John Percy (or Piercey; alias John Fisher; born 27 September 1569,
Durham – died 3 December 1641, London) 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 ...
priest and controversialist.
Life
A Catholic convert aged 14, he went first to
Reims
Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...
, in 1586, then to the
English College, Rome
The Venerable English College (), commonly referred to as the English College, is a Catholic seminary in Rome, Italy, for the training of priests for England and Wales. It was founded in 1579 by William Allen on the model of the English Colleg ...
, 1589–94. Returning to Belgium, he entered the Jesuit
novitiate
The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...
, 2 May 1594, and then set out for England in 1596. He was, however, arrested by the Dutch, tortured, and sent prisoner to London.
He managed to escape, and became the companion of
Father Gerard in several adventures. He was seized at
Great Harrowden
Great Harrowden is a village and civil parish in North Northamptonshire, with a population (including Hardwick) at the 2011 census of 161. The village is located near the A509 road running between Kettering and Wellingborough. The village for ...
(November, 1605) at the time of the
Gunpowder Plot
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was an unsuccessful attempted regicide against James VI and I, King James VI of Scotland and I of England by a group of English ...
, but was eventually banished at the request of the Spanish ambassador (1606). Retiring to Belgium he was for a time head of the English Jesuits, then professor of Scripture at the Jesuit house of studies in
Leuven
Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...
, after which he returned again to England.
He was again imprisoned and condemned to death (1610). He had already begun to write on current controversies, and when
James I of England
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 unti ...
desired a series of disputations in 1622, Percy, who was then in a prison in London, was required to defend the Catholic side. In these disputations King James himself and
William Laud
William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I of England, Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Caroline era#Religion, Charles I's religious re ...
took a leading part. These controversies were afterwards printed and discussed by Percy and
John Floyd on the Catholic side, and by Laud,
Francis White, John White,
Daniel Featley
Daniel Featley, also called Fairclough and sometimes called Richard Fairclough/Featley (15 March 158217 April 1645), was an English theologian and controversialist. He fell into difficulties with Parliament due to his loyalty to Charles I of E ...
, and
Anthony Wotton on the Protestant.
[W. B. Patterson, ''King James VI and I and the Reunion of Christendom'' (1997), pp. 342-345, for a full account.]
Percy was eventually released in 1625 and ordered to banishment in 1635; but he was allowed to remain in London until his death. As a result of Percy's efforts,
Mary, Countess of Buckingham
Mary Villiers, Countess of Buckingham (née Beaumont; c. 1570 – 19 April 1632) was an English peeress. She is perhaps best known as the mother of the royal favourite George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. She was the daughter of Anthony B ...
and
William Chillingworth
William Chillingworth (12 October 160230 January 1644) was a controversial English churchman.
Early life
He was born in Oxford, where his father served as mayor; William Laud was his godfather. In June 1618 he became a scholar of Trinity Colleg ...
became converts to the Catholic Church.
See also
*
Henry Foley, ''Records of the English Province of the Society of Jesus''(London, 1877);
*
Sommervogel
Carlos Sommervogel (8 January 1834 – 4 March 1902) was a French Jesuit scholar. He was author of the monumental ''Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus'', which served as one of the major references for the editors of the Catholic Encyclo ...
, ''Bibliothèque de la C. de J.'' (Paris, 1892);
*
William Laud
William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I of England, Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Caroline era#Religion, Charles I's religious re ...
, ''Conference with Fisher the Jesuit'' (London, 1901).
Notes
References
;Attribution
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Percy, John
Converts to Roman Catholicism
1569 births
1641 deaths
Clergy from Durham, England
16th-century English Jesuits
17th-century English Jesuits
Academic staff of the Old University of Leuven