William Ballantine (also Ballentine, Bannatine, Ballantyne, Ballentyne, Ballenden, Bellenden) (1616/1618 – 1661) was a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

who became the first

Prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

Life

Ballantine was a native of Douglas, Lanarkshire, the parish of which his father was the minister. His paternal uncle was a lord of session, with the title of Lord Newhall. He studied at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, and later travelled on the continent. At Paris, he was converted to the Catholic religion. He entered the Scotch College, Rome, where he took the

oath Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to g ...

on 1 November 1641, and for the next five years he studied philosophy and

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

. In consequence of his delicate health, he was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

earlier than usual, on 3 December 1645. Having received the order of priesthood, he left the Scots College on 15 March 1646 and then stayed in the Scotch college at Paris, preparing himself for the

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

. In 1649 Ballantine returned to Scotland. At this period the secular clergy of Scotland were in a state of disorganisation, and dissensions had arisen between them and the members of the religious orders, particularly the

Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

. Ballantine despatched the Rev. William Leslie to Rome to ask for the appointment of a bishop for Scotland. This request was not granted by the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

, but in 1653, by a decree of propaganda, the Scotch secular clergy were freed from the jurisdiction of the English prelates and Jesuit superiorship; they were incorporated into a missionary body under the superintendence of Ballantine, who was declared the first Prefect-apostolic of the Mission in Scotland by the Propaganda Congregation on 13 October 1653. Among other conversions, he received Lewis Gordon, 3rd Marquess of Huntly into the Catholic Church. In 1656 Ballantine visited France, and on his return, landing at

Rye, Sussex is a small town and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England, two miles from the sea at the confluence of three rivers: the Rother, the Tillingham and the Brede. An important member of the mediaeval Cinque Ports confederati ...

, he was arrested by

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three K ...

's orders and taken to London, where he remained in confinement for nearly two years. He was then banished and withdrew to Paris in poverty. In 1660 he returned to Scotland, and he spent the brief remainder of his life in the house of the Marchioness of Huntly at Elgin, where he died on 2 September 1661, aged 45.

Works

From the writings of "Collected out of the writings of Father Suffren"; Suffren: 1565-1641 he composed a treatise ''On Preparation for Death'', of which a second edition was published at Douay in 1716.

References

;Attribution People from South Lanarkshire Scottish Roman Catholic priests 17th-century Scottish people Apostolic prefects 1616 births 1661 deaths Converts to Roman Catholicism Alumni of the University of Edinburgh {{Scotland-reli-bio-stub