Historical account of Lisbon college

Front matter

COLLEGE GARDEN

HISTORICAL ACCOUNT

OF

Preface

PREFACE.

The following sketch is largely a reprint, with some modifications and additions, of certain papers which appeared in the Catholic Magazine of 1834-5, giving a short history of the English College at Lisbon, and which were written by the Rev. John Kirk, D.D., of Lichfield. This account, however, has been supplemented and is now brought down to the present time. The period thus covered, embraces some seventy years, viz., from 1828, the date at which Doctor Winstanley became President.

In deciding to publish in a more permanent form the History of Lisbon College, I was influenced by a desire to make more widely known, the no small share which it took in the maintenance and defence of the Catholic Faith in England during the times of persecution.

From Lisbon came forth some of the most prominent and remarkable men who, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, vindicated by their writings Catholic teaching against the attacks and misrepresentations of the keenest and most learned advocates of Protestantism ever produced by the Anglican Establishment. Moreover, for well nigh three centuries, Lisbon College has contributed to the Mission a succession of laborious and devoted priests, who have taken their share in building up again the fabric of the Church in this country.

It is not unreasonable, then, to conclude that the History of one of the Ancient Missionary Colleges will not be entirely devoid of interest to others besides those who have been prepared for and received the Priesthood within its venerable walls.

A list of the Alumni of the College from its foundation has been appended, taken from the College Register kindly lent by the President, Mgr. Hilton for the purpose. This, however, is not put forward as complete, for during the eighteenth century the records of the College seem to have been much neglected, and many documents lost. The names of many students have been inserted in this list who, having spent some years at Lisbon College, left for various reasons without taking the oath, and therefore cannot strictly be called Alumni, yet who always considered Lisbon to be their Alma Mater. On the other hand, the names of many students who left without taking Orders, and whose subsequent history has not been traced or has been deemed unimportant, have been purposely omitted.

I may be allowed to avail myself of this opportunity to tender my thanks to the Superiors of the College and others for the assistance which they have readily afforded me, es pecially to the Right Rev. President, Monsignor Hilton, who most kindly gave me access to the Annals of the College, thus enabling me to bring its history down to the present time.

W. CROFT.

Chapter 1

HISTORICAL

ACCOUNT OF LISBON COLLEGE.

CHAPTER I.

For the total suppression of the Ancient Faith in England, Queen Elizabeth at first was content to trust to the natural effect of the Oath of Supremacy which was imposed upon the clergy and certain classes of the laity, and to the substitution of the New Prayer Book for the Mass, both of which were enforced by most severe penalties. Very many of the Marian priests had fled the kingdom and many of them had been received into the houses of the gentry who still adhered to the Old Faith, and they do not seem to have suffered much molestation from the authorities. It was felt that, in a few years, death would have removed them, and that Catholicity in England would die a natural death from lack of pastors who might attend to the spiritual wants of the flock. This inevitable result was forced upon the attention of Dr. William, afterwards Cardinal, Allen, an Oxford divine and a dignitary in Queen Mary's reign, who had left his own country and was at that time residing in Flanders.

In the year 1568, with the assistance of a friend, Dr. Vendeville, who had invited him to Douay for the purpose of completing his degrees, he was enabled to carry out the project which had suggested itself to him for preventing the total extinction of the Catholic Faith in England. This was the establishment of a College for the education and training of priests who should devote their labours to the perpetuation and spread of the faith in their own country.

Means were found for the purchase of a house, and invitations were sent to numerous members of Oxford and Cambridge who, at that time, were scattered in the various Universities throughout France and Flanders. These were so readily responded to, that the College thus commenced was increased so rapidly by the numbers who flocked to it, that in a short time its members amounted to nearly one hundred and fifty, of whom eight or nine were eminent Doctors of Divinity, under Dr. Allen who was the first President.

The success of this first undertaking being thus assured, Douay became the Mother of other similar foundations in various countries of Europe. From Douay went forth bands of students to the newly-established Colleges at Rome and Valladolid, and later on it was from Douay that the College at Lisbon received its first contingent of students.

