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A WILD BEAST CAUGHT BY DR. WISEMAN: THE RHETORICAL PROBLEM OF CARDINAL WISEMAN IN CARDINAL NEWMAN'S AUTOBIOGRAPHIES
Renascence, Summer 2007 by Heady, Chene
Wiseman's role in the narrative of the Apologia is notable more by the contortions necessary to secure his absence than by his presence. Though the Apologia provides a clear portrayal of Wiseman, he appears in the text only a handful of times. Accounts of Newman's 1833 meeting with Wiseman in Rome had already been published in Hurrell Froude's Remains and in several of Wiseman's works, so the Apologia is obligated to address the event to retain narrative credibility. Newman mentions that he and Froude made an exception to their general rule against talking to Catholics to meet twice with "Monsignore (now Cardinal) Wiseman at the Collegio Inglese" and once to "hea[r] him preach" (Apologia 38-39). Newman, however, portrays himself as at this time feeling great "isolation" from the people and religion of Italy, and as thinking "solely" of England (Apologia 39). In a similar vein, the only detail he relates from these meetings is his refusal of Wiseman's suggestion that he and Froude visit Rome again and see more of Wiseman. Newman tells Wiseman that '"We [Newman and Froude] have a work to do in England,'" and that such a visit would only delay their mission (Apologia 40). When Wiseman next appears in the Apologia, he has returned to England, and has started giving controversial lectures explaining why Tractarians should convert to Catholicism (Apologia 61). These lectures influence Newman only in that the need to combat them comprises one of the most "important" "reason[s]" that he is inspired to devise his influential theory of the Via Media, in which the Anglican Church's doctrinal moderation is contrasted with the Roman Church's doctrinal excesses and Protestantism's doctrinal deficiencies, with the aim of revealing Anglicanism as the true heir of the Conciliar Church (Apologia 61). Wiseman's third and final personal appearance in the Apologia occurs when shortly before his conversion Newman writes Wiseman to defend himself from the explicit charge "of coldness in [his] conduct towards" Wiseman, and from the possible implicit charge of wishing, in a spirit of "controversial rivalry," to "ge[t] the better" of Wiseman (Apologia 144). The Apologia's, portrayal of Wiseman as a character is terse, but clear and consistent. Wiseman constantly attempts to influence Newman, but Newman rebuffs his advances, declines his influence, and is affected by him only as providing the material occasion of his own Via Media.10
Newman accentuates the key aspects of this portrait of Wiseman by foiling him with other Catholic priests who are both less obtrusive and more successful in attempting to convert Newman. Most prominently, Wiseman is implicitly foiled in both results and methods with "Dr. [Charles] Russell of Maynooth [Seminary]" who is designated as having "more to do with [Newman's] conversion than any one else" (Newman Apologia 153). In contrast to Wiseman's penchant for theological debate, Russell achieved this end because he simply sent Newman "one or two books," wrote him "several" "gentle, mild, unobtrusive, uncontroversial letters," and in general "let [him] alone" (Apologia 153). In relating the event of his conversion, Newman declines to narrate his confirmation at the hands of the local bishop, Nicholas Wiseman (Newman Apologia 52, cf. Ker 317). Newman emphasizes, instead, his reception into the Catholic Church - which invariably includes first confession and first communion - at the hands of the Passionist priest, Fr. Dominic Barberi. In contrast to Wiseman, allegedly the model for Browning's Bishop Blougram," "Father Dominic . . . . is a simple, holy man" who "has had little to do with conversions"; in fact, Father Dominic had never spoken to Newman for more than "a few minutes" prior to his conversion and had no advance knowledge of Newman's "intention" to convert (Apologia 181).
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