Clerical Career, 1737–1742

Whereas current research into Sterne’s life chiefly seeks to explore the connective sinews of the author’s social networks at the height of his literary fame, this essay argues that new pathways for investigating Sterne’s formative years can be discovered through the re-examination of his early clerical career. Whilst Sterne is usually treated as the focal subject when looking at the Church in York, the completion of an extensive historical investigation into Lancelot Blackburne’s archiepiscopate (1724–1743) has made it possible to reinsert him into a refreshed historical context and thereby test old assumptions about the formation of his clerical identity. This provides a foundation for the reassessment of patronage connections between Sterne and his uncle Jaques. Attention is also drawn to the case of Lewis Stephens (1689–1747), prebendary of York, and satirical writer — hitherto unknown to Sterne studies — whose experience of breaking patronage ties with Blackburne in the 1730s provides an instructive comparison for Sterne’s later rejection of the same in 1742. This essay utilises the guiding themes of patronage, performance, and reputation, and its findings are supported by new discoveries from the York diocesan archives and elsewhere.

A Multi-Instrument Analysis of the Late 16th Canvas Painting, “Coronation of the Virgin with the Saints Ambrose and Jerome”, Attributed to the Tuscany-Umbria Area to Support the Possibility of Bio-Cleaning Using a Bacteria-Based System

(1) Background. The aim of this work is to combine non-invasive imaging with chemical characterization analyses to study original and restoration materials of a late 16th-century painting on a canvas representing the “Coronation of the Virgin with the Saints Ambrose and Jerome”, preserved in the Diocesan archive of Orte, a town in the district of Viterbo (Italy). The diagnostic campaign was addressed to support the restoration activities and the choice of the most suitable cleaning operations. (2) Methods. Both traditional analytical techniques and innovative multispectral imaging were applied to solve the diagnostic issues and best address the restoration of the painting. Specifically, hypercolorimetric multispectral imaging (HMI), X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), optical microscopy, and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were combined to obtain information on the general conservation state of the artwork and the characterization of pigments, organic binders, and superimposed materials, these last being particularly important to identify ancient and not-documented restoration intervention, enabling the correct choice of the most suitable and effective cleaning intervention. (3) Results. Multispectral data allowed us to differentiate and map original materials through infrared and ultraviolet false color images and spectral reflectance-based similarity maps, suggesting pigment attribution and focusing point analysis for characterization. This approach was particularly successful to identify and locate the presence of unaltered smalt blue in the first painting coat, which had been covered with other pigments, and to suggest the use of organic dye in mixtures with cinnabar and ochres. Spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques enabled us to identify the painting palette and confirm the use of oil-based binder for the pigments and characterize the altered top layers, made with a natural resin and an animal glue. (4) Conclusions. The characterization of the artwork’s materials was essential to select the most suitable methods and materials for the bio-cleaning, based on bacteria, experimented with during the restoration activities.

"Wojna domowa" by Samuel Twardowski. A work in progress

The article presents the problems caused by the destruction in 1944 of the manuscript containing the copy of Samuel Twardowski’s entitled Wojna domowa z Kozaki i Tatary prepared under the author’s control. For the first part of the work, the basis for the edition must be the edition of the first part from 1660, published under the author’s control. For the second to the fourth part, the Kalisz edition was corrected by Alojzy Kowalkowski’s notes. The edition of Kalisz, as it was censored by the Jesuits from Kalisz for the needs of education in the colleges of the order, cannot constitute the basis for a new edition on its own. We only have the notes of Aloj­zy Kowalkowski, who compiled the manuscript with the Kalisz edition before World War II. As the individual copies of the Kalisz edition differ, relations between them should be established. Moreover, we do not know whether the burned manuscript was the basis for the Kalisz edition, or whether there is a copy of the work that was directly used by Jesuit printers. In the diocesan archives in Pelplin, the notes of Kowalkowski, which may be a handwritten copy of either a lost manuscript or the Kalisz edition. If they were a copy of the manuscript, could they become the basis for a new edition of parts II–IV of the work?

A dialogue between two worlds: the conservation of Poesia DI.VINO by Ivan Tresoldi

• The main purpose of the work was to be able to intervene conservatively on a contemporary urban artwork only a few years after its realization, maintaining the artist's initial intention. • The restoration work had to face various conservation problems both deriving from the support, both for the characteristics of the materials used, and for anthropic damage. • The application of a protective anti-graffiti caused a chromatic alteration of the surface, opening the debate on its possible removal. • The constant communication with the artist allowed the restorers to make choices that were compatible both with the original materials and with the artist's initial intentions and his poetics. In the last ten years in Italy a great artistic ferment arose around the works of Street Art; initially born spontaneously, often unauthorized and therefore illegal, this kind of expression entered the urban context modifying its relationship with art. This artistic phenomenon has generated discussions, controversies and has created an unremitting debate about the importance of protecting, enhancing and conserving these artworks. Currently the national context has changed through a growing regulated management of artistic and cultural happenings that are now commissioned by public and private institutions through specific projects and events. In this new context, conservation and protection of works of art become crucial in order to allow the intrinsic meaning of artistic action to last over time. The present work proposes a conservative approach by intervening with a scientific methodology in the restoration of Poesia DI.VINO painted by the artist Ivan Tresoldi on the front walls of the Historical Diocesan Archive of Milan (Italy).

