Henry More (1586–1661) was an English

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

provincial and church historian.

Biography

Henry More was the son of Edward More, and great-grandson of

Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, theologian, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VII ...

, lord chancellor of England. He was born in 1586 in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, according to the majority of the provincial catalogues, though a few of them give Cambridgeshire as the county of his birth. More made his humanity studies in the college of the English Jesuits at St. Omer, and entered the novitiate of St. John's, Louvain, 19 November 1607. His higher studies were probably made in Spain. In 1614, More filled the office of minister in the English college of St. Alban at Valladolid; he held the same office in the college at St. Omer in 1621; and he was professed of the four vows on 12 May 1622. From 1622 until 1632, he was a missioner in the London district. More was one of the Jesuits arrested at the

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell ( ) is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an Civil Parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish from the medieval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The St James's C ...

residence by the officers of the privy council in March 1628. In 1632, he was in confinement in the

New Prison The New Prison was a prison located in the Clerkenwell area of central London between c.1617 and 1877. The New Prison was used to house prisoners committed for examination before the police magistrates, for trial at the sessions, for want of bai ...

, London, and was released in December 1633. He then became chaplain to John Petre at

Ingatestone Ingatestone is a village and former civil parish in Essex, England, with a population of 5,409 inhabitants at the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census. Just north lies the village of Fryerning; the two now forming the parish of Ingatestone ...

and

Thorndon Hall Thorndon Hall is a Georgian Palladian country house within Thorndon Park, Ingrave, Essex, England, approximately two miles south of Brentwood and from central London. Formerly the country seat of the Petre family who now reside at nearby ...

, Essex. In 1635, More was declared

provincial superior A provincial superior is an officer of a religious institute (including religious orders) acting under the institute's Superior General. A provincial superior exercises general supervision over all the members of that institute in a territorial ...

of his order. Again imprisoned, he was set free in July 1640. In 1642, More was vice-provincial of the order, residing in London, and acting for

Matthew Wilson Matthew James Wilson (born 29 January 1987) is a British rally driver from Cockermouth in Cumbria. He is the son of M-Sport boss and former World Rally Championship driver Malcolm Wilson. Wilson competed in the WRC for the Stobart M-Sport For ...

, the provincial, who was absent in Belgium. In 1645, he was rector of the college of St. Ignatius, which comprised the London district. He became rector of the college at St. Omer, and in 1655 he was again residing in Essex. In 1657, he was for the second time rector of the college at St. Omer, and he died at Watten, near that city, on 8 December 1661.

Works

During these latter years he wrote his history of the English Jesuits: ''Historia Missionis Anglicanæ, ab anno MDLXXX ad MDCXXXV'' (St. Omer, 1660, fol.). Besides translating Jerome Platus's ''Happiness of the Religious State'' (1632), and the ''Manual of Meditations'' by Thomas de Villa Castin (1618), he wrote ''Vita et Doctrina Christi Domini in meditationes quotidianas per annum digesta'' (Antwerp, 1649), followed by an English version, entitled, ''Life and Doctrines of our Saviour Jesus Christ'' (Ghent, 1656, in two parts; London, 1880).

References

;Attribution * * 1586 births 1661 deaths 17th-century English Jesuits Historians of Jesuit history Recusants {{England-reli-bio-stub