Thomas Copley, alias Philip Fisher (1596 – 1652) 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 ...
missionary in North America.
Copley Hall, a residence hall at
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...
, is named after Thomas Copley.
Life
He was the eldest son of William Copley of
Gatton, England, and grandson of
Sir Thomas Copley, of a
recusant
Recusancy (from ) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation.
The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign of Elizabeth I, and temporarily repea ...
family. He arrived in Maryland in 1637, and, being a man of great executive ability, took over the care of the mission, "a charge which at that time required rather business men than missionaries".
In 1645, Fisher was arrested and carried in chains to England, with
Father Andrew White, the founder of the English mission in America. After enduring hardships he was released, and returned to Maryland (February, 1648). He made an effort to enter
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
; this appears from a letter written 1 March 1648, to the Jesuit General
Vincenzo Carafa in Rome, in which he says: There is no further record bearing on the projected visit. Neill, in his "Terra Mariae" (p. 70), and Smith in his "Religion under the Barons of Baltimore" (p. VII), confuse this Father Thomas Copley of Maryland with an apostate Catholic, John Copley, who was never a Jesuit. Father Fisher is mentioned in the missionary annals of Maryland, and, according to Hughes, was "the most distinguished man among the fourteen Jesuits who had worked in Maryland".
References
;Attribution
*
* The entry cites:
**Hughes, "History of the Society of Jesus in North America" (London and New York, 1907), Text, I passim; Documents I, part I;
**
John Gilmary Shea
John Dawson Gilmary Shea (July 22, 1824 – February 22, 1892) was a writer, editor, and historian of United States, American history in general and American Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic history specifically. He was also a leading auth ...
, "The Catholic Church in Colonial Days" (New York, 1886), 38, 46-47, 53;
**
Henry Foley, ''Records of the English Province of the Society of Jesus'' (London, 1882), VII, 255;
**Dorsey, "Life of Father Thomas Copley", published in "
Woodstock Letters
The ''Woodstock Letters'' were a periodical publication by the Society of Jesus. Originally published by Woodstock College in Maryland, the letters were intended for distribution among of the Jesuits in North America and later South America
...
", XIV, 223; "Woodstock Letters", XI, 18-24; XII, 104-105; XV, 44, 47;
**
George Oliver, "Collections ... Scotch, English and Irish Members of S.J." (London, 1845), 91, 92;
**Russell, "Maryland, the Land of the Sanctuary" (Baltimore, 1907), 88, 125, 127, 156-159, 171-173;
**
{{DEFAULTSORT:Copley, Thomas
1596 births
1652 deaths
17th-century English Jesuits
Roman Catholic missionaries in the United States
People from colonial Maryland