A Tractarian on the Assumption

I confess to you that I never pass the Festival of the Assumption (August 15) without being thankful that I am not a Roman Catholic. For here you have an instance of a presumed fact, resting on no historical basis whatever, yet itself made the basis of a devotional expression which rivals Easter Day itself (in the Breviary) in its rank and form, and is, supposing it to be justifiable, exceedingly beautiful. I cannot doubt that, e.g., Newman, in his secret soul, must wish that the Church was rid of this difficulty a vast devotion resting confessedly on the basis of legend. To me it would be a source of perpetual irritation and distress; since it would confuse the region of absolute Truth in my mind with the realm of fancy, and make me doubt, at times, whether, after all, my belief was anything better than a sublime and antique poetry.

The Tractarian H.P Liddon, in a letter of 1864.