The One Hundred and Five Martyrs of Tyburn

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TheOne Hundred and FiveMartyrs of Tyburn

BX1492.191917IMST By thens of Tyburn (Convent

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LIBRARY


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The One Hundred and FiveMartyrs of Tyburn


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PRINTED IN ENGLAND BYTHE WESTMINSTER PRESS, LONDON, W.


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f)e IBeneDictme 9po0tle0 anDof OEnglartD,

Copyright, St. Bride's Abbey, Milford Haven


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The One Hundred andFive Martyrs of TyburnBy the Nuns of Tyburn Convent

With an Introduction byDom BEDE CAMM, O.S.B.

BURNS & GATES, LTD.28 Orchard Street '

London, W1917 ;


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Yltbtl &stat :H. S. BOWDEN,

Censor Deputatus.

Imprimatur :EDM. CAN. SURMONT,

Vic. Gen.

Westmonasterii, die 8 Februarii, 1917.

i 3 1999


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This little book is gratefully dedicated to theFounders and Benefactors of Tyburn.


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CONTENTSPAGE

Introduction by Dom Bede Camm, O.S.B. 9Short Biographies of the One Hundred and

Five Martyrs 13Small Guide for a Visit to the Oratory of the

English Martyrs 83List of Relics 91Some Notes on Tyburn Convent 96The Vow made by the Community of Tyburn

for the Conversion of England 102


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INTRODUCTIONTHE Oratory of the English Martyrs hasbecome a Shrine that is verydear to manydevout

pilgrims. Though it is only a tem-porary one, housed in a room which is far frombeing worthy of its hallowed memories, it hasyet a character and dignity of its own whichappeals to the heart and stimulates the imagina-tion.

It is now some years since a few devotedfriends of Tyburn took it upon them to decorateand enrich this little Shrine, so that it mighttell more vividly the story of those great soulswho consecrated this soil with their blood.

It was a Benedictine monk who first con-ceived the idea of overshadowing the altar ofsacrifice with a presentiment of the Triple Treeof Tyburn, the Holy Rood of this our EnglishCalvary. It was another Benedictine whocarried out his ideas, designed the Tree withits pendant lamps, the altar reredos and orna-ments which make so strong an appeal to thelovers of our Martyrs. Not only this, but thework itself was carried out in the Benedictine

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io INTRODUCTIONworkshops at Maredsous, by sons of thatBelgian Mother then on the very threshold ofher Martyrdom. The statues of our Martyrs,the lace-like carving of the canopies (adoptedfrom a famous rood-loft in Devonshire), thebrazen lamps, the rich palm-embroidered hang-ings, are all the work of hands belonging to acountry which has since grasped the martyrs'palm. It was thought at the time that it was notinappropriate that Belgian hands should workto the glory of those who had found on Belgiansoil a place of refuge in persecution, a school oftraining for the priesthood and the crown. Buthow much more deeply appropriate does it seemto us now !

It was a Benedictine Oblate who, in generousand devoted love for the Martyrs of Tyburn,furnished the necessary funds, at the cost ofgreat self-sacrifice, for Tree, Altar, windows,reliquaries, and the rest. Benedictine Abbeysgave of the treasures of holy relics to enrich theShrine with the most precious of all gifts. ABenedictine monk collected them from manyplaces, where they had long been cherished,and Benedictine Nuns it was who enshrinedthem in their present resting-places, and adornedthem with the skilled labour of their hands.And thus the older branches of the Order


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INTRODUCTION nhave helped to beautify this lowly Shrine, whichis confided to the care of the youngest, but notthe least worthy, of the many religious familieswho own St. Benedict as Father and Patriarch.Those who visit this Sanctuary are asked to

pray for the Benefactors who have done theirpart in the work, and they are requested alsoto give their offerings towards the building ofthe new and glorious Sanctuary which someday must replace this little lowly Shrine.The present altar ornaments and stained

glass will all be retained in the new Chapel,and will show to far greater advantage thanthey can in their present cramped surround-ings.Would it not be a seemly and beautiful me-

morial to our glorious dead,who have fallen in thepresent war if, in the very heart of London, asanctuary of unceasing prayer should be raisedto the glory of the Sacred Heart of Jesus inmemory of the Martyrs of England ? Here atTyburn the martyrs of the olden times wouldclasp hands with their heroic sons of to-day, andaround the Throne of the Eucharistic Lambwould rise unceasingly from the alternate choirsof that white-robed host, the hymn of triumphand victory, the Warriors' song of peace.Thus the memories of the crusaders of


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12 INTRODUCTIONGallipoli and the Egyptian desert and of theheroes of French and Flemish battlefields wouldbe linked for ever with the fadeless glory of themartyrs who won their palms at Tyburn Tree.Their names, inscribed on the walls of thesanctuary, would go down to future ages linkedinseparably with the names, still more glorious,of those who taught them how to die. And theChapel of the English Martyrs would remainan imperishable record of the heroes of theTwentieth as of the Sixteenth Century.'"

This is but a dream at present, but one thatunder God's Providence may yet become a reality.Meanwhile let pilgrims learn at Tyburn thatlove is stronger than death, and sacrifice morefruitful than possession.

DOM BEDE CAMM, O.S.B., C.F.,3 IST GENERAL HOSPITAL,

PORT SAID, EGYPT.August, 2o//>, 1916.

*In linking the names of the heroes of the presentwar with those of the English Martyrs, it is notmeant to imply that our glorious dead are martyrs inthe technical sense of " dying for the Faith," butthat they sacrificed their lives for the principle ofliberty, justice, patriotism, and religion, consider-ing their cause the cause of God.


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The 105 Martyrs of Tyburn26 Beatified 79 Venerable.

Benedictines Venerable 7Carthusians Beatified 7Bridgettine iFranciscans 3Dominican iJesuits Beatified 5

Venerable 14Secular Priests Beatified 1 1

Venerable 33Laymen Beatified 2

Venerable 18Gentlewomen Venerable 2

And the last Tyburn MartyrArchbishop Venerable iTotal 10 ;


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14 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEJANUARY IITH, 1584.

