George Blackwell

Last updated

For the state legislator in Illinois see George W. Blackwell

Contents


George Blackwell,

Archpriest of England
Church Roman Catholic Church
AppointedMarch 1598
Term ended1 February 1608
Successor George Birkhead
Orders
Ordination1575
Personal details
Borncirca 1545
Middlesex, England
Died12 January 1613 (aged c. 68)
The Clink, Southwark, England
Nationality English
Denomination Roman Catholic

Father George Blackwell (c. 1545 – 12 January 1613) was Roman Catholic Archpriest of England from 1597 to 1608.

Biography

Blackwell was born in Middlesex, England about 1545, perhaps the son of the pewterer Thomas Blackwell. He was admitted as a scholar to Trinity College, Oxford on 27 May 1562. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1563, and became a probationer of the college in 1565, a fellow in 1566, and graduated MA in 1567. He then removed to Gloucester Hall, a house much suspected of Catholic tendencies. [1]

He resigned or was ejected from Trinity College in 1571, probably for his religious beliefs, and in 1574 left England for the English College, Douai. He was ordained priest in 1575, and graduated BST from the University of Douai the same year. [1]

Father George Blackwell returned to England as a missionary in November 1576. [1] He was imprisoned in 1578 for his work as a priest. After being released from prison, he lived and worked from the house of Mrs. Meany in Westminster, England in secret.

In 1601 a government spy described Blackwell as "about 50 years of age, his head brownish, his beard more black, cut after the fashion of a spade, of stature indifferent, and somewhat thick, decently attired" [2]

Appointment as Archpriest

After the death of Cardinal Allen in 1594, the leadership of the clandestine Catholic Mission in England was thrown into disarray. On 7 March 1598, Pope Clement VIII appointed Blackwell archpriest over the secular clergy in England. [3] Six assistants were named for him and another six were left to his discretion. As Archpriest, he lodged at the town house of Anthony-Maria Browne, 2nd Viscount Montagu, when in London. His instructions enjoined him to work in close consultation with the head of the Jesuit mission in England.

A number of secular priests in England, thinking Blackwell was too close to the Jesuits, appealed to the Pope to overturn Blackwell's appointment and name a vicar apostolic with full episcopal powers. Bitter controversy followed on this appeal, and two more appeals followed. According to John Hungerford Pollen, Blackwell's "main defect appears to have been an entire want of experience in government, Joined wit xaggerated ideas of his position as Superior." [4]

The English government was keen to turn the controversy to its advantage, and encouraged Blackwell's "Appellant" enemies behind the scenes. The upshot of the third and final appeal was that Blackwell's powers were confirmed, but he was censured for his lack of tact [3] and ordered in future not to communicate to the Jesuits any matters pertaining solely to the mission of the secular clergy.

Removal as Archpriest

Following the Gunpowder Plot, Blackwell wrote to Rome and obtained a letter from Pope Paul V condemning the plot and calling on English Catholics not to disturb the peace. Part of the English government's response was to enforce a new oath of allegiance, drafted in such a way that it was bound to create divisions within the English Catholic community as to whether it could be taken in good conscience. In particular, one passage of the oath could be read as giving the English authorities the right to define heresy.

He wrote an open letter to the English clergy, urging them to do the same. He insisted that the oath could legitimately be read as not contradicting the pope's "Supremacie in spirituall causes". The Pope, however, condemned the new oath soon afterwards. Blackwell, and some others, continued to defend the oath despite this. An international theological controversy developed concerning the licitness of the oath. [5]

Blackwell was captured near Clerkenwell on 24 June 1607. He was initially at the Gate-House in Westminster, and then at The Clink in Southwark. Over the following ten days he was questioned several times as to whether or not he had been aware of the Gunpowder Plot, and about his opinion of the oath. At the end of that period he was tendered the oath, which he took. [6]

Blackwell's interpretation of the oath did not satisfy the Pope himself, who relieved Blackwell of his position as archpriest, [6] nor the English authorities, who kept him imprisoned for the remainder of his life.

Death and legacy

George Blackwell died in The Clink on 12 January 1613. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pope Paul V</span> Head of the Catholic Church from 1605 to 1621

Pope Paul V, born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death, in January 1621. In 1611, he honored Galileo Galilei as a member of the papal Accademia dei Lincei and supported his discoveries. In 1616, Pope Paul V instructed Cardinal Robert Bellarmine to inform Galileo that the Copernican theory could not be taught as fact, but Bellarmine's certificate allowed Galileo to continue his studies in search for evidence and use the geocentric model as a theoretical device. That same year Paul V assured Galileo that he was safe from persecution so long as he, the Pope, should live. Bellarmine's certificate was used by Galileo for his defense at the trial of 1633.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Persons</span> English Jesuit priest

Robert Persons, later known as Robert Parsons, was an English Jesuit priest. He was a major figure in establishing the 16th-century "English Mission" of the Society of Jesus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Allen (cardinal)</span> English Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church

William Allen, also known as Guilielmus Alanus or Gulielmus Alanus, was an English Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was an ordained priest, but was never a bishop. His main role was setting up colleges to train English missionary priests with the mission of returning secretly to England to keep Roman Catholicism alive there. Allen assisted in the planning of the Spanish Armada's attempted invasion of England in 1588. It failed badly, but if it had succeeded he would probably have been made Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor. The Douai-Rheims Bible, a complete translation into English from Latin, was printed under Allen's orders. His activities were part of the Counter Reformation, but they led to an intense response in England and in Ireland. He advised and recommended Pope Pius V to pronounce Elizabeth I deposed. After the Pope declared her excommunicated and deposed, Elizabeth intensified the persecution of her Roman Catholic religious opponents.

