The Oxford Movement, also called the Catholic Revival, was a major 19th-century effort to recover the ancient catholic heritage of the Church of England. It helped spark what is now often known as Anglo-Catholicism, a traditional form of Christian spirituality now embraced in many parts of the Anglican Communion, the Continuing Anglican churches, and the Anglican Ordinariate. In this post, we’ll look at the key dates who shaped the Oxford Movement and influenced the way Anglicans worship and understand the church.

Many Anglo-Catholic churchmen trace their movement’s origins back to the High Church Divines of the Caroline era and the unique liturgical traditions of the English Church, such as the Sarum Missal. However, this post will focus specifically on the historical Oxford Movement that emerged in the 19th century.

Historical Background on Theological Shifts in the Church of England

“it is one of the curiosities of the English life that, ever since the Reformation, Parliament has retained the right to oversee, restrain, and generally meddle in the most basic spiritual, liturgical, and pastoral affairs of the Church of England.”
— Allen C. Guelzo, For The Union of Evangelical Christendom

Historically, voting rights and the ability to sit in Parliament were limited to English Christians—and therefore Anglican churchmen, excluding various types of protestant Dissenters and Roman Catholics. Recusants were not only excluded from office, but often faced punishment and fines throughout the 16th to 18th century. English political reforms such as the Catholic Emancipation Act allowed Roman Catholics to vote and hold public office. This was followed by the First Reform Act of 1832, which expanded voting rights to a broader portion of the male middle class, significantly altering the social, political, and religious makeup of 19th-century Parliament. Around the same time, Parliament also sought to reform the Church’s hierarchy by reorganizing dioceses and even suppressing some bishoprics.

It is not surprising that these changes would negatively affect the life of the church. 18th century England was a notably marked by poorly trained clergy and a general malaise of moral and apiruality laxity.

“The mass of the people, both upper and lower, was utterly indifferent to religion. The upper classes were sunk in worldliness; the lower in brutality.”
—J.H. Overton, The Evangelical Revival, Chapter I.

The spiritual and moral decline of English society certainly helped fuel emotional revival movements such as John Wesley’s Methodism, as well as the rise of Anglican Evangelicalism through figures like William Wilberforce, MP and Rev. Charles Simeon.

It was in this same unsettled climate that leaders at Oxford like Rev. John Keble, Rev. John Henry Newman, and Rev. Richard Hurrell Froude emerged to reassert the Church’s divine foundation and apostolic authority against growing parliamentary interference—key convictions that would ignite the Oxford Movement and lay the foundations for the Anglo-Catholic tradition.

List of Dates in this Timeline

1829 — Catholic Emancipation

1832 — Irish Church Temporalities Bill

July 1833 — Keble’s Assize Sermon

1834 — First 46 Tracts for the Times Published

1837 — The Prophetical Office of the Church Published

1839 — Rise of Ritualism and Expansion to America

1841 — Newman Publishes Tract 90

1842 — Nashotah House Founded

1845 — Newman Renounces the Church of England

1848–1850 — Gorham Controversy

1853 — Muhlenberg Memorial at General Convention

1855 — Society of the Holy Cross (SSC) Founded

1866 — Directorium Anglicanum Published

1868 — Rising’s Romanizing Germs and Canon Conyngham’s Efforts

1871 — Bennett’s Declaration on the Real Presence

1873 — Formation of the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC)

1874 — Public Worship Regulation Act

1875 — Henry Manning made Cardinal

1888 — Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral

1889 — Publication of Lux Mundi

1896 — Apostolicae Curae Issued

1900 — Fond du Lac Circus

1911 — Society of SS. Peter and Paul (SSPP) Founded

1920 — First Anglo-Catholic Congress

1921 — Anglican Missal Published

1921–1927 — Malines Conversations

1929 — Lateran Treaty and Vatican City

1945 — The Shape of the Liturgy (Gregory Dix)

1962–1965 — Vatican II

1977 — Congress of St. Louis

1992 — Church of England Approves Women Priests

2009 — Anglicanorum Coetibus

Key Dates for the Oxford Movement (Catholic Revival)

1829 — Catholic Emancipation

The Roman Catholic Relief Act removes most restrictions on Catholics in the United Kingdom, causing concern among Anglicans about the erosion of the Church of England’s privileged status.

