A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Bishop William Gibson's report in 1804 gives proof of the great 

 apparent increase of Roman Cathohcism in the county within the preceding 

 thirteen or fourteen years in consequence of the abohtion of the penal laws. 

 In Lancashire alone he had confirmed 8,000 ; the total number of Catholics 

 in the county was nearly 50,000, and in Manchester alone there were 10,000, 

 where fourteen years previously there had been scarce 600. He notes a 

 similar growth in the Liverpool district, where thirty new chapels had been 

 built within the same period. 



In July, 1840, Pope Gregory XVI replaced the four vicariates by a 

 fresh organization of eight vicariates, of which one took its name from the 

 county. This Lancashire vicariate comprised also the Isle of Man and 

 Cheshire. The first and (save for his coadjutor) the only vicar was George 

 Brown, 1840-50, whose report to the Propaganda in 1841 gives a total for 

 Lancashire of 92 chapels, 119 priests, 9,375 baptisms, 53,841 communicants, 

 and 649 conversions. 



A long period of agitation preceded the definitive re-establishment of 

 the hierarchy. That agitation was not caused by Catholic emancipation. 

 It had lived, now smouldering, now fiercely burning, ever since the sixteenth 

 century. All that Catholic emancipation did was to give added force to the 

 agitation for it among the English Roman Catholics themselves. From 1838 

 this agitation had taken an intensely practical form. In that year the then 

 existing four English vicars-apostolic drew up a scheme for the grant of 

 ordinary episcopal government. The scheme was not immediately adopted. 

 In its place, as a temporary makeshift, Gregory XVI decreed, as above 

 described, the increase of the vicars-apostolic from four to eight. The 

 disappointment caused by this makeshift led to the formation of a brother- 

 hood in London (called the Adelphi), to agitate for the restoration of the 

 hierarchy, and a long period of petitions and delegations to Rome ensued, 

 coupled with abortive schemes for turning the vicariates, now into twelve 

 bishoprics, now into eight, and so on. At last, in 1848, UUathorne was sent 

 to Rome, and succeeded in arranging an acceptable scheme. The issue of 

 this scheme was only delayed from 1848 to 1850 by the revolution in Rome, 

 but at last, on 29 September, 1850, the authorizing brief was issued. 



In accordance with the scheme two out of the total of thirteen 

 bishoprics were erected in Lancashire, one with its seat at Liverpool, and 

 covering Lonsdale, Amounderness, and West Derby Hundreds, and the Isle 

 of Man ; the other at Salford, covering Salford, Blackburn, and Leyland 

 Hundreds. By a subsequent brief of date 27 June, 1851, Leyland was trans- 

 ferred from Salford to Liverpool. This arrangement continues to the present 

 time. The succession of bishops within these two sees has been as 

 follows : — 



Liverpool 



1850-6. George Brown, already vicar-apostolic of the Lancashire district. He was born at 

 Clifton, near Preston, and his ministerial career was confined to the county. From 

 1 850-1 he acted as administrator of Salford till the appointment of its first bishop. 



1856-72. Alexander Goss ; born at Ormskirk. He had acted as coadjutor to Brown 

 since 1853. 



1873-94- Bernard O'Reilly; born in Ireland, he served the mission in Liverpool, distin- 

 guishing himself by his devotion in the famine fever of 1847. 



1894. Thomas Whiteside ; born at Lancaster of a local family. 



94 



