Robert Persons "The Christian Directory" Prologomena to an Edition

319 Pages·16.751 MB·English

by  Broderick, Edwin B

ROBERT PERSONS THE CHRISTIAN DIRECTORY:
PROLOGOMENA TO AN EDITION
BY
REVEREND EDWIN B. BRODERICK
B.A ., C athedral C ollege, *38
M.A,, Fordham U niversity, *45
DISSERTATION
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT
OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE AT FORDHAM UNIVERSITY
NEW YORK
1951
ProQuest Number: 10993009
All rights reserved
INFORMATION TO ALL USERS
The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted.
In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript
and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed,
a note will indicate the deletion.
uest
ProQuest 10993009
Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author.
All rights reserved.
This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code
Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC.
ProQuest LLC.
789 East Eisenhower Parkway
P.O. Box 1346
Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346
i i i
r ~i
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Page
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS .......................................................... iv
PREFACE,..................... v
I . PRELUDE TO THE CHRISTIAN DIRECTORY. .......... 1
H . THE CHRISTIAN DIRECTORY. ............. 41
I I I . THE STYLE OF THE CHRISTIAN DIRECTORY......................... 96
THE CRITICAL ESTIMATES OF PERSONS' STYLE ....... 140
POPULARITY AND INFLUENCE OF THE CHRISTIAN
DIRECTORY .........777.777777777................ 142
IV. THE SOURCES FOR THE CHRISTIAN DIRECTORY. . . . . . . . . 152
A lleged Sources
Adm itted Sources
Unadmitted Sources
V . THE PERSONS -BUNNY CONTROVERSY........................................... 197
APPENDIX A................. 239
The C atholic and P rotestant T raditions
APPENDIX B . ................ 242
The E ditions and Locations of The
C h ristian D irectory
APPENDIX C................ 253
Persons ' Preface of 1607
APPENDIX D . ............ 253
The Preface of George Stanhope - 1754
APPENDIX E................ 267
Specimens of Persons * L iterary Style
BIBLIOGRAPHY. ................ 285
L J
iv
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Illu s tra tions Page
1. The F irs t Booke of the C hristian Exercise - 1582. . . 55
2. The F irs t Booke of the C hristian exercise - 1584... 60
3. A C h ristian D ireetorie - 1585. . . . . ................ 62
4. The C h ristian D irectory - 1607.............. 93
5. The Exercise of a C hristian L ife . ................ 153
6 . A Booke of C h ristian exercise - 1 5 8 4 .................... I 9S
7. Coat of Arms ..................... 200
8 . A T reatise Tending to P a c ific a tio n . ..................... 203
9 . A Table declaring the Method of Treatm ent................ 206
10. A B riefe Answer............................. 221
V
PREFACE
The study of the C atholic Recusants of E lizab eth fs
reign is a fascin atin g and rew arding exploration of a
co lo rfu l lite ra ry and h isto ric a l period. Y et, lam entably,
th e ir lite ra ry output remains a buried treasu re, sounded
only su p e rfic ia lly , sometimes inaccurately.
Even the most popular of Recusant works, The C hristian
D irectory, had never been se t in its proper lite ra ry fram e.
If the unfolding of th is in flu e n tia l devotional tre a tise of
a famous English Recusant w ill a t le a st confirm the e x ist­
ence of one of these hidden treasures and possibly in sp ire
others b e tte r equipped to unearth many more, my e ffo rt w ill
be consolingly rewarded.
I am sin cerely g ratefu l to my benefactors who were more
generous than my work m erits: To Father Gustave Dumas, S .J .,
Dean of Fordham U niversity Graduate School of A rts and
Sciences, fo r his considerations, to Doctor Charles Donahue
fo r his sym pathetic d irectio n , to Doctor Grover Cronin and
to Doctor A lbert Budford fo r th e ir valuable suggestions, to
the D irectors of The Folger Shakespeare L ibrary, W ashington,
B .C ., and The Henry Huntington L ibrary and A rt G allery, San
M arino, C alifo rn ia, as w ell as to the C urator of the Uni­
v e rsity of Cambridge L ibrary in London, fo r providing the
source m aterials, and to my Superiors of the Archdiocese
of Hew York fo r making possible my studies a t Fordham
l U niversity. J
“i
r
ROBERT PERSONS THE CHRISTIAN DIRECTORY;
PROLOGOMSNA TO AN EDITION
ji
L
1
CHAPTER I
PRELUDE TO THE CHRISTIAN DIRECTORY
At tH© accession of Queen E lizabeth on November 17,
I 558 England was in fu ll communion w ith the Holy See. The
Episcopate was so lid ly C atholic, as were the chief m inisters
and the Queen*s household o ffic e rs. The new Queen, however,
had l i t t l e contact w ith the old relig io u s groupings. In
the few years of her s is te r ’s reign she had been forced to
liv e as a C atholic, to hear Mass and to frequent the Sacra­
ments from time to tim e; but fo r h erself she seems to have
possessed a profound and probably scep tical indifference on
dogmatic questions. This was a llie d to a d ista ste fo r her
s is te r ’s methods and b e liefs and a consciousness of the
p o litic a l fo lly of her policy in re lig io n .1
Queen Mary’s resto ra tio n of relig io u s property had
induced a sta te of in secu rity in the minds of the many
w ealthy Englishmen who had fo rtifie d th e ir private fortunes