The design of establishing a College at Lisbon for Secular Priests who should serve on the English Mission, originated with a priest named Nicholas Ashton. He held a chaplaincy in the City, which had been instituted for the purpose of ministering to the spiritual wants of the English Catholics resident there, and was attached to the church of the Jesuit Fathers, to whom belonged the appointment of the chaplain. On his death he bequeathed to another priest, named William Newman, the house which he had purchased some five years previously, in trust for "the foundation of a seminary."

Father Newman, whose real name was Ralph Sliefield, belonged to a gentleman's family in Staffordshire, and in the early period of his life and towards the close of the reign of Elizabeth, was imprisoned for his faith and condemned to death. At the intercession, however, of a lady of the Court, he obtained the commutation of his sentence into that of perpetual banishment. He first went to the College of Seville, at that time, like other Continental Missionary Colleges, under the direction of the Jesuit Fathers, where after completing his education he was ordained priest. He was then sent to Lisbon by his Superiors who appointed him Rector of the English Chaplaincy, or Residence, as it was called, in succession to Father Ashton.

Here Newman formed an intimacy with a wealthy Portuguese gentleman named Don Pedro Coutinho, to whom he made known the contemplated design of establishing the seminary, and acquainted him also with the property which had been bequeathed by Father Ashton for that purpose. Coutinho, who had destined his own property for religious purposes, readily entered into the project and offered to erect at his own expense a regular College for the education of English Secular Priests. Immediately on receiving this offer, Father Newman communicated with his ecclesiastical Superiors in England, who at once nominated him their agent, with full powers to forward and conclude the charitable work. As soon as the main outline of the projected college was settled between Don Pedro and Father Newman, the latter repaired, in August, 1621, to Madrid, for the purpose of obtaining the necessary permission for its erection from Philip IV, who then held the united crowns of Spain and Portugal.

It was the desire and intention both of Newman and Coutinho that the Lisbon College should be placed under the direction of Secular Superiors. To this the Jesuits, who at that time had the superintendance of all the Continental Missionary Colleges, were, perhaps, naturally averse, and they offered strenuous opposition at the Court of Madrid to the College as projected.

Coutinho, however, persisted in his design, and positively declared that if the Jesuit direction was insisted upon, he would altogether abandon the undertaking. Every opposition was eventually overcome, and Father Newman returned to Lisbon. Very soon after, on the application to the Holy See made by the Rev. John Bennett who was agent in Rome of the English ecclesiastical authorities, a Brief, dated September 22, 1622, was obtained from Pope Gregory XV, conferring upon Lisbon College all the privileges enjoyed by other establishments of the same kind. One or two extracts from this Brief may, perhaps, be interesting, and may be seen in Appendix No. I.

Though in this Brief the new foundation was considered and called a College, in reality no College as yet existed. The founder, old and whimsical, did not know his own mind for two weeks together, and after holding out prospects of the most flattering kind, limited his benefaction to the purchase of the ground on which the College now stands, with a few adjoining houses, to the erection of a small and imperfectly built church, and to a donation of £150 a year in the public funds. This establishment, such as it was, he formally made over to the English clergy in the person of their agent, thus constituting it British property, but at the same time coupled the gifts with the perpetual and onerous obligation of three quotidian Masses. This obligation remained in force until 1879, when a petition was drawn up and presented to the Holy See by the Lisbonian Society, in the name of the priests of the Lisbon College at that time working on the Mission. Vid Appendix II.

The completion of the work was committed by Dr. William Smith, Bishop of Chalcedon; to the Rev. Joseph Harvey (alias Hynes), the Archdeacon of the English Chapter, who was sent out to Lisbon to co-operate with Father Newman. As soon as matters were finally settled and the buildings ready to receive inmates he returned to England, was nominated first President of the College and the same year, 1627, went to Douay for the purpose of obtaining students. On November 14, 1628, he arrived again in Lisbon with a body of ten students from Douay, who were sent for the purpose of commencing the course of their Theology in the College.

