Convinced in Ireland
Joined the first Quakers gathered in Ireland and was soon imprisoned at Limerick for his preaching.
JP
d. 1665 · Ireland
John Perrot
The Quaker Who Went to Convert the Pope
“It is moved in my soul to leave a remembrance unto all generations of the mercies of God unto me in the days of my captivity.” — John Perrot
Life & Ministry
The Mission to the Mediterranean
Set out with a small company of Friends — Mary Fisher among them — to carry the Truth to the Sultan, the Jews, and the Pope.
Arrested in Rome
Reached Rome with John Luffe intending to speak with Pope Alexander VII. Both were seized by the Inquisition; Luffe died in its hands. Perrot, judged mad, was confined in the Pazzarella — the prison of madmen — and whipped.
The Prison Writings
From the madhouse wrote the Narrative of his sufferings, epistles to Friends everywhere, and Beams of Eternal Brightness, addressed to India and all nations.
Release and Return
Freed in 1661, he composed the verse cycle A Sea of the Seed's Sufferings in the Venice Lazzaretto on the voyage home, and reached England in August a celebrated confessor.
The Hat Controversy
Taught that Friends should keep their hats on in prayer unless immediately moved by the Spirit. George Fox and the elders judged the scruple a dissolvent of gospel order; the dispute divided Friends for a decade.
Newgate and Barbados
Imprisoned at Newgate, he accepted release on condition of transporting himself to the colonies and sailed for Barbados — a condition many Friends thought he should have refused.
Death in Jamaica
Took a government clerkship in Jamaica, wearing a sword and administering oaths, to the grief of Friends. Died there, still professing love to the people he had divided.
Connections & Relationships
George Fox
Adversary in the Hat ControversyFox honored Perrot's sufferings but judged his hat scruple a spirit of division, and wrote against it until the breach outlived the man.
Mary Fisher
Fellow MissionerSet out in the same Mediterranean venture; Fisher delivered her message to Sultan Mehmed IV in 1658 while Perrot turned toward Rome.
Available Works
Collected Tracts, Volume I: The Rome Mission
AvailableThe Narrative of his sufferings in Rome, the epistles from the prison of madmen, the Visitation of Love to the Turk, and the verse cycle A Sea of the Seed's Sufferings.