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The19th-century Catholic periodical literature is unique in many respects. Most of theperiodical publications in mainly Catholic countries can be regarded as "Catholic" literature up to a few decades before 1800: the editorial line is implicitly Catholic in most instances.
The development of the press in the 19th century was in general terms a major factor insecularization according toOwen Chadwick. On the other hand, mass printing also meant that the "Pope of 1889 was far more influential that the Pope of 1839 because the later Pope was surrounded by the press and the earlier Pope was not" wrote Chadwick.[1]
TheCatholic Encyclopedia of 1913 offered an analysis in terms of several factors.Periodical literature includes the political newspaper, the weekly, and literary and specialized magazines and journals appearing less frequently: in some countries such as Spain the implicit Catholicism persisted in the press for many years. The American-style, news-led paper would sell on its news content, rather than editorial line, and therefore Catholic newspapers could compete as dailies. European papers and weeklies relied more on thefeuilleton and generally had moreop-ed content. This meant they showed "greater animosity to the Church".[2]
The pioneer Catholic publication in England,Andrews' Orthodox Journal, was first issued in 1812 byEusebius Andrews, a Catholic printer and bookseller of London. It had just a few years of chequered existence, as there was not a sufficiently large reading public to make it self-supporting.
The real beginnings of Catholic periodical literature were made more than twenty years later, by which time the growth of the Catholic body in its new emancipation, the progress of Catholic education, and the interest excited by theTractarian movement had combined to supply a wider circle of readers.Nicholas Wiseman andDaniel O'Connell founded aquarterly, theDublin Review (1836). The fame of theEdinburgh Review suggested a territorial title, and Dublin was chosen as a Catholic centre; but from the first it was edited and published in London. The review was intended to provide a record of current thought for educated Catholics and at the same time to be an exponent of Catholic views to non-Catholic inquirers. Beginning before the first stirrings of theOxford Movement, it presents a record of the intellectual life of the century and produced articles which had an immense influence upon the religious thought of the times. It was in August 1839 that an article by Wiseman on theAnglican Claim caught the attention ofJohn Henry Newman. Impressed by the application of the words of St. Augustine,securus judicat orbis terrarum, which interpreted and summed up the course of ecclesiastical history, he saw the theory of the Via media "absolutely pulverized" (Apologia, 116–7). I
Gradually the Tractarian converts appeared in the lists of contributors: Ward,Frederick Oakeley, Marshall,John Brande Morris, Christie,Henry Formby, Capes,Thomas William Allies, Anderson, Manning, and a glance through the volumes of the "Dublin' will reveal names prominent in the great religious, scientific, and literary movements of the century. During the sixties and the early seventies it was under the direction of Dr.W. G. Ward. After his retirement it was edited byJohn Cuthbert Hedley, afterwardsBishop of Newport, and then acquired byCardinal Manning, who appointedCanon Moyes editor. It was the property and under the direction ofWilfrid Ward, son of its previous editor.
The first issue of the annualCatholic Directory appeared in 1837. Owing to the Oxford Movement, the forties were a time of marked literary activity. In 1840 two new enterprises were inaugurated.Charles Dolman, a Catholic publisher in London who had issued a number of important books including the writings ofJohn Lingard andHusenbeth, produced in "Dolman's Magazine" a high class literary monthly, and on 16 May 1840,Frederick Lucas became the pioneer of the Catholic newspaper press in England by publishing the first number ofThe Tablet, a weekly newspaper and review. Lucas regarded his work as founder and editor of a Catholic paper as a sacred mission. His uncompromising views led to difficulties with his financial supporters, but he emerged triumphant.
For a while after the crisis of 1848 Lucas, then active in Irish politics, removedThe Tablet office to Dublin, but it was brought back to London by the new proprietors, into whose hands it passed when failing health compelled Lucas to give up the editorship. For many years after his death, in 1855, "The Tablet" was a mere humdrum record of news. Among the distinguished editors wasCardinal Vaughan who conducted the "Tablet" during the stormy discussions onpapal infallibility and theFirst Vatican Council. When he becameBishop of Salford, he placed the editorship in the hands ofElliot Ranken, who was succeeded byJohn George Snead-Cox. "The Tablet", under the terms of the trust created by Cardinal Vaughan, had its profits go to the support ofSt. Joseph's Missionary College, of which he was the founder.
In 1846, Bradley foundedThe Lamp, a penny magazine whose price was intended to make it accessible to Catholics who could not afford the five-centTablet. It featured Catholic fiction, essays, news, and lectures by Wiseman, among other similar topics. The paper struggled financially, and Bradley spent some time in the debtors' prison at York, where he continued to act as editor.
