Augustine Baker was the chief exponent of British Catholic mysticism during a period when mystical and other forms of devotion were on the rise in Europe in response to the Reformation. He was also a significant actor in the history of British recusancy and exile. Although he was an important figure historically and spiritually and more is known about him than about most men and women of his time through his early biographers and disciples, Baker has been neglected by historians and critics. Post-Reformation Roman Catholic writers in England were classified under the separate--and distinctly unequal--category of "recusants" by political authorities then and are so classified by scholars now. Because the original reasons for separate treatment no longer apply, perhaps this habit of marginalization will be reconsidered.

Born in the market town of Abergavenny, Wales, on 9 December 1575 to William and Maude Lewis Baker, Baker was the youngest of...