STAPLETON, THOMAS. - Catholic controversialist, b. at Hensfield (Sussex) in July 1535, d. at Louvain on 12 Oct. 1598. A bachelor at Oxford (Dec. 1556), he obtained a prebend in the cathedral of Chichester; after Elizabeth's accession to the throne, he continued his studies at Louvain, in Paris and, after a journey to Rome, again at Louvain.
Having returned to England, because he had not abjured Catholicism he lost his benefice, and in 1563 he emigrated, with his father and some relatives, to Louvain. He was then (1569) at the English College of Douai (doctor, 1571); he spent the winter and spring of 1576-77 in Rome; in 1584 he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus, but had to give it up because of poor health; in 1590 he succeeded M. Baio in the chair of Sacred Scripture at Louvain. In 1596, summoned by Clement VIII to Rome as apostolic protonotary, he did not move, whether (as was said) because powerful political influences, opposing his appointment as cardinal, hindered his departure, or for other reasons.
He is interesting above all as an assertor of the authority of the Roman Pontiff, alongside Bellarmine; even the Anglican adversaries acknowledged his profound learning; he supplied information to Pius V for the bull Regnans in excelsis (1570), in which the latter condemned Elizabeth. His numerous writings are collected in the Opera Omnia (4 vols., Paris 1624), with an autobiography in hexameters and a Life of him by H. Holland.
Bibliography2 worksT. Cooper, s. v. in Dictionary of National Biography, XVIII, p. 598 (he is not to be confused with the namesake palaeographer and scholar, 1
BIBL.: T. Cooper, s. v. in Dictionary of National Biography, XVIII, p. 598 (he is not to be confused with the namesake palaeographer and scholar, 1805-49); G. Thils, Les notes de l'Eglise dans l'apoledique catholique depuis la Réforme, Gembloux 1937, see index.
Pincherle, Alberto. “Stapleton, thomas.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XI, col. 1205. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1953. https://azioneromana.com/article/stapleton-thomas.
MLA
Pincherle, Alberto. “Stapleton, thomas.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XI, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1953, col. 1205. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/stapleton-thomas.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec11_stapleton_thomas,
author = {Pincherle, Alberto},
title = {Stapleton, thomas},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {XI},
pages = {1205},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1953},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/stapleton-thomas}
}
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