[1] His father having died whilst he was an infant, he was, even as a child, the head of an important family and the first heir born at Swynnerton, where his descendants have since flourished and still remain Catholics.
He was trained to piety and firmness in his religion by his mother, and when sent to Oxford in his sixteenth year he confessed his faith with a courage that grew with the various trials, of which he has left us an interesting memoir.
He was active in the cause of Mary, Queen of Scots, and was closely watched by Walsingham's emissaries, whose letters contain frequent insinuations against his ulterior intentions.
With him or in his service he lived in Flanders, Spain, Milan, Naples, and Rome for some twenty years, until the Duke died in 1607, on the point of setting out for a diplomatic mission to Germany, on which Fitzherbert was to have accompanied him.
After this he acted as Roman agent for the archpriest Harrison until he was succeeded, in 1609, by the future bishop, Father Richard Smith.