ALLEN, WILLIAM (1532-1594), English cardinal, born at
Rossall, Lancashire, went in 1547 to Oriel College,
Oxford, and in 1556 became principal of St Mary Hall and
proctor. According to Anthony Wood, he was appointed to a
canonry at York in or about 1558; he therefore had already
entered the clerical state by receiving the tonsure. On
the accession of Elizabeth, he was deprived upon refusing
the oath of supremacy, but remained in the university until
1561. His known opposition to the new learning in religion
giving much offence, he escaped from England and went to
Louvain, where were gathered many students who had left the
English universities for conscience' sake. Here he continued
his theological studies and began to write controversial
treatises. In 1562, on account of health, he returned
secretly to Lancashire and did much, by exhortation and
private meetings, to restrain those Catholics who attended
the new services in order to save their property from
confiscation. His presence being known to the government,
he left Lancashire and retired to the neighbourhood of
Oxford, which he frequently visited, and where he influenced
many of the students. After writing a treatise in defence
of the priestly power to remit sins, he was obliged to
leave and retired to Norfolk, leaving England soon after in
1565. He returned to Flanders, was ordained at Malines, and
began to lecture in theology at the Benedictine college in that
city. In 1567 he went to Rome for the first time, and there
began his plan for establishing a college where English
students could live together and finish their theological
course. The idea subsequently developed into the establishing
of a missionary college, or seminary, to keep up a supply
of priests for England as long as the country remained
separated from the Holy See. With the help of friends,
and notably of the Benedictine abbots of the neighbouring
monasteries, a college was established at Douai (September
29, 1568); and here Allen was joined by many of the English
exiles. This college, the first of the seminaries ordered
by the council of Trent, received the papal approval shortly
after its establishment; the king of Spain took it under his
protection and assigned it an annual grant. Allen continued
his own theological studies and, after taking his doctorate,
became regius professor at the university. Gregory XIII. in
1575 granted him a monthly pension of 100 golden crowns, and,
as the number of students had now risen to one hundred and
twenty, summoned him to Rome to undertake the establishing of
a similar college in the papal city. By Allen's advice, the
old English hospice was turned into a seminary and Jesuits
were placed there to help Dr Maurice Clennock, the rector.
Continued on page two.
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