MATTHEW, TOBIE. - English priest, b. at Salisbury on 3 Oct. 1577, d. at Ghent on 13 Oct. 1655.
Of an Anglican family (his father was archbishop of York and his mother was a daughter of W. Barlow, bishop of Chichester), he took his degrees at Oxford (magister artium in 1597); in 1599 he entered Gray's Inn, where he found his ever-faithful friend, Francis Bacon (d. 1626), who called M. his alter ego; in 1604, when James I ascended the throne, he became a member of the Parliament of St. Albans, and was an elegant courtier of easy morals. His desire to travel, especially in Italy, was thwarted by his parents, who were very strict in matters of religion, but in 1604 he was allowed to go as far as France.
Disregarding his promise, M. proceeded as far as Italy, where everything he saw greatly attracted him. The Lenten processions in Florence and the devotion to the Madonna aroused in M. remorse for his past life; pressing on in search of the truth, in 1606 he abjured Protestantism. Having returned to England (1607), he was imprisoned for six months. In 1608 his friends obtained for him permission to go abroad, where he remained 10 years. In May 1614 he was ordained a priest by St. Robert Bellarmine in Rome. In 1617 he returned to England, but was again exiled from 1619 to '22. Two letters of M. to the Pope have survived, which show how little sincere were the promises of tolerance (for the Catholic faith) of King James (I of England). In 1622 this King showed that he welcomed his return and made use of his diplomatic and linguistic ability by sending him to Madrid in 1623 as adviser to the duke of Buckingham and to Prince Charles regarding the Spanish marriage, then under negotiation. When he returned, the King made him a knight. Under Charles I (1625-49), M. was able to help his English fellow-believers, until the civil war of 1640 forced him to flee.
It is almost certain that M. was received into the Society of Jesus, of which he was a generous benefactor; fleeing indeed from persecution, he went to the Jesuit house at Ghent, where he remained until his death.
M. translated into Italian (1618) the Saggi morali del signore F. Bacone, cavagliero inglese, gran cancelliero d'Inghilterra, con un altro suo trattato della sapienza degli antichi, with a dedicatory epistle to Cosimo grand duke of Tuscany, and into English the Confessions of St. Augustine (1620), the autobiography of St. Teresa (1613), and the "treatise on wisdom" of Fr. F. Arias (1650). He published A relation of the death of the most illustrious lord signor Troilo Savelle (1620), beheaded in Castel S. Angelo in 1620; A missive of consolation sent from Flanders to the catholics of England (1647); A true historical relation of the conversion of sir T. M. to the holie catholic fayth, partially published in his Life by C. Butler (1795), and completely in 1904 by A. H. Matthew, together with his valuable Letters (published by J. Donne in 1660), and other minor and uncertain writings. M. was a courageous Catholic, who greatly loved Italy.
Bibliography3 works
Enrico G. Rope