Parsons

Parsons, Robert (1546-1610), English Jesuit, was born in Somersetshire and educated at Oxford, where he became fellow and tutor of Balliol. He was compelled to leave the university on account of his opinions, and went to Padua to study medicine. Eventually, however, he was ordained, and entered the Society of Jesus. In 1580 he and Father Campion were sent to England, the former disguised as a merchant. He left it a year later, when Campion was arrested, and went "to France. Between this time and the Armada expedition he was busy with political intrigues. Between 1589 and 1593 he organised several seminaries for English Roman Catholics in the Peninsula and France, and was himself some time rector of the English College at Rome, where he died. In his later years his influence with the Pope was violently assailed by the secular priests.