The first issue ofThe Rambler appeared on 1 January 1848. It was intended to be a review of literature, art, and science. In 1859,Lord Acton, who had then just returned from the Continent, succeeded Newman in the editorship. The price, sixpence, limited its public and in 1862 it became a quarterly under the title of "The Home and Foreign Review". In its last years this review was a source of trouble and disedification, and its sale, which dwindled yearly, was largely among Anglicans and other non-Catholics.
In the mid years of the nineteenth century the abolition of the various taxes on newspapers and the cheapening of the processes of production led to the coming of the penny newspapers. The first Catholic penny paper with permanent success wasThe London Universe. Its origin was connected with the earlier activity of Lucas, who successfully advocated the introduction of the Conferences of St. Vincent de Paul into England. It was a group of members of the London Conferences who produced "The Universe". Speaking to their presidentGeorge Blount, one evening in 1860 Cardinal Wiseman after alluding to the attacks in the Press against theHoly See said: "Cannot the Society of St. Vincent de Paul do something to answer those frightful calumnies, by publishing truths, as M.Louis Veuillot is doing in Paris in 'L'Univers'? We want a penny paper, and now that the tax has been removed it should be possible." It was decided that, though the society, as such, could not found a newspaper, a committee of its members should undertake the task. It included George Blount,Stuart Knill (afterwards the first Catholic Lord Mayor of London), Viscount Fielding (Lord Denbigh), Viscount Campden (the convert SirCharles George Noel, 2nd Earl of Gainsborough),Sidney Lescher,Archibald Dunn,Arthur William à Beckett, andGeorge J. Wigley, the London correspondent of the ParisUnivers. Wigley secured a foreign news service for the projected paper from Louis Veuillot's Paris office, and at his suggestion the name ofThe Universe was chosen. Denis Lane undertook the printing, Mr. Dunn the editorship, and on 8 December 1860, the first Catholic penny paper in England was started.
At first it was strictly non-political. The editor and staff gave their services gratuitously, but even with this help expenses were greater than receipts. To attract a larger circulation political articles were inserted, which led to the resignation of the greater part of the staff. Mr. Lane then took over the paper and conducted it for many years as a Catholic paper, giving a general support to the Liberals and the Irish national cause. He had always a priest as "theological editor"; amongst those who thus assisted him were Father W. Eyre, S.J., Father Lockhart, and Cardinal Manning. The movement for the rescue of destitute Catholic children originated in "The Universe" office. It amalgamated with another paper,The Catholic Weekly, founded to give a record of Catholic news without any party politics, thus reverting to its original programme.
"The Lamp" was reorganized about the same time and had for some years a prosperous existence as a popular magazine. Fathers Rawes and Caswall,Lady Georgiana Fullerton,Augusta Theodosia Drane,Cecilia Caddell were among its contributors. In 1864 Miss Taylor foundedThe Month, at first an illustrated magazine giving much of its space to fiction and the lighter forms of literature. When she founded her first community of nuns (Poor Servants of the Mother of God), her magazine passed to theJesuits, under the editorship of the FatherHenry J. Coleridge. It had many notable contributors, and in its pages Newman'sDream of Gerontius first appeared.
Numerically, the main strength of English Catholicism has always been in the North, and after the foundation of "The Universe" several efforts were made to produce a Catholic penny paper inLancashire. Three successive enterprises had a brief career. A fourth, a paper known as "The Northern Press" was barely existing, when, in 1867, it was taken over by FatherJames Nugent ofLiverpool. He renamed it "The Catholic Times" and gradually made it the most widely circulated Catholic paper in England. Printed for many years by the boys of the refuge he had founded in Liverpool, when it became a profit-earning paper it helped support this work of charity. Offices were opened in Manchester and London. A special London edition was produced, and in 1878 a Christmas supplement issued under the title of "The Catholic Fireside" was so successful that it was continued as a monthly penny magazine; in 1893 it was made a weekly publication. "The Catholic Times" appealed largely to the Catholics of Irish descent in Great Britain, and championed theIrish Nationalist cause. P. L. Beazley directed it for many years.