1832 — Irish Church Temporalities Bill

Parliament reorganizes much of the Church of Ireland, including the suppression of bishoprics, signaling deeper state interference in church affairs and alarming traditional churchmen.

July 1833 — Keble’s Assize Sermon (“National Apostasy”)

Rev. John Keble delivers his famous sermon at Oxford, widely seen as the public launch of the Oxford Movement, defending the Church’s divine authority against parliamentary encroachment. (Link to Sermon on Project Canterbury)

1834 — First 46 Tracts for the Times Published

The Oxford leaders, later called the Tractarians, in their first year begin to publish a series of pamphlets promoting the apostolic and catholic nature of the Anglican Church and these spread quickly across England.

1837 — The Prophetical Office of the Church Published

John Henry Newman emphasizes the Church as “Catholic but not Roman,” reinforcing the Movement’s commitment to catholic tradition within Anglicanism. Here, Newman redefined Anglican identity by presenting it as a via media — a middle way — between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, whereas earlier Anglicans had understood the via media as a position between Reformed (Calvinist) and Lutheran theological traditions.

1839 — Rise of Ritualism and Expansion to America

The Oxford Movement inspired parallel movements introducing medieval forms of worship and liturgical practice (later called “Ritualism”). The Tracts for the Times are first published in the United States. Rev. John Mason Neale founded the Cambridge Camden Society to promote medieval music, art, and ceremony.

1841 — Newman Publishes Tract 90

Newman’s controversial Tract 90 attempts to interpret the Thirty-Nine Articles in a Catholic sense, causing Oxford church authorities to forbid further Tract publications. He writes:

“In the first place, it is a duty which we owe both to the Catholic Church and to our own, to take our reformed confessions in the most Catholic sense they will admit; we have no duties toward their framers.” (Tract XC)

In America, Bishop Griswold criticized what he saw as early “Anglo-Catholic” trends, notably at St. Stephen’s Church, objecting to the rearrangement of churches to reflect not the medieval custom of ad orientem (facing east during worship), but the English custom of praying at the left hand end (northside) of the Communion-table.

“I was most pained in noticing the uncouth and inconvenient arrangement of the chancel. I trust that none in this convention need being reminded of the absurdity of going back to the dark ages of Christianity for the models of our churches, or for the manner of our worshipping in them, or of adopting any of the fooleries of ignorance and superstition… To turn from them to the Communion-table implies the supposition that God is particularly present there, and sanctions the abominable doctrine of transubstantiation.”
(The S. Stephen, Vol. 9 No. 7, June 1894, p. 4.)

1842 — Nashotah House Founded

Nashotah House Theological Seminary was founded in Wisconsin by three young deacons — Rev. James Lloyd Breck, Rev. William Adams, and Rev. John Henry Hobart, Jr. — under the patronage of Missionary Bishop Jackson Kemper. Influenced by the Oxford Movement, Nashotah would become a center for Anglo-Catholic theology and America’s first monastic-style Anglican community.

1845 — Newman Renounces the Church of England

John Henry Newman converts to Roman Catholicism, a major turning point for the Oxford Movement. Newman was re-baptized (conditionally) and then ordained a priest (by Cardinal Fransoni). He was canonized a saint by the Roman Church in 2019.

1848-1850 — Gorham Controversy

A major theological controversy erupts in England over baptismal regeneration, Bishop Phillpotts (Exeter) refused to institute the evangelical Rev. George Gorham because of his low views on baptism. The lay judges of the Privy Council overturn the bishop’s decision, ruling that Gorham’s views are compatible with Anglican doctrine — a verdict that shocks Anglo-Catholics and exposes the Church’s vulnerability to secular authority.

1853 — Muhlenberg Memorial at General Convention

In 1853, William Augustus Muhlenberg (1797-1877) presented a Memorial (a formal petition) to the General Convention of the Episcopal Church. In it, he called for a loosening of what he saw as the Episcopal Church’s exclusiveness regarding denominational authority. Essentially, he suggested that the Episcopal Church should adopt a more apostolic approach to episcopacy, where the bishop could serve as a unifying figure for all evangelical Christians, not just those in the Episcopal or Anglican tradition. By doing so, the episcopacy could become a source of unity among different Protestant groups, promoting greater cooperation and fellowship.

