BERINGTON, JOSEPH. - Theologian, b. 16 Jan. 1743 at Winsley, d. 1 Dec. 1827 at Buckland (Berkshire). As a young man he studied at the college of St-Omer and, having been ordained a priest, exercised the pastoral ministry in France for several years. Of passionate temperament, upon returning to his homeland he took part in the struggle for Catholic emancipation, but came into conflict with the English episcopate because he was willing to take the oath required by the civil authorities. He further maintained that the Catholic religion should in every country conform to the national character of the people professing II. His propositions having been condemned, he first wrote a not very convincing retraction, which he republished in 1801, with necessary and satisfactory additions.
Among the numerous works in which he upheld these ideas contrary to orthodoxy, noteworthy are the Reflections, with an Exposition of Roman Catholic principles, in Reference to God and the Country (1787) and Protestantism and Popery illustrated. Two letters... tending to illustrate the real sentiments of the Catholics throughout the United Kingdom (1812). He also wrote several historical works: History of the reign of Henry II, Londra 1790; A literary history of the Middle Ages, there 1811; The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Catholic Religion in England ...from the reign of Elizabeth to the present time, there 1813.