They hope, of course, to reclaim the non-Catholic population to the Catholic faith, and at every Sunday Benediction they recite by heart the ``Prayer for England'':

``O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our most gentle queen and mother, look down in mercy upon England, thy'' dowry ``, and upon us all who greatly hope and trust in thee. Intercede for our separated brethren, that with us in the one true fold they may be united to the chief Shepherd, the vicar of thy Son.'' A hymn often to be heard in Catholic churches is ``Faith of our Fathers,'' which glories in England's ancient faith that endured persecution, and which proclaims: ``Faith of our Fathers: Mary's prayers/Shall win our country back to thee.'' The English saints are widely venerated, quite naturally, and now there is great hope that the Forty Martyrs and Cardinal Newman will soon be canonized.

Because they have kept the faith of their medieval fathers, English Catholics have always strongly resented the charge of being ``English.'' I have not seen this charge made during my stay here, but apparently it is still in the air. For example, a writer in a recent number of The Queen hyperbolically states that ``of the myriad imprecations the only one which the English Catholics really resent is the suggestion that they are' un English'.'' In this connection, it has been observed that the increasing number of Irish Catholics, priests and laity, in England, while certainly seen as good for Catholicism, is nevertheless a source of embarrassment for some of the more nationalistic English Catholics, especially when these Irishmen offer to remind their Christian brethren of this good.