Robert Persons

Robert Persons (alternativt Parsons, født 24. juni 1546 i Nether Stowey i Somerset i England, død 15. april 1610 i Roma) var en engelsk katolsk prest tilhørende jesuittordenen; han dro på hemmelig oppdrag for å stryrke katolikkene i England, opprettet en rekke skoler og kollegier i Frankrike og i Spania, forfattet mange religiøse og politiske skrifter, og oppfordret Spania til å invadere England.

Liv og virke

Bakgrunn
Robert Persons far var yeoman. Sognepresten på hjemstedet, fader John Hayward, var en tidligere munk, og han hjalp Robert slik at han i 1562 ble sendt til høyrere utdannelse ved St Mary Hall i Oxford. Etter at han hadde tatt sin eksamen ble han i 1568 fellow og tutor ved Balliol College i Oxford. Men han kom i konflikt med Master der, Adam Squire, og likeså med akademikeren og den katolske prest Christopher Bagshaw. Han ble tvunget til å fratre den 13. februar 1574. Det var fremkommet at han var katolikk, og da ble det utilrådelig å forbli.

Jesuitt
Robert Persons begav seg da istedet ut til kontinentet, etter drøftelser med jesuitten William Good, og der ble han selv jesuitt ved San Paolo fuori le Mura i Roma den 3. juli 1575.

Jesuittenes generalsuperior, Everard Mercurian, var den gang nølende til å involvere ordenen direkte i den engelske kirkelige situasjon. Han ble i oktober 1579 imidlertid overtalt av en italiensk jesuittprovinsial, pater og senere generalsuperior Claudio Acquaviva, etter at kardinal William Allen hadde funnet Mercurian vanskelig å vende. Persons var rask til å skaffe  seg oversikt over engelske rekutter til jesuittene, og planla å opprette et samarbeid med de gjenværende sekularprester i England. Han ble utålmodig med fader Goods tilnærming. Fader Campion var klart mindre entusiastisk enn Persons var.

Persons slo følge med kollegaen pater Edmund Campion på Campions misjon til England i 1578. Denne misjon ble imidlertid i overkant farefull ved det at pave Gregor XIII hadde sendt en separat gruppe for å yte bistand til den irske opprøreren James FitzMaurice FitzGerald. Verken Persons eller Campion kjente til dette, men fikk kunnskap om det først da de var i Reims i Frankrike, på vei tll England.Videre via Saint-Omer kom de to jesuittene seg til London. Kort etter ankomsten sammenkalte fader Persons en hemmelig treff med katolske prester i Southwark for å planlegge og koordinere. Deretter reiste Parsons rundt i England som predikant. Mot slutten av 1580 opprettet han et katolsk hemmelig trykkeri  i Barking. Der trykket han sine skrifter A brief discourse containing certain Reasons Why Catholics refuse to go to Church og Confessio fidei. 

Etter at pater Campion i juli 1581 var blitt arrestert i England, blitt torturert og til slutt henrettet på Tyburn den 1. desember 1581 flyktet Persons fra England for alltid.

Den 30. august 1581 nådde Persons Rouen, der han grunnla en gutteskole. Senere ble skolen flyttet til St. Omer, og senere ble den flyttet til Stonyhurst.  

Våren 1582 reiste Persons til Spania for å vinne kong Filip II for en invasjon av England. Sammen med kardinalen William Allen håpet han på at den spanske armada raskt skulle erobre England, noe som slett ikke gikk slik. Etter det mislykkede angrepet tilbragte Persons ni år i Spania. 

Han håpet på å overrta Allens plass som kardinal etter dennes død, men slik ble det heller ikke. I stedet ble Persons utsett til rektor ved Collegium Anglorum i Roma. Der oppstod hans viktigste verk åndelig sett, Directorium. 

I 1588 ble Persons sendt tilbake til Spania, der han opprettet presteskoler i Valladolid, Sevilla og Madrid. I 1594 offentliggjorde han sitt politisk mest kjente verk,  A Conference about the next Succession to the Crown of England, der han går inn for den spanske prinsesse Isabellas tronfølge.

Han døde i Roma 15. april 1610.

Persons ble senere mistenkt for å ha vært hjernen bak kruttsammensvergelsen, men det er feilaktig fordi det var Robert Catesby som lå bak denne konspirasjon.