YEN. WILLIAM CARTER, Layman.HE was a Londoner, and a Printer and Book-seller by profession. Zeal for the disseminationof Catholic truth was the cause of his martyr-dom. A series of imprisonments interrupted hiswork, but as soon as he recovered liberty hereturned to the task of spreading literature forthe exhortation and comfort of his fellowCatholics. This he achieved with great diffi-culty owing to the extreme danger of the times,and it is said that his Printing Press was so smallthat he could hardly print more than one pageat a time, while some books he copied entirelyby hand. He was held in high esteem by hisfriends, and one of the reasons why he was socruelly racked when finally arrested, was thathe had been entrusted with the custody ofChalices and Vestments whose owners herefused to betray. At the trial, the chief accusa-tion against him was that he had instigated theQueen's enemies (Catholic Englishwomen) tomurder their Sovereign. A Treatise on Schism,the book for the printing of which he was con-demned, contained a paragraph about Judithand " Holofernes, the master heretic," andthis it was affirmed was only a paraphrase


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 15indicating Elizabeth. While the jury retired toconferon the verdict, Carter availed himselfof theopportunity of confessing to a priest who waswaiting like him for the death sentence. Theday following his trial, William Carter wasdragged to Tyburn and there hanged and quar-tered.

JANUARY 21 ST, 1586.YEN. EDWARD STRANCHAM, Secular

Priest.YEN. NICHOLAS WOODFEN, or WHEE-LER, Secular Priest.THE first of these Martyrs was an Oxford man,both born and bred. Shortly after taking hisBachelor's degree at St. John's College, hebecame a convert to the Catholic Faith andwent over to Douai to study for the priesthood.He returned to England in 1581, together withNICHOLAS WOODFEN. The latter wasborn at Leinster. His true name was Wheeler.While lodging in Fleet Street he ministeredunder his assumed name to the gentlemen ofthe Inns of Court, whose manner of dress headopted. After enduring much poverty andpersecution for five years, both priests wereput to death with great barbarity on the sameday.


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16 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEJanuary 2ist, 1642.

VEN. BARTHOLOMEW ALBAN ROE,Priest, O.S.B.

VEN. THOMAS GREEN, or REYNOLDS,Secular Priest.

THE Benedictine Monk, known in religion asFATHER ALBAN, was born in Suffolk andbrought up as a Protestant. All his life he wasfull of zeal, and it was in the attempt to refutethe 'errors' of a man imprisoned at St.Alban's for holding the Catholic Faith that hereceived the initial grace of his own conversion.After this interview, in which his adversarygained the victory, he was never at peace untilhe found himself in the safe port of the TrueChurch. Having entered the Benedictine Orderin Lorraine, he prepared himself with assiduityto exercise the apostolate in England. He spenta great part of his life in prison, once in MaidenLane, afterwards at St. Alban's, whence he wasremoved to the Fleet Prison, where he remainedfor seventeen years. He never lost his dauntlessgaiety, and amid his many and severe sufferingsof mind and body he never ceased to labour forisouls.


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 17YEN. THOMAS REYNOLDS was born in

Oxford, and studied abroad for the sake of theCatholic Religion no longer tolerated in his owncountry. He returned after receiving HolyOrders, and, passing through many vicissitudes,he was condemned to death at the advancedage of eighty years, fifty of which he had spentin the ministry of the priesthood. His com-panion in martyrdom, Father Alban Roe, methim with a cheerful countenance before thehurdle that was to convey them both to Tyburn.The two martyrs made their confessions to eachother and recited the " Miserere ' alternately.' Friend, pray let all be secure and do thy dutyneatly, I have been a neat man all my life/' theold priest said to the executioner. ' I darelook death in the face," said Father Roe, whenthey would have bound his eyes.

JANUARY 22ND, 1592.YEN. WILLIAM PATENSON, Secular Priest.HE was a native of Durham and became analumnus and priest of Douai College duringits residence at Rheims, and was sent on theEnglish mission a year after his ordination.He came to London to seek counsel inorder to rid himself of the scruples of con-science with which he was troubled. On the


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i8 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEthird Sunday in Advent, 1591, the house wherehe was staying was searched by constables andchurchwardens and sidesmen of the ProtestantParish Church with the object of finding whichof the inmates did not attend the services.Father Patenson was seized and condemnedat the first session held after Christmas. Thenight before his execution he was put into the" condemned hole " with seven malefactors whowere to suffer with him on the following day.He converted six of them and helped them tomake their peace with God. The persecutorswere so enraged at the profession of the CatholicFaith they made on the scaffold, and the con-stancy with which they accepted an ignomin-ious death in satisfaction for their past crimes,that the Martyr was treated with more thanusual barbarity.

JANUARY 241*1, 1679.YEN. WILLIAM IRELAND, Priest, SJ.YEN. JOHN GROVE, Layman.YEN. W. IRELAND was born in Lincolnshireand brought up at St. Omer's. He entered theSociety of Jesus at the age of 19. He had the re-putation of possessing a wonderful calm and


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 19evenness of mind on all occasions. On return-ing to England, he was apprehended on the firstbreaking out of the Titus Gates Plot, and suf-fered much from the loathsomeness of the prisonand the weight of his iron chains. He wasbrought to trial with several others, includingJOHN GROVE, a layman employed as aservant by the English Jesuits in their businessabout town.

Oates and Bedloe swore that Father Irelandhad been present at a consultation held in Augustfor killing the King, although the priest broughtmany to witness he was in Staffordshire at thetime. Oates and Bedloe also swore that Grovewas appointed to shoot the King, for which deedhe was to receive a preposterous amount ofmoney. On Friday, the 24th of January, themartyrs were drawn from Newgate to Tyburn,and were abused and pelted by the mob all theway. They endured every insult with cheerfulpatience, and died forgiving those who wereguilty of their blood, and praying for their Kingand Country.


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20 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEFEBRUARY IST, 1645.

YEN. HENRY MORSE, Priest, SJ.BORN in Suffolk in the year 1595, he was recon-ciled to the Church at the age of twenty-three,and received Holy Orders at Douai. Being senton the English Mission, he was at once cap-tured, and imprisoned for three years amongfelons and malefactors. This prison was at thesame time his place of novitiate. He thereprepared himself to become a Jesuit, and apriest of the Society who was also in prisonassisted him as a novice master. Ven. HenryMorse was twice banished from the kingdom,but found means to return and devote himselfto the service of poor Catholics in the time ofthe Plague. He was charged with " perverting >:560 Protestants in one Parish alone.On the morning of his martyrdom he cele-brated the votive Mass of the Blessed Trinity

in thanksgiving for the great favour God waspleased to grant him a favour he had besoughtfor thirty years having first, according to hiscustom, recited the Litanies of Our Lady andthe Saints for the conversion of England. Whenhe was admonished that his time was come, heknelt down and offered himself without reserveas a sacrifice to the Divine Majesty and in


