A Minority Under Suspicion
Elizabeth’s settlement made the Church of England the established church, but many Catholics refused to accept it. Those who would not attend its services were called recusants and faced heavy fines. Catholics who conformed outwardly while maintaining their faith privately became known as “church papists.”
The Underground Church
By 1574, Catholic recusants had organised an underground church distinct from the Church of England. Its greatest weaknesses were a shortage of priests and the loss of members who gradually conformed outwardly. Between 1574 and 1603, however, 600 Catholic priests were sent into England to serve the remaining faithful.
The risks increased sharply. The influx of foreign-trained priests, the Revolt of the Northern Earls, Elizabeth’s excommunication, and the Ridolfi plot strengthened the perception that Catholicism was linked to treason. In 1585, it became treason for a Catholic priest to enter England or for anyone to shelter him.
A Faith Narrows
Executions of Catholic priests became increasingly common. As the older generation of recusant priests died, Catholicism declined among lower-class communities in the north, west, and Wales. Without priests, many drifted into the Church of England, and Catholic practice faded from collective memory.
By Elizabeth’s death in 1603, Catholicism had become the faith of a small sect, concentrated largely in gentry households. Yet legal exclusion lasted much longer. Penal laws began to be repealed in the 1770s, and Catholics gained the right to vote and sit in Parliament only in 1829. Survival had come centuries before full emancipation.