James Archer (Jesuit)
Encyclopedia
James Archer was an Irish member of the Society of Jesus
and played a controversial role in the Nine Years War, during the Tudor conquest of his native country. In the final decade of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I
he became a leading hate figure in English government propaganda, but his lasting achievement was in the establishment of Irish seminaries in continental Europe as part of the counter reformation.
, papal nuncio to Ireland, had been evangelizing in south Leinster in this period, although there is no evidence that he came in contact with Archer. Archer entered the seminary college of Louvain around the year 1564, when Nicholas Sanders
was in charge. In his maturity, he was described as tall, of dark complexion, with a long, thin face.
, by the President of Munster, William Drury
. In the report Archer was described as a "principal prelate" and "a detestable enemy to the Word of God". Drury also claimed that en route to Ireland Archer had "taught all the way betwixt Rye and Bristol [in England] against our religion and caused a number to despair".
In 1579, the rebel James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald
landed a papal invasion force at Smerwick
in modern-day County Kerry
in the company of Sanders. Fitzmaurice proceeded to Holy Cross in County Tipperary
via Kilmallock
, and it is possible that Archer, who was in the vicinity, was attached to his forces. Fitzmaurice was killed during this journey.
At about this time Archer is said to have attended on the rebel Conor O'Rourke on the evening of the latter's execution for treason. One source asserts that he was imprisoned at Westminster sometime after, but there is no substantial evidence for this.
In 1585 Archer was sent to the University of Pont-à-Mousson, where a Scots-Irish seminary had lately been established. He studied scholastic theology for two years while ministering to the students and hearing confessions. In an unenthusiastic report delivered in 1587 - describing him as "bilious" - it was suggested that he was suited to become a preacher in his native country.
(1585–1604). William Stanley
, commander of a regiment of Irish soldiers under English crown authority, had just surrendered the Belgian city of Deventer to Parma and committed himself and his men to the service of the Spanish king. Archer spent his time hearing confessions from the Irish soldiers and busying himself in administrative duties. Expectations ran high among the forces for an invasion of England, but were defeated in the following year when the Spanish Armada
was driven from the Dutch coast.
As Spain gradually regained its strategic initiative over England, Archer was reported to be following Stanley's regiment throughout 1590. In September of the following year he was at Brussels, recovering from an illness. His superiors still considered him of middling ability, and the impression of melancholy and irascibility persisted. A request was then received from the archbishop of Armagh, Edmund McGowran, for his participation in a Jesuit mission to Ireland.
after a visit to Philip II
's court at Madrid. In the following years he visited court regularly in an effort to secure scarce funding for the institution. By this time his superiors had altered their opinion of him to such a degree that he was considered ripe for promotion.
, and further information came from an agent of Robert Cecil
, secretary to the queen. At this time, Archer was also implicated in a plot to torch the French and English ships at Dieppe.
The merits of the allegations are impossible to judge, although it seems clear that Archer was acquainted with Cahill. The assassination plot was just one of many against the queen that received credence during the final decade of her reign. One sceptic has pointed out that the evidence only emerged once Father Robert Persons had published his A Conference about the Next Succession to the Crown of England. The book does appear to have alarmed Elizabeth's advisers, and from that date onward the flow of supposed plots against the queen's life became steady. In 1601 Cecil himself was accused of treason at the trial of the Earl of Essex
on the basis of his reading of Person's book, but survived this twist and went on to secure the succession of James I
upon the queen's death two years later.
, and the government regarded him with such suspicion that a reward was offered for his capture.
By August 1598 it seems Archer had fled to Ulster, where he was based with the northern rebels when the Nine Years war was just entering its most active phase. It is probable that, following the English defeat at the battle of the Yellow Ford
later in that year, he decided to commit himself to the cause of the rebel leader, Hugh O'Neill
. With this newfound authority he returned south to more familiar territory.
During the rest of the war, reports of his exploits were legion, so that an aura of mystery and almost awe was attached to Archer's name, and government officers referred to him as the "arch traitor" and the "arch devil". However exaggerated the reports, it is certain that he was present at the taking of the Earl of Ormond in 1599, when the rebel O'Mores lured the most powerful nobleman in the country to a parley in a remote part of Carlow and seized him by treachery. The earl spent a substantial period in custody, with Archer attending on him regularly, at a time when the English presence in Ireland was in jeopardy.
