 He was ordained a diocesan priest and was imprisoned in the Marshalsea under the name Robert Buckley from 1582 to about 1585 for administering the sacraments.By summer 1586 he was out on bond, but in 1587 confined at Wisbech Castle.He left England, either escaped or exiled, in 1590 and at the age of sixty joined the Conventual Franciscans at Pontoise.