Manning, Henry Edward, 1808-1892

Henry Edward Manning, son of William and Mary (Hunter) Manning, was born July 15, 1808, in Totteridge, Hertfordshire, England. Manning attended the Harrow Public School, and graduated from Balliol College, Oxford with a degree in the Classics in 1830. He worked briefly as a government clerk, but in 1832 he was ordained a deacon in the Church of England, followed by ordination as a priest in 1833. Also in 1833, he married Caroline Sargent. They did not have any children, and she died in 1837.

In 1841, Manning became the Archdeacon of Chichester. At the time, he was highly connected with influential clergy and theologians of the Church of England, including Samuel, Henry, and Robert Wilberforce, Samuel Francis Wood, and Charles Marriott. He found common cause with the Oxford Movement (Tractarianism), led by John Henry Newman and Edward Bouverie Pusey, which saw Anglicanism as the via media ("middle way") between Catholicism and Protestantism and sought to reincorporate certain older Christian doctrines and practices into Anglicanism. Following a similar path to many other Tractarians, Manning converted to Catholicism in April of 1851 and was ordained a Catholic priest that June. Shortly after, he went to the Academia dei Nobili Ecclesiastici in Rome at the urging of Pope Pius IX, where he remained until 1854. Upon returning to England, Manning founded a community of missionary priests in the poorer parts of London, which began its active life in 1857 as the Oblates of St Charles Borromeo, with Manning as superior.

In 1865, Pope Pius IX appointed Manning as the second archbishop of Westminster, succeeding Nicholas Wiseman. He served as archbishop for nearly twenty-seven years, and was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 1875. On the death of Pope Pius IX in 1878, Manning's name was put forward at the ensuing conclave as a possible successor, but he refused to be considered on the grounds that the political situation demanded the election of an Italian. He participated in the First Vatican Council (1869-1870) and was instrumental in crafting the Council's definition of papal infallibility. At home, Manning used his influence as archbishop to protect the laboring classes, provide for the education of the poor, and establish a firmer acceptance of Catholics in England.

Henry Edward Manning died on January 14, 1892, following a serious attack of bronchitis.