Ormond's seizure - which followed the departure from Ireland of the Earl of Essex after a disappointing campaign (see Essex in Ireland
) - was put down by the president of Munster, Sir George Carew, to Archer's influence. Upon his release some months later - unharmed - the earl described the Jesuit as an "odious traitor". It may be that Ormond himself was complicit in the act, with some suggestion that he was indulging in a long game to ensure his power against the hazard of an outright defeat of the English and the removal of their influence from Ireland. One source later claimed that Ormond had converted to the Catholic faith during his captivity, and Archer is reported to have declared that the earl would be made king of Ireland upon Spanish intervention. The episode still defies satisfactory explanation.
delayed the appointment of a nuncio to Ireland, but at Madrid plans for an Irish expedition were given renewed attention upon the agreement of peace between Spain and France. In early 1601 Philip III of Spain
opted to send an armada with a force of 6000 soldiers, and the Dublin government began preparations to meet the Spanish effort.
During the spring and summer of 1601 Carew and Cecil received reports of the activities of Archer, who had just arrived in Spain. Despite the appointment of a Jesuit nuncio - a neutral who was averse to a militant mission in Ireland - Archer managed to defer service in the seminary at Salamanca and involved himself in the Irish expedition instead. He proposed a landing in Munster - in the south - while the commander of the expedition, del Aguila, insisted on the north. In consultation, O'Neill and the northern rebels recommended a compromise: a landing on the coast between the western port of Limerick and Lough Foyle in the extreme north. In September Archer set sail with the armada, which bore over 4500 soldiers and was bound for the port of Cork, or its alternative at Kinsale - both destinations lay at the extreme south of the island.
and the capture of the Sugan Earl of Desmond
. Archer vouched for a local chieftain, O'Sullivan Beare, who offered to block the march from Dublin of the crown's principal army, but del Aguila declined. The Spanish occupied the walled town of Kinsale, which was soon surrounded by Mountjoy in a siege that was to last three months. The rebel armies of O'Neill and Red Hugh O'Donnell marched the length of the country in bitter winter conditions, but were broken by the English cavalry and driven from the field in December at the battle of Kinsale. Del Aguila then surrendered on terms and departed with his forces for Spain.
Archer immediately engaged in recrimination. He accused the Spanish commander of cowardice and vacillation, of refusing to heed local advice and failing to sally out and join with his Irish allies at the critical point. Anticipating further Spanish aid, Archer left Kinsale and fell in with O'Sullivan Beare, who was holding out further down the coast. Consideration was being given at the court of Philip III to a further expedition, and Archer sailed for Spain on the 6th of July 1602 (just before the Siege of Dunboy
) to report on the state of Ireland.
At court Archer railed against del Aguila. For his part, the commander argued against further aid to the Irish and presented the king with a forged letter - supplied to him by Carew - purporting to be from Archer, in which the priest was supposed to have sought pardon of the queen. The arguments dragged on, but by March 1603 Archer appears to have been vindicated while del Aguila was restrained in his lodgings.
Archer's hopes of aid continued, but after the queen's death in March 1603 O'Neill accepted terms of surrender from Mountjoy. Upon the accession of James I to the English throne in May a new dispensation was in place, and in the following year a peace was concluded with the Spanish. Del Aguila was eventually exonerated, and in Ireland Carew ordered all Jesuits and seminary priests to depart the kingdom. Archer sought a return to Ireland, and for years afterward his imminent arrival was touted in English government propaganda. But the remainder of his life was spent in Spain.
Archer spent much time at court, and his approach to his responsibilities is summed up in the following quote, concerning the opportunity afforded through the running of the seminaries: "if we do not take advantage of it we shall do nothing heroic or outstanding".
In 1615 Archer again sought to return to Ireland, but his request was denied by the new general, Mutius Vitelleschi. He spent the last years of his life at Santiago de Compostella as spiritual father to the seminarians. On the 15th of February 1620 he died at the Irish college there.
