Richard Bristow was an English Catholic controversialist and Biblical scholar.

He went to the University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

 in 1555, probably as a member of Exeter College, Oxford

Exeter College, Oxford

Exeter College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth oldest college of the University. The main entrance is on the east side of Turl Street...

 (Wood doubts this). In 1559 he took his Bachelor's degree and proceeded to the degree of Master of Arts as a member of Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...

 in 1562. He was brilliant and eloquent, and so esteemed as an orator that, with Edmund Campion

Edmund Campion

Saint Edmund Campion, S.J. was an English Roman Catholic martyr and Jesuit priest. While conducting an underground ministry in officially Protestant England, Campion was arrested by priest hunters. Convicted of high treason by a kangaroo court, he was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn...

, he was chosen to hold a public disputation before Queen Elizabeth

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...

 in 1566.

Shortly afterwards, having applied himself to theology and acquired a wide reputation for his learning he was made a Fellow of Exeter College (1567) by the interest of Sir William Petre

William Petre

Sir William Petre was a secretary of state to Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I.Educated as a lawyer at Oxford, he became a public servant, probably through the influence of the Boleyns, one of whom, George, he had tutored at Oxford and another of whom, Anne, was married to the king...

, who had founded several fellowships there. His ability would probably have won further promotion for him had not his religious opinions undergone a change, an indication of which was given in his argument with the Regius Professor of Divinity

Regius Professor of Divinity

The Regius Professorship of Divinity is one of the oldest and most prestigious of the professorships at the University of Oxford and at the University of Cambridge.Both chairs were founded by Henry VIII...

, whom he confuted.

Two years after his appointment to the fellowship he left Oxford and proceeded to Louvain

Leuven

Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...

, where he met William Allen (afterwards Cardinal). Allen secured him for his new college at Douai

Douai

-Main sights:Douai's ornate Gothic style belfry was begun in 1380, on the site of an earlier tower. The 80 m high structure includes an impressive carillon, consisting of 62 bells spanning 5 octaves. The originals, some dating from 1391 were removed in 1917 during World War I by the occupying...

 and appointed him its first prefect of studies. He was Allen's "right hand upon all occasions", acting as rector when he was absent and when the college was transferred (1578) to Reims

Reims

Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....

.

Bristow is best known, however, as an earnest student, a powerful controversial writer, and, with Allen, as one of the revisers of the Douay Bible. His labours told upon a constitution naturally weak, and he was obliged to relinquish his work in 1581. In May of the same year he went to Spa

Spa, Belgium

Spa is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region and Province of Liège. It is situated in a valley in the Ardennes mountain chain, some southeast of Liège, and southwest of Aachen. As of 1 January 2006, Spa had a total population of 10,543...

, but having obtained no advantage there he was advised, after two months, to return to England. This he did in September, staying until his death (18 October) with Jerome Bellamy

Jerome Bellamy

Jerome Bellamy , of Uxenden Hall, near London, England, was a member of an old Roman Catholic recusant family noted for its hospitality to missionaries and fellow recusants.Bellamy was a warm sympathizer with Mary, Queen of Scots...

, a Catholic of means, at Harrow-on-the-Hill.

By his death the Catholic cause lost a zealous champion and a learned advocate. The Douai records speak of him in the highest terms as rivalling Allen in prudence, Stapleton

Thomas Stapleton

Thomas Stapleton was an English Catholic controversialist.-Life:He was the son of William Stapleton, one of the Stapletons of Carlton, Yorkshire. He was educated at the Free School, Canterbury, at Winchester College, and at New College, Oxford, where he became a Fellow, 18 January 1553...

 in acumen, Campion in eloquence, Wright

Wright

Wright is an occupational surname originating in England. The term Wright comes from the circa 700 AD Old English word "wryhta" or "wyrhta", meaning worker or shaper of wood. Later it became any occupational worker , and is used as a British family name...

 in theology, and Martin

Gregory Martin (scholar)

Gregory Martin was an English Catholic scholar, the translator of the Douai Version of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate....

in languages.

Writings

• A Briefe Treatise of diuerse and sure wayes to finde out the truthe in this doubtful and dangerous time of Heresie: conteyning sundry worthy Motives vnto the Catholic faith, or considerations to moue a man to beleue the Catholikes and not the Heretikes (Third edition entitled Motives inducing to the Catholike Faith.)
• Tabula in Summam Theologicam S. Thomae Aquinatis
• A Reply to Will. Fulke
• Demandes to be proponed of Catholikes to the Heretikes
• A Defence of the Bull of Pope Pius V
• Annotations on the Rheims translation of the New Testament
• Carmina Diversa
• Motiva Omnibus Catholicae Doctrinae Orthodoxis Cultoribus pernecessaria

External links