The following are their names: Edward Daniel, alias Pickford, native of Cornwall. Francis Oglethorpe, alias Pavier, Yorkshire. Nicholas Fortescue, alias Foster, Worcestershire.

REV. JOSEPH HARVEY.

William Ellis, alias Edward Waring, Warwickshire. Humphrey Ellis, alias Stephen Waring, Warwickshire. Peter Nelson, alias Metcalf, Yorkshire. Edward Stanley, alias Biddlecorn, Dorsetshire. William Talbot, alias Day, Suffolk. Antony Morgan, alias Saunders, Northampton. Richard Arundel, alias Charnock, Bedfordshire.

These were accompanied by the Rev. Mark Harrington who held the Degree of Bachelor of Divinity in the Sorbonne University, whose duty it would be to assist as vespertine lecturer in delivering the Theological lectures. The President had also solicited the services of a Dr. Mayler, an old and intimate friend, as Theology Professor. At this time Mayler was attached to the service of the Prince of Metz, and was with him at the siege of Rochelle but, on receiving this invitation, he immediately and generously complied with it, notwithstanding the labours and inconveniences with which it was attended. He arrived at the College on the Eve of Christmas Day, 1628, in spite of a quartan-ague which he had contracted in his journey through Spain.

Everything being thus in readiness, February 22, 1629, the Festival of the Chair of St. Peter at Antioch, was fixed upon for publicly opening the schools. Every heart exulted at the prospect of so auspicious an event. The hopes, however, of the new Community were on this occasion dashed by a severe and unexpected stroke. On that very day, after a fortnight's illness the President, Father Harvey, broken down by his exertions and labours, departed this life, verifying in his own case, as so often happens, our Lord's words: "It is one man that soweth and it is another that reapeth." He lies buried in the College church. He left about 800 crowns to be divided between the College and Dr. Mayler, the first Professor of Theology, who, however, as the Annals remark, was obliged by the narrow circumstances in which he found the establishment to surrender for its use his own share of the legacy. Dr. Mayler opened the schools on the Twenty-fifth of the following April, and during this and the succeeding year gave lectures in Theology, in which he was assisted by the Rev. Mark Harrington, who had accompanied Father Harvey and the first ten students from Douay to Lisbon.

Chapter 2

CHAPTER II.

The second President of the College was the celebrated Thomas Blacklow, alias White. At the time of the death of the late President he was in Rome, engaged in transacting some of the affairs of the English clergy. On his way from that city to Douay, he received the letters nominating him President of the College, and an injunction to proceed without delay to Lisbon, where he arrived in May, 1630.

Though short, the period of his Presidency was not unimportant, as it was he who drew up the Rules which, though modified to meet the altered circumstances of the times, are fundamentally those which still govern the house. Moreover he was mainly instrumental by his regulations in giving stability to and consolidating the new establishment.

The Constitution given to the College by the Rules drawn up by Blacklow, differs widely from that of Douay and, probably, from that of any other similar establishment. By these Rules, the government of the Lisbon House was vested in the Bishop of Chalcedon and his successors in the Vicariate of London. To them was given the nomination of the President whom they could remove at pleasure, and the confirmation of the Vice-President and the Confessarius. The President is not absolute in his authority, but has a Council of the other Superiors, to whom he is obliged to submit the consideration of all matters of importance and in which he has only a casting vote.

With regard to the studies, the regulation first laid down was, to have no other schools in the College but those of Philosophy and Theology; this, however, was soon abandoned as impracticable, and the Classical Course has since been conducted on nearly the same system as prevailed at Douay. Though a variety of select pieces composed by the early Professors and students of the College were lost in the confusion occasioned by the French invasion early in the last century, there are still in existence many Latin poems of a later date, which bear testimony to the attention which was given at the College to this department of Classical education.