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
and played a controversial role in the Nine Years War, during the Tudor conquest of his native country. In the final decade of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
he became a leading hate figure in English government propaganda, but his lasting achievement was in the establishment of Irish seminaries in continental Europe as part of the counter reformation.
Early life
Archer came from an Anglo-Norman family in county Kilkenny. He may have attended the grammar school in the county town, which had been established in 1555 under Peter White, a fellow of Oxford University. David WolfeDavid Wolfe
David Wolfe may refer to:* David Wolfe * David Wolfe , author of Mathematical Go, see Computer Go...
, papal nuncio to Ireland, had been evangelizing in south Leinster in this period, although there is no evidence that he came in contact with Archer. Archer entered the seminary college of Louvain around the year 1564, when Nicholas Sanders
Nicholas Sanders
Nicholas Sanders was an English Roman Catholic priest and polemicist.-Early life:Sanders was born at Chariwood , Surrey, the son of William Sanders, once sheriff of Surrey, who was descended from the Sanders of Sanderstead...
was in charge. In his maturity, he was described as tall, of dark complexion, with a long, thin face.
Irish mission
Archer took a degree of Master of Arts and returned to Ireland in March 1577. Later the same year his presence about Waterford and Clonmel was reported to the queen's secretary, Francis WalsinghamFrancis Walsingham
Sir Francis Walsingham was Principal Secretary to Elizabeth I of England from 1573 until 1590, and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster". Walsingham is frequently cited as one of the earliest practitioners of modern intelligence methods both for espionage and for domestic security...
, by the President of Munster, William Drury
William Drury
Sir William Drury, Knt., was an English statesman and soldier,He was a son of Sir Robert Drury of Hedgerley in Buckinghamshire, and grandson of another Sir Robert Drury , who was speaker of the House of Commons in 1495. He was a brother of Dru Drury.He was born at Hawstead in Suffolk, and was...
. In the report Archer was described as a "principal prelate" and "a detestable enemy to the Word of God". Drury also claimed that en route to Ireland Archer had "taught all the way betwixt Rye and Bristol [in England] against our religion and caused a number to despair".
In 1579, the rebel James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald
James FitzMaurice FitzGerald
James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald was a member of the 16th century ruling Geraldine dynasty in the province of Munster in Ireland. He rebelled against the crown authority of Queen Elizabeth I of England in response to the onset of the Tudor conquest of Ireland and was deemed an archtraitor...
landed a papal invasion force at Smerwick
Ard na Caithne
Ard na Caithne , meaning height of the arbutus or strawberry tree, known as Smerwick in English, in the heart of the Kerry Gaeltacht is one of the principal bays of Corca Dhuibhne. It is nestled at the foot of An Triúr Deirfiúr and Cnoc Bhréanainn, which at is the highest mountain in the Brandon...
in modern-day County Kerry
County Kerry
Kerry means the "people of Ciar" which was the name of the pre-Gaelic tribe who lived in part of the present county. The legendary founder of the tribe was Ciar, son of Fergus mac Róich. In Old Irish "Ciar" meant black or dark brown, and the word continues in use in modern Irish as an adjective...
in the company of Sanders. Fitzmaurice proceeded to Holy Cross in County Tipperary
County Tipperary
County Tipperary is a county of Ireland. It is located in the province of Munster and is named after the town of Tipperary. The area of the county does not have a single local authority; local government is split between two authorities. In North Tipperary, part of the Mid-West Region, local...
via Kilmallock
Kilmallock
Kilmallock or Kilmalloc is a town in south County Limerick, Ireland, near the border with County Cork. There is a Dominican Priory in the town and King's Castle . The remains of medieval walls which encircled the settlement are still visible. The Dublin–Cork railway line passes by the town,...
, and it is possible that Archer, who was in the vicinity, was attached to his forces. Fitzmaurice was killed during this journey.
At about this time Archer is said to have attended on the rebel Conor O'Rourke on the evening of the latter's execution for treason. One source asserts that he was imprisoned at Westminster sometime after, but there is no substantial evidence for this.
