society of the holy cross

The Society of the Holy Cross is an Anglo-Catholic order of priests in the Anglican tradition, not to be confused with the Roman Catholic order Priestly Society of the Holy Cross which is an order of Opus Dei priests. It is abbreviated SSC for the initials of the Latin name for the society, Societas Sanctae Crucis. It includes priests who are within the worldwide Anglican Communion, as well as some priests who are in the so-called Continuing Anglican movement. The current Master General of the order is Father David Houlding, SSC.

Founding and Early History

The society was founded on February 28, 1855 in the Chapel of the House of Charity, Soho, London by six Anglican priests: Charles Fuge Lowder, Charles Maurice Davies, David Nicols, Alfred Poole, Joseph Newton Smith, and Henry Augustus Rawes. These six priests were some of the earliest adherents to the ideals and philosophies of Anglo-Catholicism within the Church of England. Initially, the society they formed was intended as a secret association for their own personal advancement and edification, but it soon came to be the driving force behind the Anglo-Catholic movement within Anglicanism, particularly after the first phase of the Oxford Movement had played it's course and John Henry Newman had converted to Roman Catholicism. Like Newman, three of the founding members of the SSC, eventually converted to Roman Catholicism: Davies, Nichols and Rawes. Father Lowder was undoubtedly the true founder of the society and he served as its first Master. While visiting France in 1854, he had first conceived of the idea of an order of Anglo-Catholic priests based on the Lazarists, a Roman Catholic priestly order founded by St. Vincent de Paul. The society expanded almost immediately as other Anglo-Catholic priests in London joined the original six. The priests of the society ministered in parishes characterized by poverty and working class membership in some of the poorest slum areas of London. These included the parishes of: St. Barnabas, Pimlico; St. Peter's, London Docks and St. George's in the East. Many of these areas were so dangerous that successive Bishops of London refused to visit the parishes and missions served by SSC priests, although their refusal was also often motivated by a distaste for the practices of the Anglo-Catholic clergy. The practices of the priests of the society were to lead to persecution, lawsuits, rioting and even imprisonment of some of the member priests. The society was committed to practices which were very close, indeed in some cases indistinguishable, from practices in the Roman Catholic Church. This included a devotion to the Holy Sacrament, a committment to the celebration of the Mass, the practice of auricular confession, the wearing of eucharistic vestments, the use of incense, the use of liturgical hand bells, the use of wafer breads at the celebration of the Mass, and other Catholic practices. While these practices were not completely unknown in the Church of England since the Reformation, most of them had not been in general use for hundreds of years, as the Church of England had been throroughly Protestant in most places since the reign of Elizabeth I. It is important to note that the priests of the SSC considered these practices an outward, necessary and physical expression of belief and doctrine, and not as simply aesthetic adornments to worship. Many Low Church and Latitudinarian churchmen viewed the practices of the SSC priests with horror and dismay. In many cases, Mass and the Divine Office in Anglo-Catholic parishes were disrupted by rioting and shouting during the reading of Lessons and the sermon. Furniture, books and cushions were commonly hurled at priests, choristers and altars during and after services, and public assault on priests by their opponents was also frequent. Lawsuits were filed against priests for (among other things): hearing confessions, 'false teachings on the Eucharist' as well as for the use of candles, incense and wearing of eucharistic vestments. In many cases, priests were suspended from their ministries and some of these prosecutions were successful, but priests of the society resisted the actions of their opponents and the civil courts and in many cases continued to practice their religion in keeping with their own consciences. Other actions brought in the civil courts had split decisions, where some Catholic practices were permitted by the courts, while others were ruled illegal. Still other practices were sometimes ruled by the civil courts not to be illegal per se, but that their continued use would require direct authorization by the diocesan Bishop.

The Public Worship Regulation Act

See: Public Worship Regulation Act In 1867, a government commission was established to "inquire into the rubrics, orders and directions for regulating the course and conduct of public worship" which was presented to Parliament. The recommendations of this commission eventually led to the passing of the Public Worship Regulation Act by the Disraeli government in 1874 with the stated aim of "putting down the Ritualists". The Act was framed by a number of Low Church clergymen and politicians, most notably Archibald Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury who had previously served as the Bishop of London, and had refused visitation to the parishes served by priests of the SSC. After the Act came into force on July 1, 1875 began the period of the most severe legal persecution against priests of the SSC, as prosecutions were carried out against them under the auspices of the Act. A Low Church organization, the Church Association, which had been responsible for some the initial lawsuits brought against SSC priests before the Act was passed, now vigourously prosecuted priests who persisted in Anglo-Catholic practices.

Society Of The Holy Cross

Founding and Early History

The Public Worship Regulation Act

See also