Philip Howard was born the third son of
Henry Frederick Howard (afterwards
Earl of Arundel and Surrey and head of the House of Norfolk) and his wife, Elizabeth Stuart (daughter of
Esme Stuart, the
Duke of Lennox), at
Arundel House in London. He was brought up in the Church of England. In 1642, he traveled to the continent with his grandfather,
Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel, who had accompanied
Princess Mary and her mother,
Queen Henrietta Maria, to the
Dutch Republic after the princess' marriage to
William of Orange. In Antwerp, Philip encountered his grandmother,
Alethea Howard, who was at the time living in that city. Through her influence and that of Dominican friar
John-Baptist Hackett, the boy was introduced to Catholicism. At the age of sixteen he joined the
Dominican Order in
Cremona. He was professed at Rome in 1646, taking the name Thomas. Residing at Naples for his studies, he was chosen to deliver a Latin address to the general chapter of his order in Rome. He delivered a fervent address on the conversion of England, which led to a decree being passed by the chapter, urging provincials and priors to do all they could to receive English, Irish, and Scotch novices into the order, with a view to its preservation in those countries. He was ordained in 1652. He founded the priory of
Bornem in
Flanders, with a college for English youths attached to it, and was himself the first prior and novice master. He also founded at
Vilvoorde a convent of nuns of the Second Order of
Saint Dominic, which later moved to
Carisbrooke on the
Isle of Wight. In the reign of
Charles II, Father Howard was made grand almoner to Queen
Catherine of Braganza. He resided at
St. James's Palace, with a salary of 500 pounds a year, and had a position of influence at Court. Following an outbreak of anti-Catholic sentiment, he left England and resumed his position as prior at Bornem. In 1672 he was nominated as
Vicar Apostolic of England with a see
in partibus, but the appointment, owing to the opposition of the "English Chapter" to his being a Vicar Apostolic, and the insistence that he should be a bishop with ordinary jurisdiction, was not confirmed. He was made cardinal in 1675, by
Pope Clement X, being assigned the title of
Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, exchanged later for the Dominican church of
Santa Maria sopra Minerva. He now took up his residence at
Rome, especially watching over the interests of the Catholic faith in England. He was to have been
Bishop of Helenopolis. In 1679 he was made
Protector of England and
Scotland. At his insistence the Feast of St.
Edward the Confessor was extended to the whole Church. He rebuilt the
English College in Rome, and revised the rules of
Douai College. Howard cooperated later with
James II in the increase of Vicars Apostolic in England from one to four, one of whom was his former secretary,
John Leyburn. This arrangement lasted until 1840, when
Pope Gregory XVI increased the number to eight.
Gilbert Burnet wrote in his
History that Cardinal Howard regretted the steps which led to the crisis in the reign of James II and which Howard sought to avert. The cardinal's plans were thwarted and the mission of
Roger Palmer, Earl of Castlemaine to Rome showed the rise of another spirit that he did not share. When the crisis he foresaw came, he had the consolation at least of knowing that his foundation at Bornem was beyond the grasp of the anti-Catholic reaction in England. Cardinal Howard assisted at three
conclaves, for the election of
Innocent XI in 1676,
Alexander VIII in 1689, and
Innocent XII in 1691, and held the position of
Camerlengo of the
College of Cardinals. He died in the twentieth year of his cardinalate, at the age of 64, and was buried in his titular church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva at Rome. A monument of white marble with the arms of the Howards honours his memory. ==References==