English College, Douai

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The English College, Douai was a Catholic seminary at Douai (also previously spelled Douay, and in English Doway), a town now in Northern France.

Contents 1 A University of Douai 2 An English College 3 Sister Institutes at Douai 4 Other English Colleges 5 Internal Disputes 6 The Revolution 7 Aftermath 8 References

[edit] A University of Douai

As part of a general programme of consolidation of the Spanish Low Countries, in 1560-1562, a university was established in Douai by Philip II of Spain, in some sense a sister-university to that founded at Louvain in 1426. The University of Douai has emerged in recent studies as an important institution of its time. Of an avowedly Catholic character, it had five faculties: theology, canon and civil law, medicine, and arts. In the early years there was a strong English influence, several of the chief posts being held by professors who had fled Oxford. It was there , too, that after taking his licentiate in 1560, William Allen became Regius Professor of Divinity.

[edit] An English College

The foundation of this University coincided with the presence of a large number of English Catholics living at Douai, in the wake of the accession of Elizabeth I and the reimposition of Protestantism in England. This presence, and the role of the University prompted William Allen to found there in 1569 a seminary for English Catholic priests, whose studies were in part linked to the University. Allen's project arose from a conversation which he had with Dr. Vendeville, then Regius Professor of Canon Law in the University of Douai, and afterwards Bishop of Tournai, whom he accompanied on a pilgrimage to Rome in the autumn of 1567. The foundation began to take definite shape when Allen leased a house at Douai on Michaelmas Day, 1568. His object was to gather some of the numerous body of English Catholics who, having been forced to leave England, were scattered in different countries on the Continent, and to give them facilities for continuing their studies, so that when the time came for the re-establishment of Catholicism, which Allen was always confident could not be far distant, there might be a body of learned clergy ready to return to their country.

The University itself was already under Oxford influences, its first chancellor, Richard Smith, being an Oxford man, and Allen's ambition was in some sense to perpetuate Oxford influences and traditions, and to make his new college practically a continuation of Catholic Oxford.

At the same time the college was the first of the type of seminary ordered by the Council of Trent, received papal approval shortly after its establishment. It was also taken under the protection of King Philip II of Spain, who assigned it an annual grant of 200 ducats. Allen continued his own theological studies and, after taking his doctorate, became Regius Professor at the University. In 1575, Pope Gregory XIII granted him a monthly pension of 100 golden crowns.

The final element, that for which Allen's college is now most famous, though it was not part of his original scheme, but an outgrowth from it. This was the sending over of missionaries to work for the conversion of England in defiance of the law, while the country still remained in the hands of the Protestants. The Catholic bishops were absent from the scene, either dead or imprisened or exiled. Moreover the Catholic clergy of Queen Mary's reign were rapidly dying out. Granted that the Protestant rule was to continue indefinitely, the only method to save the Catholics from extinction was to send priests from abroad, and Allen was given "faculties" for all England to impart to them. The "seminary priests", as they were called, had to face a hard and precarious life, and found out risked being convicted of high treason, for which the punishment was to be hanged, drawn and quartered. More than one hundred and sixty Douai priests are known to have been put to death, the great majority belonging to the secular clergy, these are known as the Douai Martyrs. Many more suffered in prison for their Faith. Yet such was the spirit which Allen infused into his students that they rejoiced at the news of each successive martyrdom, and by a special privilege sang a solemn Mass of thanksgiving.

Allen's personality and influence soon attracted a numerous band of scholars, and a few years after the foundation of the college the students numbered more than one hundred and fifty. A steady stream of controversial works issued form Douai, some by Allen himself, others by such men as Thomas Stapleton, Richard Bristowe, and others almost equally well known. It was at the English College at Douai that the English translation of the Bible known as the Douay-Rheims Version was completed in 1609.

It is estimated that before the end of the 16th century more than three hundred priests had been sent on the English mission, nearly a third of whom suffered martyrdom; and almost as many had been banished. By the end of the persecution the college counted more than one hundred and sixty martyrs. Allen had at first no regular source of income, but depended on the generosity of a few friends, and especially upon the neighbouring monasteries of Saint-Vaast at Arras, Anchin, and Marchiennes, which, at the suggestion of Dr. Vendeville, had from time to time subscribed towards the work. Many private donations were also received from England. After a few years, seeing the extreme need of the college and the importance of the work it was doing, Allen applied to Pope Gregory XIII, who in 1565 granted a regular pension of 100 gold crowns a month, which continued to be paid down to the time of the French Revolution. Allen himself gave his whole salary as regius professor of divinity. The work of the college was not allowed to proceed without opposition, which at one time became so strong that Allen's life was in danger, and in 1578 the English were all expelled from Douai. The college was established temporarily at Rheims; but possession was retained of the house at Douai, and in 1593 it was found possible to return there. By this time Allen had been called to reside in Rome, where he died on October 16, 1594.