Jesuit
Archer was received as a novice into the Society of Jesus at Rome in 1581. He then spent two and a half years at the Roman College, studying logic, physics, and moral and controversial theology. In a report to the Jesuit General in 1584 he was described as physically strong, although choleric and melancholy in temperament; he had not distinguished himself in his studies, and was reckoned, "suitable to hear confessions".In 1585 Archer was sent to the University of Pont-à-Mousson, where a Scots-Irish seminary had lately been established. He studied scholastic theology for two years while ministering to the students and hearing confessions. In an unenthusiastic report delivered in 1587 - describing him as "bilious" - it was suggested that he was suited to become a preacher in his native country.
Low Countries
In 1587 Archer was sent to the Low Countries to serve as chaplain to the Spanish forces under the Duke of Parma during the Anglo-Spanish warAnglo-Spanish War (1585)
The Anglo–Spanish War was an intermittent conflict between the kingdoms of Spain and England that was never formally declared. The war was punctuated by widely separated battles, and began with England's military expedition in 1585 to the Netherlands under the command of the Earl of Leicester in...
(1585–1604). William Stanley
William Stanley (Elizabethan)
Sir William Stanley , son of Sir Rowland Stanley of Hooton , was a member of the Stanley family. He was an officer and a recusant, who served under Elizabeth I of England and is most noted for his surrender of Deventer to the Spanish in 1587.-Early career:Stanley was educated with Dr. Standish at...
, commander of a regiment of Irish soldiers under English crown authority, had just surrendered the Belgian city of Deventer to Parma and committed himself and his men to the service of the Spanish king. Archer spent his time hearing confessions from the Irish soldiers and busying himself in administrative duties. Expectations ran high among the forces for an invasion of England, but were defeated in the following year when the Spanish Armada
Spanish Armada
This article refers to the Battle of Gravelines, for the modern navy of Spain, see Spanish NavyThe Spanish Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, with the intention of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England to stop English...
was driven from the Dutch coast.
As Spain gradually regained its strategic initiative over England, Archer was reported to be following Stanley's regiment throughout 1590. In September of the following year he was at Brussels, recovering from an illness. His superiors still considered him of middling ability, and the impression of melancholy and irascibility persisted. A request was then received from the archbishop of Armagh, Edmund McGowran, for his participation in a Jesuit mission to Ireland.
Salamanca
Archer remained in the Low Countries throughout 1591, then spent three months at Calais before he sailed to Spain, where he became the first rector of the Irish college at SalamancaSalamanca
Salamanca is a city in western Spain, in the community of Castile and León. Because it is known for its beautiful buildings and urban environment, the Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. It is the most important university city in Spain and is known for its contributions to...
after a visit to Philip II
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
's court at Madrid. In the following years he visited court regularly in an effort to secure scarce funding for the institution. By this time his superiors had altered their opinion of him to such a degree that he was considered ripe for promotion.
Plots and allegations
In 1594 Archer became involved in controversy, when it was alleged that he had plotted two years previously with other Jesuits and Stanley to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I. The chosen assassin had been Hugh Cahill, a Tipperary man, who confessed that he was paid to hang about the court at London, on the off chance that the queen might present herself as a target, and then stab her. The confession had been obtained under torture by Richard TopcliffeRichard Topcliffe
Richard Topcliffe was a landowner and Member of Parliament during the reign of Elizabeth I of England. He became notorious as a priest-hunter and torturer and was often referred to as the Queen's principal "interrogator"....
, and further information came from an agent of Robert Cecil
Robert Cecil
Robert Cecil may refer to:*Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury , statesman, spymaster and minister to Elizabeth I of England and James I of England...
, secretary to the queen. At this time, Archer was also implicated in a plot to torch the French and English ships at Dieppe.
The merits of the allegations are impossible to judge, although it seems clear that Archer was acquainted with Cahill. The assassination plot was just one of many against the queen that received credence during the final decade of her reign. One sceptic has pointed out that the evidence only emerged once Father Robert Persons had published his A Conference about the Next Succession to the Crown of England. The book does appear to have alarmed Elizabeth's advisers, and from that date onward the flow of supposed plots against the queen's life became steady. In 1601 Cecil himself was accused of treason at the trial of the Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG was an English nobleman and a favourite of Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during the Nine Years' War in 1599...
on the basis of his reading of Person's book, but survived this twist and went on to secure the succession of James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
upon the queen's death two years later.