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 21reparation for the sins of his nation. He welcomeddeath, saying : ' Come, my sweetest Jesus,that I may now be inseparably united to Theein time and in eternity. Welcome ropes, hurdles,gibbets, knives and butchery ! welcome for thelove of Jesus my Saviour ! '

FEBRUARY 3RD, 1578.BLESSED JOHN NELSON, Priest, S.J.THIS martyr was born at Shelton, near York.He was arrested on suspicion late one eveningwhen saying Matins. The Oath of the Queen'ssupremacy was offered to him, but he refusedto take it, saying that the Pope's Holiness wasthe Head of the Church " to whom that supremeauthority on earth was due, as being Christ'sVicar, and the lawful successor of St. Peter."When sentence was pronounced against him,he never changed countenance, but preparedhimself with a good countenance to die. ByGod's special providence, he received ' theSacred Viaticum the day before he was arraigned.Arrived at Tyburn, he turned to the people,saying : ' I call you all this day to witness thatI die in the unity of the Catholic Church, andfor that unity do now most willingly suffer myblood to be shed ; and therefore I beseech God,


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22 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEand request you all to pray for the same, that itwould please God of His great mercy to makeyou, and all others that are not such already, trueCatholic men. ... 'He then besought all whowere of the like Faith to pray with him " thatChrist, by the merits of His bitter Passion,would receive his soul into everlasting joy."He was cut down when only half dead. Ashis heart was plucked out he was heard tomurmur : ' I forgive the Queen and all thatwere causers of my death."

FEBRUARY 7TH, 1578.BLESSED THOMAS SHERWOOD, Layman.HE was born in London, and was one of a largefamily. He had returned from Douai in orderto arrange with his father about remaining atthe seminary, and was one day talking in Chan-cery Lane when the cry was raised, " Stop thetraitor ! " It was the unworthy son of a Catholiclady with whom he was staying who thus be-trayed him. Having replied to the question putto him that he believed the Holy Father to bethe Head of the Church, the young seminaristwas sent to prison on a charge of high treason.In the vain attempt to force him to reveal whereand by whom he had heard Mass said, he was


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 23taken to the Tower to be cruelly racked. Theonly words which escaped him were :

' LordJesus, I am not worthy that I should sufferthese things for Thee, much less am I worthyof those rewards which Thou hast promised togive to such as confess Thee." He was thenthrown into a dungeon under the banks of theThames, among the rats, where he enduredhunger and cold for three winter months.On the Eve of Candlemas, Sherwood was triedand found guilty of denying the royal supremacy,and the barbarous sentence was passed. He isdescribed as small, and he looked much youngerthan his twenty-seven years ; ' being of hisnature very meek and gentle."

FEBRUARY IZTH, 1584.YEN. JAMES FENN, Secular Priest. ,YEN. GEORGE HAYDOCK, Secular Priest.YEN. THOMAS HAMERFORD, Secular

Priest.YEN. JOHN MUNDEN, Secular Priest.YEN. JOHN NUTTER, Secular Priest.ON the Feast of St. Peter's Chains, theseprisoners of Christ were accounted worthy tohear the death sentence passed on them forupholding the primacy of Peter.


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24 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEJAMES FENN was born at Montacute, in

Somersetshire. He made his studies at Oxford,at New College and Corpus Christi College.On the death of his wife he became a SeminaryPriest. A moving scene took place at the TowerGate after he was bound on the hurdle ; hislittle daughter Frances, with many tears, cameto take her last leave of him and receive hisblessing, which he gave her with difficulty,striving to raise his manacled hands.

GEORGE HAYDOCK, the son of theSquire of Cottamhall, near Preston, Lancashirewas the youngest of the five martyr priests,being only twenty-four years old whenhe suffered. In answer to the questionsput by the minister, he said that if he andthe Queen were alone in some desert placewhere he could do to her what he would hewould not so much as prick her with a pin :" No, not to gain the whole world, and," headded, " I beg and beseech all Catholics to praytogether with me to our common Lord for meand for our Country's weal."

YEN. THOMAS HAMERFORD and YEN.JOHN MUNDEN welcomed death with greatfortitude. Father Munden acknowledged his


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 25sentence by joyfully reciting the * Te Deum."They were both natives of Dorset.YEN. JOHN NUTTER was born in Lancas-

shire. He won for himself the name " John ofPlain Dealing ' from his fellow prisoners forhis outspokenness in rebuking vice. He is saidto have been timid by nature, but he now meta most cruel death with no less courage andconstancy than his companions.

FEBRUARY 17111, 1603.VEN. WILLIAM RICHARDSON, Secular

Priest.HE was born in Yorkshire, and was a priest ofthe seminaries of Douai and Spain. On return-ing to England, he found a refuge in the Innsof Court, and brought many into the CatholicChurch, especially among the young lawyers,numbers of whom placed themselves under hisdirection. When, after a few years, he wasarrested, his spiritual sons would gladly haverisked their lives in planning his escape bynight. This he utterly refused to permit, saying :

' I know well it comes from your great lovefor me. . . But what could you possibly wishfor me that could be more honourable or more

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26 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEglorious . . . than to die . . .for the confessionof the true Faith and the Christian

religion.. .

Rather strive with me in prayer to God that Hemay give me prudence and wisdom to replydiscreetly to the judges, and strength of soul tobear whatever sufferings are laid upon me."He was sentenced to the most barbarous penal-ties decreed against priests, and the followingday was dragged to Tyburn, escorted by manyof his fervent disciples, who ever and againpressed to the side of the hurdle to wipe theslush from his face, and at the last they couldnot be kept back from crowding to kiss his handsand obtain his blessing till he mounted theladder by which he was to ascend to God.

Five weeks later, Elizabeth was called toappear before the Just Judge, after a reign ofmore than forty-four years.

FEBRUARY i8xH. 1594.YEN. WILLIAM HARRINGTON, Secular

Priest. ....HE was born in Yorkshire. Before being ledforth to the hurdle on the morning of histriumph, he gave his blessing to some poorCatholic women who found means to come tohim. At Tyburn he was offered his life if he


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 27would promise to go once to the church by lawestablished. He said :

"See, then, all mytreason is that I will not go to church ! ' Top-

cliffe then bade him tell all he knew of theCatholics in the west country, as it was knownthat he had friends there and it was in the powerof the Sheriff to show mercy and save him. TheMartyr replied he had nothing to disclose, andTopcliffe's mercy was worse than the Turk'swho, having the body in subjection, sought notto destroy the soul. Yet he prayed God to for-give him though he was a tyrant and a blood-sucker. " No doubt you shall have bloodenough," he added, * so long as you havehands and a halter to hang us, you shall not wantpriests ; we were three hundred in England ;you have put to death one hundred ; other twohundred are left. When they are gone, twohundred more are ready to come in their place.For my part, I hope my death will do moregood than ever my life would have dene."

