HOWARD, PHILIP THOMAS

Cardinal–protector of England; b. Arundel House, London, Sept. 21, 1629; d. Rome, June 17, 1694. He was the great grandson and namesake of the Elizabethan martyr Philip howard, Earl of Arundel, and the son of Henry Frederick Howard, third Earl of Arundel, and Elizabeth, daughter of Esmé Stuart, Lord d'Aubigny. Because of his Protestant grandfather, Thomas Earl of Arundel, some of his tutors were Protestant, but Philip's education was essentially Catholic. In 1640–41 he was at St. John's College, Cambridge, but after that was sent to Utrecht and then to Antwerp. Over the severe objections of his grandfather, he entered the Dominican Order at Cremona (1645), taking the religious name Thomas. The lengthy struggle between the youth and his grandfather was settled by Innocent X. The Pope decided after careful investigation that Howard's vocation was genuine and sent him to Naples for study (1646–50). From there Howard went to Rennes, Brittany, where he finished his studies and was ordained at 23, by a papal dispensation necessitated by his age.

He raised money (£1,600) in England (1655–57) to found an English friary at Bornhem, Flanders, whose first prior he became on Dec. 15, 1657. Prince Charles (later Charles II) sent him on a secret mission to England, where he was denounced by an informer and forced to flee in the suite of the Polish ambassador. Returning to England at the Restoration, he, engaged in furthering a Portuguese marriage for Charles II, to which he was a witness. He became Queen Catherine's first chaplain (1662) and her grand–almoner (1665) with an annual salary of £500, plus £500 for his table, and £100 for Her Majesty's oratory at Whitehall. He became entangled in the dispute among English Catholics concerning the appointment of a bishop or vicar–apostolic for England. In 1672 he resigned as grand–almoner and returned to Bornhem, where he was reappointed prior. Clement X created him bishop in partibus (1672) and cardinal priest (1675), attaching him thereafter to the papal Curia.

Titus Oates implicated him in the Popish Plot, but, although he was condemned for treason, he was in Rome and the sentence could not be executed. In 1679 he was created cardinal protector of England and Scotland, and was principal counselor to the Holy See in English affairs. Under his direction a series of new buildings was erected for the English College at Rome, including his own palace, completed in 1685. He himself lived as a simple friar in the convent of Santa Sabina. He viewed James II's policies with alarm and foresaw their unfortunate results. In the political atmosphere that prevailed after the revolution of 1688, he was cut off from communication with England. He continued to live quietly in Rome until his death.

Bibliography: b. jarrett, Letters of Philip Cardinal Howard … (London 1925). b. hemphill, The Early Vicars Apostolic of England, 1685–1750 (London 1954). a. walz, I cardinali dominicani (Rome 1940). c. f. r. palmer, The Life of Philip Thomas Howard, O.P., Cardinal of Norfolk … (London 1867). m. v. hay, The Jesuits and the Popish Plot (London 1934). g. anstruther, "Cardinal Howard and the English Court 1658–94," Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum 28 (Rome 1958) 315–361. t. cooper, The Dictionary of National Biography from the Earliest Times to 1900 10:54–57. j. gillow, A Literary and Biographical History or Bibliographical Dictionary of the English Catholics from 1534 to the Present time 3:442–451. a. schmitt, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche² 5:498.

[h. s. reinmuth, jr.]