INTRODUCTION Both of the two late sixteenth century casuist texts edited in this volume were probably used in the training of seminary priests. The first certainly was, since one manuscript version of it declares that it is a report of discussionsheld at the Rheims seminary , and theother principal manuscript version came originally from the archives of that seminary . The second text is not quite so clearly associated with a seminary , but it was written in part by William Allen and Robert Persons, and according to a nearly contemporary source (and another datingfrom the early eighteenth century ) a copy of it was kept in the English College at Rome . The study of cases of conscience at the seminaries formed an important part of the training of missionary priests . At Douai-Rheims the principal authorities used were the Enchiridion of Martin ab Azpilcueta a work first published in Latin in about 1575, and the (Navarreof),Thomas Summa de Vio ( Cajetan ) , a slightly olderwork.³ Writing 1578 1580 , in or Allen says that two lessons of Navarre were given to the students every week, the book being read to them and thenthe students asking questions of the master or the master testing the students. But these general works did not deal specifically with many of the moral problems which might face a Catholicpriest in England, and therefore guides such as the texts edited here were drawn up to instruct priests how to deal with situations theywould encounter when they came on the mission. In the letter just cited Allen goes on to say: The cases which occur more often in England and which a priest is more often asked to resolve there and in other places are examined separately and have been broughttogether in one book from which they are read or even copied by priests who are about to be sent on the mission. "5 The leaders of English Catholicism were clearly moved by two considerations when they drew up these texts . The first was the
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1. See below , pp. 6-7. 2. See below, 7-10 ; C. Dodd, Church history II (Brussels, 1739 ) , 53 , 407; R. Walpole, A brief, and cleere confutation (Antwerp, 1603 ) , 212-2v. 3. W. Allen to Dr Vendeville, 16 September 1578 or 1580 , T. F. Knox, The letters and memorials of William Cardinal Allen (London, 1882 ) , 66 ( I am grateful to Dr John Bossy for bringingthis reference to my attention ) ; T. F. Knox, The first and second diaries of the English College, Douay ( London, 1878 ) , 304 (cf. 109 , 123 , 222, 224 , 248) ; Confessions of John Hambly, priest, 18 August 1586 , ed. J. L. Whitfield, ' in C. R. S., Miscellanea VII ( London , 1911 ) , 169 ; J. H. Pollen , 'A relic ofthe times of persecution , The Month XCVI ( 1900 ) , 46-51. 4. Knox, Letters of Allen, loc. cit.
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5. Ibid . 6. discuss these issues at greater length in my unpublished dissertation , The political thought of the Elizabethan Catholics ' (Cambridge Ph. D. , 1976), Chap . 3. A greatly revised version of the thesis will be published . Cf. generally , J. Bossy. The English CatholicCommunity1570-1850 (London, 1975 ) , Part 2 ; J. C. H. Aveling, The Handle and the Axe ( London, 1976 ) , Chaps. 1-6 .
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