FEBRUARY 21 ST, 1595.VEN. ROBERT SOUTHWELL, Priest, S.J.HE was born at St. Faith's, in Norfolk, and wasreceived into the Society of Jesus when only 16years old, and early showed signs of great literary


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28 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEgifts. He laboured among his persecuted fellow-countrymen for eight years, at the end of whichtime he was betrayed and apprehended a fewmiles from London. Being cast into the Tower,he was left for the first month in a most filthydungeon, and for three years he was kept inprison and was ten times cruelly racked. Whenhe learnt that he was to give the supreme proofof his love, his heart overflowed with joy.

Great care was taken to keep the day of hismartyrdom secret, and a famous highwaymanwas purposely sentenced to be executed atanother place at the same hour. These pre-cautions were, however, powerless to preventan immense crowd assembling at Tyburn towitness the last glorious conflict of the holyJesuit, poet and Martyr. He made the sign ofthe cross as well as he was able with his manacledhands, and then began to speak to the people inthe words of the Apostle : " Whether we live,we live to the Lord, or whether we die, we dieto the Lord ; therefore, whether we live orwhether we die, we belong to the Lord." Thenhe prayed for the Queen and for his poor country,imploring the Divine Bounty to favour it withHis light and the knowledge of His truth. Hedied at the same age as Our Saviour.


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 29FEBRUARY a6TH, 1607.

YEN. ROBERT DRURY, Secular Priest.BORN in Buckinghamshire, Robert Drury waseducated partly at Rheims and partly at Vailad -olid, where he received ordination, returning toEngland in 1593. He fell into the hands of thepersecutors about the time that a new Oath ofAllegiance was imposed upon Catholics in thereign of James I. This oath is said to have beencontrived by Sir Christopher Perkins, a fallenJesuit, and was worded in such a manner thatCatholics could be divided in their opinion asto its lawfulness. It was prohibited by PopePaul V, and that was enough for Father Druryas for all true Catholics. When condemned todie for remaining in the realm contrary to thestatute, he might have saved his life by takingthe oath, but chose to sacrifice his life ratherthan his conscience.He suffered with great constancy at the age of

thirty-nine.


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30 THE ONE PIUNDRED AND FIVEFEBRUARY 27111, 1601.

VEN. MARK BARKWORTH, Priest, O.S.B.YEN. ROGER FILCOCK, Priest, S.J.VEN. ANNE LINE, Widow.IT was the Benedictine Father who sang on hisway to Tyburn in the bitter cold and falling snow.Again, as he stood in the cart with his companionpriest, the ropes about their necks, " Haec diesquam fecit Dominus exultemus," he sang, andthe Jesuit took up the words of the Easteranthem, " Etlaetemurin ea." Father Barkworthwas born in Lincolnshire, and became a convertof the Catholic Faith at the age of twenty-two.Having gone to Flanders and thence to Spain,he returned to England to work on the mission.In order to remind the spectators of the debtEngland owed to the children of St. Benedict,he desired to be martyred in the monastic habit.A minister cried out : " Repent of your sinsand remember that Christ has given His lifefor you." The monk devoutly kissed the rope," And so am I now giving my life for Him, andwould I had a thousand lives to lay down forHim."VEN. ROGER FILCOCK, who witnessed the

death of his two companions before he suffered


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 31himself, was born at Sandwich, in Kent. The twomartyrs were lifelong friends, and Father Bark-worth had a prophetic presentiment when hewrote shortly before the event : " My mindtells me that we shall die together, who haveso long lived together."ANNE LINE, weak of body but strong of

soul, was the first of the three to be martyred.Her desire of martyrdom had been increased bya vision she had had of Our Lord in the BlessedSacrament bearing His Cross and beckoning herto follow Him. On Candlemas Day, 1601, thepursuivants, suspecting she harboured a priest,broke in while Father Page was saying Mass.He had time to escape, but the brave widow washurried off to prison and soon afterwards con-demned. At Tyburn she declared with a loudvoice : " I am sentenced to death for harbouringa Catholic Priest, and so far I am from repent-ing for having so done, that I wish with all mysoul that where I have entertained one I couldhave entertained a thousand."


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32 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEMARCH yin, 1544.BLESSED JOHN LARKE, Secular Priest.

BLESSED JERMYN GARDINER, SecularPriest.

YEN. JOHN IRELAND, Secular Priest.YEN. THOMAS ASHBY, Layman.BLESSED J. LARKE had been the rector ofSt. Ethelburga's, Bishopsgate, for twenty-sixyears, when Blessed Thomas More made himparish priest of the old riverside Church atChelsea. It was here the Lord Chancellor camewith his household on Sundays and holidays,accounting it a high privilege to serve Mass, andwhere he came finally to be shriven and receiveHoly Communion the morning of the day hewas summoned to appear before the Council.

Blessed John Larke carried on his work forsouls another ten years after that. Then, in thethirty-fifth year of the reign of Henry VIII, hewas himself put to the final test, and " followingthe example of his own sheep, afterwards suffereda most famous martyrdom for the same causeof the supremacy." Two other secular priests,BLESSED J. GARDINER kinsman andsecretary of the Bishop of Winchester andYEN. J. IRELAND, with YEN. T. ASHBY,Layman, shared his condemnation and martyr-dom.


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 33APRIL IITH, 1608.

YEN. GEORGE GERVASE, Priest, O.S.B.HE was born at Bosham, in Sussex, his motherbelonging to the Shelley family of that county.George was left an orphan when only twelveyears old, and with two of his brothers, was kid-napped by pirates and carried off to the Indies.After another period of twelve years, duringwhich time he quite lost the religion taught himas a child, he found means to return to England,and afterwards went over to Flanders, wherehe succeeded in tracing his eldest brother.George Gervase was there reconciled to theCatholic Faith, and soon after entered theEnglish seminary at Douai. In due time he wasordained and sent on the English Mission. Inthe space of two years he won many souls toGod, and was then apprehended and sent fromprison to banishment. His brother endeavouredto persuade him to remain in safety in Flanders,but the promise by which he was bound, as wellas the great love he bore his country, broughthim back to die for it. He was thirty-six years ofage when he yielded up his life at Tyburn, andhad been but lately enrolled in the Order of St.Benedict.


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34 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEAPRIL lyTH, 1643.

