BRISTOW, RICHARD

Theologian; b. Worcester, England, 1538; d. Harrow, near London, Oct. 21, 1581. He went to Oxford in 1555, received the B.A. degree in 1559, and the M.A. in 1562, being a member of Christ Church College. A brilliant scholar and speaker, he was chosen, with Edmund Campion, to debate before Queen Elizabeth I on her visit in 1566. He was a fellow of Exeter College in 1567. In his refutation of Lawrence Humphrey, he revealed his Catholic tendencies. He withdrew to Louvain and later joined William allen (later cardinal) at the English College of Douay in 1569 and was its first student to be ordained (1573). There he was prefect of studies, pro-rector in Allen's absence, and daily lecturer on Holy Scripture. With Allen he revised and corrected Gregory Martin's translation of the New Testament in 1581. Allen and others wanted him for rector of the English College in Rome. But strain and fatigue compelled him to rest, so he went

to Spa and then to Harrow, where he died shortly after his arrival. Bristow's chief writings are A briefe treatise… conteyning sundry worthy motiues unto the Catholic faith (Antwerp 1574), later called his Motives (new ed.1599); Demaundes to bee proposed of Catholickes to the heretickes (1576); A reply to William Fulke in Defence of M. D. Allen's Scrole of Articles and Booke of Purgatorie (Louvain 1580).

Bibliography: A Literary and Biographical History or Bibliographical Dictionary of the English Catholics from 1534 to the Present Time (London–New York 1885–1902) 1:300–303.

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