WHITE, ANDREW

Missionary, "Apostle of Maryland"; b. London, England, 1579; d. near London, Dec. 27, 1656. White attended English refugee colleges on the Continent and was ordained at Douai, France (c. 1605). He then worked on the English mission until his banishment (1606), with 44 other priests, following the Gunpowder Plot turmoil. In 1607 he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Louvain, Belgium. He taught theology at Lisbon, Portugal, and Louvain and Liège, Belgium, but his inflexible Thomistic views and ultraconservatism led to difficulties. As a consequence he was several times relieved of his professorship and finally sent to the English mission, where he served in Suffolk, Middlesex, Devonshire, and Hampshire.

He was at St. Thomas, Hants., when he was selected for the North American mission. With Father John Gravener (alias Altham) and Brother Thomas Gervase, White joined Lord Baltimore's expedition to Maryland, landing on St. Clement's Island, March 25, 1634. For ten years he served the settlers and the Piscataway, Patuxent, Potomac, and Anacostan tribes of the surrounding area. When the Civil War in England disrupted the American missions, Maryland was attacked by Puritan insurrectionists from Virginia; White and Thomas Fisher (alias Copley), SJ, were captured (1664) and sent in chains to England to be tried for treason. Although they were acquitted on the plea that they had returned to England under force, they were ordered to depart from the realm. White went to Belgium, but soon returned to his own country and, failing in his attempts to return to Maryland, spent his remaining years as a missionary in southern England.

White's pamphlet, "Declaratio Coloniae Domini Baronis de Baltimore," was written to attract settlers for the New World enterprise, and his "Relatio Itineris in Marilandiam" was an account of the first expedition to Maryland. He also compiled a grammar, a dictionary, and a catechism.

Bibliography: e. i. devitt, "History of the Maryland-New York Province," Woodstock Letters 60 (1931) 199–226. t. hughes, The History of the Society of Jesus in North America: Colonial and Federal (Texts and Documents) 4 v. (New York 1907–17). a. white, "Declaratio Coloniae Domini Baronis de Baltimore," Woodstock Letters 1 (1872) 12–21; "Relatio Itineris In Marilandiam," ibid. 1 (1872) 22–24, 71–80, 145–155; 2 (1873) 1–13. "An Historical Sketch of Father Andrew White, S.J., the Apostle of Maryland," ibid. 1 (1872) 1–11.

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