Colet, John

Colet, John
Colet, John
Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral and founder of St. Paul's School, London; b. in London, 1467; d. there 18 Sept., 1519

Catholic Encyclopedia. . 2006.

Colet, John
    John Colet
     Catholic_Encyclopedia John Colet
    Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral and founder of St. Paul's School, London; b. in London, 1467; d. there 18 Sept., 1519. He was the eldest son of Sir Henry Colet, twice Lord Mayor of London. Having finished his schooling in London, he was sent to Oxford, but no particulars of his life there have been preserved, not even the name of his college. While at Oxford he determined to become a priest and even before ordination obtained through family influence much preferment, including the livings of St. Mary Dennington, Suffolk, St. Dunstan, Stepney, and the benefices in the counties of Huntingdon, Northamptos, York, and Norfolk. In 1493 he began a tour through France and Italy, studying as he went and acquiring that love of the new learning which marked his after-life. Returning to England in 1496, he prepared for ordination, and became deacon ( see Deacons ) on 17 Dec., 1497, and priest on 25 March, 1497-8. He lectured at Oxford on St. Paul's Epistles, introducing a new treatment by abandoning the purely textual commentary then usual, in favour of a study of the personality of St. Paul and of the text as a whole. In 1498 he met Erasmus at Oxford, with whom he immediately became intimate, arousing in him especially a distrust of the later schoolmen. Colet's lectures on the New Testament continued for five years, until in 1504 he was made Dean of St. Paul's proceeding D.D before he left Oxford. In London he became the intimate friend and spiritual adviser of Sir Thomas More. At the death of his father in 1505 he inherited a fortune, which he devoted to public purposes. His administration of the cathedral was vigorous, and in 1509 he began the foundation of the great school with which his name will ever be associated. The cost of the buildings and endowments is estimated at forty thousand pounds in present value. The object was to provide a sound Christian education. Greek was to be at least of equal importance with Latin. William Lilly was the first head master, but Colet exercised a close personal supervision over the school, even composing some of the textbooks. In 1512 he was accused of advanced views and was in difficulties with his bishop, but on the trial Archbishop Warham dismissed the charges as frivolous. It may well be that Colet, irritated by obvious abuses and not seeing how far the reaction would go, used language on certain points which in the light of after-events is regrettable, but there can be no doubt as to his own orthodoxy and devotion. In 1518 he completed the revised statutes of his school. At his death the following year he was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral. His school remained on its original site until 1884, when it was removed to Hammersmith.
    Colet's works are: "Convocation Sermon of 1512"; "A righte fruitfull admonition concerning the order of a good Christian man's life" (1534); "Joannis Coleti Theologi olim Decani Divi Pauli Aeditio" (1527 and often reprinted), the original of almost all Latin Grammars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; "Opus de Sacramentis Ecclesiae" (1867), which with the following treatises, long preserved in MS., was finally edited by the Rev. J. H. Lupton, sur-master of the school; two treatises on the "Hierarchies" of Dionysius (1869); "An Exposition of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans" (1873); "An Exposition of St. Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians" (1874); "Letters to Radulphus" on the Mosaic account of the Creation, and some minor works (1876); "Statutes of St. Paul's School" (often reprinted). Pitts (de Ang. Scriptoribus, Paris, 1619) gives several additional works by Colet, none of which are extant. Many of his letters are in the works of Erasmus.
    The account of Colet by Erasmus in "Epistolae" (Leyden, III, cccxxxv, tr. LUPTON (London, 1883), was the foundation of most of his biographies published before the end of the seventeenth century. Since then there have been several lives published, none by a Catholic writer.-KNIGHT, "Life of John Colet" (London, 1724; republished Oxford, 1823; written with strong Protestant bias); SEEBOHM, "Oxford Reformers: Colet, Erasmus and More" (London, 1867); LUPTON, "Life of John Colet" (London, 1887). For a bibliography see LUPTON, "Introduction to Colet's Letters to Radulphus"; GARDINER, "Register of St. Paul's School" (London, 1884); LEE in "Dict. Nat. Biog." (London, 1887), XI, 321-328, with account of various Colet MSS. Still existing.
    EDWIN BURTON
    Transcribed by John Looby

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIII. — New York: Robert Appleton Company. . 1910.


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  • Colet, John — born 1466/67, London, Eng. died Sept. 16, 1519, Sheen, Surrey British theologian. He studied mathematics and philosophy at Oxford and extended his studies abroad. Returning to England, he became ordained, sometime before 1499. He was appointed… …   Universalium

  • COLET, John — (c. 1467 1519) An English educator, clergyman, and humanist, John Colet founded St. Paul s School, London. The son of Sir Henry Colet, a merchant twice lord mayor of London, Colet matriculated at Oxford around 1483 and went to France and Italy to …   Renaissance and Reformation 1500-1620: A Biographical Dictionary

  • Colet, John — (1467 1519)    English humanist and reformminded clergyman. He was an outspoken (but strictly Catholic) critic of the worldliness and neglect of duty typical of many English clergymen. Born the son of a rich London merchant, Colet studied at… …   Historical Dictionary of Renaissance

  • Colet, John — (c. 1466–1519)    Theologian.    Colet was the son of a Lord Mayor of London and was educated at the University of Oxford. He gave a famous series of lectures on St paul’s epistles in which he advocated a return to the simplicity and discipline… …   Who’s Who in Christianity

  • Colet,John — Col·et (kŏlʹət), John. 1467? 1519. English scholar and theologian who founded Saint Paul s School in London (1509) to promote classical as well as scriptural learning. * * * …   Universalium

  • Colet, John — (1466/67, Londres, Inglaterra–16 sep. 1519, Sheen, Surrey). Teólogo británico. Estudió matemática y filosofía en Oxford, y prosiguió sus estudios en el extranjero. Al regresar a Inglaterra, se ordenó sacerdote en fecha incierta antes de 1499. Fue …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • COLET, JOHN —    dean of St. Paul s, a patron of learning, a friend and scholar of Erasmus, a liberal and much persecuted man; far in advance of his time; founded and endowed St. Paul s School; wrote a number of works, chiefly theological, and Letters to… …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • COLET, John — (1467 1519)    English theologian and classical scholar whose CHRISTIAN HUMANISM had a profound effect on the English REFORMATION …   Concise dictionary of Religion

  • Colet, John — (1467 1519)    Scholar and theologian, was b. in London, the s. of a wealthy citizen, who was twice Lord Mayor. The only survivor of a family of 22, he went to Oxf. and Paris, and thence to Italy, where he learned Greek. He entered the Church,… …   Short biographical dictionary of English literature

  • John Colet — Portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger. Full name John Colet Born January 1467 London, England Died …   Wikipedia

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