Sunday 12 July 2009

William Allen

William Allen (1532-1594) was an English Roman Catholic priest and cardinal during a time when many Catholics were experiencing persecution. Having influenced Pope Pius V to depose Elizabeth I, he was forced into exile in the Netherlands once Elizabeth chose not to continue her policy of religious tolerance and instead began the persecution of her religious opponents. In 1568 he founded a seminary at Douai in the Netherlands to train English priests for the Catholic community in England. Allen desired to restore Roman Catholicism in England and wanted to ensure there would be a supply of trained clergy ready to come into the country when Catholicism was restored. Later he helped plan the Spanish Armada's invasion of England, and was to have been Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor had it succeeded.

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