“He may be a father to the soul that is a son to the body”: Robert Southwell (1561–95) and Divided Family Loyalties in the English and Catholic Reformations

Abstract

While a great deal has been written about the Reformation(s), the effects of the momentous religious changes of this era on families, especially families divided by faith, is an understudied topic. This essay focuses on the Jesuit Robert Southwell (1561–95) and his pastoral and literary mission to England in the late sixteenth century. The central focus is Southwell’s letter to his father, who, unlike most of his family who remained Catholic recusants, had conformed to the Established Church. At the heart of Southwell’s rhetorical strategy is a juxtaposition of the father/ son relationship, in which the biological son assumes the role of the spiritual father. By means of his literary and theological gifts as a priest, and his love as a son, he eventually wins his father back to the faith—and to the family. Over many decades, Southwell’s writings had a significant impact, not only on his own relatives, but on the wider Catholic and religious culture.