1855 – Society of the Holy Cross (SSC) Founded

Rev. Charles Lowder, founder of the Society of the Holy Cross (SSC) in 1855, was a pioneering Anglo-Catholic priest who championed ritualist worship (incense, vestments, candles, etc.) and pastoral care among the urban working class poor in the East End of London. Today, Bishop Chandler Holder Jones of the Anglican Province of America (APA) and Bishop Ryan Reed of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) are both members of the SSC.

1866 – Directorium Anglicanum Published

In the early years of the Oxford Movement, figures like Newman, Keble, and Pusey celebrated worship simply, wearing surplices and using only the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. However, as Ritualism gained influence, Anglo-Catholics began reviving older ceremonial practices. Manuals like the Directorium Anglicanum (1866) emerged, offering detailed instructions for restoring vestments, incense, and other ancient rites, shaping a new, more elaborate ceremony of Anglican worship.
Directorium Anglicanum (Full Text) — Archive.org

1868 — Rising’s Romanizing Germs in the Prayer Book and Canon Conyngham’s Efforts

Criticism mounts against perceived Catholic tendencies in the Anglican Prayer Book, and Conyngham campaigns to eliminate vestments and church decorations associated with Ritualism. Pamphlet wars rage.

1873 — Formation of the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC)

Bishop George David Cummins and several like-minded clergy organized the Reformed Episcopal Church in Philadelphia on 2 December 1873. While the founders were uneasy about ritual developments associated with the Oxford Movement, they also emphasized a broader evangelical vision.

Cummins would cast his vision for the REC to align with Muhlenberg’s earlier General Council memorial. Bishop Peter Robinson writes it this way, “…the ecumenical focus of Muhlenberg, which was shared by Bishop Cummins, was a major impulse behind the creation of the REC, and it did bring in some folks of Methodist and Presbyterian backgrounds…”

1874 — Public Worship Regulation Act

Parliament tries to supress Ritualist practices in the Church of England that were inspired by the Oxford Movement. Rev. Arthur Tooth and Rev. Sidney Faithorn Green, who were actually jailed for continuing to celebrate the Eucharist with Ritualist ceremonies and shifted public sympathy for the ritualist movement.

1871 — Bennett’s Declaration on the Real Presence

Rev. William J.E. Bennett of St. Paul’s, Knightsbridge (London) issues a formal declaration stating,

“I believe in the real, actual, and objective presence of our Lord upon the altar under the form of bread and wine.”

affirming a strong Anglo-Catholic view of the Eucharist’s sacramental reality.

While earlier leaders of the Oxford Movement had been careful to interpret their theology within the boundaries of the Thirty-Nine Articles, later Ritualist leaders like Bennett pushed Anglo-Catholicism further toward a more explicit affirmation of Catholic sacramental doctrine.

1875 — Henry Manning made Cardinal

A former Tractarian priest, Rev. Henry Edward Manning’s elevation symbolizes the growing Papalist influence on Anglo-Catholic thought. The First Vatican Council (1869-1870) formally defined the doctrine of papal infallibility as church dogma.

1888 – Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral

The Lambeth Conference of 1888 adopted the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral as a basic framework for Christian unity. Originally drafted by Bishop William Reed Huntington and adopted by the American Episcopal Church at their 1886 meeting in Chicago, the Quadrilateral outlined four essential elements for reunion with other churches: Scripture, Creeds, Sacraments, and the Historic Episcopate. Notably, while it affirmed the importance of episcopacy, it described it as a historic institution rather than insisting on a divine right episcopacy, thus falling short of the Roman Catholic understanding of apostolic authority and papal primacy.

1889 — Publication of Lux Mundi

Lux Mundi was a collection of essays by Anglo-Catholic theologians, led by Bishop Charles Gore, that sought to reconcile Catholic tradition with modern science, biblical criticism, and liberal theology. It challenged traditional views of Scriptural inerrancy, contemporary ethics, and emphasized social justice within Anglicanism. While preserving the liturgical and sacramental life of Anglo-Catholicism, Lux Mundi ultimately divided the movement — giving rise to Liberal Catholics, who embraced social and theological reforms, and Traditionalists, who resisted modernist influences. Later leads to Anglican support for labor and education reform, women’s rights, and theological progressivism.

