OATES, TITUS. — Political-religious adventurer, born at Oakham (Rutlandshire) in 1649, died in London on 23 July 1705. His name is linked to the famous, wholly fabricated conspiracy known as the “Oates's Plot” or “Popish Plot.”
At first an Anabaptist and later an Anglican, he pretended to have converted in order to frequent the Jesuits and discover their secrets; but he was expelled from their colleges at Valladolid (1667) and St-Omer (1668). In revenge, he lied, claiming to have attended a Jesuit assembly on 27 April 1668 at which the death of King Charles II, the massacre of the Protestants, and the restoration of the Catholic Church had been plotted. The accusation comprised 81 articles, and in defending it Oates fell into the most glaring contradictions, so much so that Charles II himself said he did not believe a word of II. Nevertheless, Parliament, under the pressure of Lord Shaftesbury, accepted it as true; arrests were made and sentences pronounced. During four years there were 2,000 arrests, and many innocent people were hanged as traitors, including 11 Jesuits, 3 Franciscans, 1 Benedictine, 5 secular priests, and several laymen (18 of these martyrs were beatified in 1929). The last victim was Bl. Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh.
Oates was subsequently tried under James II and sentenced to imprisonment and heavy fines; but he was later released under William III of Orange and restored to honor and office by the Protestants.