The events that Newman reviewed in his famous essay were passing before MANNA. At the time, MANNA, who had settled in London, refused the highly coveted appointment of chaplain to the Queen; an illness that confined him for several months accelerated his inner process (1847); a trip to Rome (1848), and contact with distinguished Catholic personalities, the Anglican scandal of Hampden and Gorham, brought him to the threshold of the Church. The decisive event occurred when, on 29 September 1850, Pius IX re-established the Catholic hierarchy in England (12 bishops with the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Wiseman, at their head). The cry “No popery” rang out again in meetings and public squares; as Archdeacon of Chichester, MANNA was ordered by his bishop to convene an assembly of the clergy to protest against Pius IX’s brief; he obeyed, but at the end, to everyone’s astonishment, declared that he no longer belonged to the Anglican communion. On 6 April 1851 he was received into the Church and placed himself at the disposal of Cardinal Wiseman, who ordained him a priest (15 June 1851) and sent him to Rome to complete his studies, where he obtained a doctorate in theology on 23 January 1854. Returning to England, in 1856 he founded the Oblates of St Charles, a congregation of priests destined for preaching in working-class districts; the following year he was appointed Provost of the Chapter of Westminster. From that moment dissensions arose with that part of the clergy led by Monsignor Errington, coadjutor bishop with the right of succession, who could not tolerate the superiority of a convert and an “ultramontane.” Incidents were not lacking, and Pius IX, called to judge, decided in Errington’s favour *de iure*; *de facto*, after Wiseman’s death (1865), he chose MANNA as Archbishop, who was consecrated on 5 June 1865.
MANNA’s long episcopate (1865–92) bears the imprint of his strong personality: a man of action, sustained by a ready will and extraordinary courage, he transformed his archdiocese, endowing it with obedient and well-prepared priests, founding the Seminary of St Thomas at Hammersmith, multiplying churches, missions, and schools, caring for Irish immigrants, and obtaining favours for Ireland from the government.
Destined in his youth for a political career, as a bishop he knew how to handle the great affairs of the Church with skill and success: in the question of the Papal States, which was so alive when he worked alongside Cardinal Wiseman, he demonstrated himself to be a rigid temporalist in his work *The Temporal Power of the Vicar of Jesus Christ* (London 1861). On this point his ideas softened greatly in contact with reality, as is evident from his private notes. MANNA’s greatest battle was fought at the Vatican Council, where he proved to be a fervent advocate of papal prerogatives, especially of infallibility; his public interventions in the Assembly were rare, but in the corridors of the Council he carried out a great work of clarification and persuasion. He had prepared for this task with his pastoral letters on the subject, which, when collected, formed the volume *Petri Privilegium* (London 1871). After the Council he dispelled Gladstone’s insinuations in *The Vatican Decrees in their Bearing on Civil Allegiance. A Political Exposition* (ibid. 1875) and outlined the events of the great assembly in *The True Story of the Vatican Council* (2nd ed., ibid. 1878). Unfortunately, the enthusiasm for Rome he had shown in 1870, which led him to be described as the prototype of English ultramontanism, somewhat waned under the pontificate of Leo XIII, though this cooling did not affect his Catholic faith or his loyalty as a bishop. After 1870 he had to confront the question of elementary education. The State subsidised secular schools for a minority, leaving the free schools of the majority (Anglicans, Methodists, Catholics) in an inferior position. MANNA strongly opposed this injustice, and though he did not obtain legislative changes, his timely interventions prepared the moral climate that led the English government to a better appreciation of Catholic claims. As for university education, MANNA, contrary to Newman’s opinion, never allowed Catholics to attend Oxford or Cambridge, believing it necessary to found a Catholic university; the enterprise failed, partly because, in excluding Newman, he employed a man who lacked neither the genius nor the prestige of the excluded figure. His most glorious battle was fought on the social terrain. Some even called him a socialist, but his campaign was inspired by the Gospel; the high point of this activity was what has remained in history under the name of the “Cardinal’s Peace”: the strike of a hundred thousand dockers (disorganised and poorly paid workers) threatened civil war; all the authorities’ negotiations had failed when MANNA went to the employers’ headquarters and, amid universal jubilation, settled the difficult dispute (1889).
MANNA was a man of action, and subordinated his facile pen to this; his numerous works either prepared or followed the most important acts of his pastoral activity, and though they reveal neither profound thought nor new formulations, they possess a particular unction and unmistakable cadences that make them acceptable to every kind of reader. This explains their wide diffusion and the many translations into French and Italian. Besides those already mentioned, the following are noteworthy: *The Grounds of Faith* (London 1852), *The Love of Jesus to Penitents* (ibid. 1863), *The Internal Mission of the Holy Ghost* (5th ed., ibid. 1875), *The Glories of the Sacred Heart* (ibid. 1876), *The Eternal Priesthood* (ibid. 1883), his most popular work.
MANNA’s life ended in apotheosis: even in 1875, at the time of his elevation to the cardinalate, all England paid him sincere admiration; the English government, too, on various occasions, acknowledged the moral superiority of the eminent archbishop. He made the Roman purple popular in the land of Elizabeth: in 1850 Cardinal Wiseman was greeted with the cry “No popery,” in 1875 Cardinal MANNA was hailed with cheers by all, and in 1892 his bier, adorned with the symbols of his dignity, was greeted by the great with reverence and followed by the people with affection and sorrow.