Richard Holtby

Father Richard Holtby (1553 – 25 May 1640) was an English Jesuit Superior and Roman Catholic priest.

Richard was born in either Hovingham or Fryton, Yorkshire, England and was the second son of Lancelot Holtby of that place by Ellen (née Butler] of Nunnington, in Ryedale, Yorkshire.

After spending two years at Christ's College, Cambridge, and migrating to Caius College on 19 August 1573, aged 20, he removed to Oxford, where in 1574 he joined Hart Hall, the principal of which, Philip Rondell, was a papist, "but durst not show it".

Richard taught at Oxford University as well as Cambridge University as a young seminary priest in England. He knew Father Alexander Briant there as well, who later suffered death for the Catholic faith. Leaving Oxford without a degree, Holtby proceeded to the English College at Douay, where he arrived in August 1577, and was received into the Roman Catholic Church. He was ordained priest at Cambrai on 29 March 1578.

A year later he was sent to English mission, and he laboured with great zeal in the northern counties. In 1581, Father Edmund Campion paid him a visit, and while staying in his house composed the famous Decem Rationes and urged him to join the Society of Jesus. Richard entered the Society of Jesus in 1583 and crossed the English Channel to participate in his Spiritual Exercises with Father Thomas Derbyshire. He fulfilled the requirements of his noviceship at Verdun and continued on to Pont-à-Mousson to continue his studies. There he was one of three out of thirteen contemporaries who survived the black plague. After four years spent studying theology at the University of Pont-à-Mousson, he was appointed superior of the Scotch College there, in about 1587.

...
Wikipedia