English College, Douai
Collège anglais de Douai | |
Roman Catholic | |
Location | , France |
---|---|
Language | English |
The English College (College des Grands Anglais) was a
History
University of Douai
As part of a general programme of consolidation of the Spanish Low Countries, in 1560–1562, Philip II of Spain established a university in Douai that was in some sense a sister-university to the Old University of Leuven founded in 1426. The University of Douai has emerged in recent studies as an important institution of its time. Of an avowedly Catholic character, it had five faculties: theology, canon and civil law, medicine, and arts.[1] In the early years there was a strong English influence, with several of the chief posts being held by professors who had fled the University of Oxford after the accession of Protestants in England. It was there, too, that after taking his licentiate in 1560, William Allen from Lancashire became Regius Professor of Divinity.
An English college
The foundation of this university coincided with the presence of a large number of English Catholics living at Douai, in the wake of the accession of
It was
The aim of Allen and the college was to gather together some of the many English Catholics living in exile in different countries of the continent and provide them with facilities for continuing their studies (in what was effectively a Catholic University of Oxford in exile), thus producing a ready-made stock of educated English Catholic clergy ready for England's re-conversion to Catholicism (expected by Allen in the near future). At the same time the college was the first of the type of seminary ordered by the
Nevertheless, in the early years Allen's college had no regular income and was reliant on private donations from England and the generosity of a few local friends (especially the neighbouring monasteries of Saint-Vaast at Arras, Anchin, and Marchiennes, which, at the suggestion of Dr. Vendeville, had from time to time subscribed towards the work). Allen continued his own theological studies and, after taking his doctorate, became Regius Professor at the university, though he donated his whole salary to the college to keep it afloat. A few years after the foundation Allen applied to Pope Gregory XIII for regular funding. In 1565, Gregory granted the college a monthly pension of 100 golden crowns per month, which continued to be paid down to the time of the French Revolution.
Only a few years after foundation, Allen's personality and influence had attracted more than 150 students to the college. A steady stream of controversial[
Douai Martyrs
When the open re-conversion of England did not materialise (since the Marian Catholic bishops were dead, imprisoned or in exile, and the Catholic priests who had stayed in England were dying out or converting to Protestantism), the college began to supply missionary priests or "seminary priests" to enter England covertly, minister to existing Catholics and attempt re-conversion. Operating as a Catholic priest was legally high treason at the time (with the penalty of being hanged, drawn and quartered), and of the over 300 priests Douai sent into England by the end of the 16th century, more than 130 (mainly the secular clergy, known as the Douai Martyrs) are known to have been executed,[4] with many more imprisoned and nearly 160 banished back to the continent. In 1577 Cuthbert Mayne became the first of them to be martyred.[3] Back in Douai, the college was granted a special privilege of singing a solemn Mass of thanksgiving each time news reached them of another martyrdom of a Douai priest.
17th and 18th centuries
Under Allen's successor, Dr. Richard Barrett, the work was extended to include a preparatory course in humanities, so that it became a school as well as a college. In 1603 under Dr. Thomas Worthington, the third president, a regular college was built, opposite the old parish church of St-Jacques, in the Rue des Morts, so called on account of the adjoining cemetery. The town at that time formed a single parish, whereas in the 18th century it was to be divided into four parishes, and the present church of St-Jacques dates from that time. Blessed Arthur Bell, the Franciscan, taught Hebrew at Douai in the 1620s.
Disputes occurred between the secular priests and regular priests in the 17th century similar to the disputes affecting English Catholic affairs in general. Dr. Worthington, though himself a secular priest, was under the influence of the
In the latter half of the 17th century and the early years of the 18th century, the English College went through a troubled time. During the presidency of Dr. Hyde (1646–1651), the
Douai became ever more important to English Catholics when their hopes of England returning to Catholicism were finally ended by the defeat of the
French Revolution
As a town Douai suffered less than many others at the beginning of the French Revolution and at first the university and its associated colleges held onto its Catholic character, but during the Reign of Terror it suffered the same fate as many similar establishments. When all the clergy of the town were called upon in 1791 to take the "Civic Oath", the members of the British establishments claimed exemption in virtue of their nationality. The plea was allowed for a time but, when Louis XVI was executed and Britain declared war, the superiors and students of most of the other British establishments realised their immunity was at an end and fled to England.
The members of the English College, with their president,
After the evacuation of the English students in 1793, the building that housed the college was converted to military barracks and named after Douai native and war hero Pierre François Joseph Durutte (1767–1827). It remained a military barracks until it was leveled in 1926. Subsequent excavation of the grounds revealed buried relics, including the body of John Southworth (1592–1654), an alumnus who had been martyred for his faith.
After the Revolution,
With the laws of separation of Church and State implemented in 1905, all the property of the English Benedictines was confiscated by the French state. The community thus returned to England, reestablishing its monastery and school at Woolhampton in Berkshire, in proximity to London.
Present-day
The college's buildings now house the Institution Saint-Jean de Douai, a public-private school for children.
See also
- List of presidents of the English College, Douai
- Category:English College, Douai alumni
- Irish College, Douai
- Scottish College, Douai
- English College, Valladolid
- William Reynolds (theologian)
References
- ^ a b c Ward, Bernard. "Douai." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 17 February 2018
- ^ "The English College at Douai", Ushaw
- ^ a b c Schofield, Nicholas. "From Douay to Allen Hall", Diocese of Westminster
- ^ "Remembering the English College at Douai", Jesuits in Britain, 1 October 2018
- ^ Rudge, F.M. "Edward Hawarden." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 17 January 2019
- ^ "Douai (1568)", Allen Hall
- ^ Gillow, Joseph. "Douai college and the Brighton Pavilion", The Athenaeum, No.3199, February 16, 1889, p. 215
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Douai". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Sources
Purdy, Albert B., The Ecclesiastical Review, The Recovery of the Body of the Venerable John Southworth, February, 1929, Vol. 10, No. 2.