in the course of his lifetime, the Jesuit priest Robert people (1546-1610) was once arguably the top determine struggling with for the re-establishment of Catholicism in England. when his colleague Edmund Campion may well now be larger recognized it used to be Persons's tireless efforts that saved the Jesuit challenge alive through the tough days of Elizabeth's reign. during this new research, Person's existence and exceptional literary output are analysed and positioned into the wider context of modern Catholic scholarship. The publication bridges the distance among ancient reviews, at the one hand, and literary reports at the different, by way of focusing on Persons's contribution as a author to the polemical tradition of the overdue 16th and early 17th centuries. in addition to discussing his wider achievements as chief of the English Jesuits - founding 3 seminaries for English clergymen, corresponding frequently with Catholic activists in England, writing over thirty books, maintaining the submit of rector of the English university in Rome, and being a relied on advisor to the papacy on English affairs - this research appears intimately at what's arguably his maximum legacy, the 1st Booke of the Christian workout (more generally called the publication of Resolution). That ebook, first released in 1582, used to be to turn out the cornerstone of Persons's missionary attempt, and a favored paintings of Catholic devotion, working to a number of variations over the arrival years. even though individuals was once finally unsuccessful in his ambition to come England to the Catholic fold, the tale of his lifestyles and works finds a lot in regards to the ecclesiastical fight that gripped early sleek Europe. via supplying a radical and updated reassessment of people this examine not just makes an important contribution to our figuring out of the polemical context of post-Reformation Catholicism, but additionally of the Jesuit idea of the 'apostolate of writing'. This e-book is released along side the Jesuit historic Institute sequence 'Bibliotheca Instituti Historici