Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Date of Degree
2-2026
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Program
History
Advisor
Sarah Covington
Committee Members
Clare Carroll
Sara McDougall
Margaret L. King
Sheila J. Rabin
Subject Categories
Catholic Studies | Christianity | European History | History of Religion | History of Science, Technology, and Medicine | Medieval History | Medieval Studies | Renaissance Studies
Keywords
Reformation England, Early Modern Catholicism, English Mission, Continental Seminaries, Robert Persons, Rome
Abstract
This dissertation examines the lives of English Catholic seminarians before their admission to the English College, Rome, between 1598 and 1609, a formative moment in the history of the English Mission during the reign of Elizabeth I and the early Stuart period. Drawing on the Responsa scholarum—a collection of entrance questionnaire answers written in the seminarians’ own hands—this study constructs a prosopography of 132 men who sought ordination with the intention of returning to England as missionary priests in a context of persecution and danger. Rather than focusing on clerical careers after ordination, this project looks backward, recovering the social origins, education, health, religious identities, and motivations of these largely obscure figures when they entered the seminary.
By placing the Responsa scholarum at the center of analysis, this dissertation offers a microhistorical reading of the questionnaire itself, treating it as both an institutional instrument of scrutiny and a vehicle for early modern self-narration. The responses reveal a wide diversity of experiences shaped by region, class, family networks, education, conformity and conversion, physical and mental health, and patterns of mobility between England and the continent. They also demonstrate how seminarians consciously fashioned their identities for an institutional audience, negotiating expectations of obedience, fitness, and missionary zeal.
Engaging with major historiographical debates on English Catholicism, recusancy, education, and identity formation, this study complicates narratives of decline, continuity, and heroic martyrdom by foregrounding lesser-known actors and the ambiguities of lived Catholic experience. Ultimately, the dissertation argues that these seminarians—often overlooked in favor of prominent missionaries and martyrs—were central to the survival and reconstruction of English Catholicism. Their collective biographies illuminate the social foundations of the English Mission and provide a richer understanding of what it meant to live, believe, and prepare for priesthood as a Catholic in post-Reformation England.
Recommended Citation
Massey, John Thomas, "The Lives of English Catholic Seminarians before Rome, 1598–1609" (2026). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/6582
Included in
Catholic Studies Commons, Christianity Commons, European History Commons, History of Religion Commons, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons, Medieval History Commons, Medieval Studies Commons, Renaissance Studies Commons
