George Blackwell

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George Blackwell

Father George Blackwell was Archpriest of England from 1597-1608.

601 a government spy described Blackwell as "about 50 years of age, his head brownish, his beard more black, cut after the fashion of a spade, of stature indifferent, and somewhat thick, decently attired"

Biography
Early life
Blackwell was born in Middlesex

Middlesex

Middlesex , from the Old English Middelseaxe , is one of the 39 Historic counties of England of England and the List of counties of England by area in 1831....
, England about 1545, perhaps the son of the Thomas Blackwell.

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Father George Blackwell was Archpriest of England from 1597-1608.

Appearance and Personality

In 1601 a government spy described Blackwell as "about 50 years of age, his head brownish, his beard more black, cut after the fashion of a spade, of stature indifferent, and somewhat thick, decently attired"

Biography

Early life

Blackwell was born in Middlesex

Middlesex

Trinity College, Oxford

The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford of the University of Oxford in England....
on May 27, 1562. He graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in 1563, and became a probationer of the college in 1565, a fellow in 1566, and graduated MA in 1567. He resigned or was ejected from Trinity College in 1571, probably for his religious beliefs, and in 1574 left England for the English College, Douai

English College, Douai

The English College, Douai was a Catholic seminary at Douai , a town now in Northern France....
. He was ordained priest

Priest

A priest or priestess is a person having the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities....
in 1575, and graduated BST from the University of Douai

University of Douai

The University of Douai is a former university in Douai, France.The university opened in 1562 and closed in 1795.University of Lille was later established as its successor campus 27 km away....
the same year.

Priesthood

Father George Blackwell returned to England as a missionary

Missionary

A 'missionary' is a member of a religion who works to convert those who do not share the missionary's faith; someone who Proselytism. The word "mission" is derived from the Latin missioninimus...
in November 1576. He was imprisoned in 1578 for his work as a priest.

After being released from prison, he lived and worked from the house of Mrs. Meany in Westminster, England in secret.

Appointment as Archpriest

After the death of Cardinal Allen in 1594, the leadership of the clandestine Catholic Mission in England was thrown into disarray. In March 1597, Cardinal Cajetan wrote to Blackwell from Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
to tell him that Pope Clement VIII

Pope Clement VIII

Pope Clement VIII , born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was Pope from January 30, 1592 to March 3, 1605....
had appointed him archpriest

Archpriest

An archpriest is a priest who has supervisory duties over a number of parishes. The term is most often used in Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches, although it may be used in the Latin rite of the Roman Catholic Church instead of Dean or vicar forane....
over the secular clergy

Secular clergy

In the Roman Catholic Church, secular clergy are religious ministers, such as deacons and priests, who do not belong to a Catholic order. While regular clergy take vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience and place themselves under a Catholic order , secular clergy do not take vows and live in the world ....
in England. Six assistants were named for him and another six were left to his discretion. As Archpriest, he lodged at the town house of Anthony-Maria Browne, 2nd Viscount Montagu

Anthony-Maria Browne, 2nd Viscount Montagu

Anthony-Maria Browne was an English peer during the Tudor period and Stuart period.He was born on 1574, and become the Second Viscount Montagu on the death of his Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu in 1592....
, when in London. His instructions enjoined him to work in close consultation with the head of the Jesuit mission in England.

Archpriest Controversy

A number of secular priests in England, thinking Blackwell was too close to the Jesuits, appealed to the Pope to overturn Blackwell's appointment and name a vicar apostolic with full episcopal powers. Bitter controversy followed on this appeal, and two more appeals followed. The English government was keen to turn the controversy to its advantage, and encouraged Blackwell's "Appellant" enemies behind the scenes. The upshot of the third and final appeal was that Blackwell's powers were confirmed, but he was censured for his lack of tact and ordered in future not to communicate to the Jesuits any matters pertaining solely to the mission of the secular clergy.

Removal as Archpriest

Following the Gunpowder Plot

Gunpowder Plot

The Gunpowder Conspiracy of 1605, or the Powder Treason or Gunpowder Plot, as it was then known, was a failed assassination attempt by a group of provincial English Roman Catholic Church against King James I of England....
, Blackwell wrote to Rome and obtained a letter from Pope Paul V

Pope Paul V

Pope Paul V , born Camillo Borghese, was Pope from May 16, 1605 until his death....
condemning the plot and calling on English Catholics not to disturb the peace. Part of the English government's response was to enforce a new oath of allegiance

Oath of allegiance

An oath of allegiance is an oath whereby a nationality or citizen acknowledges his/her duty of allegiance and swears loyalty to his/her monarch or country....
, drafted in such a way that it was bound to create divisions within the English Catholic community as to whether it could be taken in good conscience. In particular, one passage of the oath could be read as giving the English authorities the right to define heresy

Heresy

Heresy is an introduced change to some system of belief, especially a religion, that conflicts with the previously established canon of that belief....
.

Blackwell, citing the Pope's call for civil obedience, advised his priests that the oath could licitly be taken. The Pope, however, condemned the new oath soon afterwards. Blackwell, and some others, continued to defend the oath despite this. An international theological controversy developed concerning the licitness of the oath.

Blackwell was captured on 24 June 1607 and over the following ten days was questioned seven times about his opinion of the oath. At the end of that period he was tendered the oath, which he took. He also wrote an open letter to the English clergy, urging them to do the same. He insisted that the oath could legitimately be read as not contradicting the pope's "Supremacie in spirituall causes". It was a reading of the oath that did not satisfy the Pope himself, who relieved Blackwell of his position as archpriest, nor the English authorities, who kept him imprisoned for the remainder of his life.

Death and legacy

George Blackwell died in The Clink

The Clink

The Clink was a notorious prison in Southwark, England which functioned from the 12th century until 1780 either deriving its name from, or bestowing it on, the local manor, the Clink Liberty ....
on 12 January 1613, maintaining to the last that his reading of the oath of allegiance did not contradict either Catholic doctrine or the meaning of the words enacted by parliament.

George Blackwell

Appearance and Personality

Biography

Early life

Priesthood

Appointment as Archpriest

Archpriest Controversy

Removal as Archpriest

Death and legacy

Works

See also