Личные дела священнослужителей епархиального делопроизводства как источник по истории Русской Православной Церкви середины – второй половины XX в. (на материалах Смоленского епархиального управления)

This article is devoted to the study of one of the least studied groups of historical sources - the personal files of clergy. The archive of the Smolensk diocesan administration was used as a representative material. Based on the causal method, it was possible to consider a number of personal affairs of clergymen and, on their basis, identify those thematic blocks, the study of which contributes to a fuller and deeper immersion in the historical realities of the existence of the Russian Orthodox Church through the prism of the life and work of the clergy. The documents of the diocesan archives are able to shed light on certain circumstances of the life of a clergyman of the Soviet period and see his true portrait thanks to the testimonies that have been preserved in personal files - service records, autobiographies, complaints, clippings from periodicals, etc. The determining factor in the objectivity of consideration of this kind of documents involves the use of an integrated approach that can fill those gaps that are inevitable in office work. In this regard, when studying the personal files of clergymen of the Soviet period, it is necessary to take into account the factor of verification of the information contained in them due to political realities and the subjectivity of decisions of one bishop or another, or employees of the diocesan administration. This work does not claim to be exhausted. On the contrary, this attempt at research is aimed, firstly, at drawing attention to the problem of the lack of knowledge of the designated kind of sources. Secondly, it seems important to pay attention to the safety and accessibility for researchers of diocesan archives. The latter requires special attention, and the fate of a significant layer of history not only of the Church, its ministers, but also of our state depends on the resolution of these issues.

Z dziejów parafii rzymskokatolickiej i średniowiecznego kościoła w Stawiszynie w latach 1880-1940. Przyczynek do badań

From the History of the Roman-Catholic Parish and Its Medieval Church in Stawiszyn from 1880 to 1940. An Introduction to Research The Roman Catholic parish in Stawiszyn was probably founded in the 13th century and due to the fact that these goods were royal property, its founder was the monarch at the time. Two centuries later, it was one of the most prosperous benefices in the Kalisz Archdeaconry. In 1360, at the initiative of King Casimir the Great, a brick church was built in place of the wooden temple, which was consecrated under the invocation of St. Bartholomew and St. Jadwiga. Over the centuries, the architecture of the church, originally gothic, has undergone numerous changes. The building was destroyed and rebuilt several times, and each renovation left traces blurring its original style. The most important changes were implemented in the years 1880-1940, i.e. in the period when the ministry was exercised by three parish priests: Teodor Meyer, Edmund Esman and Bronisław Kozankiewicz. Each of them played an important role in the history of the Catholic parish in Staviszyn. The purpose of this article is not to evaluate the reconstruction of the parish church in Stawiszyn during the times of the above-mentioned servants of God, but to present to the reader their most important merits in this aspect. At the same time, it should be emphasized that the activities of Father Edmund Esman can be considered the closest to the activities referred to today as “restoration”. This does not in any way detract from the achievements of the other two priests, thanks to whom the parishioners of Staviszyn can admire the monuments of sacred art that have survived to this day. This text is only a contribution to further research, which should be deepened by a thorough analysis of the archival materials stored in the Diocesan Archives in Włocławek.

Henry Manning’s Journey to Roman Catholicism

Henry Manning’s (1808–92) transition from Anglican to Roman Catholic convert has not received the extensive attention that John Henry Newman’s journey to Roman Catholicism has received. Though more than a half dozen treatments have appeared in recent decades, newly acquired archival resources received by the Westminster Diocesan Archives in 2014 warrant a new appraisal of the events leading to his conversion. How could a committed adherent of the Oxford Movement, who did not initially follow Newman’s example in 1845, make the decision to leave the Church of his birth in 1851? What interior process enabled Archdeacon Henry Manning to preside over the assembly of Chichester clergy that condemned ‘papal aggression’ in 1850, and announce at the conclusion of the vote that he would be received into the Roman communion? This article outlines undercurrents in Manning’s thought, traces of which can be found in his undergraduate years, and considers concepts that culminated in the decision that changed his life, and guided his Roman Catholic ecclesial outlook. His role in shaping the agenda of Vatican I and the post-conciliar era heightens the significance of this background.