William Wright (1563 in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, England – 18 January 1639 in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England) was an English

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 ...

scholar and Jesuit missionary priest. He was imprisoned after the

Gunpowder plot The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby who sough ...

Life

He was born at

, and was educated at the

English College, Rome The Venerable English College (), commonly referred to as the English College, is a Catholic seminary in Rome, Italy, for the training of priests for England and Wales. It was founded in 1579 by William Allen on the model of the English Colleg ...

. He entered Society of Jesus in 1581, and was professed of the four vows in 1602. He taught as professor of philosophy and theology at Gratz and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. He joined the English mission in 1606, when he became chaplain to the Gages at

Hengrave Hall Hengrave Hall is a Grade I listed Tudor manor house in Hengrave near Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk, England and was the seat of the Kitson and Gage families 1525–1887. Both families were Roman Catholic recusants. Architecture Work on the ho ...

, Suffolk. He was soon arrested and imprisoned in the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...

(July 1607), and later in the

White Lion Prison The Marshalsea (1373–1842) was a notorious prison in Southwark, just south of the River Thames. Although it housed a variety of prisoners, including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition, it became known, in ...

. He opposed the oath of allegiance and supremacy required by James I's government. Supported by his brother Thomas, an ex-Jesuit, Wright disputed publicly against the oath, and the Gages, whom he had instructed, refused to take it. When the bubonic plague ravaged London and his prison, he nursed the sick; buried the dead, and in the confusion escaped to Leicestershire, where he organized a series of missions, originally called the Residence of St. Anne. From 1612 onwards he took to writing, and a dozen volumes are ascribed to him: three of controversy, the rest translations of the works of

Martin Becan Martinus Becanus (6 January 1563 – 24 January 1624) was a Dutch-born Jesuit priest, known as a theologian and controversialist. Life He was born ''Maarten Schellekens'' in Hilvarenbeek in North Brabant; Schellekens is a patronymic and he ado ...

, Lessius and others.

References

Notes

1563 births 1639 deaths 16th-century English Roman Catholic priests 17th-century English Jesuits Clergy from York {{UK-RC-clergy-stub