Ireland
In 1596 Archer returned to Ireland, landing at Waterford or Wexford, with a view to re-establishing the Jesuit mission there and to raise funds for the college at Salamanca. The brief visit became an enforced stay of four years, and it was soon decided at Rome to make him superior of the new mission. His presence quickly came to the attention of the Lord Deputy, Sir William RussellWilliam Russell, 1st Baron Russell of Thornhaugh
William Russell, 1st Baron Russell of Thornhaugh was a younger son of Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford. His birthdate is uncertain, with some records showing that he was born as early as 1553, some as late as 1563...
, and the government regarded him with such suspicion that a reward was offered for his capture.
By August 1598 it seems Archer had fled to Ulster, where he was based with the northern rebels when the Nine Years war was just entering its most active phase. It is probable that, following the English defeat at the battle of the Yellow Ford
Battle of the Yellow Ford
The Battle of the Yellow Ford was fought in western County Armagh, Ulster, in Ireland, near the river Blackwater on 14 August 1598, during the Nine Years War ....
later in that year, he decided to commit himself to the cause of the rebel leader, Hugh O'Neill
Hugh O'Neill, 3rd Earl of Tyrone
Aodh Mór Ó Néill, anglicised as Hugh The Great O'Neill , was the 2nd or 3rd Earl of Tyrone and was later created The Ó Néill...
. With this newfound authority he returned south to more familiar territory.
During the rest of the war, reports of his exploits were legion, so that an aura of mystery and almost awe was attached to Archer's name, and government officers referred to him as the "arch traitor" and the "arch devil". However exaggerated the reports, it is certain that he was present at the taking of the Earl of Ormond in 1599, when the rebel O'Mores lured the most powerful nobleman in the country to a parley in a remote part of Carlow and seized him by treachery. The earl spent a substantial period in custody, with Archer attending on him regularly, at a time when the English presence in Ireland was in jeopardy.
Ormond's seizure - which followed the departure from Ireland of the Earl of Essex after a disappointing campaign (see Essex in Ireland
Essex in Ireland
Essex in Ireland refers to the military campaign pursued in Ireland in 1599 by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, during the Nine Years War and the Anglo-Spanish War....
) - was put down by the president of Munster, Sir George Carew, to Archer's influence. Upon his release some months later - unharmed - the earl described the Jesuit as an "odious traitor". It may be that Ormond himself was complicit in the act, with some suggestion that he was indulging in a long game to ensure his power against the hazard of an outright defeat of the English and the removal of their influence from Ireland. One source later claimed that Ormond had converted to the Catholic faith during his captivity, and Archer is reported to have declared that the earl would be made king of Ireland upon Spanish intervention. The episode still defies satisfactory explanation.
Spanish intervention
In October 1599 Archer left Ireland for Rome, where he effectively acted as O'Neill's envoy. Pope Clement VIIIPope Clement VIII
Pope Clement VIII , born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was Pope from 30 January 1592 to 3 March 1605.-Cardinal:...
delayed the appointment of a nuncio to Ireland, but at Madrid plans for an Irish expedition were given renewed attention upon the agreement of peace between Spain and France. In early 1601 Philip III of Spain
Philip III of Spain
Philip III , also known as Philip the Pious, was the King of Spain and King of Portugal and the Algarves, where he ruled as Philip II , from 1598 until his death...
opted to send an armada with a force of 6000 soldiers, and the Dublin government began preparations to meet the Spanish effort.
During the spring and summer of 1601 Carew and Cecil received reports of the activities of Archer, who had just arrived in Spain. Despite the appointment of a Jesuit nuncio - a neutral who was averse to a militant mission in Ireland - Archer managed to defer service in the seminary at Salamanca and involved himself in the Irish expedition instead. He proposed a landing in Munster - in the south - while the commander of the expedition, del Aguila, insisted on the north. In consultation, O'Neill and the northern rebels recommended a compromise: a landing on the coast between the western port of Limerick and Lough Foyle in the extreme north. In September Archer set sail with the armada, which bore over 4500 soldiers and was bound for the port of Cork, or its alternative at Kinsale - both destinations lay at the extreme south of the island.
