Town Hall, Leicester.
_Ecclesia Anglicana_ (Vol. ii., pp. 12. 440.).--I am much obliged to your
correspondent W. FRASER for his answer to my Query, and the references with
which he supplies me. I shall be glad to ask a still more extensive
question, which will probably explain the object of the former more limited
one. Is it _usual_, in any of the unreformed branches of the church on the
continent, to find a similar appellation (implying distinct nationality)
employed in authoritative documents, _e.g._ would it be possible to find in
the title-pages of any Missal, &c., such words as "in usum Ecclesiæ
Hispanicæ, Lusitanæ, Gallicanæ?" If not now, was it more customary in
mediæval times, and when did it cease?
Should we be justified in saying, that at _every_ period of her existence,
with rare exceptions, the _Anglican church_, consciously or unconsciously,
maintained the theory of her nationality with greater distinctness than any
of the continental churches? I fancy I have heard, though I cannot state on
what authority, that this assertion might be made most truly of the
Portuguese church, and should be very glad to have any light thrown on the
subject by your able correspondent. Certain it is, that amongst the various
complaints made against Cardinal Wiseman and the Papal aggressors, it has
never been laid to their charge, that they arrogated to themselves the
title of members of the _Anglican church_.