Memorial to Bishop Simon Patrick in Ely Cathedral

Simon Patrick (8 September 1626 – 31 May 1707) was an English theologian and bishop.

Life

He was born at

Gainsborough Gainsborough or Gainsboro may refer to: Places * Gainsborough, Ipswich, Suffolk, England ** Gainsborough Ward, Ipswich * Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, a town in England ** Gainsborough (UK Parliament constituency) * Gainsborough, Saskatchewan, Ca ...

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, eldest son of Henry Patrick, a wealthy merchant, on 8 September 1626, and attended

Boston Grammar School The Boston Grammar School is an 11–18 boys selective grammar school and sixth form college located in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. By October 2021, a total of 812 pupils attending the school, 201 of which were in the sixth form provision ...

. He entered

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the 16 "old colleges" of the university, and was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. Its buildings span the R ...

, in 1644, and after taking orders in 1651 became successively

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

to Sir Walter St. John and

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

of Battersea,

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

. He was afterwards (1662) preferred to the

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, p ...

of St. Paul's,

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, where he continued to labour during the plague. Over the same period he served as a fellow of Queen's College where 1662 junior fellows proposed him for the position of College President. He accepted the nomination and was a challenger to Anthony Sparrow, a more senior fellow who was supported by other senior fellows. The election became embroiled in controversy around the

academic freedom Academic freedom is the right of a teacher to instruct and the right of a student to learn in an academic setting unhampered by outside interference. It may also include the right of academics to engage in social and political criticism. Academic ...

of the College to elect its President, when during the election proceedings on 6 May, a royal

mandamus A writ of (; ) is a judicial remedy in the English and American common law system consisting of a court order that commands a government official or entity to perform an act it is legally required to perform as part of its official duties, o ...

was delivered stating that the King had appointed Sparrow. This was contrary to the College statutes which required the fellows elect the President. However, Sparrow accepted the appointment. Dr Patrick objected, leading to a controversy that continued for two years. King Charles appointed a Commission to investigate the matter, but Patrick alleged that his supporters were not given proper opportunity to present arguments in his favour. He challenged the proceedings of the commission in court, but after two years of litigation the judges remained evenly divided on the matter and Patrick dropped the case. He was appointed

Dean of Peterborough The Dean of Peterborough is the head of the chapter at Peterborough Cathedral. On the Dissolution of Peterborough Abbey in 1539 and the abbey-church's refoundation as a cathedral for the new bishop and diocese of Peterborough, care for the abb ...

in 1679, and

Bishop of Chichester The Bishop of Chichester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East Sussex, East and West Sussex. The Episcopal see, see is based in t ...

in 1689, in which year he was employed, along with others of the new bishops, to settle the affairs of the Church in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. In 1691 he was translated to the see of Ely, which he held until his death on 31 May 1707. He was buried in

Ely Cathedral Ely Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Ely, is an Church of England, Anglican cathedral in the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. The cathedral can trace its origin to the abbey founded in Ely in 67 ...

. His memorial is by Edward Stanton. He had Dalham Hall built.

Works

His

sermon A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present context ...

s and devotional writings are numerous, and his ''Commentary on the Historical and Poetical Books of the Old Testament'', in 10 vols., going as far as the ''

Song of Solomon The Song of Songs (), also called the Canticle of Canticles or the Song of Solomon, is a biblical poem, one of the five ("scrolls") in the ('writings'), the last section of the Tanakh. Unlike other books in the Hebrew Bible, it is erotic poe ...

'', was reprinted in the 1810 ''Critical Commentary on the Old and New Testaments and Apocrypha'', along with works of

Richard Arnald Richard Arnald (1698 or 1700 Nichols, J., ''The history and antiquities of the county of Leicester'', Vol. 3, Part 2 (1804), pp. 1059, 1071 – 4 September 1756) was a distinguished English clergyman and biblical scholar. Life He was a native ...

