Anti-Catholicism has a long history in the United States, and more of this history is being documented electronically. In this section, I have included electronic reproductions of classic anti-Catholic texts (most of which have been posted by religious and secular anti-Catholic sites), catalogs and databases of anti-Catholic material, and some scholarly material on the history of anti-Catholicism.
The classic work of anti-Catholic propaganda from the nineteenth century, this book purportedly documents the author's horrific experiences in the Hotel Dieu Nunnery in Montreal. It was reprinted repeatedly in the nineteenth century, and remains in print today. (Search Amazon.com for current editions.) The above link is to the a facsimile of a first edition from the Early Canada Online collection. Another electronic version, with "updated" English, is provided by the anti-Catholic web site, The Reformation Online. Ruth Hughes has written a historical discussion of Maria Monk.
Charles Chiniquy was a Catholic priest who was excommunicated in 1858. He wrote at least two sensationalist books in the 1880s. One, Fifty Years in the Church of Rome, purports to reveal the secrets of the Catholic Church he learned during and after his time as a priest. Its biggest claim is that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at the behest of the pope. The second, The Priest, the Woman and the Confessional, describes in lurid detail the abuse of women by priests via private confession. Both these online texts are provided by the anti-Catholic web site Jesus-Is-Lord. Both of these books can be purchased from Chick Publications. A discussion of Charles Chiniquy, of uncertain authorship, plus additional material on anti-Catholicism, can be found here.
Written in 1858 by the Rev. Alexander Hislop, Pastor of East Free Church of Arbroath, Scotland. Its purpose, as the subtitle declares, is to demonstrate that Catholicism is not Christian, but derives from "the Worship of Nimrod and His Wife." The above version is provided by the anti-Catholic web site Jesus-Is-Lord. A number of other online versions can be found by searching the web. It can be purchased from Chick Publications.
Written in 1851 by the Rev. James Wylie, a minister of the Free Church of Scotland. It is a highly polemical history of the papacy and the doctrines of the Catholic Church. Of interest is the last chapter, which blames communism (among other social ills) on the Catholic Church. The above text is provided by the anti-Catholic web site Jesus-Is-Lord; however, it is derivative of the text provided by the Bible Presbyterian Church Online. This site also has an electronic version of Wylie's History of Protestantism, which attempts to trace the origins of Protestantism to the first centuries of Christianity.
Written versions of a series of lectures given by J. M. Carroll, a Southern Baptist minister. They were published by J. W. Porter after Carroll's death in 1931. They present a history of the Baptists, attempting to show their continuous existence from the New Testament period and their persecution by the Catholic Church. This online version is provided by Landmark Independent Baptist Church. Other versions can be found by searching the web.
A British writer (born in Italy and descended from the Italian house of Savoy), beginning in the 1940's he wrote a series of secular anti-Catholic books revolving around the wealth and power of the papacy. There are electronic versions available of the following books: The Vatican's Holocaust (1986), documenting Catholic atrocities in the former Yugoslavia in World War II (provided by the Serbian Network, also available here from the Reformation Online); Vietnam: Why Did We Go? (1984), which argues that American involvement in Vietnam was the result of Vatican plotting (provided by the Reformation Online); The Vatican Billions (1972) about the purported wealth of the Catholic Church (provided by Cephas Ministry); The Vatican in World Politics (1949), (provided by Cephas Library, which though at a different URL, appears to be part of Cephas Ministry). Many of Manhattan's books are reprinted by Chick Publications.
A small press which reprints rare titles. They have reprinted a number of books related to nativism and anti-Catholicism.
These archives contain a very large collection of original source material on anti-Catholicism in America. Unfortunately, only a catalog is available on-line.
Their rare book collection has a very amount of anti-Catholic material assembled by the American Catholic Historical Society. Their catalog can be searched over the Internet.
This is a large hypertext document based at the National University of Singapore and devoted to the scholarly study of the Victorian era. It contains a number of scholarly articles on English anti-Catholicism during this period. See, for example the articles on the Murphy riots and on papal infallibility.
The USF Library has a good on-line article on the history of anti-Catholicism in America.
A good summary of the history of Maria Monk, written by Ruth Hughes, and maintained on the web site of Daniel Traister at the University of Pennsylvania.
The Spanish web site Apologetica.org has scholarly discussions of two anti-Catholic forgeries: the Taxa Camarae, a simoniacal document attributed to Leo X (in English); and the Strossmayer speech, a speech purportedly given by Bishop Strossmayer at the first Vatican Council (only available in Spanish). The text of this forgery (in English) is available from Mission to Catholics International.
My own analysis of a speech purportedly given by Pius III to the College of Cardinals is here. A very thorough analysis of a variant of this forgery (one which attributes the speech to Julius III) is found here. This is part of a website created by Sean Hyland, who considers several other anti-Catholic forgeries.
Philip Jenkins, in his book Pedophiles and Priests, has a perceptive discussion of the history of anti-Catholicism in America. Commenting on the salacious nature of many anti-catholic tracts, he quotes Richard Hofstader, who said that "anti-Catholicism has always been the pornography of the puritan." (Jenkins, p. 25) This is definitely borne out by the many anti-Catholic works linked to above. It is also supported by the following graphic, which was sent to me by a self-identified anti-Catholic. The sender, however, was quite defensive when I suggested it was pornographic.
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