Preston, Thomas (Roger Widdrington)
PRESTON, THOMAS (ROGER WIDDRINGTON)
Theologian who defended James I in his quarrel with the pope; b. c. 1567, Shropshire (?), England; d. 1640, London. He was educated at Oxford and the English College, Rome, where he was ordained. He entered the Benedictines at Monte Cassino and was professed in 1592. He soon acquired the reputation of learning as a theologian and was chosen to be one of the first two Benedictine missionaries to England, arriving there in 1603. By 1605 he had become friendly with the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Richard Bancroft, and later, with his two successors, George Abbot and William Laud. By arrangement with English authorities he was held in comfortable custody as a supposed prisoner of the faith; at the same time he produced learned justifications of the king's position in the oath of allegiance controversy. Most of these were published under the pseudonym of Roger Widdrington. Maintaining this disguise, he wrote more than 12 controversial works in both Latin and English. Several of these were censured by Roman authorities. He maintained his disguise until the end, having, according to Dr. Kellison, "a conscience like an ostrich's stomach."
Bibliography: w. k. l. webb, "Thomas Preston O.S.B.," Biographical Studies 2.3 (1954) 216–268. d. knowles, The Religious Orders in England (Cambridge, England 1948–60).
[t. h. clancy]