Verker
Persons publiserte verker var:
 A brief discovrs contayning certayne reasons why Catholiques refuse to goe to Church . . . dedicated by I. H. to the queenes most excellent Maiestie. Doway, John Lyon [London], 1580. This work was from a clandestine press in London, printed as a consequence of decisions at a synod at Southwark held not long after Persons and Campion landed. It was aimed at implementing a 1563 declaration of Pope Pius IV that Catholics should not mix with heretics.
 A Discouerie of I. Nicols, minister, misreported a Jesuite, latelye recanted in the Tower of London. Doway [London], 1580. Printed by Persons at Stonor Park, it concerned a renegade Catholic priest.
 A briefe censure upon two bookes written in answer to M. Edmund Campians offer of disputation. Doway, John Lyon [really at Mr. Brooke's house near London], 1581. Against William Charke and Meredith Hanmer, who had engaged in controversy with Campion.
 De persecvtione Anglicana commentariolus a collegio Anglicano Romano hoc anno 1582 in vrbe editus et iam denuo Ingolstadii excusus . . . anno eodem. Also, De persecutione Angl. libellus, Romæ, ex typogr. G. Ferrarii, 1582.

 A Defence of the censvre gyven vpon tvvo bookes of William Charke and Meredith Hanmer, mynysters, 1582.
 The first booke of the Christian exercise, appertayning to Resolution [Rouen], 1582. Preface signed R. P. Afterwards much enlarged, under the title of A Christian Directorie, guiding men to their saluation, devided into three books, anno 1585, and often reprinted (40 editions by 1640). This was a major devotional work in English, and was soon adapted by Edmund Bunny to Protestant needs.
 Relacion de algunos martyres ... en Inglaterra, traduzida en Castellano, 1590. William Thomas Lowndes considered that Persons was the probable author of this work on the English martyrs, as well as its translator into Spanish.
 Elizabethæ Angliæ reginæ hæresim Calvinianam propvgnantis sævissimvm in Catholicos sui regni Edictvm . . . promulgatum Londini 29 Nouembris 1591. Cum responsione ad singula capita . . . per D. Andream Philopatrum, presb. ac theol. Romanum, Lvgduni, 1592. This Latin work was a detailed rebuttal of a proclamation of Elizabeth I of October 1591, against seminary priests and Jesuits.
 A Conference abovt the next svccession to the crowne of Ingland, divided into tvvo partes. . . . Where vnto is added a new & perfect arbor or genealogie.... Published by R. Doleman. Imprinted at N. [St. Omer] with license, 1594. The book suggests Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain as the proper successor.

 A Memoriall for the Reformation of England conteyning certayne notes and advertisements which seeme might be proposed in the first parliament and nationall councell of our country after God of his mercie shall restore it to the catholique faith [...]; gathered and set downe by R. P., 1596. Left in manuscript, the circulation having included Isabella Clara Eugenia. It was first published in 1690 by Edward Gee, as Jesuits Memorial for the intended Reformation of England.
 A Temperate Ward-word to the turbulent and seditious Wach-word of Sir Francis Hastinges, knight, who indevoreth to slander the whole Catholique cause.... By N. D. 1599. Controversy with Sir Francis Hastings.
 The Copie of a letter written by F. Rob. Persons, the jesuite, 9 Oct. 1599, to M. D. Bis[op] and M. Cha[rnock], two banished and consigned priests... for presuming to goe to Rome in the affaires of the Catholicke church. This was printed in Copies of certain Discourses, Roane, 1601, pp. 49–67, edited by William Bishop, one of the appellants in the Archpriest controversy; the other appellant named is Robert Charnock.
 A Briefe Apologie or Defence of the Catholike ecclesiastical hierarchie & subordination in England, erected these later yeares by our holy Father ... and impugned by certayne libels printed ... by some vnquiet persons under the name of priests of the seminaries. Written ... by priests vnited in due subordination to the right rev. Archpriest [early in 1602]. Anti-appellant work in the Archpriest controversy.
 An Appendix to the Apologie lately set forth for the defence of the hierarchie [1602]. A Latin translation of the 'Appendix' was also published in the same year.
 A Manifestation of the great folly and bad spirit of certayne in England calling themselves secular priestes, who set forth dayly most infamous and contumelious libels against worthy men of their own religion. By priests liuing in obedience, 1602. Anti-appellant work in the Archpriest controversy.
 The Warn-word to Sir F. Hastings Wastword: conteyning the issue of three former treatises, the Watchword, the Ward-word, and the Wastword . . . Whereunto is adjoyned a brief rejection of an insolent . . . minister masked with the letters O. E. (i.e. Matthew Sutcliffe). By N. D., 1602.
 A Treatise of Three Conversions of England ... divided into three parts. The former two whereof are handled in this book. . . . By N. D., author of the Ward-word, 1603. Polemical work against John Foxe's anti-Catholic reading of history.
 The Third part of a treatise intituled of the Three Conversions of England. Conteyning an examen of the Calendar or Catalogue of Protestant saints . . . devised by Fox. By N. D. (forord datert november 1603).
 A Review of ten pvblike dispvtations or conferences held within the compasse of foure yeares vnder K. Edward and Qu. Mary. By N.D., 1604 (separately paged but issued with third part of 'Three Conversions).

