24 THE OLD CATHOLIC CHURCH
At the beginning of 1914 people began to hear of the existence in Paris of a 'French Catholic Church', also called the 'Gallican Church'; there was already another 'Gallican Church', directed by an Abbé Volet, which had a journal entitled The French Catholic. It is characteristic of these schismatic organizations to multiply almost indefinitely, like Protestant sects, and sometimes to compete with another rather dishonestly. The new Church was provisionally placed under the control of 'Msgr Arnold Henri Mathieu, Count of Landave of Thomastown, Old Catholic Archbishop of London, Metropolitan of Great Britain and Ireland' while awaiting the consecration as 'Metropolitan of France and the Colonies' of his Vicar General, 'Msgr Pierre Rend, vidame of Lignidres.' It seemed that in reality this last person was simply called Laurain, but the dignitaries of this Church have a mania for titles of nobility as others have for fantastic decorations; thus Bishop Villatte, whose cultural efforts had earlier caused a certain uproar, invented the 'Order of the Crown of Thorns'. However that may be, it is quite singular that a Church proudly proclaiming itself 'French and not Roman' was even provisionally under the authority of an Englishman; it first became known, just like that of Villatte (who had by then moved on to a Syrian Church under the name Mar Timotheus), by offers of schismatic priests to parishes which found themselves deprived of their cures because the municipalities had had difficulties with their bishops. [1]
There soon appeared a bulletin entitled The Catholic Awakening which ran for exactly four numbers, from March to August 1914, whose publication was halted by the war and by the mobilization of 'Archbishop Metropolitan'. [2] This bulletin, in order to establish the 'apostolic succession' of Msgr Mathieu, consecrated by Msgr Gérard Gul, Jansenist Archbishop of Utrecht, listed the entire line of Jansenist archbishops and bishops of Holland; and through them, by several intermediaries, the line was traced back to Bossuet, then to Cardinal Barberini, nephew of Pope Urban VIII. One could then read there of the 'religious division' of France into an archbishopric and eight 'regional' bishoprics; several of these had already had designated bishops, among whom were two bishops of a so-called 'Latin Orthodox Church', Msgrs Giraud, former Trappist lay brother, and Joanny Bricaud. The latter, who is quite well known in occultist circles, previously had himself called 'His Beatitude John II, Patriarch of the Universal Gnostic Church', and today he claims succession to Papus as head of the Martinist Order and of several other organizations; but it should be mentioned that these titles are contested by other occultists. It would be difficult, moreover, to enumerate all the Churches and all the Orders to which Bricaud claims to be attached either successively or even simultaneously. If we especially note the presence of this occultist among the personnel of the Church here in question, it is because this is an example of the relations that exist between a throng of groups that at first glance one might believe to be complete strangers to one another. However, there was no question of Theosophy and its representatives in the 'French Catholic Church', which, like most similar schisms, seems to have had only an ephemeral existence. It was in the Old Catholic Church of England, from which the 'French Catholic Church' was born, that the Theosophists began to insinuate themselves.
The head of this Old Catholic Church, Archbishop Mathieu, who was really Arnold Henry Matthews, born in Montpellier of Irish parents, was at first prepared to receive orders in the Episcopal
Church of Scotland. Then he became Catholic in 1875, and was ordained priest in Glasgow in June, 1877. He left the priesthood in 1889, and in October 1890 took the Italian name of Arnoldo Girolamo Povoleri, even publishing a notice in the Times to announce this change of names. He married in 1892 and had himself called the Reverend Count Povoleri di Vicenza, and it was about the same time that he also took the title of Count of Landaff. Let us add that recently he has appeared under the name of the Marquis of Povoleri, accompanied by his son and daughter, at some of Empress Eugénie's receptions at Bayswater, where there was rather mixed company. [3] At one time he seemed to be reconciled with the Catholic Church, but this lasted only briefly; in 1908, Msgr Mathew (this is the way he now spelled his name) had himself consecrated bishop by Dr Gérard Gul, who was head of the Old Catholic Church of Holland, which was formed from the debris of Jansenism together with some dissidents who in 1870 had refused to accept the dogma of papal infallibility; the various Old Catholic Churches (including that presently directed by the Theosophists) recognize the Pope only as 'Patriarch and Primate of the West'. The new bishop in turn consecrated two other strayed English priests, Ignace Beale and Arthur Howorth; and after scarcely three years he founded the 'Catholic Orthodox Church of the West', repudiating any subordination to Utrecht as well as to Rome. This Church successively took different names that would be of little use or interest to enumerate, while its head sought to enter into negotiations, first with the Holy See through the Cardinal Merry del Vall, then with the Anglican Church through the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, and even with the Eastern Orthodox Church through the Archbishop of Beruit; [4] finally, he was formally excommunicated by the Holy See in 1911. [5]
