A GREAT CATHOLIC ENGLISHMAN

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 29 June 1917, Page 1

A GREAT CATHOLIC ENGLISHMAN

«, . The Duke of Norfolk (Premier Peer of England) died at 10.40 a.m. on February , 11, after a short illness, at his residence, Norfolk House. St. James's square, aged, 69. • • \ Quite as <i young man the Duke began the immense work for his co-religionists from -which, he was to know no rest. "Ideal" Ward, who had acted on com : , mittees with his niost famous contemporaI ries at Oxford, considered that the Duke at 21 was tlie best chairman he had ever ' knqjvn. It is no exaggeration to sa.y that as life went on there was no question of ; importance in the whole of the British ; Empire which concerned the Roman Ca- ; tholic Church on which he was not con- [ suited. From tha first his discretion pre- _ vented even many who knew him ' intimately from realising the extent of his influence. His judgment' was active and ; independent. He was far from beimj ■ what is popularly called priest-ridden, and ' it is possible that it may have been tryiiig to great prelates ' and others in authority to find at-times that, outside s matters of doctrine, their arguments prodiicerd no effect upon his judgment' when he had come to a definite conclusion, in 5 spite of all his profound and affectionate I respect. 1 Abroad the Duke of Norfolk came to be 1 looked upon as the representative of Ro-

man Catholicismin England. He'iised. tliis influence in. one notable instance, for it; was undoubtedly his doing that ' John Henry Newman was made a cardinal. The Duke would have deprecated the idea that he took; a large part 'in the strictly intellectual life of his co-religionists in England,- but /his sympathies were undoubtedly with the great Oratorian; and in later days his, wide and sound judgment, whether' he was always in agreement with them or not, was a eonstaa* support to Newman's disciples. —Political Activities.—

There came a time when the Duke stood out in marked contrast to men who'-wera too apt to identify cue pai-Ly in politics with t the Roman Ch-jib&:-S.V feitii ~r>ia duty to make a public pipicd in a lotrter to '.' The Times ' aga£;ssi the method*' of the Plan of Campaigr.—i pretest- ybicli necessarily brought liira ir:t.; collision «itE some members of the Irish But it was most unwillingly, that La huit th« ' feelings; of the ' Irish-"'Jaii-oiics, t'o-: th» Christian education of wlij&e ctuidvea ia this country he had font; L-i-in any tatties and for whose benefit lie had given immense financial help '•to churches &&& schools. It was perhaps .toe much (q expect of them, in the" heat of such a conflict, -that- they should tuKy appreciate his motives. Some, indeed, however mucU they disagreed with him, did raaiise that the Duke was a convinced Unionist, because he : believed that Home Suie would be disastrous to the Irish nation. . . . The Duke was no ligorist. II: loved those he lovedNto enjoy themsehts thoroughly. Before the war he was a constant playgoer, and Ms laughter was positively Homeric. He insisted on being, in his place well before the curtain \vt:i:t ; p. It seemed as if no greater iniun?. c_aid be done him than to make him kia Hot. a play or to reveal to him the end <_>f a novel. He loved yachting, and Lis enjoyment of scenery'never left him in the saddest hours of his life. v —A Modern Sir Thomas More.— It is to the spacious days Of the earij Tudor-s that the mind naturally revert* in dwelling on the personality of the lat« Duke of Norfolk. But the character whidh rises to the imagination as suggesting a spirituals prototype is not . ; ' one of his own ancestors, but that :n -, Sir Thomas More. Although he did not possess the profound learning and literary gifts of the author of the ' Utopia,' and would himself indeed have smiled at the comparison, he had in reality many characteristics in common with Henry VIII. *s Chancellor. . There was in them both a peculiar combination of qualities not very often found together. They both combined the capacity for intense loyaliv to causes and to individuals with great "per- •. sonal independence: they were both courageous and yet cautious'in public affairs:both were of an open temper and yhad marked gifts of diplomacy: they lie frankly acknowledged the facts o; .. , and the weaknesses of human nature, a o, vet preserved an midimmsd sense of 'i.h.„ ideal; they both combined an ardent si' ousness with a boyish gaiety and iiuthat nothing could' quench' There : strong likeness even in the quality their most trivial jests, which seems - : make a quaint echo through the centum.. Like More, too, the Duke combined