 A Relation of the triall made before the king of France upon the yeare 1600 betweene the bishop of Évreux and the L. Plessis Mornay. Newly reviewed . . . with a defence thereof against the impugnations both of the L. Plessis in France and O. E. in England. By N. D., 1604. On the debate at Fontainebleau on 4 May 1600 between Jacques-Davy Duperron and Philippe de Mornay.
 An Ansvvere to the fifth part of Reportes lately set forth by Syr Edward Cooke knight, the King's attorney generall, concerning the ancient and moderne municipal lawes of England, which do appertayne to spiritual power and jurisdiction. By a Catholick Deuyne [St. Omer], 1606. Polemical work against Sir Edward Coke's anti-Catholic reading of the common law.
 Quæstiones duæ: quarum 1a est, an liceat Catholicis Anglicanis . . . Protestantium ecclesias vel preces adire: 2da utrum non si precibus ut concionibus saltem hæreticis . . . licite possint interesse easque audire [St. Omer], 1607. Pope Paul V had repeated the declaration against Catholics attending Protestant churches.
 A treatise tending to mitigation tovvards Catholicke-subiectes in England. . . . Against the seditious wrytings of Thomas Morton, minister. By P. R., 1607 (the first part is on rebellion, the second concerns the doctrine of equivocation). Written in the aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot, the work argues for religious toleration in England.
 The Judgment of a Catholicke Englishman liuing in banishment for his religion . . . concerning a late booke [by K. James] entituled: Triplici nodo triplex cuneus, or an apologie for the oath of allegiance. . . . wherin the said oath is shewn to be vnlawful. . . . 1608. Contribution to the allegiance oath controversy.
 Dutifull and respective considerations upon foure severall heads . . . proposed by the high and mighty Prince James ... in his late book of Premonition to all Christian princes. . . . By a late minister and preacher in England, St. Omer, 1609 (written by Persons for Humphrey Leech, under whose name it appeared). Argues for tolerance for Catholicism in its integrity.
 A quiet and sober reckoning with M. Thomas Morton, somewhat set in choler by his advesary P. R. ... There is also adioyned a peece of reckoning with Syr Edward Cooke, now LL. Chief Justice, 1609. Against Thomas Morton, who had argued that recusant Catholics were necessarily disloyal, Persons argued that Catholicism could co-exist peacefully with the Church of England.
 A Discussion of the answer of M. William Barlow, Doctor of Diuinity, to the book intituled, The Judgment of a Catholic Englishman, St. Omers, 1612 (published after Persons's death, with a supplement by Thomas Fitzherbert). Reply to William Barlow in the allegiance oath controversy.
 Epitome controversiarum hujus temporis was a manuscript preserved in Balliol College.

Feilattribuert
An Apologicall Epistle: directed to the right honorable lords and others of her majesties privie counsell. Serving as well for a preface to a Booke entituled A Resolution of Religion [signed R. B.], Antwerp, 1601, is by Richard Broughton rather than Persons (as the Dictionary of National Biography says). Some works against Thomas Bell were thought to be by Persons (as in the DNB), but were in fact by Philip Woodward.

Referanser

Litteratur

 
 Victor Houliston: The Lord Treasurer and the Jesuit. Robert Person's Satirical „Responsio“ to the 1591 Proclamation. In: Sixteenth Century Journal. The journal of early modern studies. Bd. 32 (2001), s. 383–401, .
 Ernest A. Strathmann: Ralegh and the Catholic Polemists. I: The Huntington Library Quarterly 1945, .

Personer fra Somerset
Engelske jesuitter
Engelske katolske prester
Katolske misjonærer
Misjonærer i Storbritannia
Britiske misjonærer

Engelske forfattere
Britiske pedagoger