from m onastic land. The reign and the Spanish m arriage had
not brought success e ith e r in home a ffa irs or in the foreign
war; C alais had been lo st and the old m inisters d iscred ited .
At the same time the new ad v isers, men lik e C ecil and Bacon,
were rad ic ally anti-C ath olic and opposed to the old system
of e c c le sia stic a l influence in p o litie s . Besides in the
1. David Mathew, C atholicism in England, London, Longmans,
Green & C o., 1936, p. 51.
©yes of the Papal C uria E lizabeth was a b astard .^ I t is
not possible to fathom the Queen*s ideas. A determ ination
to keep free from Spain is apparent. She seems to have
f e lt th a t a C atholic framework fo r her m ental lif e would
be in to le ra b le. W hatever the m otive, she alm ost immediate-
2
ly embarked on a very d e fin ite course of actio n .
At Chris tanas the Queen forbade the elevation of the
Host in her presence, a t E aster she received Communion
under both form s. On A pril 29, 1559 the Act of Supremacy
was passed declaring the Queen supreme governor of the
realm as w ell in a ll s p iritu a l or e c c le sia stic a l things or
causes as in tem poral and assertin g th at no foreign prince
or p relate had any e c c le sia stic a l or sp iritu a l au th o rity
w ithin her dominions . An Act of U niform ity of relig io n
was enacted, a Book of Common Prayer reintroduced. By
June 24 the Mass was to be abolished, the C atholic a lta rs
taken down and the new service book brought into use.^
Yet no p relate accepted th is oath of supremacy, the
aged Bishop of L landaff excepted. In the town a great many
clergy follow ed the bishop# in th e ir refu sal to accept the
separation from Home and the ab o litio n of the Mass. On the
other hand the lay peers and Commons made l i t t l e p ro test.
1. Leo H icks, S .J ., “Wanted, a New And True H istory of
Queen E lizab eth ,” The Month. ChV (March 1930), 212.
2 . Conyers Read, Mr. S ecretary Walsingham, Cambridge,
Harvard U niversT tyP ress, 1925, p .1 2 7 .
3 . Richard B. Merriman, “Some Notes on the Treatm ent of the
English C atholics in the Reign of E lizab eth ,” AHR, ILL
(January I 905) , 485.
3
"The bulk of the la ity found no great d iffic u lty in tra n s­
ferrin g its allegiance from the old Church to the new. 1,1
Eventually those in whom the desire fo r the sacram ental
lif e was strong survived to form the C atholic m inority,
w hile the mere preference fo r tra d itio n gave way before
the pressure of the S tate and the a ttra c tio n which a dig­
n ifie d E stablished Church must exercise on a conservative
c la ss. A su itab le clergy came in time to m inister to
th e ir needs and the A nglican s p iritu a lity developed as the
2
appropriate background to th is in su lar national endeavor.
From 1559 t i l l 1570, th is position remained roughly
unchanged.
If by the term p ractisin g C atholic only those
who reso lu tely refused any attendance a t the
A nglican services are understood, i t is clear
how weak the old relig io n was becoming in the
court c irc le s, and in many parts of the coun­
try . 3
During these years the laws against the old relig io n had
been enforced w ith some degree of m oderation. The gov­
ernment concentrated on deprivation of rig h ts rath er than
other p en alties. "Repression of disorder and re s tra in t of
individuals where a c tiv ity might be p o litic a lly dangerous
were in general the only purpose of th at p o licy ."2* I t had
1. John B. Black, The Reign of E lizabeth, Oxford, C laren­
don P ress, I 936, p. I 34.
2. John H. P ollen, S .J ., "Blessed Edmund Campion*s C hal­
lenge, *" The Month, CXV (March I 9IO ), 54.
3 . David Mathew, og. c i t . , p. 32.
4. A rthur K lein, Intolerance in the Reign of E lizabeth,
Boston, Houghton ’M F flin CoT,“T 9 l7 7 p 7 35.----------------
L
been deemed su ffic ie n t to exclude C atholics from public
o ffice and from places of influence, and w ith making the
coming of new p rie sts im possible. The motives for which
the Queen wished to get rid of C atholicism were to be
sought, as fa r as she was concerned, in p o litic a l con­
sid eratio n .
wIn 1571 the carefu lly la id and rem arkably successful
plans of the government to secure by a broad and inclusive
policy the adherence of C atholics to the establishm ent were
rudely d istu rb ed .If^ Moved to anger by the risin g of the
e a rls, the B ull of Excommunication and the B id o lfi p lo t,
Parliam ent in I 57I made i t treason to declare th a t the
Queen was not or ought not to be Queen, or to bring into
England a papal b u ll. Im porters of a rtic le s blessed by
the Pope were subjected to severe p en alties, and C atholics
who had fled to the C ontinent were ordered to retu rn w ithin
six months under pain of confiscation of th e ir property.
Again, in I 58I i t was made treason to attem pt to convert a
subject of the Queen to the C atholic fa ith , the saying or
hearing of Mass was forbidden under severe p en alties, and
2
C atholic recusants were fined twenty pounds a month.
I t was E lizab eth fs hope th at w ith the death of the
native E nglish p riests the old relig io n would likew ise d ie.
1. Ib id . . p. 37.
2. Joseph Clayton, ”The E nglish D isruption in the Sixteenth
C entury," The Church (ed. Charles L attey, S .J .) , London,
Burns, O ates, 1927, p . 2&J.