ABSTRACT
Catholics in England formed a social pattern almost exactly the opposite to that made by Nonconformists. Among shopkeepers and tradespeople – the solid core of Dissent – Catholics were few. In the nobility and landed gentry, groups virtually closed to Nonconformists, Catholics were a minority, but it was the steadfastness of these few that had kept the faith alive down the centuries. Unskilled urban labourers and their families, acknowledged by Nonconformists to be rare in their ranks, made up the vast majority of Catholic worshippers. The pattern changed very little from decade to decade, for the classes in which Catholicism had most support were those having least social mobility, while its recruits by conversion and immigration were drawn from groups where it was already strong.
