WESTON
601
WESTPHALIA
marbles of sombre tint are applied to the lower part
of the walls, and silver takes the place of gold on the
vault. The other chajiels of this series dedicated to
St. Joseph, St. Paul, .St. George, and the Enghsh
MartjTs, St. Patrick and St. .Andrew, are at present
ivithout their decoration. The chapel of the Blessed
Sacrament, on the north side of the sanctuary, and the
Lady Chapel, on the south, are entered from the
transepts, twenty-two feet wide, lofty, with open
xrcades, barrel vaulting, and apsidal ends; in plan
they are ahke. Over the altar of the Blessed Sacra-
ment chapel a baldacchino is suspended from the
I'ault, and the chapel is enclosed with bronze grilles
ind gates. In the Lady Chapel the altar reredos
will have a pictiu-e in mosaic of the Virgin and Child.
The central feature of the decoration in the cathe-
dral is of course the baldacchino over the high altar in
the sanctuar}'. This is one of the largest structures
if its kind, the total width being 31 feet, and the
leight 3S feet. The upper part of white marble is
■ichly inlaid with coloured marbles, lapis lazuli, pearl,
md gold. Behind the baldacchino the crypt emerges
ibove the floor of the sanctuary, and the podium thus
ormed is broken in the middle by the steps that lead
ip to the retro-choir. The ciu'ved wall of the crypt
s hned with narrow slabs of green carystran marble.
Opening out of this crypt is a smaller chamber, directly
mder the high altar. Here are laid the venerated
•emains of the first two archbishops of Westminster,
Ilardinal Wi.seman and Cardinal Manning. The
Utar and rehcs of St. Edmund of Canterbury occupy
I recess on the south side of the chamber. The little
■hapcl of St. Thomas of Canterbury, entered from the
lorlh transept, is iised as a chantry for the late Cardi-
lal \'aughan. A large crucifix suspended from the
ianctuary arch dominates the whole interior of the
lathedral. John A. Marshall.
Weston, William, Jesuit missionary priest, b. at Maidstone, l.i.50 (?); d. at Valladolid, Spain, 9 June, 101."). Educated at Oxford, 1564-1.569 (?), and after- vards at Paris and Douai (1.572-1.57.5), he went hence on foot to Rome and entered the Society of Fesus, 5 November, 157.5, leaving all he possessed to Douai College. His novitiate was made in Spain, ind there he worked and taught until called to the ■'jUglish Mission, where there was not then a single lesuit at hberty. He reached England, 20 September, 1.584, and had the happiness of receiving into the [Church Philip Howard (C|. v.), Earl of Arundel. He las left us an autobiography full of the missionary idventures (see bibli. below). One salient feature vas the practice of exorcisms, at which a number of )ther priests assisted; and this movement made for I time a good impression. So far, however, as we
- an now discover, the subjects were not suffering from
liabolic possession, but only from hysteria (then 'ailed "mother"). Yet there is no reason to doubt he sincerity of the exorcists, for Catholics and Prot- j.stants alike were then credulous on this subject, ind the latter, so far as England and Scotland went, ,vere very cruel. The first to object to these witch- craft proceedings were the older priests. A recrudes- 'ence of persecution jiut an end to the exorcisms after I year, before any serious harm had ensued; and this se should consider as a merciful disposition of Provi- dence ("The Month", May, 1911). Many of the
- 'Xorcists were martyred for their priesthood; the rest,
ilmost to a man, were seized and imprisoned, Weston imongst the latter (August, 1.58ti). In 1.5S8 the Gov- ■rnment moved West on and a number of other priests to the old ruinous castle of Wisbech, where for four V'ears their confinement was verv strict. Rut in 1.592 the prisoners were, for economy's sake, allowed to live in the alms supplied by Catholics, and for this much Freedom of intercourse was permit ted . .'\ great change snsued, the faithful came, quietly indeed, but in
considerable numbers, to visit the confessors, who on
their part arranged to live a sort of college life. This
was not accomplished without much friction.
The majority with Weston (20 out of 33) desired regular routine, with a recognized authority to judge delinquencies, e. g. quarrels and possible scandals. The minority dissented, and when the majority per- sisted, and even dined apart (February, 1595), a cry of schism was raised, and Weston was denounced as its originator, the pugnacious Christopher Bagshaw (q. v.) taking the lead against him. In May, arbi- trators (Bavant and Dolman) were called in, but with- out result, as one espoused one side, one the other. In October two more arbitrators, John Mush (q. v.) and Dudley, were summoned, and they arranged a com- promise amid general rejoicings. The whole body agreed to live together by a definite rule (November, 1595). This result seems to show that Weston and those from whom he acted as "agent" were not wrong in insisting on some measure of order. On the other hand he was clearly at fault in not appreciating better the motives and feelings of the considerable minority against him ; but some of them were no doubt most diffi- cult to treat with. In the spring of 1597 the troubles of the English College, Rome, spread to England, and led to a renewal of the "Wisbech stirs", which were soon overshadowed by the " Appellant controversy ". Wes- ton took no part in this, as he was committed, early in 1599, to the Tower, where he suffered so much that he almost lost his sight. In 1603 he was sent into exile, and spent the rest of his days in the English seminaries at Seville and Valladolid. He was rector of the latter college at the time of his death. His autobiography and letters show us a man learned, scholarly, and intensely spiritual, if somewhat narrow. A zealous missionary, he strongly attracted many souls, while some found him unconciliatory. Portraits of him are preserved at Rome and Valladolid.
Morris, Troubles of our Catholic Forefathers. II (1875). con- tains a translation of Weston, Autobiography. The conclusion, which is there mis.'»ing, is in Catholic Record Society. I; Peralta, Puntos cerca la santa viria del P. Guillermo Weston (1615); MS. at Rome; Law. Jesuits and Seculars in the Reign of Elizabeth (1889); Bartoli. Inghilterra (1668); More, Historia provincial anglirance (1660); Pollen in The Month (July, 1912). For the hterature of the Appellant question see Garnet, Henry; Persons, Robert. J. H. Pollen.
Westphalia, a province of Prussia situated be- tween the Rhine and the Weser. It is bounded on the north-west and north by the Netherlands and Hanover, on the east by Schaumburg-Lippe, Hanover, Lippe-Detmold, Brunswick, Hesse-Nassau, and Wal- deck, on the south and south-west by Hesse-Nassau, on the west by the province of the Rhine and the Netherlands. It is the tenth in size and the third in population of the Prussian provinces, having an area of 7804 square miles, and 4,125,096 inh,abitants. Of its population 2,121,534 are Catholics, and 1,947,- 672 EvangeUcals. The province has 107 cities and 1468 village communities. In the south and north- east it is mountainous, in the other sections it is level. The chief industries are agriculture, breeding of cattle, mining, and manufactures. The industrial section on the Ruhr River contains the most produc- tive coal beds of Germany and also the most valuable iron mines. Consequent!}' this district is the seat of the most extensive mining industry, large iron forges, and innumerable factories for the manufacture of machinery and the working of iron. The rela- tively small district of 386 square miles contains some twenty towns of more than 20,000 inhabitants with altogether a population of 750,000. The other manufactures .are chiefly linen and other textile products. .53.4 per cent of the inhabitants make their living in mining and manufacturing industries, 26 2 per cent m agriculture, 10 per cent in com- merce and traffic. Still 42.4 per cent of the area is given up to farming and gardening.
