Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Baker, Alexander

585006Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 03 — Baker, Alexander1885Thompson Cooper

BAKER, ALEXANDER (1582–1638), jesuit, was born in Norfolk in 1582, entered the Society of Jesus about 1610, was professed of the four vows in 1627, twice visited India as a missionary, and died on 24 Aug. 1638 in London, where he had resided for many years. He reconciled the Rev. William Coke, a son of Sir Edward Coke, the famous lawyer, to the catholic church in 1615. Among the 'State Papers' (Domestic, James I, vol. clxxxix. No.25, under date 1625) is a manuscript by Father Baker in defence of the doctrine of regeneration by baptism as held by catholics, showing its difference from the opinion of protestants.

[Oliver's Jesuits, 48; Dodd's Church Hist. iii. 155; Foley's Records, i. 153, vii. 28; Rymer's Fœdera, xviii. 392; Cal. State Papers, Dom. James I (1623-25), 520.]