Under Allen's successor, Dr. Richard Barrett, the work was extended to include a preparatory course in humanities, so that it became a school as well as a college. In 1603 under Dr. Thomas Worthington, the third president, a regular college was built, opposite the old parish church of St-Jacques, in the Rue des Morts, so called on account of the adjoining cemetery. The town at that time formed a single parish, whereas in the eighteenth century it was to be divided into four parishes, and the present church of St-Jacques dates from that time.

[edit] Sister Institutes at Douai

The same kind of impulse that led to the English College, also caused an Irish and a Scots' Colleges being established in Douai, and also Benedictine, Franciscan and Jesuit houses. The Collège d'Anchin was opened a few months after the English College, endowed by the Abbot of the neighbouring monastery of Anchin, and entrusted to the Jesuits. In 1570 the Abbot of Marchiennes founded a college for the study of law. The Abbot of Saint-Vast founded a college of that name. Later on, we find the College of St. Thomas Aquinas, belonging to the Dominicans, the Collège du Roi, and others. The remaining British establishments were all exclusively for ecclesiastics. The Irish College was originally a Spanish foundation. It was established before the end of the sixteenth century, and endowed with 5,000 florins a year by the King of Spain. The course of studies lasted six years and the students attended lectures at the university. The Scots' College has an unfortunate notoriety in consequence of the long dispute between the Jesuits and the secular clergy which centred round it in later times. It was established in 1594, not as a new foundation, but as the continuation of a secular college at Pont- à-Mousson in Lorraine, which, owing to the unhealthfulness of the site, had to seek a new home. In 1506, however, it moved again, and it was not till after several further migrations that it settled finally at Douai in 1612. The college was devoid of resources, and it was due to the zealous efforts of Father Parsons in Rome and Madrid, and of Father Creighton in France and Flanders, that numerous benefactions were given, and it was placed on a permanent footing. For this reason, the Jesuits afterwards claimed the property as their own, although it was admitted that in its early years secular clergy had been educated there. Appeals and counter-appeals were made, but the question was still unsettled when the Jesuits were expelled from France in 1764. The French Government, however, recognized the claims of the Scotch secular clergy and allowed them to continue the work of the college under a rector chosen from their own body. The Benedictine and Franciscan houses at Douai were near together and were both bound up in their history with the restoration of the respective orders in England. The Franciscan monastery was founded mainly through the instrumentality of Father John Gennings, the brother of the martyr. It was established in temporary quarters in 1618, the students for the time attending the Jesuit schools; but by 1621 they had built a monastery and provided for all necessary tuition within their own walls. The Benedictines began in 1605, in hired apartments belonging to the Collège d'Anchin, but a few years later, through the generosity of Abbot Caravel of the monastery of Saint-Vaast, they obtained land and built a monastery, which was opened in 1611. The house acquired a high reputation for learning, and many of the professors of the university were at different times chosen from among its members.

[edit] Other English Colleges

It should be recalled that there were on European Continent a number of seminaries or houses of study for the training of priests. Apart from Douai and Rome (from 1579), these included Valladolid (from 1589), Seville (from 1592) and Lisbon (from 1628). All these establishments were known typically as English Colleges. The one at Rheims during the years 1578-1593, was only the English College, Douai in exile.

The term "seminary priest" applies to the men trained in one or other of these establishments.

[edit] Internal Disputes

At the English College, disputes occurred between the seculars and regulars in the 17th century which reflected those that troubled English Catholic affairs in general. Dr. Worthington, though himself a secular priest, was under the influence of the Jesuit Father Parsons, and for a long time the students attended the Jesuit schools and all the spiritual direction was in the hands of the society. A visitation of the college, however, laid bare many shortcomings in its administration and in the end Worthington was deposed.