VEN. HENRY (PAUL OF ST. MAGDALEN)HEATH, Priest, O.F.M.HE was born at Peterborough, of Protestantparents, and studied at Oxford. His love forbooks, especially for those written by theFathers of the Church, proved the means bywhich he found the true Faith. For a while heremained at Douai seminary before enteringthe Convent of the Franciscans in that town,being attracted by their fervour and poverty.Here for nineteen years he led a life of greatpenance, obedience and meekness, and it washere that his old father, for whose conversion hehad so much prayed, came to seek admission tothe fold of Christ and became a lay brother in thisconvent of which his son was twice guardian.

Father Heath had long been consumed by anardent desire for martyrdom, and craved per-mission to return to his country. This he atlength obtained through the intercession of OurLady of Montagu, near Louvain. Having beggedhis way to London, he was immediately arrestedand his sentence promptly pronounced. Fromhis dungeon he wrote to his Superior : " Whatother thing can I desire than to suffer withChrist, to be reproached with Christ, to die a


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 35thousand deaths that I may live for ever withChrist. ... ' On the way to Tyburn, havingsaid his " Nunc Dimittis," he ever invoked theName of Jesus. He died with intense joy andsweetness. ' Jesus, convert England, Jesus havemercy on this country ; oh, England, be con-verted to the Lord thy God ! " were the wordswith which he breathed out his soul.

APRIL IQTH, 1602.VEN. JAMES DUCKETT, Layman.His boyhood was spent among the Westmore-land hills, where he was brought up in the newreligion. After his school-days he was boundapprentice to a merchant in London, and therebecame convinced of the truth of Catholicism,which he embraced after many trials and diffi-culties. He chose the trade of a bookseller, andsupplied books to Catholics, and this was thecause of his spending much of his married lifein prison. He was betrayed by a bookbinder,who being condemned to death thus soughtto save his own life, but lost it, together with hishonour. The Martyr met him again in the samecart that was to take them to Tyburn. As theystood beneath the gibbet, with ropes round theirnecks, James Duckett said : " Peter, the cause


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36 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEof my coming hither God and thyself knowest,for which I from my heart forgive thee." Thenhe bent and kissed him, saying : Thy life andmine are not long ; wilt thou promise me onething ? If thou wilt, speak. Wilt thou die as Idie, a Catholic ? "

' I will die as a Christian should die," wasthe answer.

APRIL 20TH, 1586.VEN. RICHARD SERGEANT, Secular Priest.YEN. WILLIAM THOMPSON, Secular

Priest.

VEN. RICHARD SERGEANT was born inGloucestershire, and his companion in martyr-dom at Blackburn, in Lancashire. After a fruitfulapostolate, both gladly laid down their lives forChrist. They were condemned for having beenmade priests beyond the seas.

APRIL 20TH, 1602.VEN. FRANCIS PAGE, Priest, SJ.VEN. THOMAS TICHBURN, Secular Priest.VEN. ROBERT WATKINSON, Secular Priest.VEN. FRANCIS PAGE was a lawyer's clerkat the time of his conversion, which he owed tothe lady to whom he was betrothed. Thereupongiving up his heart wholly to God, he entered


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 37the seminary of the martyrs. He was saying Massin the house of Anne Line on that CandlemasDay on which she was captured. A year laterhe was sold to his enemies by a woman who hadonce professed herself to be a Catholic, but whosubsequently turned to the base business of be-traying priests into the hands of their enemies.FATHER TICHBURN was born at Hartley,

in Hampshire. He was the kinsman of Ven.Nicholas Tichburn, who had suffered in hisstead in the August of the previous year. Hehad now the happiness of witnessing to Christwith the life which was already burning itselfout in a hectic fever.

It was FATHER WATKINSON who, onreturning to England in weak health, met onthe following day a venerable stranger who,before suddenly disappearing, greeted him withthe words, * Jesus bless you, Sir, you seemto be sick and troubled with many infirmities ;but be of good cheer, for within these four days,you shall be cured of all." And so it befell.


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38 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEAPRIL 26TH, 1642.

YEN. EDWARD MORGAN, Secular Priest.BORN in Flintshire, North Wales, he was edu-cated at the English College of Douai, and wasordained priest at Salamanca.The last fifteen years of his life were passed

in the Fleet prison, where he suffered the wantof all things except courage and confidence inGod." For though," said he, when death ap-

proached, " by nature I am timorous, now haveI no manner of apprehension of halters, knivesor fires, or whatever else I may suffer for a goodcause, and gladly would I have many lives if Imight lay them all down in the service of so gooda Master."He said to those who came to receive his last

blessing and his cloak was nearly all snippedaway for relics " Pray that I may die as aCatholic priest, with a constant humility and ahumble constancy, that no fear may terrify me,neither any presumption puff me up. . . "

Father Morgan met death with such cheer-fulness that a minister reproved him. TheMartyr replied : " Why should anyone beoffended at my going to Heaven cheerfully ? forGod loves a cheerful giver."


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 39MAY 4TH, 1535.

BLESSED JOHN HOUGHTON, CarthusianPrior.BLESSED AUGUSTINE WEBSTER, Car-

thusian Prior.BLESSED ROBERT LAWRENCE, Carthus-

ian Prior.BLESSED RICHARD REYNOLDS, Priest,Bridgittine.BLESSED JOHN HAILE, Secular Priest.BLESSED JOHN HOUGHTON was born inEssex. He was the Prior and proto-martyr of theLondon Charterhouse, and was also the proto-martyr of the one hundred and five gloriousmartyrs of Tyburn. When, in 1535, the Act ofthe Royal Supremacy was published, he went,together with the Carthusian Pricrs of Beauvaleand Axholme, to plead that the monks mightbe held exempt from the Oath, or that it mightbe mitigated for them, though with one voicethey had chosen to die rather than swerve intheir allegiance to the Holy See. ThomasCromwell's answer was to send the three Priorsto the Tower. They were tried and sentencedto death. Clad in their white habits, and stretchedon hurdles, they came to Tyburn as gladly as toa marriage feast. Blessed John Houghton wasthe first to win his crown. He was cut down


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40 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEwhile still conscious, and bore the butchery in-flicted on him with invincible meekness. " GoodJesu ! what will Ye do with my heart ? " he criedas it was torn from his breast.BLESSED RICHARD REYNOLDS was

perhaps the most learned monk of his time inEngland, and certainly one of the holiest. Hewas known to all as the " Angel of Sion," a titlehe won by his saintly life in the BridgittineMonastery of Isleworth. It was felt that thesubmission of such a man to the King's newstatutes would act powerfully upon the wholecountry, and he was put to the test accordingly.But this project entirely failed, his allegianceto the Holy See remained unshaken, and theterrible sufferings of dungeon and gibbet onlyserved to add to the high opinion menhad of him.BLESSED JOHN HAILE was far advanced

in years when he was brought to trial on thecharge of maliciously slandering the King.Unlike some of the Martyrs, he felt the fullhorror and dread of death, and this circum-stance, aggravated by age and sickness, madehis end all the more admirable, for he neverswerved, but offered the sacrifice of his life withas much love and fortitude as the most light-hearted among them.


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 41MAY QTH, 1679.

VEN. THOMAS PICKERING, Lay-Brother,O.S.B.HE was professed in the English monastery ofDouai, and on returning to his own country wasarraigned as a conspirator in the Gates Plot. Itwas sworn against the Benedictine Brother byperjured witnesses that being " a religious man "he was to have 30,000 Masses at a shillinga Mass for killing the King (an absurd charge ashe was not a priest). He was further accused ofwalking in St. James's Park with John Grovesee January 24th -armed with pistols in view ofthis attempt. A most improbable story was con-cocted as to how on three separate occasionshe had been foiled in his purpose. ThomasPickering truly declared he had never fired apistol in his life. He was indeed a man incapableof harming anyone, and the most unlikely to plansuch a desperate deed. He was, however, foundguilty but reprieved for five months longer,the King being very unwilling to consent to thedeath of one whose father had given his lifein the late civil wars for the royal cause. Butthe Martyr, knowing full well that his religionwas his only treason, was most happy to die forit. At Tyburn, in answer to those who bade him

D


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42 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEconfess his guilt, ere he died, he pulled off hiscap, showing a smiling countenance : " Is this,"said he, " the countenance of a man who diesunder so gross a guilt ? "

MAY IQTH, 1651.YEN. PETER WRIGHT, Priest, SJ.HE was the son of poor parents, and was born atSlipton, in Northamptonshire. On the death ofhis father, he entered the service of a countrylawyer. After making a pilgrimage to Rome, hewas received into the novitiate of the Jesuits inGhent. During the Civil Wars he was sent ona Mission to the English soldiers, and wasafterwards chaplain to the Winchester family,with whom he lived until he was captured bypriest-catchers on Candlemas Day, 1651.On the morning of his martyrdom, hearing aknock at the iron grill, he took it as a summons

from Heaven, and cried out : " I come, sweetJesus, I come." It was said by an eyewitness that* the Blessed Father was drawn like a triumphalvictor to Tyburn." Two hundred coaches andfive hundred horsemen thronged the way.Many sought his last blessing from their win-dows, balconies and carriages, or pressingforward to the hurdle, kissed his hands and cut


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 43pieces from his garments for relics. Tyburnfields presented one waving mass, the concoursebeing reckoned to number 20,000.Even in his death-agony, the Martyr's coun-

tenance was seen to be smiling and beautiful.' And as he drew his last breath, lo ! a littlebird on a sudden flew through the forest ofjavelins, between the gallows and the Martyr'shead, and poising its wings . . seemed . . .to perch there like a sacerdotal crown. . .

MAY 28TH, 1582.BLESSED THOMAS FORDE, Secular Priest.BLESSED ROBERT JOHNSON, Secular

Priest.BLESSED JOHN SHERT, Secular Priest.BLESSED THOMAS FORDE, the first ofthese three Martyrs to enter the sharp, bitterconflict, was born in Devonshire and broughtup at Trinity College, Oxford. Not liking theProtestant religion, he quitted all temporalprospects in order to become a seminary priest.He was apprehended with Father Campionand with him cast into the Tower. Six monthsafter receiving his death sentence, togetherwith his two companion Martyrs, he was drawnto Tyburn between 6 and 7 o'clock on that May


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44 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEmorning. He died praying, " Jesu, Jesu y Jesu,esto mihi Jesus I

J

BLESSED ROBERT JOHNSON was born inShropshire. In his youth he was a servant in agentleman's family. He later received HolyOrders at Douai. He was also one of those con-demned with Father Campion, and at threedifferent times was most cruelly racked.BLESSED JOHN SHERT was born in Ches-hire. He was a convert, and at one time a notedLondon schoolmaster. Just before his own exe-cution, seeing Blessed Thomas Forde hangedbefore him, he exclaimed : " O happy Thomas,happy art thou that thou hast run that happyrace ! O benedicta anima ! ' When forced tolook on the last horrors inflicted on the poormangled body, he repeated these words and wasblamed for praying to one already dead, andagain for asking the help of God's Mother andHis Saints. This he declared to be a doctrinesound and true which he would now sign withhis blood. Then, thanking God for bringing hispoor servant to so glorious and happy a death,the last lof these three Martyrs won his palm.


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 45MAY 30TH, 1582.

BLESSED WILLIAM FILBIE, SecularPriest.

BLESSED LAWRENCE RICHARDSON,Secular Priest .

BLESSED THOMAS COTTAM, SecularPriest.

BLESSED LUKE KIRBY, Secular Priest.The first of these four Martyrs was born in

Oxford and made a priest at Rheims. On re-turning to England he was apprehended withFather Campion at Lyford Grange. It was morethan six months before his sentence was carriedout. He was drawn to Tyburn with his threecompanions and, being the youngest, (he wasabout twenty-seven years old), was first takenfrom the hurdle. One of the Sheriff's men,standing in the cart with him, said :

" Whathast thou there in thy handkerchief ? " He foundit to be a little cross of wood, which he held upto the crowd, crying : " O what a villainoustraitor is this that hath a cross ! '

BLESSED LAWRENCE RICHARDSONlaboured with great fruit in Lancashire, hisnative country. Repeatedly pressed by Top-cliffe and the Protestant ministers present athis execution to renounce the Pope in order to


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46 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEobtain the Queen's pardon, he bore all theirendeavours with cheerfulness and remainedunmoved.BLESSED THOMAS COTTAM, when

told he was to die on the morrow, unable tocontain his joy, went to the window, crying :Give God thanks with me, for to-morrow ismy day ! " At Tyburn, being placed so as to face

his companions, he prayed : " Lord Jesus, havemercy upon them . . . Lord, give me con-stancy to the end. O Domine, tu plura pro mepassus es ! " He and BLESSED LUKE KIRBYboth suffered the torture known as the " Scav-enger's Daughter." This was probably the namegiven to the hoop of iron into which those con-demned were thrust, their bodies being fright-fully crushed in it by the tightening of a largescrew .

