LOWER-DELMARVA-ROOTS-L Archives

Archiver > LOWER-DELMARVA-ROOTS > 2001-08 > 0996853853


From:
Subject: [LDR] Thomas Anderton S.J.
Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 11:50:53 EDT


More on Thomas Anderton, the Jesuit priest who "died on the Maryland Mission,
1696"

Someone asked why two aliases? When Thomas entered the Society of Jesus in
1631, he would have done so under an alias for a number of reasons. Any
practising Catholic priest caught by the authorities in England could expect
a gruesome "martyrdom" by being hung, drawn and quartered. Walsingham and his
successors maintained an extensive spy network at home and on the continent
that kept tabs on Seminaries and Colleges for English nationals training for
the priesthood so that when they returned they could be identified and
caught. It was common prctise for entrants to live under an alias both on the
official registers and between each other so that spies could not identify
them nor their colleagues name them under torture. When they went "on the
mission", they might use a different alias again.

What was his relationship with John Anderton of Dorchester Co? Thomas appears
to have been an Anderton of Horwich, a nephew of FatherLawrence Anderton
S.J., a brilliant scholar and author, known in his university days as
"Silver-Tongued Anderton" (I kid thee not!). Fr. Lawrence enjoyed a
reputation throughout Europe as a "controversialist", writing several books
that attacked the philosophical foundation of the Protestant religions.
Lawrence was a cousin of John Andertons father, Roger Anderton of Birchley.

Lawrence of Chorley
|
Christopher of Lostock - Thomas of Horwich
| |
Roger of Birchley William of Horwich - Fr Lawrence S.J.
| |
John of Dorchester,Md Fr Thomas S.J. (alias Barton)

When Thomas died in 1696, aged 84, John Anderton of Dorchester had been dead
20 years, having died in 1676. It is possible that the two never met - we
don't know when Fr Thomas came to Maryland. However Johns son Francis had
reached maturity since he is shown on land transactions from as early as 1690.

>From the website "Rebuilding the chapel" <
http://www.smcm.edu/hsmc/recreating_the_chapel.htm>; ...
"From 1634 until 1695 the first settlement, St. Mary's City, served as the
colony's capital and principal town. The religious struggles which had given
birth to St. Mary's City and Maryland led to the loss of the Colony to the
Baltimore family in 1689 and the removal of the capital to the Protestant
stronghold of Annapolis in 1695."

So when Fr Thomas died in 1696 the old chapel had been leveled and the
religious tolerance that the Jesuits had enjoyed had been resinded the year
before. Could he have been one of the first victims of the new regime? Or was
he just a very old man who had given up when he had seen the mission they had
built up destroyed? Had he attempted to continue in a clandestine manner
(there is reason to believe that he was the "Scroope" mentioned by Gee in
London at the same time as Fr Lawrence) ?

I haven't been able to find a copy of Foley, H "Records of the English
province of the Society of Jesus" to check for references to Fr Thomas in the
text. Anyone got any comments

Regards
Alan Anderton, Bargo NSW Australia

This thread: