As first hand witnesses to the plight of English Catholics, it would have been so against the grain to expect a Jesuit disciplined by Ignatian spirituality and experienced in Oxfordian confrontational discourse to remain passive and quiet.
Not Just 'A March to the Gallows'
One Oxford refugee with influential friends in the Continent, Fr. Robert Parsons SJ, felt that the English mission need not just be a march to the gallows by a 'growing martyr cult.' Parsons believed it was his sacred duty to be a missionary in a situation that had “taken on the importance and urgency of a holy war." According to his memoirs and letters, Parsons planned to accomplish several missions akin to a spy thriller. Besides establishing connections with the Recusants, they solidified and systematized the underground network by securing a network of gentry-owned country houses -- including rented ones in London -- to serve as safe houses for priests.
In these houses, Jesuit Brother Nicholas Owen built priest holes in case these houses were searched.
The infamous 'rack' upon which Catholic prisoners were tortured in the Tower of London.
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