The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-05-21
TRADE THE BASIS OF PROTES
TANTISM IN BRITAIN PRE-
LATE SAYS.

1t was near to the tomb of the Ven
cradle Bede in the gallery of the his
toric cathedral of Durham that The N
known prelate of the English north
country. 1t was beautiful early
| Spring day, such as one finds only in
these northern climates. From below
! the massive heights of the cathedral
the wooded banks stretched down to
| the river, f1anked on one side by the
| great Castle that, formerly the home
| of the powerful Bishops of Durham, is
now the home of a modern University.
In olden days the Bishops Of Durham
were not only great prelates but great
Lords also. They were Princes of the
County Palatine; they had the right to
mint their own money, and were mas
tiers of farms, castles and great do
| mains.
The cathedral with it's vast Norman
bard, who appears to have been more
of a soldier than Bishop. Within,
the vast expanse of the nave and choir
seems bare and empty, and behind the
| high altar rises the graceful Neville
screen exquisite as frozen spiders
web, so finely wrought is it's tapestry.
Two in a Tower.
| With all this baroness before his
eyes, the N. c. w. c. correspondent
asked of the north-country prelate:
What, do you think, is the basis of
EEnglish Protestantism?"
Come up into the tower" he re-
piled, land I will tell you
| We passed UP the, winding stone
stairs, and at last found ourselves in
the bell tower of the cathedral.
| Forget all about the miners strike, -
said the north-country prelate, and
] let your mind rove over the history
of this place.
J Beneath us lies Saint Bede the
! Venerable, where he has lain for cen.
turtles. From this tower eyes have
looked out on some of the most mo-
mentous acts in the history of our
1 country From this tower prayers
went up as the battle waged around
the emblem of our salvation, when
the fight was carried on around the
crucifix at the Battle of the Standard
I'm this cathedral during the reign
). of Elizabeth, after the Reformation
had set it's devastating hand on the
country and Professionalism had been
brought back again after the death oil
Mary; in this cathedral, say, on No
vember IA, 1869, the mobiles, the gen
try and the yeomanry ofs the North
entered and tore up the English Bible
and the Prayer Book, and then knelt
in the fervor of devotion whilst Holy
Mass was celebrated; the last time il
was ever celebrated in one of the ole
cathedrals of England"
"And now you want to know" he
said, what is the basis of English
Professionalism.
: well, English Professionalism found
it's basis not on religious scruples, a!
most people seem to think, but OF
trade. English Professionalism was no
really founded by Henry VIII, who wa!
Catholic at heart, though remark
ably bad one. 1t was not founded ever
by Elizabeth"
Growth of the Middle Class.
> "The beginnings of English Protes
t tantism will be found during the reigl
8 of Henry VII, who lived and died
3 Catholic. The thing came about lik
t this. During the reign of Henry vi
v the old wars had come to an end, an,
r the great beginnings of English trad
!. first showed themselves. There wa
' a certain sense of security that ha,
!. never existed before, and there aros
4 a generation that was neither of tn
old powerful nobility nor of the or
|. pressed peasantry. This new middle
/ class arose in the towns, and it ar
9 piled itself to trade.
:, by the time that the political-re
9 Iligious experiments of Henry VIII ha,
; done their work, and had separate,
II the nation from communion wit
: Rome, this trading class had manage,
: to get hold of great deal of money
D The people of this class were the SUP
a porters of the contentious factions tina
{ Professionalism had split up into. The,
f paid the piper, and they called 70
s the tune. There you have all the his
n tory of English Professionalism
"The sense of independence tina
e goes with well lined purse is wha
the contending sects of English Prot
! estantism were founded on, and If yol
+ want proof of that, look around an,
! see who it is that supports the con
/ ventieles of the Noncomformists tic
f day. 1t is mostly the trading class.
81 There is a saying pretty well worl
! out now-that prosperity and Protest
ell antism go together. That is true il
t a sense, but not in the sense that t
( be prosperous one must be Protestant
8 The truth is that a section Of the Eng