When early eighteenth-century English Catholics looked back on the first wave of exiles in the sixteenth century, they remarked specifically on the importance of writing and record-keeping. Though they were otherwise vicious opponents in their attempts to discredit the other's Catholic party, both the Jesuit Thomas Hunter and the secular priest Charles Dodd agreed that the sixteenth-century expatriate Robert Persons continued to participate in the mission through writing. Hunter celebrated the reputation of his predecessor in the Society of Jesus, stating that: He [Robert Persons] was look'd upon by all, as the chief Support of Religion in England; hence no Endeavours were wanting to apprehend him, and because the Means made use of for this End brought grevous Inconveniencies upon most Catholick Families, it was thought proper, he should withdraw for some Time out of the Nation. There was another Motive which hasten'd his Return into France, viz. That he might both find Time to Write, and Convenience to Print what was necessary for the Defence of Religion. 1 Even Dodd, whose assessment of Persons was generally negative, granted that Persons' contribution to the mission was not yet at an end when he left the country following Campion's execution. He stated that 'Providence might have a Design in this Flight of his to enable him to carry on the same Work with less Danger, yet equally contributing to the good work of Religion'. 2 Thus Dodd and Hunter were convinced that the written record allowed the expatriate Persons to continue his participation in English developments. The exchange between these two early eighteenth-century English Catholics highlights the point that the interpretation of the recent past was ? I am very grateful for thoughtful comments on earlier drafts by Jennifer Bishop, Tom Hamilton, Kate Peters, Tom Tölle and Alexandra Walsham. This essay has also benefited greatly from helpful audiences in Cambridge, Dublin, London, Oxford and Sheffield. 1 Thomas Hunter, A Modest Defence of the Clergy and Religious against R.C.'s History of Doway ([London], 1714), 16. 2 Charles Dodd, The Secret Policy of the English Society of Jesus: Discover'd in a Series of Attempts against the Clergy (London, 1717), 103. Past and Present (2016), Supplement 11 ß The Past and Present Society at Benedictine Archives, through the Eyes of Bro. Benet Weldon', Catholic Archives, vi (1986). Christopher Grene is extensively discussed by John Morris, The Troubles of Our Catholic Forefathers (London, 1872). The 'Collectanea' were recently the topic of research in Andrew Czaja, 'Catholic History and Memory in Christopher Grene's Collectanea' (Univ. of Cambridge M.Phil. thesis, 2013). John Knaresborough does not even have an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. His collections are mentioned in Alison F. Shell, Oral Culture and Catholicism in Early Modern England (Cambridge, 2007), 119, 142. 4 Archives of the British Province of the Society of Jesus, London (hereafter ABPSJ),

I took the opportunity, my Lord, this last summer when I was in Flanders to get an exact calculation of all the English seminaries in the Low Countries in order to show Her Majesty by your Lordship the root from whence this great growth proceeds, which sends us such numbers of tourists and gentlemen brought up in an aversion to our civil and religious constitution, and which carries such immense sums out of England, and does more than anything keep up our unhappy divisions amongst us.(John Macky, 1707)The English have also here [Aire-sur-la-Lys] a nunnery for ladies, call’d the poor clares; and poor they are indeed! For they have two bare-footed Friars to go about de country every morning to beg provision for them, who never miss in coming into the publick inns, when they hear of the arrival of an Englishman. I went to deliver my charity out of my own hands, which I put into a wheel that turned round, but could not see any of their faces, only the lady that received the bounty, told me that she was a daughter of Lord Widdrington.(John Macky, 1725)

This chapter analyses the broad conceptualization of mobility by Catholics. It explores the different understandings of migration for Protestants and Catholics, and highlights the specifically Catholic interpretations of mobility. A narrative of ‘exile’ is not dominant in Catholics’ writing on mobility; instead, the centrality of ‘mission’ in Catholic thinking becomes manifest. This changes the dynamic of how we should interpret mobile Catholics: not as isolated sufferers, but as militant defenders of their Church. Rather than victims escaping hardship, English Catholics went abroad with a mission and purpose. Moreover, the preference for ‘missionary’ over ‘exile’ indicates that Catholics did not understand physically leaving their country as breaking all ties with it in order to embrace the life of an isolated wanderer. On the contrary, expatriate Catholics were seen as active participants in an English Catholic community that did not have clearly defined geographical borders.

In the wake of England’s break with Rome and gradual reformation, English Catholics took root outside of the country, in Catholic countries across Europe. Their arrival and the foundation of convents and colleges on the Continent has attracted scholarly attention. However, we need to understand their impact beyond that initial moment of change. Confessional Mobility, therefore, looks at the continued presence of English Catholics abroad and how the English Catholic community was shaped by these cross-Channel connections. This study proposes a new interpretative model of ‘confessional mobility’. Changing perspective opens up our study to include pilgrims, Grand Tour travellers, students, and mobile scholars alongside exiles. The diversity of mobility highlights that those abroad were never cut off, isolated on the Continent. Rather, through correspondence and constant travel they created a community without borders. This cross-Channel community was not defined by its status as victims of persecution, but provided the lifeblood for English Catholics for generations. Confessional Mobility also incorporates minority Catholics more closely into the history of the Counter-Reformation. Long sidelined as exceptions to the rule of a hierarchical, triumphant, territorial Catholic Church, English Catholics have seldom been recognized as an instrumental part in the wider Counter-Reformation. Attention to movement and mission in the self-understanding of Catholics incorporates minority Catholics alongside extra-European missions and reinforces current moves to decentre Counter-Reformation scholarship.

This chapter foregrounds the diversity and dynamics of the expatriate community and writes the history of expatriate English Catholics into a much older tradition of educational travel. Recognizing that continuity alerts us to read the expatriate houses neither as a purely new phenomenon, nor as exclusively defined by flight from repression. Rather, without prioritization, it integrates retreat from persecution and preparation for the future, but still recognizing the two-way interaction. Children and youngsters were sent to colleges on the Continent to ensure that they were safe from Protestant influence and to prepare them for an active apostolate. Highlighting these dynamics helps to move beyond a static understanding of expatriates which limits the understanding of movement to the moment of migration, and instead discloses an expatriate life that was much more dynamic and in flux than these images suggest. Going abroad was a transformative experience.