Background
Henry Edward Manning was born on July 5, 1808 in Totteridge, Hertfordshire, into a family that belonged to the Anglican High Church. He was the son of William Manning, a banker and member of Parliament.
Henry Edward Manning was born on July 5, 1808 in Totteridge, Hertfordshire, into a family that belonged to the Anglican High Church. He was the son of William Manning, a banker and member of Parliament.
Henry studied at Harrow and Balliol College, Oxford, and became president of the Oxford Union in 1829. Graduating with high honors in classics, he entered the Colonial Office in 1830 but returned to Merton College, Oxford, in 1832 to receive Anglican orders. In 1851 he studied theology in Rome. During his stay there he successfully cultivated the friendship and the esteem of Pius IX and his cardinals.
During a protracted visit to Rome in 1847, Manning had occasion to study the governmental structure of the Roman Church. His conversion was precipitated by a single incident. An Anglican divine, G. C. Gorham, was suspected of holding unorthodox views. The bishop refused to institute proceedings against Gorham, but the Privy Council of Laymen overruled this refusal. Manning, who abhorred all lay interference in ecclesiastical affairs, was shocked. After a short period he was received into the Roman Church by Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman in April 1851, ordained a priest 2 months later, and sent to Rome.
On his return to England, Manning became provost of the Westminster Cathedral Chapter. He founded a new religious congregation, the Oblates of St. Charles (Borromeo), and became its first superior. His rapid rise in power and his obvious influence with Roman offices of the Vatican provoked much opposition to him, so much so that Cardinal Wiseman had to defend Manning by letter to Rome. Wiseman's preference, Manning's obvious capabilities, and his devotion to the papacy influenced the Pope, and he chose Manning as Wiseman's successor in 1865 to be archbishop of Westminster.
Manning's policy as archbishop was extremely ultramontanist: he wished to model the English Church as closely as possible on Rome. He participated very actively in the First Vatican Council (1869-1870), being one of the leaders of the "infallibilists" (the supporters of the definition concerning the pope's infallibility), but the final definition of papal infallibility did not live up to his extremist wishes.
Created a cardinal in 1875, Manning attained much prestige in England. He was a member of the Royal Housing Commission in 1884 and mediated successfully in the great London dock strike of 1889 (a goodly number of dock workers were Irish Roman Catholics). But he aroused many bitter controversies and made personal enemies among both the hierarchy and lay people by his apparent high-handedness, his resort to backstairs influence in Rome, and his extreme devotion to Roman wishes. Manning died in London on January 14, 1892.
More than any other modern churchman of the English Roman Catholic establishment, Henry Manning contributed to the development of the conservative character that English Catholicism showed until well into the middle of the 20th century. In his own diocese, he cared for child education and for the welfare of the homeless, building schools, orphanages, and shelters. He also was a member of the Oxford movement, which sought a return of the Church of England to the High Church ideals of the 17th century, who converted to Roman Catholicism.
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Manning grew to appreciate the Roman style of government; he liked its authoritarian character, its secretiveness, and its immunity, and he developed an almost fanatic devotion to the papal cause.
As a curate in Lavington, Surrey, Manning married Caroline Sargent, a daughter of his rector, in 1833. When she died in 1837, he felt profoundly disenchanted. The couple had no children.
Cardinal, Archbishop of Westminster
