Review: The Autobiography of a Hunted Priest

The Autobiography of a Hunted Priest by John Gerard
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

After the pope declared Elizabeth I of England illegitimate in 1570 and released her subjects from obedience to her, several conspiracies threatened her life, all of which were defeated with the help of her ministers' secret service. Agents in the field were the ardent pursuivants, a new word to me I actually first learned on recently reading Sea Changes: British Emigration and American Literature. Not covered in their Wikipedia article, in Elizabethan England they chased around secret priests and sought out their artfully constructed hiding places in the homes of well-heeled protectors. Once caught, these were interred, tortured, and often martyred. 2 of the 3 happened to the author here, including imprisonment in The Tower as < a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cli...The Clink. (I didn't there was one, so this adds to my etymological knowledge, too.)

Active during the final period of Elizabeth's reign, John Gerard (1564-1637) was an English Jesuit priest, operating covertly in England where the Catholic Church was subject to persecution. He successfully hid from the English authorities for eight years before his capture, endured torture, escaped from the Tower of London by rope and boat and continued his covert mission. This is a rare, first-hand account of the deadly cloak-and-dagger world of a Catholic priest in Elizabethan England that would make for a great movie!

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