SWANSEA - 4 December 2007 - 400 words
Swansea historian discovers long-lost Catholic manuscript
A Swansea University historian is to shed light on a Catholic manuscript lost for nearly 200 years.
Professor Maurice Whitehead, an educational
historian in the University's School of Humanities, was shown
the document last July by Bart Op de Beeck, from the Royal Library
of Belgium in Brussels. Professor Whitehead, whose research focuses
on the educational experience of English and Welsh Catholics before
emancipation, identified the manuscript as the long-lost catalogue
of the library of the English Academy at Liège, compiled
in about 1792.
In the 17th and 18th Centuries, before Catholic schools were permitted
in Britain, significant numbers of English and Welsh Catholics
were educated in continental Europe.
A school was founded by the Jesuits in 1593, in Saint-Omer, France. In 1762 it moved moved to Bruges. When the Jesuits were suppressed by the Pope, in 1773, they fled from Bruges to Liège, where they were protected by the state's Prince Bishop. Once again, they re-founded their school, which was now called the English Academy.
In 1794, the French threatened Liège and the suppressed Jesuits were forced to flee once more, this time to England, as the 1791 Catholic Relief Act now permitted the establishment of Catholic schools.
In moving from Liège to Stonyhurst, Lancashire, the staff of the Academy managed to take part of their valuable library with them. However, the invading French army also seized many of the books, including the library catalogue, taking everything off to Paris.
Many of the manuscripts looted from Brussels
and Liège during the French Revolution were subsequently
returned to Brussels in 1815, after the battle of Waterloo, and
it appears that the catalogue was then mis-classified and subsequently
lost among other manuscripts in the Royal LibraryProfessor Whitehead
said: "This discovery proves the real value of international
research collaboration: through a team effort we've managed to
uncover an extremely valuable and important manuscript.
Proessor Whitehead said: "The list of approximately 7,000
books that made up the library at the Liège Academy gives
us a fascinating insight into the educational and cultural world
of the suppressed English and Welsh Jesuits and their lay students.
"The catalogue also proves beyond any doubt how up-to-date the educational community in Liège was in its reading. Particularly interesting is the number of scientific publications listed, and the scholars there clearly kept abreast of developments in chemistry and physics. We also know that they took a keen interest in the emerging concept of electricity.
"It appears that the education provided
by the English Academy in Liège was, in many respects,
more advanced than the education provided in England, Wales and
many parts of continental Europe at that time."
Many of the Academy's books are still scattered in library collections
across Europe, but the catalogue provides a clear picture of what
the Liège library contained.
The researchers now hope to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the Academy's library, potentially discovering new aspects of European culture and education that have yet to be fully understood.
Source: University of Swansea
© Independent Catholic
News 2007
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