Nathaniel Bacon (14 August 15982 December 1676), better known under the assumed name of Southwell (Sotwel, or Sotvellus in Latin), which he took in honor of the Jesuit poet-martyr, Robert Southwell, 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 ...

who served in Rome from 1647 until his death as "Secretarius" of the Society of Jesus under four Jesuit generals.

Biography

Nathaniel was the son of Thomas Bacon and Elizabeth his wife. He was born on 14 August 1598 in

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, probably at Sculthorpe, near

Walsingham Walsingham () is a civil parish in North Norfolk, England, famous for its religious shrines in honour of Mary, mother of Jesus. It also contains the ruins of two medieval Christian monasticism, monastic houses.Ordnance Survey (2002). ''OS Expl ...

. Like his brother

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

he studied at the Jesuit

College of St Omer A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary education, tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding academic degree, degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further educatio ...

in the

Spanish Netherlands The Spanish Netherlands (; ; ; ) (historically in Spanish: , the name "Flanders" was used as a '' pars pro toto'') was the Habsburg Netherlands ruled by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs from 1556 to 1714. They were a collection of States of t ...

. He was accepted at the

Venerable English College 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 ...

of Rome, on 8 October 1617 under the pseudonym of Southwell. Ordained priest on 21 December 1622, he was sent to England on 19 September 1624. On 8 March 1625 he entered the

Jesuit Order The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 by ...

. He spent his first year of probation at the

noviciate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monasticism, monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking Religious vows, vows ...

near London then situated either in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Camberwell Camberwell ( ) is an List of areas of London, area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles' Church, Camberwell, St Giles ...

. He moved to Watten for his second year, after which he returned to Rome as minister of the English College in 1627. He was professed of the four vows on 31 July 1634. With the exception of a trip to

Piacenza Piacenza (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Piacenza, eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more ...

(Italy) in November 1637 Bacon remained in Rome for the rest of his life. He worked as minister, procurator, consultor, and confessor at the English College. By 1646 he had moved to the Gesù as secretary to Superior General's assistant for

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. In 1649 he was appointed first pro-secretary and then secretary of the society, a position he held under four successive Superior Generals —

Piccolomini The House of Piccolomini (pronounced ) is the name of an Italian noble family, Patricians of Siena, who were prominent from the beginning of the 13th century until the 18th century. The family achieved the recognized titles of Pope of the Catho ...

, Gottifredi,

Nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

, and

Oliva Oliva (, ; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Comarques of the Valencian Community, ''comarca'' of Safor in the Valencia (autonomous community), Valencian Community, Spain. To its east lie of coastline and beaches fronting t ...

. On retiring from the office in 1668 he served as personal admonitor to

Superior General A superior general or general superior is the leader or head of an 'order' of religious persons (nuns, priests, friars, etc) or, in other words, of a 'religious institute' in the Catholic Church, and in some other Christian denominations. The super ...

Giovanni Paolo Oliva. He died in the

professed house In the Society of Jesus, a professed house was a residence where—in a spirit of radical poverty—no member had a stable income. The Jesuit priests who lived there, all of whom have made the profession of the four vows, undertake their spiritua ...

of the Gesù, at Rome, on 2 December 1676.

Works

He produced an encyclopedic bibliography in

folio The term "folio" () has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging Paper size, sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for ...

, ''Bibliotheca Scriptorum Societatis Jesu'' (Rome, 1676), much admired for its thoroughness and

latinity Latinity (''Latinitas'') is proficiency in Latin. The term may also be used to refer to the use of Latinisms A Latinism (from ) is a word, idiom, or structure in a language other than Latin that is derived from, or suggestive of, the Latin lan ...

, although the listings follow the traditional categorization according to authors' Christian names. This was a continuation of the bibliographies of

Pedro de Ribadeneira Pedro de Ribadeneira (born Pedro Ortiz de Cisneros; 1 November 1527 – 10 September or 22 September 1611) was a Spanish hagiographer, Jesuit priest, companion of Ignatius of Loyola, and a Spanish Golden Age ascetic writer. Life Pedro was b ...

and

Philippe Alegambe Philippe Alegambe (22 January 1592, Brussels, Belgium6 September 1652, Rome, Italy) was a Belgian Jesuit priest and bibliographer. Biography After completing High School studies in Brussels, Alegambe went to Spain, in the service of the Duke o ...

. In the 19th century it was updated by Belgian Jesuits

Augustin de Backer Augustin de Backer (18 July 1809 in Antwerp, Belgium – 1 December 1873 in Liège, Belgium) was a Belgian Jesuit and renowned bibliographer. Early years and Formation De Backer left his country to be educated at the Jesuit schools of Franc ...

and

Carlos 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 ...

as ''Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jesus'', with authors listed by surname, a standard reference work. Southwell wrote also ''A Journal of Meditations for Every Day of the Year'', published in London in 1669. The translator was Edward Harvey alias Mico, a jesuit who died in prison in 1678.''Catholic Magazine'', November 1833, pp. 241–3.

Notes

External links

* * * 1598 births 1676 deaths 17th-century English Jesuits 17th-century English writers 17th-century English male writers {{UK-RC-clergy-stub