Anglican chaplain Hugh Paulinus de Cressy was born at
Thorpe Salvin, Yorkshire, about 1605, the son of
Hugh de Cressy, barrister of
Lincoln's Inn, and later a justice of the
Court of King's Bench (Ireland), and Margery d'Oylie of London, daughter of
Thomas D'Oylie, a highly regarded
doctor and scholar of
Spanish (and a close connection by marriage of
Francis Bacon), and his wife Anne Perrott of
North Leigh. Educated first at
Wakefield Grammar school, when fourteen years old he went to Oxford, where he took the degree of B.A. in 1623 and that of M.A. in 1627. He attended, and became a fellow of
Merton College, earning his
Master's degree in
theology the following year. Having taken
Anglican orders, after leaving Oxford he served as
chaplain to
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, and then to
Lucius Cary, 3rd Viscount Falkland, whom Cressy accompanied to
Ireland in 1638. His father had gone to Ireland five years earlier to serve as a High Court judge, and was on good terms with Strafford. During his stay in Ireland, Cressy was appointed as
Dean of Leighlin, but returned to England in 1639. Through the noble connections he had made while chaplain to Viscount Falkland he received the post of
canon in the
collegiate chapter of
Windsor, Berkshire, in 1642, but was not able to occupy the position due to the troubled times England was experiencing then. Returning to his own monastery in Douai, he undertook an extensive study of the history of monasticism in England. He also translated several works by various English
mystical writers across a span of centuries. Cressy was assigned to return to England in 1660 to serve as one of the chaplains to Queen
Catherine of Braganza, wife of King
Charles II of England and a Roman Catholic. For four years he resided at
Somerset House, which served as her official residence. Cressy also spent time at
Ditchley park owing to his friendship with
Anne, countess of Rochester He then went to provide spiritual care to the Catholic
Caryll family and died at
East Grinstead, Sussex on 10 August 1674. He is described as a quick and accurate disputant, a man of good nature and manners, and no inconsiderable preacher. He is also said to have been particularly temperate in controversy. ==Works==