At what time and by whom the uniform worn by the students was introduced there seems to be no record. It consists of a cassock of black lustrous material, a girdle and biretta. On occasions of ceremony, and when in public beyond the precincts of the College, over the cassock is worn a loose habit without sleeves, to which is attached a stripe of red cloth in the figure of an oar, the extremities of which fall over the shoulders behind, whilst the middle part is curved over the breast. This ornament is emblematic of the occupation of St. Peter the fisherman, under whose patronage, and that of his co-apostle St. Paul, the College is placed. The dress of the superiors was the same as that of the students, except that the cassock was of serge, and in place of the habit, in public they wore a black full length cloak, or ferraiolo, of the same material.

During his term of office Blacklow was ably seconded by the Rev. William Clifford, alias Mansel who, after ten years labour on the Mission, was sent to Lisbon in quality of Vice-President and arrived there in the same year as Blacklow, 1630. The difficulties with which he had to contend were very grave, both from the strange humour of the Founder and the extreme poverty under which" the College laboured, yet by his patience with the one and his wise conduct and management of the other, he so far overcame all, that soon he was able to leave the College in a flourishing condition. He was next employed in the government of Tournay College, which Cardinal Richelieu granted to the Bishop of Chalcedon for the education of the English clergy. After some years he retired to the Hôpital des Incurables in Paris, and there devoted his life to their service. He died after a long illness in the hospital above-mentioned, April 30, 1670, and was, by his own request, buried in the adjoin ing churchyard. Of him the Annals observe that he conducted the domestic economy in the most able manner; that he won the affection of all by the sweetness of his disposition; and that during the interval which preceded the drawing up of the regular Rules, he was himself a rule and model of perfection to the whole Community. During his Vice-Presidentship and whilst the President was absent on business, at Madrid, the new Community was in danger of extinction by sickness, which prevailed to such an extent in the house, that the number of those who were dangerously ill was greater than of those in health. On this occasion the College lost two of the number of its first students, Antony Morgan and Richard Arundel, both remarkable for talents and virtue, and equally deserving of a more lengthened notice.

Morgan was a native of Northampton and member of a gentleman's family. After completing his course of Philosophy at Douay he came to England in 1625. Two years afterwards he returned to the same Seminary, not with the intention of embracing the ecclesiastical state, but preparatory to making a tour on the Continent. Here, however, finding many of his former friends and companions preparing to depart with Father Harvey for the new establishment at Lisbon, he changed his design and joined their number. His abilities soon became conspicuous in the Theological School and he was selected, together with Mr. Daniel, to defend, under the President, Blacklow, the first public Thesis held in the College, with which it was intended to shed lustre on the commencement of the new Seminary. But divine Providence had otherwise disposed, for before the time appointed for the public display of his talents, he was called to a better life, August 11, 1631.

A quarter of an hour before his death, while in his perfect senses, he made an address partly in English and partly in Latin to those who stood around, expressive of the lively faith, firm hope, and ardent chanty with which he was animated; and in these acts he continued until his voice failed him in death. He bequeathed handsome remembrances to every one in the house, and to the College the important legacy of £24 a year; thus he has the honour of standing the first on the list of its English benefactors.

Richard Arundel his companion, who died on the same occasion, was a native of Bedfordshire, and also of a gentleman's family. After completing his Classical Course at Douay, he went to Rome in the beginning of the Pontificate of Urban VIII, from motives of devotion. Thence he returned a second time to Douay, for the purpose of accompanying Mr. Morgan on his Continental tour. Finding, however, that his friend had given up his design and had formed the resolution of going to the new foundation at Lisbon, he decided to follow his example; and abandoning all other prospects resolved to dedicate his life to the English Mission. The exemplary piety and uncommon application of Mr. Arundel are highly extolled in the brief memoirs of his life contained in the Annals. At his death, which happened one month and fifteen days after that of Mr. Morgan, he renewed the edifying spectacle which had been exhibited to the Community by his friend and companion. "Quomodo in vita sua dilexerunt se, ita et in morte non fuer unt separati."

From this short account we may gather what was the character of those who were the foundation stones, so to speak, of Lisbon College. Indeed small and very imperfectly endowed as it was, it acquired from its very commencement by the piety and learning of those whom it fostered and gave to the Mission, such a reputation that the celebrated Dr. Barnard, who came from Paris about the year 1740 to the College to take the office of Vice-President used to say: "That the College at Lisbon never had a morning, but shone out at once in all the splendour of meridian day."