, Moses Lowman,

William Lowth William Lowth D.D. (1660–1732) was an English clergyman, known as a Biblical commentator. Life He was the son of William Lowth, an apothecary, who was burnt out in the Great Fire of London, and was born in the parish of St Martin, Ludgate on 3 ...

, and

Daniel Whitby Daniel Whitby (1638–1726) was a controversial English theologian and biblical commentator. An Arminianism in the Church of England, Arminian priest in the Church of England, Whitby was known as strongly anti-Calvinism, Calvinistic and later gav ...

. Patrick's ''Friendly Debate between a Conformist and a Nonconformist'' was a controversial tract, defending the

Five Mile Act The Five Mile Act, or Oxford Act, or Nonconformists Act 1665 ( 17 Cha. 2. c. 2), was an act of the Parliament of England, passed in 1665 with the long title "An Act for restraining Non-Conformists from inhabiting in Corporations". It was one ...

. It excited considerable feeling at the time of its publication in 1668. Among replies was one from Samuel Rolle as Philagathus. He also contributed to a volume of ''Poems upon Divine and Moral Subjects'' (1719). The first collected edition of his works appeared at Oxford in 1858 (9 vols.), edited by Alexander Taylor; a small ''Autobiography'' was published also at Oxford in 1839. He is the author of the anti-semitic pamphlet,
Jewish Hypocrisie, A Caveat To The Present Generation."

Theology

Simon Patrick, was influenced by prominent Arminian theologians as

Henry Hammond Henry Hammond (18 August 1605 – 25 April 1660) was an English churchman, church historian and theologian, who supported the Royalist cause during the English Civil War. Early life He was born at Chertsey in Surrey on 18 August 1605, the y ...

, and the

Cambridge Platonists The Cambridge Platonists were an influential group of Platonist philosophers and Christian theologians at the University of Cambridge that existed during the 17th century. The leading figures were Ralph Cudworth and Henry More. Group and its nam ...

; and was criticized for his

Arminian Arminianism is a movement of Protestantism initiated in the early 17th century, based on the Christian theology, theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed Church, Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius and his historic supporters known as Remo ...

belief. He is described by historians as an influential

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Marriage

In 1675 he married Penelope Jephson (died 1725), a daughter of Maj. Gen. William Jephson (1609–1658), a highly influential Member of Parliament for Stockbridge, and also a substantial landowner in

Mallow, County Cork Mallow (; ) is a town in County Cork, Ireland, approximately thirty-five kilometres north of Cork (city), Cork City. Mallow is in a townland and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of the same name, in the Fermoy (barony), barony of Fermoy. ...

, by his wife Alicia Dynham,Jephson, Maurice Denham ''An Anglo-Irish Miscellany, some Records of the Jephsons of Mallow'' Dublin Allen Figgis 1964 a daughter of Sir John Dynham of

Boarstall Tower Boarstall Tower is a 14th-century moated gatehouse located in Boarstall, Buckinghamshire, England, and now, with its surrounding gardens, a National Trust property. Until March 2020, the National Trust offered tours on Wednesday afternoons. Th ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

and Penelope Wenman. They had three children, two of whom died young.The printed autobiography of Simon Patrick calls his wife a "grandchild to the lady Durham (sic) of Borstall". The Auto-Biography of Simon Patrick, Bishop of El

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Notes and references

Citations

Sources

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Attribution

External links

*
Rt Rev Simon Patrick

Facsimile of Simon Patrick's preface to Hugo Grotius' Truths of Christian Religion.
Scanned by Elms College Alumnae Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Patrick, Simon 1626 births 1707 deaths 17th-century Church of England bishops 18th-century Church of England bishops Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Arminian ministers Arminian theologians Bishops of Chichester Bishops of Ely Canons of Westminster Deans of Peterborough English theologians People educated at Boston Grammar School People from Gainsborough, Lincolnshire 17th-century Anglican theologians 18th-century Anglican theologians