Cause of Teresa, Catholic Herald, 25th October 1936

CAUSE OF TERESA HIGGINSON

A New Movement in London

The Catholic teachers of the Metropolitan district are now organising on a par with their compeers in the North and Midlands, to seek the Beatification of Teresa Higginson as " Patron of School-teachers."

A general committee with several branch sub-committees has been formed, and associates are being enrolled in all parts of Greater London. The Training Colleges, St. Mary's and St. Charles's, and the Mount Pleasant Association of London, are joining in the work, which is actively promoted by the several congregations directing them.

Among the officials are the recently elected President of the National Federation of Catholic Teachers; and the Vice-President of the Sirnmarian (St. Mary's) Association. At the first meeting of the General Committee, Mr. W. J. Ridge (hon. sec. of the M.C.T.A.), was elected as its president.

A Forthcoming Meeting

A meeting in Westminster Cathedral Hall (with the blessing and support of the Archbishop), is being prepared. The Vice Postulator, Mgr. O'Brien, of Bootle. Liverpool, will attend and give an account of the progress of the cause; and Lady Cecil Kerr of Edinburgh, Teresa's biographer and advocate, has promised to give an address. Representatives from the other local committees above-mentioned are expected to be present.

The movement in the Metropolis has been no doubt quickened by an address from Mgr. Thomas Adamson, secretary of the Archbishop of Liverpool. To the teachers of the archdiocese, he congratulated them on taking up the work so sincerely and enthusiastically, but adding:

"There will be difficulties. It is not an easy matter to get the Church formally to declare a person a saint. Witnesses have to be interviewed, documents and writings have to be collected and examined, the votes of theologians, bishops, and cardinals taken, before the Holy Father makes his final decision. Consequently, you must not expect to ace your efforts crowned with success within a few months. Moreover, in addition to the delay unavoidable in the formal process, you must not expect to be entirely free from irritations and vexations at home.

You will have criticism, plenty of it, as every good cause has. Much of it you will be able to ignore. On the other hand a kindly offer to explain the difficulties to your critics may often convert them to your cause. Personally I believe that the majority of the critics of Teresa Higginson are those who know least about her. Though we do not wish for a moment to anticipate the decision of the Church and assert definitely that she is truly a saint, nevertheless the fact that the authorities of the archdiocese have officially supported the Cause and have already forwarded it to Rome for examination is sufficient to justify our credibility."

United Efforts

There can be little doubt that these united efforts of the North and the South will encourage the advocates of this Cause in hoping to bring it to a successful issue at a not too distant date. It is also encouraging that interest in Teresa Higginson and her alleged revelations, is spreading rapidly all over the world. In the United States two of the Cardinal Archbishops, those of Boston and Philadelphia, like our own Archbishops are stimulating the eagerness of the Faithful to see Teresa beatified.

The Non Expedire to Teresa Higginson's beatification

On February 21st 1938 the then vice - postulator of cause of the Servant of God Teresa Helena Higginson Monsignor John O'Brien received this letter from a colleague in the Holy See:

You must have been expecting for some time news of me or rather of the cause that we have at heart - Teresa Higginson.  As a matter of fact I have not written to you for the last six months.  Since it was necessary just to have the approbation of the writings of the Servant of God and the Decree - Procedi Potest ad ulteriora.  I presented myself on several occasions to the Congregation in order to obtain information about the said decree, and behold, last Friday unexpectedly received the following note from His Excellency Monsignor Carinci, Secretary of the Congregation.

Mi reco a donare significazione alla P.V. Rev. ma alla che Introduzione della Cause Serva di Dio Teresa Helena Higginson, a stato posto dal Sant Uffizio il NON EXPEDIRE.  Tanto Le communico per sua intelligenze e norma, etc.

(Translation:  It is my duty to inform you Very Reverend Father that the Holy Office has apposed the NON EXPEDIRE (not expedient) to the introduction of the Cause of the Servant of God, Teresa Helena Higginson.  I communicate this to you for your information and manner of procedure etc.)