In the sixties other papers were founded, for a while fairly prosperous, though they never won the established position of "The Catholic Times" and "The Tablet". "The Weekly Register" was a threepenny paper, of much the same character as "The Tablet", but favouring the Liberals and Nationalists. Later, under the editorship ofCharles Kent and then ofWilfrid Meynell, it had a marked literary quality. "The Weekly Register" ceased to exist and with it "The Westminster Gazette", whose name is now that of a London evening paper. The "Westminster" was owned and edited by Pursell, afterwards biographer of Manning. During the months of newspaper controversy that preceded the definition of papal infallibility the "Westminster" was "non-opportunist", and Cardinal Vaughan, while he avoided all controversy on the subject in "The Tablet", contributed, week after week, letters to the "Westminster", combating its editorial views. It never had much circulation, and Vaughan was able a few years later to end its competition by buying and stopping it. Father Lockhart edited for some years "Catholic Opinion", a penny paper giving extracts from the Catholic press at home and abroad. After his death it was amalgamated with "The Catholic Times".
Charles Diamond, for some time a member of the Irish Parliamentary party, started in 1884 "The Irish Tribune" in Newcastle upon Tyne. Shortly after, he purchased two other Catholic papers, the Glasgow "Observer" and the Preston "Catholic News", which were in difficulties for want of capital. He then formed the idea of working several papers from a common centre, much of the matter being common to all, but each appearing under a local title and having several columns of special matter of local interest. He issued theCatholic Herald from London, as the centre of the organization, and thirty-two other local weekly papers in various towns of England, Wales, and Scotland. He also produced on the same system ten different parish magazines and "The Catholic Home Journal", with which the old "Lamp" was amalgamated.
There were a considerable number of minor Catholic monthlies, mostly founded in recent years to advocate and promote special objects. The "Annals of the Propagation of the Faith" and "illustrated Catholic Missions" specialize on the news of the mission field. "Catholic Book Notes", a monthly issued by the Catholic Truth Society and edited byJames Britten, was a record of current literature and reviews. "The Second Spring", edited by FatherPhilip Fletcher, was a record of the work of theRansom League for the conversion of England. "The Crucible" was a monthly review ofsocial work for Catholic women.
Devotional magazines were issued by various religious orders, the most widely circulated of which was the "Messenger of the Sacred Heart", edited by the Jesuits. There were also several college magazines. In general circulations were quite low.[3]
The Polish Catholic press reflected the political conditions of the empires thathad annexed the territory of Poland. InGalicia, part ofAustria-Hungary, it was considerably freer; inImperial Russia and in theGerman Empire there was severecensorship of all Polish language periodicals. Greater development took place from 1831 to 1864 in the period of nationalinsurrections against the occupying powers.
One of the oldest Polish publications in theAustrian Partition was theCzas (Time) daily, the organ of the Conservative party. Its publication began in 1848. In 1866 there appeared thePrzegląd polski (Polish Review), which had from its beginning the collaboration of CountStanisław Tarnowski andStanisław Egbert Koźmian. TheCzas and thePrzegląd polski always maintained a strictly Catholic character. In 1867Juliusz Starkla andTadeusz Romanowicz established atLemberg (Lwów) theDziennik Literacki (Literary Journal), which had a short life;Jan Dobrzański founded theGazeta Narodowa (National Gazette), to which was united in 1869 theDziennik Polski (Polish Journal). In 1871,Edward Podolski established thePrzegląd lwowski (Lemberg Review), which strenuously defended Catholic interests. In the same city there appeared theGazeta Lwowska (Lemberg Gazette), the organ of the imperial viceroy in Galicia.[4]
In 1884 the Polish Jesuits began atKraków (Cracow) the publication of thePrzegląd powszechny (Universal Review), covering scientific and literary points of view. In the same city from 1881 to 1886 there was published thePrzegląd literacki i artystyczny (Literary and Artistic Review). In 1894 in the whole of Austria-Hungary there were 126 Polish periodicals and daily papers, of which 65 appeared at Lemberg (Lwów, in Polish) and 29 at Kraków. At Lemberg the daily papers were theDziennik polski, theGazeta lwowska, theGazeta narodowa, theKurjer Lwowski, and thePrzegląd. There were two Catholic weeklies, theGazeta katolicka and theTygodnik katolicki.[4]
