Fr Simon Bordley, eighteenth-century recusant priest, schoolmaster and trader in 'two-legged cattle.'
Cunningham, J. (2023) Fr Simon Bordley, eighteenth-century recusant priest, schoolmaster and trader in 'two-legged cattle.'. British Catholic History, 36 (31). pp. 280-308. ISSN 2055-7973
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Abstract
Simon Bordley was a Catholic priest in Lancashire for much of the eighteenth century. Despite only being a rural priest, he played an extremely important part in supporting the Catholic seminaries in France and Portugal by supplying them with students, material goods and financial assistance. He left behind him a lively correspondence relating to these activities which provides us with a valuable insight into the world of eighteenth-century priestly training in the English colleges. It also provides a fascinating glimpse of a Churchman who laboured with an impressive level of entrepreneurial skill and rugged independence. It is argued here that such a figure defies the common image of the seigneurial Catholic curate in service primarily to a family of the landed gentry in the eighteenth century, and in doing so he illustrates an example of the type of energetic cleric who provided a crucial lifeline to a Church that came to rely less and less on its aristocracy as the century progressed.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | Catholic History, 18th Century British History |
| Divisions: | School of Humanities |
| Depositing User: | Dr Jack Cunningham |
| Date Deposited: | 21 Feb 2023 11:54 |
| Last Modified: | 26 Apr 2023 14:15 |
| URI: | https://bgro.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/985 |
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