Society of the Holy Cross
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The Society of the Holy Cross (SSC) is an international Anglo-Catholic society for priests in the Anglican Communion. The society's name is abbreviated as SSC from the initials of the society's Latin name, Societas Sanctae Crucis.
It is not to be confused with the Roman Catholic Priestly Society of the Holy Cross which is an association of Opus Dei. It should neither be confused with the Society of the Holy Cross (Korea) (SHC), an order of nuns within the Anglican Church of Korea.
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[edit] 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. The Society they formed was initially intended as a secret association for their own personal edification, but it soon came to be the driving force behind the Anglo-Catholic movement, particularly after the first phase of the Oxford Movement had played its 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 the 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 Anglican priests based on the Lazarists, a Roman Catholic order founded by St Vincent de Paul. The SSC provided its members with a Rule of Life and a vision of a disciplined priestly life. Mutual support has always been a key element and the life of the Society is experienced primarily through the local Chapter. Attendance at Chapter is of obligation unless prevented by genuine pastoral duties.
The SSC expanded almost immediately. These early priests of the Society ministered in working-class parishes characterised by poverty in some of the poorest slum areas of London and other cities. These included the parishes of: St Barnabas' Pimlico and St Peter's London Docks. Many of these areas were so dangerous that bishops refused to visit them, although their refusal was also motivated by a distaste for the practices of the Anglo-Catholic clergy.
Anglo-Catholic ritualism was very close, and in some cases indistinguishable, from practices in the Roman Catholic Church. These included devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, frequent celebration of the Mass with intentions, the practice of auricular confession, the wearing of eucharistic vestments, and the use of incense, liturgical hand bells, and wafer breads. Whilst these practices had not been completely unknown in the Church of England since its break with the Papacy most of them had not been in general use for hundreds of years as the Church of England had become increasingly Protestant in its liturgical practice after the reign of Elizabeth I.
It is important to note, however, that the priests of the SSC considered these practices an outward, necessary, and physical expression of belief and doctrine and not merely as aesthetic adornments to worship. The SSC was primarily concerned with improving the spiritual life of priests and people. For example, the now common practice of Retreats was introduced to the Church of England in those given by the SSC, beginning in 1856.
Many Low Church and Latitudinarian churchmen viewed these practices, and the accompanying teaching, with horror. It was not unusual for Mass and the Divine Office in SSC parishes to be disrupted by Protestant protesters, some hired for the occasion, shouting during the reading of lessons and the sermon, or hurling furniture, books and cushions. Physical assault was also frequent. Lawsuits were filed against priests for Catholic practices. Some of these prosecutions were successful and priests were suspended from their ministries. In other actions, 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 authorisation by the diocesan Bishop.
[edit] The Public Worship Regulation Act
See: Public Worship Regulation Act
Evangelical dismay with Anglo-Catholics 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 introduced in the House of Lords as a Private Member's Bill by Archibald Tait Archbishop of Canterbury who had previously served as the Bishop of London. After the Act came into force on July 1, 1875 the period of the most severe legal persecution against priests of the SSC began as prosecutions were carried out against them under the auspices of the Act. The Church Association, which had been responsible for some the pre-Act lawsuits, now vigorously prosecuted those who persisted in Anglo-Catholic practice and teaching. A total of seventeen priests were prosecuted under the provisions of the Act. In some cases, prosecuted priests negotiated with their bishop and compromised or abandoned some practices, while others served time in prison for either not acknowledging the right of the courts to judge them on matters of worship or after being convicted for violations of the Act. Occasionally, bishops (including Archbishop Tait) would intervene to stop prosecutions, particularly as public outrage grew at the blatant interference in spiritual matters by secular courts.
Two cases involving the prosecution of SSC priests were those of Father Arthur Tooth and Father Alexander Heriot Mackonochie and are undoubtedly the most famous episodes in the early history of the SSC.
[edit] Subsequent History
The prosecutions, however, were battles won in a losing war. In 1906, a Royal Commission effectively nullified the Act by admitting that more pluralism in public worship was needed. The selfless example of SSC priests in ministering to the lowest orders of society and their strong stands on social justice had also endeared them to the general public.
In 1883, Father Alexander Chinnery-Haldane, SSC, was elected as Bishop of Argyll and the Isles in the Scottish Episcopal Church. He would be the first of many SSC bishops around the world including the saintly Frank Weston of Zanzibar.
Today, there are over 2,000 members of the Society organized into Provinces for England & Scotland, the Americas, Wales, and Australasia, each under a Provincial Master reporting to an international Master-General. The current Master General of the society is Father David Houlding who resides in England.
In April, 2005, the Society celebrated its 150th anniversary with a week-long festival, "Stand Up For Jesus". Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams addressed the gathering and the Royal Albert Hall was filled to capacity for the closing mass.
The fortunes of the SSC have waxed and waned since the early days of the Catholic Revival, but for its members it has always been an important source of priestly formation, discipline and fraternity. Priests of the Society can be recognized by the small gold lapel cross that they generally wear. On it is inscribed the motto of the Society - In Hoc Signo Vinces - In This Sign, Conquer!
[edit] See also
- Anglican religious order
- Anglo-Catholicism
- Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament
- Guild of All Souls
- Ritualism
- Society of Catholic Priests
- Society of King Charles the Martyr
- Society of Mary (Anglican)
- T. Pelham Dale
