Stephen White

Stephen White, SJ (1575–1646) was a Jesuit author and antiquarian who wrote about the early Irish saints.

Life Stephen White was born in Clonmel, County Tipperary, Ireland, in 1575. In 1592, Trinity College, Dublin was founded, and S. White (in all probability Stephen White) was one of the few students named in the charter. Unwilling to take the Oath of Supremacy, he left his native land and entered the Irish College at Salamanca, Spain, where in 1596 he joined the Society of Jesus, and taught from 1602 to 1606.

From 1606 to 1609 White was professor of Scholastic Philosophy at Ingolstadt. His chief interest was in Irish history. To him is due the honour of fixing the historic label "Scotia" to Ireland. It was White who found a copy of Adamnan’s Vita Sancti Columbae ("Life of St. Columba") in a chest in Schaffhausen. From 1623 to 1627 he was in the Province of Champagne, and from 1627 to 1629 at the college of Metz.

Around 1629 there was a Jesuit college established in Dublin under the patronage of Lady Elizabeth Kildare, widow of Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Kildare. Jane Ohlmeyer believes Father White was probably the Superior. The college, however, was after a short time suppressed by the Government, and the property was confiscated and handed over to Trinity College Dublin. For some years he laboured in his native Diocese of Waterford and Lismore, mainly engaged in teaching catechism to children. In 1645 he was Superior of the Jesuit College in Galway where he died.