Blacklow after holding the office of President for two years, came to England for the purpose of obtaining a fresh supply of students, but principally to procure the means to enable him to place the College in such a position that it might be of greater utility to the Mission. Not being able to succeed in this latter object he resigned the Presidency.

The spirit which pervades an Institution is derived, in great measure, from the Rules by which it is governed; they are the agencies by which its members are chiefly moulded, he, therefore, who frames its rules infuses into it his own spirit and imprints upon it, to a large extent, his own indviduality. From this point of view the sons of Alma Mater are indebted, perhaps, more to Blacklow than to any other single individual connected with the College, and therefore some more detailed account of this remarkable man may not be without interest.

Thomas Blacklow, alias White, was the second son of Robert White of Hutton in Essex, and was born towards the close of the sixteenth century. He was carefully educated in the Catholic religion, and sent when still very young to Douay, where he manifested an extra ordinary capacity and genius for all kinds of learning. He was ordained priest at Arras House in Paris, March 25, 1617, and afterwards employed at Douay in teaching Classics, Philosophy and Theology. He visited England on some private business in August, 1623, returning, however, to Douay the following October, and taking with him as a relic one of the ribs of Mr. Thomas Maxfield, a priest, who had suffered a few years before on account of his priesthood.

In April, 1624, he went to Paris for the purpose of studying Canon Law, and after some time was deputed by the clergy in England to manage some affairs at Rome, where he was in 1626. In the year 1630, he was sent as President of the English College to Lisbon, a position which he resigned after two years, and returned to England to take up the work of the Mission. His name was sent to Rome in 1635 for the Episcopacy, in place of Dr. Smith Bishop of Chalcedon, who was in banishment. He was recommended by the clergy for his " learning, prudence and regular behaviour."

In 1650 he was again at Douay as Professor of Theology, but soon afterwards returned to England where he devoted himself chiefly to the publication of works, some of which created considerable stir in the religious world.

The opinions broached in them seemed at variance with orthodox teaching, and were repudiated by his fellow clergy, and twenty-two propositions taken from one of his works were condemned by the University of Douay.

In this connection, it may be interesting to note, that while still in Lisbon, having on one occasion drawn up some Theses, to be defended by one of his disciples in the Theological school, and obtained for them the approbation of the Inquisition, he was by a sudden order of the head Inquisitor forbidden to defend them, at the moment when the persons invited were preparing to assemble, and all things were in readiness for the exhibition.

Afterwards on a re-examination of the Theses, his doctrine was declared orthodox, and permission was given for them to be held.

The objection taken to his writings was carried to Rome, which, however, remained passive; "for though as is stated by Dodd, he had wit and learning enough to have occasioned a great disturbance in the Church, yet he wanted interest to make any considerable party, and they had the Charity to think he wanted the will."

One of the charges against him was for attacking the personal Infallibility of the Pope.

Another was for maintaining, in a pamphlet, that all Governments as soon as established might be accepted as accomplished facts.

This seems to have been written for Cromwell, in the hope of gaining some measure of toleration for Catholics from the Commonwealth.

Blacklow was not only a theologian, but a skilful mathematician, and was an intimate friend both of Descartes and Hobbes.

He died at his lodgings in Drury Lane, July 6, 1676, aged 94, and was buried in St. Martin's Church, in the Fields, near the pulpit. His portrait has been engraved by Vertue.

"His learning and parts were universally acknowledged and his morals without a blemish." Dodd, vol. iii. p. 285.

His Latin works were thirty-five in number, dealing chiefly with Philosophical and Theological subjects. His English works—chiefly Theological, devotional or controversial—numbered thirteen.

Chapter 3

CHAPTER III.

The third President of the College was Rev. William Hart, alias Holdcroft, a native of Lancashire, whose administration, both in its immediate and subsequent results, was very disastrous. He held the office for three years, from 1634 to 1637, when he was deposed for mismanagement and recalled to England.