1896 — Apostolicae Curae Issued Rejecting Anglican Orders

This papal bull, issued by Pope Leo XIII in 1896, declared that Anglican orders (bishops and priests) were “absolutely null and utterly void,” meaning the Roman Catholic Church did not recognize Anglican ordinations as valid. Chief among Rome’s complaint was that the Reformation Anglicans had lacked sacrificial language in the form (wording of liturgy) and intention (not a sacrificial priesthood).

The Anglican response, known as Saepius Officio, vigorously defended the historic continuity and integrity of Anglican Holy Orders. It pointed out that early Roman ordination rites — such as the Gregorian Sacramentary (6th century) and the early Roman Pontificals (pre-12th century) — also lacked explicit references to Eucharistic sacrifice. Archbishop Temple, likely with input from Anglo-Catholic theologian Charles Gore, argued that Rome’s own ancient ordinations omitted the very elements it now demanded, stating:

“Thus in overthrowing our orders, he overthrows all his own, and pronounces sentence on his own Church.”

This pointed critique exposed the inconsistency in Rome’s argument and asserted the historic continuity of Anglican orders. However, Rome’s doctrine of papal infallibility, defined at Vatican I (1870), made the papal decision effectively irreversible.

As a side note, Apostolicae Curae does not fully account for American Anglicanism due to what’s often called the “Dutch Touch” — a fact personally significant to me, as I have also received “it” through my diaconal and presbyterial ordinations in the Anglican Continuum.

After breaking with Rome over papal infallibility at Vatican I, the Old Catholic Church (centered around the Union of Utrecht) maintained valid apostolic succession and later consecrated bishops whose orders were transmitted into American Anglicanism. Notably, Bishop Albert Chambers (PECUSA) received consecration with both Anglican and Old Catholic lines, further strengthening the apostolic succession of the Episcopal Church and its descendants.

1900— Fond du Lac Circus

Charles Chapman Grafton (1830–1912) left a Harvard law career to embrace Oxford-Movement ideals, co-founding the Cowley Fathers (Society of St. John) in England before returning to the U.S. as an outspoken Anglo-Catholic priest. He was elected Bishop of Fond du Lac in 1888, he revitalized the small Wisconsin diocese with monastic foundations, vigorous mission work, and richly Catholic worship.

His 1900 consecration of Bishop Reginald Weller—photographed with fully vested Episcopal, Old-Catholic (Old-Catholic Bishop Anthony Kozlowski), and Russian-Orthodox bishops (Russian Orthodox Patriarch Tikhon)—caused a national uproar as the “Fond du Lac Circus,” yet ultimately helped normalize traditional vestments and ecumenical cooperation in American Anglicanism. Remembered as a brilliant pastor, liturgical reformer, and ecumenist, Grafton’s influence shaped many practices now taken for granted across the Episcopal Church.

1911 — Society of SS. Peter and Paul (SSPP) Founded

Founded in 1911, the Society of SS. Peter and Paul advanced a more explicitly Catholic and Papalist theology within Anglicanism, moving beyond Ritualism to promote doctrinal alignment with Rome and eventual reunion.

1920 — First Anglo-Catholic Congress

Held in London in June 1920, the First Anglo-Catholic Congress marked the public emergence of Anglo-Catholicism as a confident and organized movement. The event drew over 6,000 clergy and 20,000 laity from across the Anglican Communion. Leaders such as Lord Halifax, Fr. Hope Patten (restorer of Walsingham and Marian devotion in the Church of England), Bishop Frank Weston, Fr. Henry Joy Fynes-Clinton, Canon F.L. Cross, and Darwell Stone shaped the Congress’s emphases. Masses, Benedictions, and Processions filled the week, showcasing Anglo-Catholic ceremonial. The Congress strongly advocated for corporate reunion with Rome, but without surrendering the Anglican patrimony — seeking unity while retaining Anglican distinctives.

