Background
Ballenden was a native of Douglas, Lanarkshire, the parish of which his father was the minister.
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William Ballenden
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He studied at the University of Edinburgh, and later travelled on the continent.
Career
At Paris he was converted to the Catholic religion. He entered the Scotch College, Rome in 1641, and, having received the order of priesthood, left it in 1646, and then stayed in the Scotch college at Paris, preparing himself for the mission. In 1649 Ballenden returned to Scotland.
Ballenden despatched the Review
William Leslie to Rome to ask for the appointment of a bishop for Scotland. In 1656 Ballenden visited France, and on his return, landing at Rye, Sussex, he was arrested by Oliver Cromwell"s orders and taken to London, where he remained in confinement for nearly two years.
He was then banished, and withdrew to Paris in poverty. In 1660 he returned to Scotland, and he spent the brief remainder of his life in the house of the Marchioness of Huntly at Elgin, where he died 2 September 1661.
Membership
At this period the secular clergy of Scotland were in a state of disorganisation, and dissensions had arisen between them and the members of the religious orders, particularly the Jesuits.
