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5 - The Society of Jesus in the Three Kingdoms

from Part II - European Foundations of the Jesuits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 September 2008

Thomas Worcester
Affiliation:
College of the Holy Cross, Massachusetts
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Summary

Despite subsequent hagiographical embellishment, we know very little about Ignatius Loyola's sojourn in England in 1531 when, as a student at the University of Paris, he visited the island to beg money from Spanish merchants. We know more about the diplomatic mission of Alfonso Salmerón and Paschase Broët, two of Loyola's first companions, to Irish ecclesiastical and secular leaders in rebellion against King Henry VIII in 1541-42, and the activities of two Jesuits sent to Scotland and Ireland by Pope Pius V in the 1560s. The Dutch Jesuit Nicolas da Gouda concluded that only Mary Stuart's marriage to a strong Catholic prince could save orthodoxy. Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, may not have been the strong Catholic prince that da Gouda recommended but Catholic hopes blossomed after his marriage to Mary. Until Mary had secured Catholicism's position in Scotland, there would be no Jesuit mission. But by May 1568 Mary was under house arrest in England and her infant son James under the protection of a staunch Protestant regent. David Wolfe carried papal letters of introduction to Irish leaders contesting Elizabeth's authority. As Wolfe nominated suitable candidates for Irish bishoprics, two Jesuits operated a small school in and around Limerick. The Englishman William Good was never happy: his continual complaints about the impossibility of religious life in these circumstances, along with increased enforcement of anti-Catholic legislation, prompted his religious superiors to recall the Jesuits in 1570. After a period in prison, Wolfe was on the continent in 1573, seeking Spanish aid for the FitzGerald revolt, which led to his departure from the Society circa 1577.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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