He was ordained in the Church of England in 1568. In 1571 he left England for Douai in the Low Countries, where he joined the Roman Catholic Church; in Rome, two years later, he became a Jesuit. In 1580 he participated in the first secret Jesuit mission to England. Although he claimed that he came only to teach and minister to the Catholic community, he was arrested, tortured, tried, and executed for treason.