Life

He was son of Edmund Colleton of Milverton

Milverton

Milverton is the name of several places, each deriving its name from the county of Somerset:-People:*Arthur Richards, 1st Baron Milverton*Charles Augustus Milverton, fictional character in The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton by Arthur Conan Doyle...

, Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, where he was born. He was sent to the University of Oxford in 1565, and studied at Lincoln College

Lincoln College, Oxford

Lincoln College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is situated on Turl Street in central Oxford, backing onto Brasenose College and adjacent to Exeter College...

. A convert to Catholicism when about twenty years of age, he went to Leuven

Leuven

Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...

 with the intention of becoming a Carthusian

Carthusian

The Carthusian Order, also called the Order of St. Bruno, is a Roman Catholic religious order of enclosed monastics. The order was founded by Saint Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns...

 monk, and entered the novitiate; but did not proceed further. He then went to the English College, Douai

English College, Douai

The English College, Douai was a Catholic seminary associated with the University of Douai . It was established in about 1561, and was suppressed in 1793...

, where he was admitted 14 January 1576.

Colleton was ordained priest at Binche

Binche

Binche is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut. On January 1, 2006 Binche had a total population of 32,409. The total area is 60.66 km² which gives a population density of 534 inhabitants per km²...

 on 11 June 1576, and sent on the English mission on 19 July. He was a priest in England till 1581, when he was taken prisoner, arraigned and tried with Edmund Campion

Edmund Campion

Saint Edmund Campion, S.J. was an English Roman Catholic martyr and Jesuit priest. While conducting an underground ministry in officially Protestant England, Campion was arrested by priest hunters. Convicted of high treason by a kangaroo court, he was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn...

 and others for conspiring abroad against the queen and government. The indictment charged them with having concerted an invasion and compassed the queen's death by a conspiracy carried on at Reims

Reims

Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....

 and at Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

; but Colleton was acquitted. He was then kept a prisoner in the Tower of London

Tower of London

Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...

 till 1584, when he was exiled with 71 other priests.

Colleton arrived at the English College, then temporarily at Reims, on 3 March 1585, and left it on 24 April 1585. He remained abroad till 1587, when he returned to England on the mission, and lived for the most part in London and Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

. Colleton sided with the secular clergy in the Wisbech Stirs

Wisbech Stirs

The Wisbech Stirs was a divisive quarrel between English Roman Catholic clergy held prisoner in Wisbech Castle in Cambridgeshire, towards the end of the reign of Elizabeth I of England...

, the dispute involving the Jesuits at Wisbech Castle

Wisbech Castle

Wisbech castle was a motte-and-bailey castle built to fortify Wisbech, in the Fenland area of Cambridgeshire, England by William I in 1072. The Norman castle, reputedly was destroyed during a devastating flood of 1236, the original design and layout is still unknown.In the 15th century repairs were...

 in 1595; and he was associated with John Mush

John Mush

John Mush was an English Roman Catholic priest, the confessor to Margaret Clitherow.-Life:...

 in an attempt to unite the English Catholic clergy. He was one of the thirteen priests who signed the protestation of allegiance to Queen Elizabeth in 1602; and he opposed the appointment and the administration of the archpriest George Blackwell

George Blackwell

Father George Blackwell was Roman Catholic Archpriest of England from 1597 to 1608.-Biography:Blackwell was born in Middlesex, England about 1545, perhaps the son of the pewterer Thomas Blackwell. He was admitted as a scholar to Trinity College, Oxford on 27 May 1562...

.

Later he was made archdeacon by George Birkhead

George Birkhead

George Birkhead or Birket, alias Hall, Lambton, and Salvin was an English Roman Catholic priest, archpriest in England from 1608.-Life:...

, the next archpriest, and when he died filled the position until William Harrison was appointed. In 1610, when the gaols were filled with priests and laymen who had refused to take the oath of allegiance, Colleton was in The Clink

The Clink

The Clink was a notorious prison in Southwark, England which functioned from the 12th century until 1780 either deriving its name from, or bestowing it on, the local manor, the Clink Liberty . The manor and prison were owned by the Bishop of Winchester and situated next to his residence at...

 prison in Southwark

Southwark

Southwark is a district of south London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Southwark. Situated east of Charing Cross, it forms one of the oldest parts of London and fronts the River Thames to the north...

, and petitioned for his liberty to the king.

When William Bishop as bishop of Chalcedon came to England in 1623 and erected a chapter, Colleton was constituted dean of the English clergy and also the bishop's vicar-general. On 22 November 1624 he wrote to Pope Urban VIII

Pope Urban VIII

Pope Urban VIII , born Maffeo Barberini, was pope from 1623 to 1644. He was the last pope to expand the papal territory by force of arms, and was a prominent patron of the arts and reformer of Church missions...

, requesting a dispensation for the marriage of Prince Charles

Charles I of England

Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...

 with Henrietta Maria. Since his health was poor, George Musket

George Musket

George Musket, alias Fisher was an English Roman Catholic priest and controversialist. On the English mission he was under sentence of death for around 20 years, but survived.-Life:...

, archdeacon of Surrey and Middlesex, was appointed as coadjutor to Colleton in February 1626.

Colleton spent the end of his life in the house of Sir William Roper at Eltham in Kent, where he died on 19 October 1635, aged 87.

Works

His works are:

• ‘A Ivst Defence of the Slandered Priestes: Wherein the reasons of their bearing off to receiue Maister Blackwell to their Superiour before the arriuall of his Holines Breue are layed downe … Newly imprinted 1602,’ sine loco.
• A supplication to the king of Great Britain for a toleration of the catholic religion.
• Epistle to Pope Paul V.