The College's next President, Dr. Kellison (1631-1641), succeeded in restoring the reputation of the college, while he gradually arranged for the necessary tuition to be given within its walls. In the latter half of the 17th century and the early years of the 18th century, the English College went through a troubled time. During the presidency of Dr. Hyde (1646-1651), the University of Douai obtained certain controlling rights over the college, but Hyde successfully withstood these. His successor, Dr. George Leyburn (1652- 1670), fell out with the body of secular priests in England known as the "Old Chapter", which in the absence of a bishop, was governing the Catholic Church in England. Leyburn attacked one Mr. White (alias Blacklo), a prominent member of the "Old Chapter", and arranged a condemnation of his writings by the University of Douai. In the end, however, Leyburn himself found it necessary to retire in favour of his nephew, Dr. John Leyburn, who was afterwards Vicar Apostolic in England. Hardly was the dispute with the "Blackloists" finished, when a further storm of an even more serious nature arose, the centre being Dr. Hawarden who was professor of philosophy and then of theology at the English College for seventeen years. His reputation became so great that when a vacancy occurred in 1702 he was solicited by the bishop, the chief members of the university, and the magistrates of the town to accept the post of regius professor of divinity. His candidature, however, was opposed by a party headed by the vice-chancellor. The Jesuits also declared against him, accusing him, and through him the English College, of Jansenism. In the end, Dr. Hawarden retired from Douai and went on the mission in England; and a visitation of the college, made by order of the Holy See, resulted in completely clearing it of the imputation.

Following the taking of Douai by the French in 1677, there were no important political changes until the Revolution broke out. The hopes which the English Catholics had rested on the Stuart family had now vanished, and the only prospect open to them lay in their foreign centres of which Douai was the chief. To these centres they devoted the greater part of their energy. Under the presidency of Dr. George Witham (1715-1738) , who is considered a second founder, the English College at Douai was rebuilt on a substantial scale and rescued from the overwhelming debt into which it had been plunged when it lost nearly all its endowment in the notorious "South Sea Bubble". Its sister Irish College was rebuilt about the middle of the century, and the English Benedictine monastery between 1776 and 1781.

[edit] The Revolution

But a few years later, under the Reign of Terror. all was destined to come to an end. While as a town Douai suffered less than many others at the beginning of the French Revolution. The university at first kept up its Catholic character to the end, but during the Reign of Terror it suffered the same fate as many similar establishments. When all the clergy of the town were called upon in 1791 to take the "Civic Oath", the members of the British establishments claimed exemption in virtue of their nationality. The plea was allowed for a time, but after the execution of Louis XVI, when war was declared between England and France, it was not to be expected that this immunity would continue. The superiors and students of most of the British establishments took flight and succeeded in reaching England. The members of the English College, with their president, Rev. John Daniel, remained in the hope of saving the college. However, in October, 1793, they were taken to prison at Doullens in Picardy, together with six Anglo-Benedictine monks who had remained for a similar purpose. After undergoing many dangers and hardships, they were allowed to return to Douai in November, 1794, and a few months later, by the exertions of Dr. Stapleton, President of St Omer (who with his students had likewise been imprisoned at Doullens), they were set at liberty and allowed to return to England. The English collegians never returned to Douai.

[edit] Aftermath

The Penal Laws had recently been repealed, and they founded two colleges to continue the work of Douai -- Crook Hall (afterwards removed to Ushaw, near Durham) in the North, and St Edmund's College, Old Hall, at Ware in Hertfordshire in the South, now moved to Allen Hall, Chelsea, London. The Roman pension was divided equally between these two until the French occupied Rome in 1799, when it ceased to be paid.

After the Revolution, Bonaparte united all the British establishments in France under one administrator, Rev. Francis Walsh, an Irishman. On the restoration of the Bourbons, a large sum of money was paid to the English Government to indemnify those who had suffered by the Revolution, but naturally enough none of this ever reached Catholic hands. It was ruled that as the Catholic colleges were carried on in France for the sole reason that they were illegal in England, they must be considered French, not English, establishments. The buildings, however, were restored to their rightful owners, and most of them were sold.

The Anglo-Benedictines alone retained their ancient monastery; and as the community of St Gregory was then permanently established at Downside AbbeyDownside, they handed over their house at Douai to the community of St Edmund, which had formerly been located in Paris. These Benedictines carried on a school at Douai until 1903, when in consequence of the Associations' Law passed by the Government they were forced to leave. They returned to England, and settled at Woolhampton, near Reading, founding Douai Abbey there. The famous public school attached to the Abbey stood until 1999 when it closed down. Notable Old Boys include Sir Robert Grant-Ferris and the actor Patrick Malahide

[edit] References

• This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.