Cardinal Manning: A Biography

An ecclesiastical eminence of the Victorian era is the subject of this biographical reassessment, which sheds light on his complex character and the heady religious ferment in England at the time. Henry Manning, a convert to Catholicism from the Church of England, who 14 years later was named Archbishop of Westminster and Metropolitan of all Catholics in England, was a controversial figure. With apocalyptic zeal, he defended the temporal power of the Rome-centered church and had a publicized falling-out with another famous convert, Cardinal Newman. Although Manning was highly regarded in his lifetime, his reputation suffered a decline after his death. Ambitious, aristocratic, a widower, he was ""acknowledged to be one of the handsomest men of his day,'' according to Gray, author of A History of London. This lively, well researched study is corrective, occasionally tedious in service to justice, but consistently illuminating. December