the Centre, and the North, which at first were governed
by Apostolic Vicars furnished with proper faculties and
powers. In the accomplishment of so grave a charge,
they received rules and succour either by the decisions
of Benedict XIV. in his constitution of the 30th of May
1753, which commences with the words 'Apostolicum
ministerium,' or by those of other Pontiffs our predecessors
and our Congregation for the Propagation of the
Faith. This division of all England into four Apostolic
Vicarages lasted till the time of Gregory XVI.; who,
in his Apostolic letter, 'Muneris Apostolici,' dated the
3rd of July 1840, considering the increase of the Catholic
religion in England, and making a new ecclesiastical
division of the country, doubled the number of vicarages,
and confided the spiritual government of England to
the Vicars Apostolic of London, the West, the East,
the Centre, Lancaster, York, and the North. The
little we have just said proves clearly that our
predecessors applied themselves strongly to use all the
means their authority gave them to console the
Church of England for its immense disgraces, and to
work for its resurrection. Having before its eyes,
therefore, the good example of our predecessors, and
desirous, by imitating them, of fulfilling the duties of
the Supreme Apostolate—pressed, besides, to follow the
movements of our heart for that portion of the Lord's
vineyard—we proposed to ourselves, from the
commencement of our pontificate, to pursue a work that
was so well begun, and to apply ourselves in the most
serious manner to favour every day the development of
the Church in this kingdom. For this reason,
considering as a whole the state of Catholicism in England
—reflecting on the considerable number of Catholics,
which keep still increasing—remarking that every day
the obstacles are falling off which stood in the way
of the extension of the Catholic religion—we have
thought that the time was come when the form of
ecclesiastical government should be resumed in England
such as it exists, freely exists, in other nations, where no
particular cause necessitates the ministry of vicars
apostolic. We have thought that by the progress of
time and things, it was no longer necessary to have the
English Catholics governed by vicars apostolic, but, on
the contrary, that the changes which had already been
made necessitated the ordinary episcopal form of
government.

"We have been confirmed in these thoughts by the
desires expressed to us by the vicars apostolic in England,
as well as by numbers of the clergy and laity
distinguished by virtue and rank, and by the wishes of the
great majority of English Catholics. In maturing this
design, we have not failed to implore the aid of the
Almighty and most gracious God, and that he would
grant us grace in this weighty affair to resolve upon
that which should be most suitable to augment the
prosperity of the Church. We have further besought
the assistance of the blessed Virgin Mary, mother of
God, and of the saints whose virtues have made England
illustrious, that they would deign to obtain by their
intercession with God the happy success of this enterprise.
We have since commended the whole business
to the grave and serious consideration of our venerable
brothers the Cardinals of the holy Roman Church
forming our congregation for propagating the faith.
These sentiments having been found completely comformable
to our own, we have resolved to sanction them,
and carry them into execution. It is for this reason,
after having weighed the whole matter most
scrupulously, that of our own proper motion, in our certain
knowledge, and in the plenitude of our apostolic power,
we have resolved and do hereby decree the re-establishment
in the kingdom of England, and according to the
common laws of the Church, of a hierarchy of Bishops
deriving their titles from their own sees, which we
constitute by the present letter in the various apostolic
districts. To commence with the district of London, it
will form two sees,—to wit, that of Westminster, which
we hereby elevate to the metropolitan or archicpiscopal
dignity; and that of Southwark, which we assign to it
as a suffragan, together with those which we proceed to
indicate. The diocese of Westminster will include that
portion of the aforesaid district which extends to the
banks of the Thames, and comprehends the counties of
Middlesex, Essex, and Hertford; that of Southwark,
on the south of the Thames, will include the counties
of Bedford, Southampton, Surrey, Sussex, and Kent,
with the Isles of Wight, Jersey, Guernsey, and others
adjacent. In the district of the north there will be
but one episcopal see, which will take its name from
the town of Hagglestown, and have for its
circumscription that of the existing district. The district of
York will also form a diocese, whose capital will be the
town of Beverley. In the district of Lancaster there
will be two Bishops; of whom one, the Bishop of
Liverpool, will have for his diocese the isle of Mona,
the districts of Lonsdale, Amounderness, and west
Derby; and the other, the Bishop of Salford, will
extend his jurisdiction over Salford, Blackburn, and
Leyland. The county of Chester, though belonging to
this district, will be united to another diocese. In the
district of Wales two episcopal sees will be established,
—that of Salop, and that of Merioneth and Newport
united. The diocese of Salop will contain the counties
of Anglesea, Carnarvon, Denbigh, Flint, Merioneth,
and Montgomery: to which we join the county of
Chester, detached from the district of Lancaster, and
that of Salop from the centre. To the diocese of the
Bishop of Merioneth and Newport are assigned the
counties of Brecknock, Glamorgan, Carmarthen,
Pembroke, and Radnor, also the English counties of
Hereford and Monmouth. In the district of the west
we create two sees, Clifton and Plymouth; the first
comprehending the counties of Gloucester, Somerset,
and Wilts; the second those of Devon, Dorset, and
Cornwall. The district of the centre, from which we
have detached the county of Salop, will have two episcopal
sees, Nottingham and Birmingham; to the first
we assign the counties of Nottingham, Derby, Leicester,
Lincoln, and Rutland; to the second, the counties of
Stafford, Buckingham, Oxford, and Warwick. In the
district of the east there will be one see; which will
take its name from the town of Northampton, and
retain the present circumscription of the district,
except the counties of Lincoln and Rutland, which we
assigned to the diocese of Nottingham.

"Thus, in the very flourishing kingdom of England
there will be one single ecclesiastical province, with one
archbishop and twelve suffragans, whose zeal and
pastoral labours will, we hope, by the grace of God,
bring new and daily increase to the power of Catholicism.
For this reason, we reserve to ourselves and successors
the right to divide this province into several, and to
increase the number of its bishoprics as new ones may
be required; and in general, to settle their boundaries
as it may appear meet before the Lord.

"Meanwhile, we enjoin the archbishop and bishops
to furnish, at stated seasons, reports of the state of their
churches to our congregation of the propaganda, and
not to omit informing us on all points concerning the
spiritual good of their flocks. We shall continue to
avail ourselves of the aid of the congregation of the
propaganda in all that concerns the affairs of the church
in England. But in the sacred government of the
clergy and people, and all which concerns the pastoral
office, the archbishop and bishops of England will enjoy
all the rights and faculties which bishops and archbishops
can use, according to the disposition of the sacred
canons and the apostolic constitutions; and they will
likewise be equally bound by all the obligations to which
other bishops and archbishops are held by th common
discipline of the Catholic church.

"Their rights and duties will not be in any case
impaired by anything that is at present in vigour,
whether originating in the ancient form of the English
church, or in the subsequent missions instituted in
virtue of special constitutions, privileges, or customs,
now that the same state of things no longer exists. And
in order that no doubt may remain, we suppress, in the
plentitude of our apostolic power, and entirely abrogate,
all the obligatory and juridical force of the said special
constitutions, privileges, and customs, however ancient
their date. The archbishop and bishops of England
will thus have the integral power to regulate all that
belongs to the execution of the common law, or which
are left to the authority of bishops by the general
discipline of the church. As for us, most assuredly they