A short account of the origin and progress of the Catholic Institute of Great Britain : with an appendix of documents, intended as an introduction to the first Annual Report

Abstract

[Excerpt] A short account For some years previously to 1837, a society had existed in London, under the name of the METROPOLITAN CATHOLIC TRACT SOCIETY, the object of which was, as the title imported, to circulate tracts explanatory and vindicatory of the Catholic faith. This Society originated with the late Mt. William Eusebius Andrews, and a few zealous friends, and though it did, undoubtedly, considerable good, by the circulation of a large number of tract, yet not being recognized by the proper ecclesiastical authorities, it received but little efficient support, and towards the close of the year 1837, its longer existence was problematical. In this situation of matters some of the members of the Committee applied to the Rev. Mr. Sisk, of Chelsea, for his advice and aid to save the Society from extinction. Mr. Sisk entered warmly into the views of the Committee, an arranged for a meeting of the Society, to take into consideration its state and prospects. The Rev. Dr. Cox, now Vice-President of St. Edmund's College Old Hall Green having consented to attend the meeting, these two reverend gentlemen requested Mr. Smith, now the Secretary of the Catholic Institute, to accompany them to the meeting, and to assist them in their deliberntions,