WHITE, Stephen. - Jesuit and historian, b. at Clonmel (Ireland) in 1573 (or 1574), d. at Galway in 1646.
Having entered the Order in 1596, he was sent to Germany in 1606 and for many years taught theology at Ingolstadt, Dillingen, and Cassel, before moving (1627-28) to Metz. After another twelve years of teaching activity in the French and German colleges of the Order, he was permitted to return to Ireland to take charge of the new Dublin College. This was soon closed by the English government, leaving him free to devote himself to pastoral ministry in the dioceses of Waterford and Lismore.
WHITE’s fame is particularly linked to his hagiographical and historical works, among which the biographies of Irish saints are especially valuable; these were widely used by the Bollandists for the compilation of the *Acta Sanctorum*. Other of his writings, especially theological ones, were published in the *Biblioteca historico-philologico-theologica* (Brema 1719-25). He also deserves credit for the discovery, in the libraries of numerous German abbeys, of ancient Irish literary monuments and chronicles, which he published with learned commentaries inspired by his passionate love for his homeland. A notable example of this is his most famous work, the *Apologia pro Hibernia adversus Cambri calumnias*, written to refute the arguments of Gerald of Wales (Lat. *Cambria*), which he judged to be damaging to Irish honor.