BLACKWELL, GEORGE

First archpriest of England; b. Middlesex, c. 1545;d. Clink prison, Jan. 25, 1612. Although educated at Oxford (M.A., 1567), Blackwell left and went to Douai College, where he was ordained in 1576. For 22 years he worked in England. In March of 1598, four years after Cardinal William allen's death, Clement VIII appointed Blackwell archpriest over the hitherto unorganized seminary priests in England. Though generally approved, he soon had difficulties with a minority of insubordinate priests who reprobated the new office, especially the provision in his instructions for consultation with the Jesuits. He was also accused of misusing his powers, and two appeals were prosecuted in Rome. Though thrice confirmed in office, a brief of Oct. 5, 1602, restricted his powers and severed Jesuit connections. Despite papal condemnation of the Oath of Allegiance, devised by Parliament after the Gunpowder Plot, Blackwell advocated that Catholics should take the oath. Deposed in 1608, he died without retracting his error. So much unpublished material exists that the following references and other works should be consulted with caution.

Bibliography: j. gillow, A Literary and Biographical History or Bibliographical Dictionary of the English Catholics from 1534 to the Present Time (London and New York, 1885–1902) 1:225–231. j. h. pollen, The Institution of the Archpriest Blackwell (London 1916). t. cooper, The Dictionary of National Biography from the Earliest Times to 1900 (London, 1885–1900) 2:606–608.

[p. renold]