Dodd says of him: "He was a person of singular parts, learning and conduct."

During the period which elapsed until the Rev. Peter Clarence, who had been educated at Seville, was nominated to the dignity, Father Daniel, one of the original students from Douay who at that time was Senior Superior, supplied the place of President. Father Clarence arrived in June, 1638, but did not enter upon his duties till the following year. In the April previous to his arrival the founder of the College, Don Pedro Coutinho, died. His funeral obsequies were performed with a degree of splendour, till then unexampled in Portugal in the case of a private person. All the Religious Communities in the city, together with the majority of the Secular clergy attended, and great numbers of the poor, to whom his purse had always been open, swelled the procession. His body was interred in the Franciscan Church of St. Jozè de Ribamar, to which he had been a benefactor. It is situated on the right bank of the Tagus, about five miles below Lisbon, where his tomb may be seen with the following epitaph inscribed upon it.

Aquijaz quern foi Dom. Pedro Coutinho. (Here lies he who was Dom. Pedro Coutinho.)

In assuming the government of the house, Father Clarence had many difficulties to contend with, owing to the misconduct of his predecessor.

The affairs of the establishment were in utter disorder; domestic discipline was falling to decay, and a heavy debt had been suffered to accumulate. In a short time, however, he succeeded by prudence and firmness in restoring the Community to its former flourishing condition.

By the Rules, the domestic economy of the house in its various branches is committed to the care and super vision of Prefects chosen from the more advanced students, a wise regulation which tends to produce in their minds a consciousness of responsibility, and develop an aptitude for management which, to some extent, prepares them for the more weighty duties which after wards they will be called upon to undertake on the Mission. For the direction of these Prefects Father Clarence drew up a variety of useful regulations calculated to prove very beneficial to domestic economy. His attention, however, was not confined to the mere material interests of the College, he was also desirous to promote its intellectual advancement, and, with this end in view, he directed his efforts, and successfully, to obtaining the necessary public permission from the Portuguese Authorities, to carry into effect the privilege of conferring degrees.

This right, both at the College and in England, was always considered to belong to the establishment: and in the course of the present sketch we shall meet with many eminent individuals who received in it the Doctor's Cap, and whose title to the distinction was never questioned. The first person thus honoured was Father Edward Daniel, whose name has already been several times mentioned, and on whom the degrees of Bachelor and Doctor of Divinity were conferred towards the close of the year 1640. It was during the short but flourishing rule of Father Clarence that the College had to regret the loss of Father Newman, one of its first and best friends, who may fairly claim to be considered, with Coutinho, co of the establishment. Though he never filled any public office in the College, he successfully carried through at the Court of Madrid the negotiations for its foundation.

During his life-time the Residency, as it was called, of which establishment he was the Rector, was made over to the College, and at his death he left to it all the property which he possessed, which in money amounted to £250. This venerable and truly pious ecclesiastic contracted the fever of which he died by his generous attendance on the hospital at a time when a virulent contagious influence was raging within it. Besides the office of Rector of the English Residence, he also held those of Chaplain to St. George's Castle and Interpreter to the Inquisition.

Father Clarence resigned the Presidency of the College in 1642, and was succeeded in his office by the Rev. Father Daniel who thus became the fourth President, and, as the first of the sons of Alma Mater to receive that honour, he is deserving of a more detailed notice.

He was a native of Cornwall, and after completing his Philosophy and a year of Divinity at Douay, he was chosen to be one of the number of those who were sent to colonize the new establishment at Lisbon. Here he distinguished himself so much by his talents and application that at the conclusion of his studies, he was considered eminently qualified to take a leading part in the schools, and he was appointed first to the Chair of Philosophy and afterwards to that of Theology. His abilities were universally known and acknowledged. For seven successive years, he, twice annually, presided at the defence of public Theses, on which occasions the most learned members of the numerous religious Orders in Lisbon appeared as the antagonists of his pupils. During part of this period he added to the occupation of Professor those of Confessarius and Prefect of Studies.