Worsley, Edward, b. in Lancashire, England, 1605; d. at Antwerp, 2 Sept., 1676. He is said to have been educated at Oxford, but his name does not occur in the University Registers, and it is equally uncertain that he took Anglican orders. Having become a Jesuit on 7 Sept., 1626, he studied at Liége, where he subsequently became a professor of philosophy, logic, and Scripture, winning a great reputation for talent and erudition. He was made a professed father 29 Sept., 1641. Having laboured for a time in London, he became rector of the college at Liége from 1658 till 1662, when he was made procurator at. the professed house at Antwerp. His chief works, mostly written against Stillingfleet, are: “Truth will out” (1665); “Protestancy without Principles” (1668); ‘“Reason and Religion’ (1672); “The Infallibility of the Roman Catholic Church’ (1674); “A Discourse of Miracles” (1676); and “Anti-Goliath” (1678), published after his death.
DODD, Church History (Brussels vere Wolverhampton, 1737-42); FOLEY, Records Eng. Prov. S. J., 1V and VII (London, 1883); OLIVER, Jesutt Collections (Exeter, 1838); COOPER in Dict. Nat. Biog 8. V.; DE Backer, Bibl. des ecrivains de la Compagnie de jesus.
Edwin Burton.