In 1913 the clergy of the 'Old Catholic Church of Great Britain and Ireland' (such was the name that finally prevailed) was augmented with several members, all former Anglican ministers and more or less openly Theosophist: James Ingall Wedgwood, secretary general of the English section of the Theosophical Society (designated in the 'lives of Alcyone' by the name Lomia); Rupert Gauntlett, secretary of an 'Order of Healers' attached to the Theosophical Society; Robert King, specialist in 'psychic consultations' based on the examination of horoscopes; and Reginald Farrer. In 1915, Archbishop Mathew, who was completely ignorant of Theosophy, became frightened on perceiving that Wedgwood and his associates awaited the arrival of a new Messiah. He closed his Old Catholic Church and offered his submission to Rome, then recovered himself almost immediately and established a 'Catholic Uniate Church of the West'. Unable to obtain from Mathew the episcopal consecration he aspired to, Wedgwood approached-though in vain-Bishop Vernon Herford, who directed a kind of Nestorian chapel at Oxford. His approach to Frederick Samuel Willoughby, who was consecrated by Mathew in 1914 and expelled from the Old Catholic Church the following year, had a happier outcome. Willoughby first consecrated King and Gauntlett (the first-established branch of the Old Catholic Church in Scotland), and then with their assistance consecrated Wedgwood on February 13, 1916. During the course of this same year, 1916, he would submit to the Holy See. Wedgwood promptly left for Australia, where in Sydney he consecrated as 'Bishop of Australia' Charles Webster Leadbeater, also a former Anglican clergyman as we have noted; and he, assisted by Wedgwood, in turn consecrated 'Jongheer' Julian Adrian Mazel, of Dutch origin, as 'Auxiliary for Australia'. [6] On April 20, 1916, an assembly of clergy and bishops of the Old Catholic Church of Great Britain adopted a new constitution which was published under the signature of Wedgwood, and in which there was no allusion to Theosophy nor to the future Messiah. In November 1918 there was still another declaration of principles in which the title of the Old Catholic Church was replaced by that of the 'Liberal Catholic Church.
This last designation brings to mind that there was also in France a dozen years ago an attempted 'Liberal Catholic Church' [7] under the patronage of certain occultists, notably Albert Jounet, one of those who is encountered in many diverse and, in appearance at least, incompatible organizations. He was even the founder of a 'Spiritualist Alliance' which boasted of effecting the reconciliation of all doctrines and which, naturally, had hardly any more success than the 'Congress of Humanity.' [8]
In the Theosophist of October 1916, Mrs Besant, speaking of certain movements which according to her are destined to acquire world-wide importance, mentioned
the little-known movement called old-Catholic; it is a living Christian Church [9] which will grow and multiply with the years and which has a great future before it; it is probably called upon to become the future Church of Christianity when He appears.
Two other movements are mentioned in the same article, the 'Theosophical Educational Trust', that is to say, the collection of educational works directed by the Theosophical Society; and 'CoMasonry', of which we will speak below. This was the first time that the Old Catholic Church was officially mentioned in a Theosophical publication, and the hopes placed on this organization are clearly defined there. Moreover, Wedgwood himself, who was so reserved in his episcopal declarations, was on the contrary quite explicit before his colleagues in the Theosophical Society. In fact, he expressed himself thus in a report to the Theosophical Convention of 1918:
The Old-Catholic Church works to spread Theosophical teachings through Christian pulpits; and the most important part of
its task consists in preparing the hearts and minds of men for the arrival of the Great Teacher. [10]
The aim of the Theosophists in taking possession of this Church is therefore exactly as we have indicated: it is the same as that for which they previously founded the 'Order of the Star of the East', with the sole difference that this addresses itself to all without distinction, while the Old-Catholic Church is particularly meant to attract those who, perhaps without well-defined religious principles, nevertheless wish to call themselves Christians and to keep up all the outward appearances. Here then is the latest transformation of Mr Leadbeater, at least up to now, and the new occupations to which this 'clairvoyant' now devotes himself:
Bishop Leadbeater is researching the occult side of the Mass, and he is preparing a complete book on the science of the sacraments. ... [11] The book on the Mass will be illustrated with diagrams of the various steps of the Eucharistic edifice [sic] as it takes place during the course of the Mass. The end and role of each part are explained, and thus the work contains not only the theory and meaning of the sacraments, but also the complete form or the architectural side of the thing. . . . The main event of the week for some at Sydney is the High Mass of Sunday morning, at which Bishop Leadbeater is always present and generally officiates or delivers the sermon. [12]
What sincerity can there be in all this? The excessive skill of the Theosophical leaders in dissimulating their intentions and in simultaneously managing enterprises which are the most contrary
in appearance, provided only that they think that they will serve toward the realization of these schemes, none of this allows many illusions about it.