CARDINAL ALLEN 1585 TO 1594. ་ braving a thousand perils in order to aid their couragious Catholic flocks in their resistance. And the relics of Catholicism," according to Panzani, "were saved by William Allen. The unpublished Bulls for restoration of the Hierarchy in England, dated in November, 1847, state that Allen "succoured the spiritual wants of England from 1568 to his death in 1594." John Allen, grandson of George Allen, of Brook-house, Yorkshire, and son of John Allen, and his wife Jane, or Johanna, Lister, of Westby, in Yorkshire, was born in 1532 in Lancashire. John Allen and Johanna Lister had issue (besides William, the Cardinal, and Gabriel, and a daughter who married Thomas Heskett) an eldest son, George, or Richard, Allen, of Rossall or Rossehall and Toderstaffe in Lancashire. The widow of this Mr George Allen, Elizabeth Allen, was driven into exile and lived many years at Louvain, where she died. Her three daughters were named Helen, Catherine, and Mary. Helen and Catherine became nuns at St Monica's in Louvain. Mary, the youngest, became the wife of Thomas, son of Richard Worthington of Birch (Blainscough) in Lancashire, and bore to him, inter alios, the Rev. Richard Worthington, who was Priest, at the Spanish Ambassador's House in London, "circa 1643." See "The Troubles of our Catholic Forefathers," by John Morris, S. J. London: Burns and Oates, 1872. John Allen, when fifteen years old, was sent by his father to Oriel College, Oxford, where he was under the care of the Provost, Mr Morgan Philips. He was chosen Fellow of his College in 1550, and was made Master of Arts, July 16, 1554. In 1556, he was chosen Principal of S. Mary's Hall. He was elected a Proctor of his University in 1556, and in 1557; and was made a Canon of York, in 1558. CARDINAL ALLEN 1585 TO 1594. Dr Allen's zeal in opposing the changes in religion under Elizabeth, exposed him to the resentment of the socalled reformers, and he was obliged to leave Oxford and fly to Louvain. Here he wrote books of controversy and especially opposed Dr Jewell. One of his works at this period was entitled "De Purgatorio." Attending too closely the sick bed of a young friend, he caught a dangerous His physicians recom disorder, and his life was in peril. mended him to return to England, in hopes that his native air might restore his health. He therefore returned home, and after some time of rest and quiet, became cured. Dr Allen now observed with pain that many Catholics, terrified by the penal laws and deceived by the craft of the protestants, complied with the laws commanding attendance at protestant sermons and services, maintaining that such an attendance was not a secession from the Catholic Church, nor a sin of much gravity. Dr Allen exposed this error, and induced many persons to cease to frequent protestant worship. He went sometimes to Oxford, and was instrumental in bringing many to the truth. He wrote, during his retirement in Lancashire, two books in English, concerning the Priesthood, and on Indulgences. Passing into Norfolk, he laboured much in the house of the Duke of Norfolk, and in the neighbourhood, with success. His small tracts, or brief reasons for the Catholic faith, were most useful. These pithy treatises, so suitable to the times, were not without great fruit, but they drew on the writer the animosity of the Protestants, and Dr Allen, after nearly three years residence in England, was again forced into exile. While waiting for a ship, he went to Oxford and there converted a former acquaintance, whom he thought to make a companion of his flight. But the parents of this young man cared for the temporal, CARDINAL ALLEN 1585 TO 1594. more than for the spiritual welfare of their son, and not only impeded his departure, but laid a snare to catch Dr Allen. The person who was employed for the arrest, thought he knew him well, and actually found him at supper and spoke to him. When he was about to effect the capture, he suddenly failed to see him, and actually suffered him to depart unharmed. Dr Allen was accompanied in his exile by his brother, Gabriel Allen, and his nephew, Thomas Hesket. On his return to Belgium, in 1565, he taught Theology in the convent at Mechlin, the then capital of Flanders. He was desirous to visit Rome, and went thither, circa 1567, with Mr Morgan Philips, and with Dr Vendiville, then Regius Professor at Douay, and subsequently bishop of Tournay, and President of the King's Council. The object of Dr Vendiville in going to Rome, was to consult Pius V about his plans for converting the heathen to Christ. For