On the last Sunday of June in 1824, the sermon preached by Rev. Robert Marriott (1774–1841) in the tiny medieval Church of St. Mary’s, Cotesbach was on Genesis 2:3, on the sanctity of the Sabbath. Unless he had a curate working for him he would then have hopped in his carriage to preach in the nearby parishes of Shawell and Gilmorton, where he also had the living, and pastoral responsibilities. The sermon preached at these two parishes was also about creativity, but from a different angle.
There are currently 252 digital items in the NINS Digital Collections that are labelled as the Ullathorne to Newman letters. These letters offer insight into the relationship between Newman and Ullathorne, church politics, and their personal affairs. They also serve as an accessible introduction to paleography and writings of the 1800s. If you are interested in paleography, I recommend you study these letters or consult similar works in the NINS Digital Collections.
The Rev. Isaac Williams (1802–1865) was a contemporary of John Henry Newman at Trinity College, Oxford, and served as assistant curate to Newman at Littlemore. He contributed several Tracts, and several of his letters to Newman are now included in the NINS Digital Collections.
The Sisters of Mercy are probably one of the best-known female Catholic congregations, having even entered popular culture; so much so that in 1971 musician and singer Leonard Cohen used their name as a title for one of his songs. Later in 1980 a newly formed rock band also took the name, having been influenced by Cohen’s song. However conflicted anybody might feel about the use of the name in these contexts, it demonstrates the indelible impression that the congregation has made on society in general, in a way that few others have.
With the recent digitization of a small number of archives from the Monastery of the Visitation, an interesting collection of items held within are now available related to the Jesuit missionary Father Law, a convert of the Oxford Movement and his tragic expedition up the Zambesi.
As part of my role with the Catholic Archives Society, I routinely monitor the internet for Catholic archival material being offered for sale and work with relevant repositories to ensure its safe acquisition. In 2023 a bound collection of 19 original manuscript letters from Cardinal Henry Edward Manning to the Rev. Thomas Penyngton Kirkman (1806-1895) appeared for sale -- never previously shared in public. In them Manning discusses his views on philosophy and evolution, his views on Herbert Spencer, and even sketches of his ideas for a solution to Pascal’s Theorem.