This morning I called on Monsignor the Secretary to beg for his explanation and advice.  I know of course that the Holy Office never publishes the facts which have influenced its decisions.  On that subject I did not expect any information from Monsignor Carinci, but he himself began to explain that it was not the Congregation of Rites which had pronounced the NON EXPEDIRE, and that one must be clear on this point.  Had the Holy Office discovered anything against the Servant of God - e.g. by reason of heresy or moral disorder, it would have pronounced against the introduction of the Cause its REPONATUR, and then that would have ended it completely, but it had pronounced its NON EXPEDIRE, and that means two things.

Palace of the Holy Office

Firstly, that it has found in the writings a reason apart from the person of the Servant of God.  At once I answered that I had already thought of the propaganda which Teresa had exercised of the Devotion to the Sacred Head of Our Lord.  "Exactly," answered Monsignor the Secretary, "we have had other cases where the Holy Office has pronounced the NON EXPEDIRE because the Servant of God promoted the Devotion to the Arms, the Feet of Our Lord, or some other new form of devotion not yet introduced into the cultus of the Church.

Secondly, it means that in itself a further procedure has been postponed ad tempus, in non perpetuum, for instance, a striking miracle could easily cause the Holy Office to revoke its NON EXPEDIRE.  Consequently the cause is not lost, only its progress has been stopped for the time being and for an indefinite period.  This being so, I asked Monsignor Carinci it I should continue, nevertheless, the translation of the Acts of the Diocessa in the process, and his answer was "No, you must stop the translation in order not to incur expenses which might prove useless."

I sincerely regret that the Cause should have come to this,  If the Devotion to the Sacred Head had just been a private devotion of the Servant of God I do not think they would have pronounced the NON EXPEDIRE, but she promoted and recommended this Devotion, and that is going too far.  I beg of you Monsignor to be do good as to acquaint His Grace the Archbishop of Liverpool (Richard Downey), our principal, on this matter.

Prayer for the beatification of Teresa Higginson

O Jesus by Thy bitter Passion, O Hidden God by all Thy yearning love for mankind in the Blessed Sacrament, grant we humbly beseech Thee, that if it be for Thy greater glory and the good of souls, the halo of the Blessed may soon be placed on the head of Teresa Higginson, Thy Servant.  Amen.

The church's current position on Teresa Higginson and the Sacred Head devotion

The cause of Teresa Higginson's beatification was opened by the Archdiocese of Liverpool in the 1930's by Archbishop Frederick William Keating, and his successor Richard Downey.  Hopefully in future another blog post will be written describing it in more detail!  Unfortunately on February 21st 1938 the Holy See declared Teresa's cause for beatification as 'Non Expedire' (not expedient) and asked the bishops of England and Wales to withdraw images of the Sacred Head from their churches, as well as the imprimatur from prayers and devotions associated with it.

However unlike what was to happen to the Divine Mercy devotion for 20 years in 1959, neither she nor the Sacred Head devotion were declared 'Reponatur' which means condemned, as no heresy or moral disorder was found in either, and the beatification while shelved can be reopened.  In February 1949 a letter from the then Congregation of Rites stated that there was no insurmountable obstacle to the cause.  In the succeeding years the successive bishops in Shrewsbury (in which diocese she is buried) and Liverpool (in which diocese she had her revelations) had not seen fit to reopen it: however the current Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury is known to be sympathetic.

Since 1938 the church's position on both Teresa Higginson and the Sacred Head devotion has remained substantively unchanged. While the faithful may still continue to practice devotion to the Sacred Head privately, the church currently does not sanction it as an official cult, and does not endorse the public celebration of the feast of the Sacred Head on the octave day of the Sacred Heart: there are no lawful mass propers and public prayers that can be used for it.  Hence this devotion cannot be practiced in an official public capacity in parishes.  Hopefully when God sees fit this will change.  The author of this blog is certain that Teresa, who was utterly obedient to the often misinformed ecclesiastical authority of her time, would not want us in any way to go against the church's judgement today.