Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 45.djvu/99

 his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of John Pincheon, esq., of Writtle in that county. He was educated at the English College, Douay, and, after being admitted to the priesthood, became tutor to Lord Derwentwater, who was subsequently beheaded for treason. He was consecrated bishop of Prusa, in partibus, on 11 Nov. 1721, and appointed coadjutor, cum jure successionis, to Bonaventure Giffard [q. v.], vicar-apostolic of the London district. On the death of that prelate on 12 March 1733–4, he succeeded to the vicariate. He resided chiefly at Fidlers, died on 22 Dec. 1758, and was buried in old St. Pancras churchyard. He was succeeded by Dr. Richard Challoner [q. v.]

[Brady's Episcopal Succession, iii. 158, 161–163, 257; Catholic Directory, 1894, p. 56; Howard's Roman Catholic Families, pt. i. p. 45.]  PETRE, EDWARD (1631–1699), known as Father Petre or Peters, confessor of James II, born in London in 1631, was the second son of Sir Francis Petre, bart., of the Cranham branch of the family, of which the Barons Petre constituted the eldest branch. His mother was Elizabeth, third daughter of Sir John Gage, bart., of Firle Place, Sussex, and grandson of Sir John Gage [q. v.], constable of the Tower under Henry VIII. The story told in ‘Revolution Politicks,’ implying that he was educated at Westminster under Busby, is apocryphal. His family being devout Roman catholics, he was sent in 1649 to study at St. Omer, and three years later he entered the Society of Jesus at Watten, under the name of Spencer, though he was not professed of the four vows until 2 Feb. 1671. He obtained some prominence in the society, not so much for learning as for boldness and address. On the death of his elder brother Frances, at Cranham in Essex, about 1679, he succeeded to the title, and about the same time he received orders from his provincial, and was sent on the English mission. Being rector of the Hampshire district at the time of the popish plot (1679), he was arrested and committed to Newgate; but, as Oates and his satellites produced no specific charges against him, he was released, after a year's confinement, in June 1680. In the following August he became rector of the London district and vice-provincial of England; and, intelligence of this appointment having leaked out, he was promptly rearrested and imprisoned until 6 Feb. 1683. Exactly two years after his liberation James II ascended the throne, and at once summoned Petre to court. His correspondence with Père La Chaise and other ‘forward’ members of the society marked him out for promotion, and he soon gave evidence of his zeal and devotion. To him was given the superintendence of the royal chapel; he was made clerk of the royal closet, and he was lodged in those apartments at Whitehall which James had occupied when he was Duke of York. The queen appears to have regarded him with coldness, or even aversion, but he found an all-powerful ally in Sunderland. With Sunderland, along with Richard Talbot and Henry Jermyn (afterwards Lord Dover) [q. v.], he formed a sort of secret inner council, and it was by the machinations of this cabal that Sunderland eventually supplanted Rochester in the king's confidence; at the same time the king entrusted to Petre the conversion of Sunderland. James recognised in him ‘a resolute and undertaking man,’ and resolved to assign him an official place among his advisers. As a preliminary step, it was determined to seek some preferment for him from Innocent XI. In December 1686 Roger Palmer, earl of Castlemaine [q. v.], was sent to Rome to petition the pope to this effect. The first proposal apparently was that the pope should grant Petre a dispensation which would enable him to accept high office in the English church, and Eachard states that the dignity ultimately designed for Petre was the archbishopric of York, a see which was left vacant (from April 1686 to November 1688) for this purpose. The pope, however, who had little fondness for the jesuits, proved obdurate, both to the original request and to the subsequent proposal which Sunderland had the effrontery to make, that Petre should be made a cardinal. Innocent professed himself utterly unable to comply ‘salva conscientia,’ and added that ‘such a promotion would very much reflect upon his majesty's fame’ (see abstract of the correspondence in Church Hist. iii. 424–5; D'Adda Correspondence in Addit. MS. 15396). He shortly afterwards ordered the general of the jesuits to rebuke Petre for his ambition.

Notwithstanding this rebuff, and in strong opposition to the wishes of the queen, James on 11 Nov. 1687 named Petre a privy councillor, along with the catholic lords Powis, Arundel, Belasyse, and Dover. The impolicy of such an appointment was glaring. James subsequently owned in his ‘Memoirs’ (ii. 77) that he was aware of it; but he ‘was so bewitched by my Lord Sunderland and Father Petre as to let himself be prevailed upon to doe so indiscreete a thing.’ Petre himself stated that he accepted the king's offer with the greatest reluctance, and it may certainly have been that he was over-persuaded