MAY SOTH, 1612.VEN. WILLIAM MAURUS SCOT, Priest,O.S.B.VEN. RICHARD NEWPORT, Secular Priest.ON Whitsun Eve they laid down their lives " forGod's honour and the testimony of the truth."Both Martyrs had been banished several times,and had returned to England each time at the


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 47peril of their lives. YEN. WILLIAM MAURUSSCOT joined the Order of St. Benedict inSpain, and was one of the first English monksof the Congregation of Valladolid. He desired togo to his martyrdom in the habit of his Order,but this consolation was denied him. His com-panion, YEN. RICHARD NEWPORT, hadbeen ordained at Rome and was a native ofNorthamptonshire. His labours in the missionfield bore much fruit, and therefore his speedyarrest and condemnation seemed all the moredesirable to the enemies of the Church. Thebodies of these two Confessors of the Faithwere rescued and conveyed at night to thehouse of Dona Luisa de Carvajal, who hadalready paid the last honours to the relics ofother Martyrs. The protection of the SpanishEmbassy enabled this brave woman to spendherself in ministering to the needs, both spiritualand corporal, of Catholics in England, thecountry of her adoption, which she loved witha devotion inspired and maintained by GodHimself.


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48 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEJUNE IST, 1571.

BLESSED JOHN STOREY, Layman.HE belonged to a Northumberland family, andwas connected with that of the Selbys. He wasa distinguished lawyer, and had held importantGovernment positions, but his fidelity to theTrue Faith exposed him to considerable danger,and for the sake of peace of conscience he settledin Flanders. He soon regretted that for want ofgreater courage he had deliberately deprivedhimself of martyrdom, and his friends opposinghis desire to return to England, he gave himselfup to a life of prayer and penance until povertyand the increasing number of his exiled familycompelled him to enter the service of the Dukeof Alva. It was on the pretext of aiding him inhis office, which was that of preventing theexport of heretical books. to England, that hewas lured on board a trader at Antwerp. As soonas he was below, the hatches were closed and allsails set for Yarmouth. From thence he wascarried to London and imprisoned in the Tower,where he had been confined once before. Hewas now very old and infirm. He was triedon a charge of treason and for comforting traitors ,and without proof was found guilty. At Tyburn,with the rope round his neck, he made a long


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 49speech, and pleaded on behalf of his wife " whohath four young children, and God hath nowtaken me away that was her staff and stay. . . .I have good hopes that you will be good to her,for she is the faithfulest wife, the lovingest, theconstantest, that ever man had, and twice wehave lost all that ever we had, and now she hathlost me, to her great grief I know."He was subjected to more than usual cruelty.The fact that no mention is found of the use ofa triangular gallows before the year 1571 seemsto confirm the opinion that it was erected forthe purpose of drawing special attention to Dr.Storey's execution.

JUNE I3TH, 1573.BLESSED THOMAS WOODHOUSE, Priest,

SJ.HE was a parish priest in Lincolnshire duringthe reign of Queen Mary. After her death, whenthe persecution against Catholics recommenced,he was arrested while saying Mass. He hadmany privileges in prison, being allowed tocelebrate the Holy Sacrifice daily in his cell. Itwas during his imprisonment that he soughtadmission into the Society of Jesus.As his sufferings increased, so did his con-

tentment, and whenever anyone brought him


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50 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEnews that he was to be racked or have moreiron chains laid on him, he rewarded the bearerof the tidings to the best of his power. WhenBlessed J. Storey was about to be executed,Father Woodhouse offered his life in his stead.

After an imprisonment of eleven years, hereceived sentence of death. On the way back toNewgate from the Guildhall, when one struckhim rudely on the face, he said :" Would to God I might for thee suffer tentimes as much that thou mightest go free forthe blow thou hast given me. I forgive thee andpray God to forgive thee, even as I would beforgiven."

At Tyburn, when the Sheriff told him therewas yet time to repent, and ordered him to askpardon of God. the Queen, and the country, heanswered :

"Nay, I, on the part of God, demand of youand the Queen that you ask pardon of God, and

of Mother Church, because, contrary to thetruth, you have resisted Christ the Lord, andthe Pope, His Vicar on earth."


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 51JUNE iQTH, 1535.

BLESSED WILLIAM EXMEW, CarthusianPriest.BLESSED HUMPHREY MIDDLEMORE,

Carthusian Priest.BLESSED SEBASTIEN NEWDIGATE,

Carthusian Priest.THESE three young Carthusian Monks were ofnoble birth, and of great piety and learning. Thefirst was Vicar of the London Charterhouse,BLESSED HUMPHREY MIDDLEMOREwasProcurator ; he belonged to an ancient Warwick-shire family. BLESSED SEBASTIEN NEW-DIGATE was the son of the Lord of HarefieldManor, Middlesex. He was reared at the Courtof the King, and later, when confined in theMarshalsea and the Tower, Henry VIII visitedhim in the hope of winning him over.Within a few weeks after the martyrdom of

their Prior, Blessed John Houghton, they wereall three seized for refusing to take the Oath ofthe Royal Supremacy. They were cast into adark and filthy dungeon in the Marshalsea Prison,and for a fortnight were bound in an uprightposition to posts or columns by iron chainsfastened round their necks and legs. It beingsupposed they would now submit to the King'swill, they were taken separately to be examined


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52 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEbefore the Council, and the Oath was againproffered to them. With unswerving courageeach one refused to act in any way contrary tothe laws and traditions of Holy Church. Theywere thereupon found guilty and sentenced tobe hanged, drawn and quartered as traitors.They went forth from the Council with gladhearts and faces, rejoicing to be accounted worthyto suffer for the Name of Jesus. Their desire toreceive Holy Communion before they died wasdenied them.

JUNE 20TH, 1679.VEN. THOMAS WHITEBREAD, Provincial

S.J.VEN. JOHN FENWICK, Priest, S.J.YEN. WILLIAM HARCOURT, Priest, S.J.VEN. JOHN GAVAN, Priest, S.J.VEN. ANTONY TURNER, Priest, S.J.SOON after VEN. THOMAS WHITEBREADhad been elected Provincial of the Society ofJesus, in England, he made a visitation to hisbrethren at Liege, and preached to them at therenovation of their Vows on St. James' Day onthe text ' Potestis bibere calicem quern egobibiturus sum ? Dicunt ei possumus." It was asif he had already foreseen the storm of perse-cution that broke out two months later at the


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 53instigation of Gates and his associates. FatherWhitebread was labouring under a severe illnesswhen he was apprehended on the charge of beingconcerned in the imaginary Plot, and imprisonedand loaded with chains.YEN. JOHN FENWICK, or CALDWELL,

one of his four companions who shared his im-prisonment, trial and martyrdom, had been dis-owned by his family on becoming a convert.He was procurator for his brethren and a mostdiligent toiler in Christ's vineyard.YEN. WILLIAM HARCOURT had worked

upon the Mission 35 years, and was seventy-two years of age. He was rector of London atthe time he met the glorious fate for which hehad daily prayed. It was on a Friday the fiveJesuits gained their Calvary and the joys ofParadise.YEN. JOHN GAYAN and YEN. ANTONYTURNER both laboured with great zeal and

success on the English mission, the one for aperiod of eight years, the other for eighteenyears, most of which time was passed in Wor-cestershire.


