William Reynolds (also Rainolds, Raynolds, Latin Reginaldus) (c.1544 at Pinhorn near Exeter - 24 August 1594 at Antwerp) was an English Catholic theologian and Biblical scholar.
Educated at Winchester School, he became fellow of New College, Oxford (1560-1572). He was converted to Catholicism partly by the controversy between John Jewel and Thomas Harding, and partly by the personal influence of William Allen.
In 1575 he made a public recantation in Rome, and two years later went to Douai to study for the priesthood. He removed with the other collegians from Douai to Reims in 1578 and was ordained priest at Châlons in April, 1580. He then remained at the college, lecturing on Scripture and Hebrew, and helping Gregory Martin in translating the Reims Testament .
Some years before his death he had left the college to become chaplain to the Beguines at Antwerp.
Reynolds translated several of the writings of Allen and Harding into Latin, and wrote a "Refutation" of William Whitaker's attack on the Reims version (Paris, 1583). He assisted Gregory Martin in the translation of the Douay-Rheims Bible, which was also worked on by others at Douai, notably Allen, Thomas Worthington and Richard Bristow. [1] [2]
Other works by Reynolds include:
He was the second son of Richard Rainolds, and elder brother of John Rainolds, one of the chief Anglican scholars engaged on the King James Bible.
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 Douay–Rheims Bible, also known as the Douay–Rheims Version, Rheims–Douai Bible or Douai Bible, and abbreviated as D–R, DRB, and DRV, is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English made by members of the English College, Douai, in the service of the Catholic Church. The New Testament portion was published in Reims, France, in 1582, in one volume with extensive commentary and notes. The Old Testament portion was published in two volumes twenty-seven years later in 1609 and 1610 by the University of Douai. The first volume, covering Genesis to Job, was published in 1609; the second, covering the Book of Psalms to 2 Maccabees plus the three apocryphal books of the Vulgate appendix following the Old Testament, was published in 1610. Marginal notes took up the bulk of the volumes and offered insights on issues of translation, and on the Hebrew and Greek source texts of the Vulgate.
Early Modern English Bible translations are those translations of the Bible which were made between about 1500 and 1800, the period of Early Modern English. This was the first major period of Bible translation into the English language including the King James Version and Douai Bibles. The Reformation and Counter-Reformation led to the need for Bibles in the vernacular with competing groups each producing their own versions.
Richard Challoner was a leading figure of English Catholicism during the greater part of the 18th century, and the titular Bishop of Doberus. In 1738, he published a revision of the Douay–Rheims translation of the Bible.
William Fulke was an English Puritan divine.
The University of Douai was a former university in Douai, France. With a medieval heritage of scholarly activities in Douai, the university was established in 1559 and lectures started in 1562. It closed from 1795 to 1808. In 1887, it was transferred as University of Lille 27 km away from Douai.
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.
Richard Bristow was an English Catholic controversialist and Biblical scholar.
Thomas Worthington, D.D. was an English Catholic priest and third President of Douai College.
Thomas Haydock (1772–1859) was an English Catholic schoolmaster and publisher born to one of the oldest Recusant families. His dedication to making religious books available to fellow Catholics suffering under the English Penal Laws came at great personal cost.
Thomas Stapleton was an English Catholic priest and controversialist.
Gregory Martin was an English Catholic priest, a noted scholar of his time, academic and Doctor of Divinity, and served as the chief translator of the Rheims and Douai Version of the Bible, the first full, official Catholic English Bible translation, translated from the Latin Vulgate.
John Fowler was a Roman Catholic scholar and printer.
Nicholas Fitzherbert was an English recusant gentleman who served as secretary to Cardinal William Allen and was found guilty of treason due to his Catholicism. He was the second son of John Fitzherbert of Padley, Derbyshire. Fitzherbert was the grandson of the judge Sir Anthony Fitzherbert (1470–1538), and first cousin to the Jesuit Thomas Fitzherbert. Whilst he was abroad, two priests were arrested at his father's house; they are now saints after becoming martyrs to their faith. Fitzherbert's lands were forfeit, and he was obliged to spend his life abroad. He was buried in Florence.
Edward Rishton was an English Roman Catholic priest.
John Marshall was an English Roman Catholic priest. He was one of the six companions associated with William Allen in the foundation of the English College at Douai, in 1568.
Thomas Dorman was an English Catholic theologian and controversialist. Exiled from England under the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, Dorman became a thought leader among the recusants, and was an early member of the English College at Douai.
Gabriel Gifford was an English Roman Catholic Benedictine monk who became Archbishop of Reims.
John Hart was an English Jesuit, known for his equivocal behaviour on the English mission in the early 1580s.
Robert Witham (1667–1738) was an English Roman Catholic college head and biblical scholar.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "William Reynolds". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company. The entry cites: | International | |
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