"One of the most controversial and colourful bishops of nineteenth-century Catholic England, Baines was ahead of his time in developing modern methods of teaching at Ampleforth and Prior Park; he also attempted to establish the first Catholic university in England since the Reformation." "Bishop Baines succeeded in raising the profile of the Catholic Church, particularly in the west of England. A great correspondent, his letters and archives throw considerable light on the problems he faced, and provide an insight to the times in which he lived."--BOOK JACKET.

Collection of letters from the Catholic Bishop Goss vividly depict contemporary ecclesiastical life. These letters, covering the years between 1850 and 1872, illustrate the complex issues facing the newly-established Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales. Bishop Alexander Goss was closely involved in the struggles to assert diocesan independence from Westminster and undue interference by Rome and was a determined upholder of his episcopal rights, "strong and resolute almost to vehemence - the crozier, hook and point" as Cardinal Manning claimed. At thesame time, as leader of the diocese with the largest number of Catholics in England and Wales, he faced the problems of serving the needs of a rapidly expanding population and of integrating a huge numbers of Irish migrants, without damaging the flourishing recusant traditions that had made Lancashire so important in the survival and growth of English Roman Catholicism. Whether he was writing on ecclesiastical politics, or his reasons for opposing the definition of infallibility, or the spiritual needs of his people, he wrote "without restraint or reticence" and his letters show us both his energy and administrative ability, and something of his complex personality. They are presented here with introduction and elucidatory notes. Peter Doyle, a retired history lecturer, has written extensively on the history of the Catholic Church in England after 1850. His published work includes a historyof Westminster Cathedral, a ground-breaking history of the Catholic diocese of Liverpool from 1850-2000, and three volumes in the new Butler's Lives of the Saints, as well as a range of contributions to academic journals.

The two shipboard journals recorded by Lewis Harding, Bede Poldings fellow passenger in 1835 and 1846, and here published for the first time, present endearing glimpses of Australia were via the Cape of Good Hope. In addition, he sailed several times to ports within his Province to Newcastle, Hobart, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Albany and Perth. When in Europe he regularly crisscrossed the Irish Sea and the English Channel. In his old age, in October 1869, he undertook a voyage intending to reach Europe in time for the opening of the Vatican Council at Rome in December. The steamer sailed via Melbourne and Albany into the Indian Ocean, thence into the Red Sea, heading to the Suez Canal, which was due to open in November. However, the Archbishop, sick and exhausted, turned back after reaching Aden, arriving in Sydney on Christmas Eve 1869.