Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Blake, James
BLAKE, JAMES (1649–1728), also known as James Cross, jesuit, born in London in 1649, entered the Society of Jesus at Watten, in Belgium, in 1675, and was admitted a professed father 1 July 1675. He is named in Titus Oates’s list of jesuits in 1678 as Mr. Blake, alias Cross, living in Spain. On 3 April 1701 he was declared provincial of his brethren in England, and he held that office for nearly four years. He was chaplain at Mr. Mannock's, Bromley Hall, Colchester, from 1720 till his death, on 29 Jan. 1728. His only published work is ‘A Sermon of the Blessed Sacrament, Preached in the Chap l of his Excellency the Spanish Ambassador on Corpus Christi day, June 3, 1686,’ London, 1686, 4to, reprinted in vol. ii. of ‘A Select Collection of Catholick Sermons,’ London, 1741, 8vo.
[Foley's Records, v. 98, 108, 161, 5:17, vii. 64, Oliver’s Collections S. J.; Backer's Bibl. des Ecrivains de la Compagnie da Jésus (1869), i. 653.]