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The Welsh rector was accused of favouring his fellow-
countrymen; and finally the English students broke
out into open mutiny. They petitioned the Holy
Father that the college should be entrusted to the
Fathers of the Society of Jesus, and declared that they
would rather leave the college than remain under Dr.
Clenock.
The students were ordered by the Cardinal Protec- tor to submit under pain of expulsion; but they pre- ferred to go, and began to make preparations for the journey back to Douai and Reims, or to England. Much sympathy, however, was shown for them in Rome, and, intercession being made with the Pope on their behalf, they were reinstated in the college after two days, and their petition was granted. Dr. Clen- ock was removed from the rectorship and the govern- ment of the college handed over to the Jesuits, the famous Father Robert Persons being given temporary charge till the appointment of the first permanent Rector, Father Alphonsus .\gazzari, on 23 April, 1579. This day is the real l:)irtliday of the English College in Rome; for on this day the Bull of Foundation was signed by Pope Gregory XIII; on this day the stu- dents took the oath to lead an ecclesiastical life, and proceed to England when it should seem good to their superiors; and on tliis day the College Register begins. The Bull, however, was not published till 23 Dec, 1580. Under this date, the entry occurs in the Col- lege Annals {Liber Ruber), II, 12; of which the follow- ing is the translation: "a.d. 1580, on the 23rd of De- cember, to the praise and glory of the most Holy Trin- ity and of St. Thomas the Martyr, was expedited tiie Bull of the Foundation of tliis College, which, though it was granted by Pope Gregory XIII in April last year, did not reach our hands before the above date, and in which, as besides many faculties and spiritual and temporal favours all the goods of the English Hospice were united with the College, we received pos- session of them on the 29th. Dec, which is dedicated to St. Thomas the Martyr; and although it does not explicitly appear in the Bull, yet the Pope declared by word of mouth that this College was bound to re- ceive and maintain the English pilgrims according to the statutes of the said Hospice. This Bull has been deposited in the College Archives."
Thus the English College, the oldest but two of all the national colleges of Rome (the German College and the Greek College), was launched on its ca- reer, the number of students at the time in the college l)eing tifty, a number which later rose to seventy-five. Tliat the college did its work efficiently, and fulfilled the purpose for wWch it was founded, is abundantly attested by the lists of names of the priests sent into tlie mission-field, and especially by the roll of its mar- tyrs. During the period 1682-1694, under the Car- dinal Protector Howard, O.P., the greater part of the college was rebuilt.
The eigliteenth century was a period of decline. Contrary to the original constitutions of the college, boys were admitted for the course of humanities, and some even, of very tender years, for more elementary studies. In August, 1773, the Society of Jesus was suppressed, and the administration of the college was handed over to Italian secular priests. During this period the students were ill-treated, the college was mismanaged, and a large portion of the archives sold for waste-paper. "At the time of the suppression, the number of Students was reduced to four divines, three philosophers, and three grammarians ... Of those divines and philosophers, only three were or- dained ijrie.-^ts at Rome, and two at Douay; and the whole luiinlier of those ordained at Rome from 1775 to till' year 17!)S, a period of 23 years, did not exceed seven, and of those, two never performed any mission- ary duties, and the third but for a short time. In that same period four died in the College, and 34, if not more, quitted the house re infecta!— Six, however,
afterwards pursued their studies in other Colleges, and
were ordained priests." (Catholic Magazine, 1832,
pp. 359-360.) Bishop Challoner, and afterwards the
three vicars Apostolic Bishops James and Thomas
Talbot and Matthew CJibson, entreated the Pope to
restore the college to its first administrators, the Eng-
lish secular clergy; and finally, on 12 April, 1783, the
Congregation of Propaganda answered that when the
rectorship fell vacant, an English priest might be ap-
pointed to the post. Cardinal Brasclii, the Protector,
wrote to Bishop Douglas on 4 November, 1797, in-
forming him that the rector was about to resign, and
requesting him to choose, in consultation with Mgr.
(afterwards Cardinal) Erskine, an English priest for
the office. But before this could be done, the French
had invaded Rome, the college was seized and sup-
pressed, and the students sent to England. On the
30th of July, 1814, Cardinal Litta, Prefect of Propa-
ganda, wrote to Bishop Poynter, vicar ApostoUc of the
London District, informing him that the college was
about to be reopened, and enquiring about the fitness
of the Rev. Stephen .(ireen, who had been recom-
mended by Bishop Milner for the rectorship. But
Father Green died, and other obstacles arose, and
nothing more was done for three years. Then Car-
dinal Consalvi, Secretary of State, acting as protector
of the college, directed the English vicars Apostolic to
select a priest for rector, and to send him to Rome at
once. They chose the Rev. Robert Gradwell, who
received his appointment on 8 March, 1S18. Ten stu-
dents, among whom was the future cardinal, Nicholas
Wiseman, arrived in the following Decemlaer. Thus
the English College began to live again, antl continued
to floiu-ish in its career of usefulness to the Church in
England.
II. ScHOL.\STic Status. — In the Bull of Founda- tion, Gregory XIII confers on the college the privi- leges and rights of a university with the power of con- ferring the degrees of Bachelor, Licentiate, Doctor, and Master in Arts and Divinity. The students, from the beginning, attended the lectures of the Ro- man College, and then during the suppression of the Society of Jesus, at the University of St. Apollinare (the Roman Seminary). They returned, however, to the Roman College, or Ciregorian University, in 1855, and still attend it, taking its degrees in philosophy and theology, as the English College does not exercise its faculty of conferring degrees. The college is imme- diately subject to the Holy See, which is represented by a cardinal protector. The immediate superiors are the rector, appointed by the pope on the recommenda- tion of the English hierarchy, and vice-rector, ap- pointed by the rector. The first rector. Dr. Maurice Clenock (1578-9), belonged to the English secular clergy. The Jesuits took the reins of government in 1579, and held them for one hundred and ninety-four years. Three of their rectors were Italians, and the rest English, the last being Wm. Hothersall, who, on the suppression of the society, handed the college over to Italian secular priests. From the restoration in 1818 the rectors have always been chosen from the English secular clergy. The college has the privilege of extra-parochiality, the rector being parish-priest for all its members, and exemption from the jurisdic- tion of the cardinal vicar and other ordinaries and tribunals.
III. Illustrious Students. — Among the names of those included on the college lists, who have laid down their lives for the Faith, and the supremacy of the Holy See, six have been beatified, and thirty-six de- clared Venerable. The former are, Ralph Sherwin, John Shert, Luke Kirby, Laurence Richardson (rere Johnson), William Lacy, and William Hart. Shert was the first missionary priest from the college to enter England. The Venerables are; George Haydock, Thomas Hemerford, John Mundon, John Lowe, Rol> ert Morton, Richard Leigli, Christopher Buxton, Ed-