• eager and active interest in. nublic aiiV with the most marked" taste. f domestic life. Both revelled in :. humors and tender gaiety of a k circle. Both, while stern,with -th?y : ■..-:■_■!v were inclined to think that life shoaii: . .-.' made easy to others. Both had a •:/ sionate love of their country and a \>- found loyalty\ to then- Sovereign. •(-...,■ could be found more typically i. none ever loved their country bette;. •. wer§ ever more devoted to the .;'■ • Rome than were Thomas More ami Fitzalan Howard. Withal it was felt by all those -.. asknew him that his whole life was ii, £ by his faith in the unseen. This s<-t.;-,-«; with him, even as with Sir no mystic dim twilight, no sliiio". . ..•• image of the invisible,, but a clear, ;.:■'-. ing daylight. -His was a workji .....•■:? existence, lived not merely with , _...,s of the infinite future but "in tb. his the stren;ih of ti ..,. .„. he bore greaVsorrows. In 1877 .v; . Lady Flora Hastings, o, -.. . .;&r Lord Donington and the Co-iUa; 0. J,c<..doun; she died 10 years \:y ihia marriage he had one soil, \v... ~.'■*■ up almost bhnd and a :-.;vjJij For •23 years the father lavisncv a;:and hourly personal devote ;i ins ton, who to his intense grief vied <.:, 19!&., Seventeen years after his £;.s& sms .iitath he married the daughter 01 L;sr_ Hemes, who is now Lady Herries in her 0.-a ligbtBy her he had a son and three dan A<en, who added to the joys of a uinst ii.ippy 'home. The son, Bernard - Aiarruni.'uJ«, Earl of Arundel and Surrey, w;:o succeeds to the dukedom,-is nine yea. . Ad. "In the evening there was iig;-~. but the great shadow under which \ve .:■& all liying darkened his last years. A niftier of v ji large family, the Duke took j.-ery connection by _ blood, by marriag.-, by friendship in the fullest sens.;. -.very grief and difficulty of his friends nia own. The mass of his correspondence, and no appeal from strangers was was crippling as his strength dimmish:; i, but he never relaxed it until his las; illness was well advanced. He said tiiaa that he was very tired, and those to vhoia he spoke knew'that he had finished his work. In vigor and sobriety"x>f judgment, largeness of view, in passionate loyalty to King and country, in faith in the* unseen, in dignity and simplicity, he stands «. .. and will ever remain a vital figure to who knew and loved him, and few have been more loved, because he knew the rare secret of how to accept sympathy as well as to give it. But there should in the mourning fc= this strong and radiant Englishman be a. gloom or undue "sadness of farewell.' "Quiet yourself," quoth -Sir Thomas More, *' and be not discomfited, for 'I trust we shall once in heaven see each other full merrily."—'Times.' Preaching at Westminster .Cathedral-in the evening. Father Bernard Vaughan said the Duke of 'Norfolk was a great Catholic Englishman and a-great- English gentleman. His was a character sans peur et sans reproehe, sublime in its simplicity, unrivalled in Its integrity, and beautiful in its piety. Always inspired by the same lofty and holy principles, the Duke's allambition was to do his duty to God, King, and country, no matter what the cost might be to his personal interests or natural feelings. He was a very martyr to duty. ' Even in his laf-sickness-it seemed almost to distress hirrthat he could not fulfil his duty to the King at the last opening of Parliament Whatever the Duke undertook to do wat done efficiently, splendidly, \ magnani mously.. " - '-\-'