The English College was a Catholic seminary in Douai, France, associated with the University of Douai. It was established in 1568, and was suppressed in 1793. It is known for a Bible translation referred to as the Douay–Rheims Bible. Of over 300 priests from Douai sent on the English mission, about one-third were executed. The dissolution of the college at the time of the French Revolution led to the founding of Crook Hall near Lanchester in County Durham, and St Edmund's College, Ware. It is popularly believed that the indemnification funds paid by the French for the seizure of Douai's property were diverted by the British commissioners to complete the furnishings of George IV's Royal Pavilion at Brighton.

William Bishop was the first Roman Catholic bishop in England after the Reformation, serving as Vicar Apostolic of England and titular Bishop of Chalcedon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward James (martyr)</span> English Catholic priest and martyr

Edward James was an English Catholic priest and martyr.

The Archpriest Controversy was the debate which followed the appointment of an archpriest by Pope Clement VIII to oversee the efforts of the Roman Catholic Church's missionary priests in England at the end of the sixteenth century.

William Clark was an English Roman Catholic priest and conspirator. He is remembered for his involvement in a plan to kidnap King James I of England, made together with another Catholic priest William Watson in the Bye Plot. He was executed at Winchester on 29 November 1603.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Morgan (priest)</span> Welsh Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr

Edward Morgan was a Welsh Roman Catholic priest and martyr. He was declared venerable by Pope Leo XIII in 1886.

Thurston Hunt was an English Roman Catholic priest. He was tried and executed with Robert Middleton, also a priest. They were declared to be martyrs by the Catholic Church, and beatified in 1987, by Pope John Paul II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Haydock</span> English Roman Catholic priest and martyr

George Haydock was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987. He is not to be confused with his relative, also a priest, George Leo Haydock (1774–1849).

John Mush was an English Roman Catholic priest, the confessor to Margaret Clitherow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Drury (priest)</span> English Roman Catholic priest and martyr

Robert Drury (1567–1607) was an English Roman Catholic priest, executed for treason. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.

Thomas Lister was an English Jesuit writer.

George Birkhead or Birket, alias Hall, Lambton, and Salvin (c.1553–1614) was an English Roman Catholic priest who served as the archpriest of England from 1608 until his death in 1614.

The Wisbech Stirs was a divisive quarrel between English Roman Catholic clergy held prisoner in Wisbech Castle in the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, towards the end of the reign of Elizabeth I of England. It set some of the secular clergy against the regular clergy represented by the Society of Jesus, the religious institute that was emerging as clerical leaders, and who wished for a more ordered communal life in the prison.

John Colleton (1548–1635) was an English Roman Catholic priest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oath of Allegiance of James I of England</span>

The Oath of Allegiance of 1606 was an oath requiring English Catholics to swear allegiance to James I over the Pope. It was adopted by Parliament the year after the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. The oath was proclaimed law on 22 June 1606, it was also called the Oath of Obedience. Whatever effect it had on the loyalty of his subjects, it caused an international controversy lasting a decade and more.

William Warmington was an English Roman Catholic priest, who sided with James I of England in the allegiance oath controversy.

William Harrison (c.1553–1621) was an English Roman Catholic priest. He was the third and last archpriest of England.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Brady, William Maziere. The episcopal succession in England, Scotland and Ireland, A.D. 1400 to 1875, Vol. 3, Tipografia Della Pace, 1877, pp. 55 et seq. PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  2. Hatfield MSS pt 11, 363–365
  3. 1 2 Burton, Edwin. "Archpriest Controversy." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 16 (Index). New York: The Encyclopedia Press, 1914. 4 February 2020PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  4. Pollen, John Hungerford. The Institution of the Archpriest Blackwell, Longmans, Green, 1916, p. 26 PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  5. Tutino, S. (2007). Law and Conscience: Catholicism in Early Modern England, 1570–1625. Catholic Christendom, 1300–1700. Ashgate. p. 139. ISBN   978-0-7546-5771-2.
  6. 1 2 3 Brady, William Maziere. Annals of the Catholic Hierarchy in England and Scotland: A.D. 1585–1876, J. M. Stark, 1883, p. 61 PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .

Sources

Catholic Church titles
New title Archpriest of England
1598–1608
Succeeded by