1921 — Anglican Missal Published

The Anglican Missal blended the Roman Missal (along with some Sarum customs) with the Book of Common Prayer, becoming the standard liturgical text for high Anglo-Catholic and Papalist parishes seeking Roman ceremonial within an Anglican framework. Around the same time, the Church of England attempted to revise the Prayer Book, producing the 1928 Proposed Book of Common Prayer, but Parliament rejected it, leaving the more Protestant 1662 Prayer Book in place. (Not to be confused with the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer, which remained the standard in the United States until 1979.)

In the 1930s, the American Missal adapted the 1928 American Prayer Book, incorporating Roman ceremonial and optional variants for high-church use. Today, a majority of Anglican Continuum churches that emerged from the Congress of St. Louis (1977) continue to use a version of the American Missal in their liturgies. A further edition is produced by Lancelot Andrewes Press for Western Rite Orthodox communities, incorporating the Anglo-Orthodox Liturgy of St. Tikhon (Antiochene usage).

1921-1927 — Malines Conversations

Lord Halifax (Charles Lindley Wood, 1839–1934) was a prominent lay leader in the Anglo-Catholic movement and longtime president of the English Church Union, where he worked tirelessly to advance Catholic principles within Anglicanism. His efforts culminated in the Malines Conversations (1921–1927), the first formal dialogue between Anglicans and Roman Catholics since the Reformation, reflecting his lifelong commitment to full corporate reunion with Rome. Cardinal Mercier, the Roman Catholic interlocutor, was a friend and notably open to Anglican distinctives — particularly the retention of the Prayer Book and a married clergy, anticipating a vision not unlike the later Anglican Ordinariates. However, with Mercier’s death in 1926, the conversations lost momentum and ultimately failed to achieve their goal.

1929 — Lateran Treaty and Vatican City

1962-1965 — Vatican II

Vatican II, convened by Pope John XXIII and continued under Pope Paul VI, radically reformed the Roman Catholic Church’s liturgy and engaged the modern world through “aggiornamento” (“bringing up to date”). The Council’s liturgical reforms — including Mass in the vernacular (common language) and increased lay participation and women — but also reflected many ideas long championed by Anglo-Catholics and deeply influenced subsequent Anglican liturgical renewal.

1977 — Congress of St. Louis

Traditionalist Anglo-Catholics in the United States, committed to traditional liturgy and male-only priesthood, opposed the 1976 approval of women’s ordination in the Episcopal Church (TEC) and the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, which they viewed as a departure from orthodox Anglicanism. Their dissent culminated in the 1977 Congress of St. Louis, MO where they drafted the “Affirmation of St. Louis” and laid the groundwork for the Continuing Anglican movement. This led to the formation of breakaway churches like the Anglican Catholic Church (ACC), Anglican Province of Christ the King (APCK), United Episcopal Church of North American (UECNA), and the Anglican Church in American (ACA).

1992 — Church of England Approves Women Priests

The 1992 General Synod vote to ordain women priests split Anglo-Catholics: many crossed to Rome, while others stayed and formed Forward in Faith to defend traditional teaching. To care for those who remained, the Church of England created “flying bishops” (Provincial Episcopal Visitors) who offered alternative oversight to Anglo-Catholic parishes opposed to women’s ordination. The Anglo-Catholic traditionalists could not tolerate female clergy.

2009 — Anglicanorum Coetibus

Pope Benedict XVI issued Anglicanorum Coetibus, creating Personal Ordinariates that allow former Anglicans to enter full communion with Rome while preserving their liturgical and spiritual patrimony. Ordinariate parishes worship with Divine Worship: The Missal—an authorized rite that adapts the classic language and structure of the Book of Common Prayer, enriched with traditional Roman ceremonial and prayers for the Pope and saints. The decree fulfilled long-standing Anglo-Papalist hopes by offering corporate reunion without losing distinctive Anglican hymnody, prayer cadence, and pastoral culture. About 15,000 former Anglicans now belong to the three Personal Ordinariates worldwide, led by two resident bishops (Lopes in North America and Waller in Britain) with a third ordinariate overseen by an apostolic-administrator in Australia.