Sexual Scandal and Catholicism in Victorian England: The Case of Monsignor Thomas John Capel*

This article investigates a sexual scandal that rocked the English Catholic Church in the Victorian era. Though forgotten today, Monsignor Thomas John Capel was one of the most famous clerics in the Victorian Church. His career fell into turmoil when, in 1879, Cardinal Henry Edward Manning launched a diocesan commission to investigate charges of sexual misconduct involving three women. Drawing on a series of rich and as yet unexplored archival sources, the article charts the career of Thomas Capel and assesses the nature, aims and outcomes of the Church-run inquiry into his conduct. Through an analysis of the actions not just of Capel but of Church authorities both in Westminster and in Rome, we gain a revealing window onto sexual scandal and the Church's response to it in the nineteenth century.