PERSONS
730
PERSONS
the missions", an idea which was taken up, and is now
in vogue throughout the Church. When the college
Wiis entrusted to the Jesuits, he was teniponirily in-
stalled a.-; rector (19 March, 1579). Dr. Allen ul- \ ■)
came to Konie, 10 Oct., 1579, to complete the college
arrangements, already so well begun, and at his in-
stance the Jesuit mi.ssion to England was decided upon
(Dec, 1579). The year of mission in England (12
June, 1580, to late August, 1581) was the most useful
of Persons's Ufe. Ever at the post of danger, he yet
managed to avoid seizure, while he organized means
of missionary enterprise not for Jesuits only but for
the whole country. LajTiien and secular priests car-
ried i>ut his plans with whole-hearted enthusiasm, and
deserve unstinted praise for the results that followed.
Persons not only preached, confessed, arranged mis-
sionary tours, and posts, he also wrote books and
pamphlets, and set up his "magic press" (q. v.,
Brinkley, Stephen), which printed and set forth Cam-
pion's "Decern Rationes", while several books of his
own, answers to onslaughts of Protestants, were
brovight out within a few days of the attack. Consid-
ering the losses pre\-iously incurred through want of
courage and energy, it would be impossible to praise
this pioneer work too highly. But later on the mis-
sitjuary methods had to be modified: the presses were
transferred abroad, and the challenges to disputation
were dropped. Though not initiated by Persons, they
had been subsequently approved by him. (See
CorxTER-REFORMATioN, VII. England; Edmund
C.^.MPioN, Blessed.)
III. Politics, 1582-84. — After Campion h.ad been taken (17 July, 1581) and the press captured (8 August), Persons slipped across to France hoping to do some business with Allen, to set up a new press, and return. The press was begun again under George Flinton at Rouen, but Persons never saw England again, and found himself in entirely new circum- stances, which led to new, and much less desirable re- sults. He was now- living under t he French Provincial Pere Claude Mat thieu, an advocate of armed resistance to the Huguenots; and he was necessarily under the in- fluence of the King of Spain and the Duke of Guise, afterwards the leader of "La Sainte Ligue" and the champion of Mary Stuart. A great change too had come over her fortunes. Esm6 Stuart, Sieur d'Au- bigny, created Duke of Lennox, the favourite of the youthful King James, espoused her side (7 March, 1582). Never had she had such an ally, who actually controlled the chief ports of Scotland, and enjoyed the king's entire confidence. Father William Crichton, S.J., an enthusiastic Scot, who had just gone to Edin- burgh as a missioner, was completely carried away by the prospect, and returned at once to lay Lennox's offers before the Duke of Guise. Persons and Allen were summoned for advice, and a meeting was held in Paris (18-24 May), in which both they and the papal nuncio, and the Archbishop of Glasgow took part. Everyone agreed that the King of Spain and the pope should be called upon to help. If they did not, there was no chance of Lennox maintaining his position for long, with England and the Scottish Kirk allied against him. The congress decided that Persona should go to Philip, and Crichton to Pope Gregory; and though the two Jesuits demurred, as having other orders from their superiors, the papal nuncio insisted and his authority of course prevailed. Persons now undertook two journeys, to Philip in Spain (June- Oct., 1.582) and to Rome (Sept., 158.3). Pope Gregory fully approved the plans, but the king always refused to con.sent, with quaUfications, however, which led Allen and Persons to hope on till the beginning of 1584, by which time Lennox had fallen, and the other favourable circumstances had ceased. Looking back we now recognize how great Father Persons's error was; but it is also easy to see that with the approba- tion of the pope and of Allen and the other leading
English Catholii's living abroad, he had many excuses.
He certainly dill not contemplate the subjection of his
country, but its liberation from an insufferable burden
of persecution (sec also Armada, The Spanish, IV.
( 'alltolic Co-opcratioH).
IV. Si'AiN, 1.588-97.— Recalled to Rome in 1.585, he was professed there (7 May, 1587) and sent to Spain at the close of 1588, to conciliate King Philip, who was offended with Father Acquaviva. Persons was successful, and then made use of the royal favour to found the seminaries of Valladolid, Seville, and Madrid (1589, 1592, 1598) and the residences of San- Lucar, and of Lisbu (wliieh liec anie a college in 1622). Already in 1582 he had founded a school at Eu, the first English Catholic boys' school since the Reforma- tion; and he now succeeded in establishing at St. Omers (1594) a larger institution to which the boys from Eu were transferred, and which, after a long and romantic history, still flourishes at Stonyliursl (q. v.). Whilst in Rome and Spain I'ersoiis wnjte several still extant State papers, which show that he was still in favour of armed intervention on behalf of the English Catholics, but his main policy was to wait for the next succession, when he expected there would be a variety of claimants, for it was one of Elizabeth's manias to leave the succession an open question. Persons thought that a Catholic successor and by preference the Infanta (who was a representative of the house of Lancaster) would have a fair chance. On this topic there appeared in 1594, under the pseudonym of N. Dolman, the important "Conference on the next suc- cession". The penman was really Richard Verstegan (q. v.; see also. Record Office," Dom. Eliz.",252, n. 66, and Vatican Archives, "Borghese", 448, ab, f. 339) but both Cardinal Allen and Sir Francis Englefield had helped and approved, while Persons had also re- vised the MS. and rewritten many passages. The book was a manifesto of his party, and though de- clining the authorship, he always defended its prin- ciple, which was the people's right of participation in the settlement of a ruler, as opposed to the Galilean theory of the Divine right of kings. (See Origin of Government; Gallicanism.) But though Persons's theory is praiseworthy, his practical conclusion (men- tioned above) was illusory. Owing to the unpopu- larity of Spain, the book was very badly received, and he could not effectively prevent its popular attri- bution to himself. Ten years earlier (1584) another political publication in favour of Mary Queen of Scots, widely known as "Leicester's Commonwealth", had also been popularly ascribed to him; presumably be- cause he very unwisely allowed a Jesuit lay-brother, Ralph Emerson, to take the first consignment of them to England, where they were seized. The real author was probably Charles Arundel.
V. The Appellants, 1598-1603.— Cardinal Allen died in 1594 and after he had gone, the English Catholics were tried by a series of the most distressing disturbances, which originated in the misery and con- sequent discontent of the exiles, and which gradually affected the seminaries, the clergy, and even the Catholic prisoners. Allen had ruled by personal in- fluence; and left no successor. The clergy were with- out superior or organization. Persons returned to Rome (April, 1597) to quiet the disturbances at the English College, which no one else could calm. He was immediately and remarkably successful; and there was talk of making him a cardinal. But, as the pope never intended to do so, it is unnecessary to dis- cuss what might have happened had he received that dignity. Cardinal Cajetano, the Protector, now or- dered him to draw up a scheme of government for the rest of the clergy. His first idea was to establish an archbishop in Flanders, and a bishop in England, but considering the fury of the persecution a hierarchy of priests was preferred. In England an archpriest with assistants was appointed (7 March, 1598); in Flan-
