Holy Church of Rome, The

DESCRIPTION: "As I roved out one morning being in the month of May," the singer "spied my heart's delight, the pride of Dunern Town." He asks her to marry, but he is Protestant and she is Catholic. They argue; she will only marry if he joins "the Holy Church of Rome"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1994 (Thomas and Widdowson)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection religious
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: Kenneth S. Goldstein, "A Report on Continuing Research into 'Treason Songs': A Private Newfoundland Tradition," essay on pp. 126-153 of Gerald Thomas and J. D. A. Widdowson, editors, _Studies in Newfoundland Folklore: Community and Process_, Breakwater Books, 1991, pp. 143-144, "The Holy Church of Rome" (1 text)
Roud #26524
NOTES [144 words]: In Newfoundland, this was sometimes regarded as a "Treason Song." For background on Treason Songs, see the notes to "The Prooshian Drum."
This song is clearly Catholic (like all the Treason Songs printed by Goldstein), because it declares "For you know it was cursed Luther who did your church complete. It was Cranmer and old Cromwell who very well were known Who fell off like rotten branches from the Holy Church of Rome." (Henry VIII is not mentioned.)
Cranmer and Cromwell were indeed Henry VIII's allies in founding the Church of England -- but Luther absolutely was not, and indeed the Anglican church is not Protestant. Nor is it Reformed (Calvinist/Presbyterian). Anglicanism is its own thing. It is understandable that a Catholic would not understand this, but to refer to Luther in an argument about Anglicanism truly misses the point of Anglicanism. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.5
File: ThWi143

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography