John Sergeant was an English Roman Catholic priest, controversialist and theologian.

Life

He was son of William Sergeant, a yeoman

Yeoman

Yeoman refers chiefly to a free man owning his own farm, especially from the Elizabethan era to the 17th century. Work requiring a great deal of effort or labor, such as would be done by a yeoman farmer, came to be described as "yeoman's work"...

 in Barrow-upon-Humber, Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

, and was admitted in 1639 as a sub-sizar

Sizar

At Trinity College, Dublin and the University of Cambridge, a sizar is a student who receives some form of assistance such as meals, lower fees or lodging during his or her period of study, in some cases in return for doing a defined job....

 at St John's College, Cambridge

St John's College, Cambridge

St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....

, graduating in 1643. On the recommendation of William Beale

William Beale

William Beale was an English composer and baritone.Beale was born in Landrake, Cornwall. He first served as a chorister at Westminster Abbey under Dr. Arnold until his voice broke. He then served as a midshipman on HMS Révolutionnaire from 1799 to 1801...

 he was appointed secretary to Thomas Morton

Thomas Morton (bishop)

Thomas Morton was an English churchman, bishop of several dioceses.-Early life:Morton was born in York on 20 March 1564. He was brought up and grammar school educated in the city and nearby Halifax. In 1582 he became a pensioner at St John's College, Cambridge from which he graduated with a BA in...

, the Anglican Bishop of Durham, time he spent on transcriptions of the Church Fathers

Church Fathers

The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were early and influential theologians, eminent Christian teachers and great bishops. Their scholarly works were used as a precedent for centuries to come...

; but in a year or so converted to Catholicism

Catholicism

Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....

 as result of his studies.

He subsequently moved to the English College, Lisbon

English College, Lisbon

The English College, Lisbon was a Roman Catholic seminary that existed from the 17th century to the 20th century.-Early history:...

. He studied theology

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

 and in 1650 was ordained as a Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 priest. He subsequently taught at the college until 1652, when he became procurator and prefect of studies. From 1653 to 1654, he worked as a priest in England before returning to Lisbon where he resumed his earlier work and taught philosophy. In 1655 he was elected canon and appointed as secretary. For the next twenty years he was actively engaged in controversy, both with Anglicans such as the bishops Edward Stillingfleet

Edward Stillingfleet

Edward Stillingfleet was a British theologian and scholar. Considered an outstanding preacher as well as a strong polemical writer defending Anglicanism, Stillingfleet was known as "the beauty of holiness" for his good looks in the pulpit, and was called by John Hough "the ablest man of his...

 and John Tillotson

John Tillotson

John Tillotson was an Archbishop of Canterbury .-Curate and rector:Tillotson was the son of a Puritan clothier at Haughend, Sowerby, Yorkshire. He entered as a pensioner of Clare Hall, Cambridge, in 1647, graduated in 1650 and was made fellow of his college in 1651...

, and Catholics who differed from Thomas White

Thomas White (scholar)

Thomas White was an English Roman Catholic priest and scholar, known as a theologian, censured by the Inquisition, and also as a philosopher contributing to scientific and political debates.-Life:...

.

At the time of the Oates Plot he entered into communication with the Privy Council

Privy council

A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...

 which greatly scandalized the Catholics. This arose from his opposition to Jesuit influence in the English Catholic Church. He avoided arrest by passing as a physician under the names of Dodd, Holland, and Smith. There is an original painting of him at Ushaw College

Ushaw College

Ushaw College was a Roman Catholic seminary near Durham, England that closed in 2011. Ushaw was the principal seminary in the north of England for the training of Catholic priests.-History:...

, in Durham.

Works

He was reportedly difficult to work with, saying and writing many things that offended even his co-religionists. He was a voluminous writer, leaving over fifty works, either published or in manuscript.