Though the new laws were enforced strictly it is clear from the
episcopal reports that in London itself, in Norwich, Winchester, Ely,
Worcester, in the diocese and province of York, and indeed throughout
the entire country Catholicism had still a strong hold.[25] The old
Marian priests were, however, dying out rapidly. The monasteries and
universities, that had supplied priests for the English mission, were
either destroyed or passed into other hands, so that it became clear
to both friends and foes that unless something could be done to keep
up the supply of clergy the Catholic religion was doomed ultimately to
extinction. This difficulty had occurred to the minds of many of the
English scholars who had fled from Oxford to the Continent, but it was
reserved for Dr. William Allen,[26] formerly a Fellow of Oriel
College, and Principal of St. Mary's Hall, Oxford, and later in 1587 a
Cardinal of the Roman Church, to take practical measures to meet the
wants of his co-religionists in England. He determined to found a
college on the Continent for the education of priests for the English
mission, and as Douay had a new university, in which many of the
former Oxford men had found a home, he opened a college at Douay in
1568.[27] Depending on his own private resources, the contributions of
his friends, and the pensions guaranteed by the King of Spain and the
Pope, he succeeded beyond expectation. Students flocked from England
to the new college, whence they returned on the completion of their
studies to strengthen and console their co-religionists at home. Could
Douay College boast only of the 160 martyrs whom it trained and sent
into England Cardinal Allen would have had good reason to be proud of
his work, but in addition to this the numerous controversial tracts of
real merit that were issued from the Douay printing-press, and
scattered throughout England, helped to keep alive Catholic sentiment
in the country. In Douay too was begun the translation of the
Scriptures into English, the New Testament being published at Rheims