TheGazeta kościelna (Ecclesiastical Gazette), representative of the Catholic press, was a small semi-weekly, poor in doctrine and immersed in politics. From the scientific standpoint the most important periodical was theKwaltarnik hystoryczny (Tri-monthly historical periodical), which began publication in 1886. Also important were thePamiętniki literackie (Literary Memoirs), theAteneum polskie, theKosmos (the organ of the society of naturalists of Lemberg), and theNasz kraj.[4]
At Kraków, besides theCzas, there were theNowa Reforma and theGłos narodu (Voice of the People), an organ of the clergy and of the militant Catholic party. The Socialists published there theNaprzód (Forward), the official organ of their party, and the monthly periodicalKrytyka. In following years there has been established theŚwiat Słowiański (Slavic World), the organ of the Slav club of Kraków, containing valuable information relating to the various Slavic countries. The Academy of Sciences of Kraków published aBulletin international, monthly; and theRozprawy (Dissertations) of mathematics, physics, and biology. Daily papers and periodicals were published also in the other Galician cities ofTarnów,Rzeszów,Sambor,Stanisławów,Jarosław, andPrzemyśl.[4]
One of the oldest Polish daily papers in Prussia was theDziennik poznański (Posen Journal), established in 1859. From 1845 to 1865 there appeared thePrzegląd poznański, an ardent defender of Catholicism, edited byJan Koźmian; in 1860, Jan Prusinowski published theTygodnik katolicki (illustrated weekly). In 1865,Ludwik Rzepecki began the publication of the scientific periodicalOświata (Culture), which, however, had only a short life, and was followed by thePrzegląd Wielkopolski (Review of Greater Poland), edited byEmil Kierski.[5] In 1870,Edmond Callier founded theTygodnik Wielkopolski, to which leading Polish writers contributed. TheKurjer Poznański, established byTeodor Żychliński in 1872, also acquired great importance. In 1894 there were published in Prussia and in theGrand Duchy of Posen the following daily papers: theDziennik poznański, theGoniec wielkopolski, theKurjer poznański, the nationalistOrędownik (Advocate),[a] and theWielkopolanin. ThePrzegląd poznański resumed its publications under the direction ofWładysław Rabski, while other daily papers were published at Danzig (Gdańsk), Thorn (Toruń),Pelplin, and Allenstein (Olsztyn).[4]
In 1841 the publication of theBiblioteka Warszawska, a monthly periodical dedicated especially to literature, began inRussian Poland. There were published inWarsaw theDzień (Day); theDziennik powszechny (Universal Journal); theGłos Warszawski (Voice of Warsaw);Głos poranny (Voice of Morning); theKurjer polski;Kurjer Warszawski;Nowa Gazeta;Przegląd poranny;Wiadomości Codzienne (Daily News);Słowo (Word), a nationalist paper that had great influence; and theWarszawska Gazeta. Other dailies were published atLublin,Kiev (Dziennik kijowski), atVilna (Kurjer litewski andGoniec Wilenski) atŁódź and atSt. Petersburg. Among the periodicals, besides theBiblioteka Warszawska, were theBiesiada literacka (Literary Banquet), splendidly illustrated; theKultura, hostile to religiocity; thePrzegląd filozoficzny (Philosophical Review), a quarterly publication; thePrzegląd historyczny (Historical Review), scientific, twice monthly; theŚwiat (World), an illustrated weekly; and theTygodnik illustrowany. The Catholic press was represented by thePrzegląd katolicki, of Warsaw, a publication dedicated to politics. This paper was the one most read by the clergy. CountRoger Łubieński (hrabia)[6] established theWiara (Faith), a weekly devoted to ecclesiastical news; and these two publications were later united into one. A scientifically important periodical, theKwartalnik teologiczny, lasted only a few years. By the early twentieth century, of the daily papers or periodicals for the clergy, or having a strictly Catholic programme, those most read were: thePolak katolik; theMyśl katolicka, ofCzęstochowa; and theAtheneum kapłańskie, of the seminary ofWłocławek, a monthly scientific publication.[4]
In 1864 Polish exiles established theOjczyna (Native Land) atLeipzig, thePrzyszłość (The Future) at Paris, and thePrzeglad powszechny atDresden. AtChicago, U.S.A., the chief centre of Polish emigration, were published theDziennik chicagoski, theDzien swiety (Holy Day), theGazeta katolicka, theGazeta polska, theNowe Zycie (New Life), theSztandar,Tygodnik naukowo-powiesciowy,Wiara i ojczyna,Zgoda, andZiarno, a musical publication. Other papers were published atMilwaukee,Buffalo, N.Y.,New York City,Detroit,Philadelphia,Winona,Cleveland, Ohio,Toledo,Baltimore,Pittsburgh,Stevens Point,Manitowoc,Mahanoy City, andWilkes-Barre. Brazil also had a Polish publication.[4]
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Periodical Literature (Poland)".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Periodical Literature (England)".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.