a whole winter Dr Vendiville tried to gain the attention of the Pontiff to his considerations, but in vain, as the Pontiff was otherwise engaged on pressing matters of importance. In the next spring, Dr Vendiville found himself wearied and unable to find rest in Rome, and returned with Dr Allen to Belgium, having given heed to the advice of the latter, to direct his energies to the Christians in Flanders and Holland, and to give his thoughts to his own countrymen in preference to heathens in distant lands. By means of Dr Vendiville, Dr Allen was appointed to an honourable post as Doctor and Professor of Sacred Scripture under Royal patronage in the Academy founded, in 1562, by Philip II of Spain at Douay in Spanish Flanders. The date of his appointment was January 31, 1570, and the stipend was 200 golden crowns. He was made also a Canon of Cambray in 1570, and Doctor in Divinity, July 16, 1571. Dr Allen now founded an English Sem CARDINAL ALLEN 1585 TO 1594. inary at Douay, devoting to this purpose his private means, and the first proceeds of his Professorship. He provided a house sufficiently large and got companions to join him from Louvain and elsewhere. His difficulties at first were great and his resources limited. But when the Seminary became known in England, many students came to him, for the most part members of noble families. The Pope and King Philip became his patrons and gave annual pensions to the Seminary; and his old preceptor, Morgan Philips, died, and left him all his fortune for the same institution. The discipline of the Seminary was well maintained and the course of study embraced the learned languages, including Hebrew. The old Testament was read twelve times, and the new Testament sixteen times, in the course of every three years. Special attention was paid to controversy. Dr Allen composed treatises on Images, on Predestination, on the Sacraments, etc., which were at the time much read in England. In 1575, Dr Allen went again to Rome, returning to Douay on the 30th of July, 1576. In 1578, disturbances broke out in Belgium, and Dr Allen, with his students, was forced to fly from Douay and take refuge in Rheims, where, in spite of several remonstrances of the English ambassador at Paris, they remained for some years, under the protection of the princes of the house of Guise, until their return to Douay in 1588. The number of Seminarists at Rheims increased to 200, and many missionaries were sent from the college to work in England as Catholic priests. In October, 1579, Dr Allen, having been summoned to Rome to give his advice and assistance in converting the English Hospital into a college for education of priests, besought the Pope to send the Jesuits into England, and accordingly Fathers Persons and Campion were despatched to labour among their coun CARDINAL ALLEN 1585 TO 1594. trymen. Dr Maurice Clenock was now appointed Rector of the newly established English College at Rome. Dr Allen was absent from Rheims, on this mission, from August 27, 1579, to April 2, 1580. He arrived in Rome on the 12th of October, and, on the day following, had audience of the Pope. The visit of Dr Allen to Rome, and the entry of the Jesuits into England, created alarm among English protestants, and severe edicts were passed against the Jesuits and Seminarists, and vile libels were circulated to their injury. Dr Allen now wrote his "Apology for English Seminaries and for the Jesuits," in order to refute these calumnies. In 1581, Dr Allen received, by Brief of Gregory XIII, dated the 18th of September, faculties as "Prefect of the English Mission." About the same time he was made a Canon of Rheims, by the influence of Cardinal de Guise, with a license of exemption from the duties of the Canonry, in consideration of his Seminary work. He now wrote a refutation of a book entitled "British Justice," in which it was sought to prove that all the Catholics who were put to death in England, were executed on just grounds, not because they were Catholics, but because they were traitors to the Queen, Dr Allen, during the latter part of his stay at Rheims, was seized with a painful and dangerous internal ailment and was advised to try the waters of Spa. He left Rheims for Spa, August 3, 1585. While he was at Spa, he was summoned to Rome on account of some discord which broke out in the English College there. His visit to Rome on this occasion lasted for a few days only, for he returned speedily to Rheims. In the month of September, 1584, Father Persons wrote from Paris to the Jesuit Father, Alphonso Agazzari, Rector |