Battle of Kinsale
On arriving in Munster in September 1601, del Aguila discovered that the province lay docile under Carew's command, following the imprisonment of Florence MacCarthyFlorence MacCarthy
Finnian or Fínghin mac Donnchadh Mac Cárthaigh , known to the English as Florence MacCarthy, was an Irish prince of the late 16th century and the last credible claimant to the MacCarthy Mór title before its suppression by English authority...
and the capture of the Sugan Earl of Desmond
Earl of Desmond
The title of Earl of Desmond has been held historically by lords in Ireland, first as a title outside of the peerage system and later as part of the Peerage of Ireland....
. Archer vouched for a local chieftain, O'Sullivan Beare, who offered to block the march from Dublin of the crown's principal army, but del Aguila declined. The Spanish occupied the walled town of Kinsale, which was soon surrounded by Mountjoy in a siege that was to last three months. The rebel armies of O'Neill and Red Hugh O'Donnell marched the length of the country in bitter winter conditions, but were broken by the English cavalry and driven from the field in December at the battle of Kinsale. Del Aguila then surrendered on terms and departed with his forces for Spain.
Archer immediately engaged in recrimination. He accused the Spanish commander of cowardice and vacillation, of refusing to heed local advice and failing to sally out and join with his Irish allies at the critical point. Anticipating further Spanish aid, Archer left Kinsale and fell in with O'Sullivan Beare, who was holding out further down the coast. Consideration was being given at the court of Philip III to a further expedition, and Archer sailed for Spain on the 6th of July 1602 (just before the Siege of Dunboy
Siege of Dunboy
The Siege of Dunboy took place at Dunboy Castle on 5–18 June 1602, during the Nine Years' War in Ireland. It was one of the last battles of the conflict and was a victory for the English Army.-The Castle:...
) to report on the state of Ireland.
At court Archer railed against del Aguila. For his part, the commander argued against further aid to the Irish and presented the king with a forged letter - supplied to him by Carew - purporting to be from Archer, in which the priest was supposed to have sought pardon of the queen. The arguments dragged on, but by March 1603 Archer appears to have been vindicated while del Aguila was restrained in his lodgings.
Archer's hopes of aid continued, but after the queen's death in March 1603 O'Neill accepted terms of surrender from Mountjoy. Upon the accession of James I to the English throne in May a new dispensation was in place, and in the following year a peace was concluded with the Spanish. Del Aguila was eventually exonerated, and in Ireland Carew ordered all Jesuits and seminary priests to depart the kingdom. Archer sought a return to Ireland, and for years afterward his imminent arrival was touted in English government propaganda. But the remainder of his life was spent in Spain.
The Irish College
Archer was appointed prefect of mission by the Jesuit general, Aquaviva, with the task of co-ordinating the work of the Irish colleges in Iberia. At Salamanca a dispute had arisen over allegations that the Jesuits were discriminating against Gaelic Irish students in favour of Old English students from those parts of Ireland more loyal to English crown authority. A Spanish rector was appointed after a royal inquiry, but Archer intervened, seeking greater safeguards for the disadvantaged students, and was granted his wish by the king. In 1610 the Salamanca institution became a Royal College.Archer spent much time at court, and his approach to his responsibilities is summed up in the following quote, concerning the opportunity afforded through the running of the seminaries: "if we do not take advantage of it we shall do nothing heroic or outstanding".
Decline and death
Archer began to suffer ill health in 1608, and little is known of him until 1613, when he stayed two months at Bordeaux on seminary business. He appears to have commanded respect for his devoted religious observance.In 1615 Archer again sought to return to Ireland, but his request was denied by the new general, Mutius Vitelleschi. He spent the last years of his life at Santiago de Compostella as spiritual father to the seminarians. On the 15th of February 1620 he died at the Irish college there.