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54 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEJUNE 23RD, 1592.

VEN.fROBERT, or ROGER ASHTON, Lay-man.THE biithplace of this Martyr was Croston, inLancashire. He was martyred at Tyburn forprocuring a dispensation from Rome to marryhis second cousin, thereby acknowledging theauthority of the Holy Apostolic See in all mattersspiritual.

JUNE 23RD, 1608.YEN. THOMAS GARNET, Priest, SJ.His father dedicated him to God from hisbirth. He studied at St. Omer's and later atValladolid, where he was made priest and fromwhence he was sent on the English mission.He was soon apprehended on suspicion of beingimplicated in the Gunpowder Plot, and com-mitted to the Tower where, for many months, hehad no other bed than the bare ground, wherebyhe contracted severe sciatica. He had long desiredto enter the Society of Jesus, and the sentenceof banishment now gave him the opportunityof making his novitiate at Louvain. On return-ing from beyond the seas, contrary to the penalstatute, he was betrayed by an apostate priest.His friends urged him to try to escape from


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 55prison, and suggested some opportunities, but amore persuasive voice spoke in his heart, say-ing : Nolifugere- ' Do not run away." Hence-forth his one fear was lest he should be deprivedof the crown of martyrdom which he won atthe age of 34. His last words were those of theVeni Creator, " sermone ditans guttura."

JUNE 28xH, 1654.YEN. JOHN SOUTHWORTH, Secular Priest.HE was born in Lancashire and was a younger sonof an ancient and once wealthy family. Educatedat Douai, he became an alumnus and priest ofthat House. His missionary labours were at firstin his native county. After some years he wastaken and condemned, but was reprieved andkept a close prisoner in Lancaster Castle. Beingat length released through the influence of QueenHenrietta Maria, he continued his devotedlabours, but was apprehended for the third timeby a pursuivant and carried off from his bed atnight. He was then 72 years old. At his trial herefused to deny that he was a priest, thoughthe Court assured him that if he did so his lifewould be spared, for they were most reluctantto pass judgement against him. The magistrateis said to have been so overcome by tears that


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56 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEit was long before he could pronounce the sen-tence which he professed the law compelled himto give.

In thunder, lightning and rain, the Martyrwas brought to Tyburn, but the storm did notprevent many thousands of people, many incoaches or on horseback, from being present.In his last speech, Father Southworth said, whenquoting Our Lord's words : ' Qui vult venirepost me. . . . tollat suam et sequatur me,' thisgallows I look on as His Cross, which I gladlytake up to follow my dear Saviour."

JUNE 30TH, 1646.YEN. PHILIP POWEL, Priest, O.S.B.' He was of princely race, of British blood,Nor yet the twentieth part so great as good.... his hands to every poorMost open till they blushed to ask for more,Most temperate, and most constant to his

Christ."

HE was born in Brecknockshire, and began hisstudies in Abergavenny. When sixteen years oldhe came to London to study law under FatherAugustine Baker, but being sent on business toDouai, he found his true vocation, and receivedthe habit of St. Benedict. On returning toEngland after his ordination, he laboured for


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 57twenty years as a missionary. Then the CivilWar broke out, and he was taken prisoner, un-justly tried, and sentenced to death. He receivedthe announcement with a " Deo gratias," addingthat owing to the crowd he could not thank Godon his knees, yet he did so in his heart. He wasgiven the choice of the day on which he was todie, but he refused to be in any way guilty of hisown death. When he was told the day was fixed,he said : ; Welcome whatever conies, God'sName be praised ! What am I that God thushonours me, and will have me die for His Sake ! "" This is the happiest day and the greatestjoy that ever befel me," Father Powel said atTyburn, " for I am brought hither for no othercause or reason . . . than that I am a RomanCatholic priest, and a monk of the Order of St.Benedict.

JULY IST, 1616.YEN. THOMAS MAXFIELD, Secular Priest.HE was born in Staffordshire of a distinguishedfamily of that county. His chief studies weremade abroad, and he began to work on theMission in England in 1615. After exercisingthe apostolate for barely three months he wasapprehended, and there ensued a period of

E


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58 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEill-treatment, which only ended with his deathon the gibbet. The most inhuman of the tor-tures inflicted on him was his confinement in apair of stocks so contrived that his body couldfind no relief either by standing upright orlyingdown. The darkness and filth of the dungeonwhere he was placed added to his sufferings.Before his trial he had the consolation of recon-ciling to God two from among a gang of felonswho were also awaiting the death sentence.When Father Maxfield was brought to the placeof sacrifice, whither he was accompanied by amultitude on horse and foot, the gallows werefound to be adorned with garlands of fragrantflowers, and the ground strewn with sweet-smelling herbs and branches of bay and laurel.TheMartyr, feeble and emaciated by eight monthsof confinement and torture, but no less cheerfulthan he had ever been hitherto, rejoiced to be* a member of that blessed house of Douai thathath afforded our poor barren country so muchgood and happy seed."His remains were thrown into a pit under

fifteen other bodies, two of which were those offelons executed a month before. This, however,did not deter his devoted friends of the SpanishEmbassy from coming by night to rescue hismangled body.


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!6le00eD ate tfjep tfcat sufferPersecution,

1Dere 3D. liver flMunfcet, Qvimate ot all3relanfc, eeeWns bie bunteD sbeep on tbemountainside, connrmetb tbeir fainting

sonls witb tbe cbrism of salvation*


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 59JULY IST, 1 68 1.

YEN. OLIVER PLUNKET, Archbishop ofArmagh.

THE last victim of the " Popish Plot " was, inhis boyhood, sent to Rome to be educated. Forsome time he lived with the Fathers of theOratory ; subsequently, on the See of Armaghfalling vacant, the Holy Father appointed himArchbishop, and Plunket gladly returned tohis country, lately devastated by Cromwell'shordes. He ordained clergy, put down abuses,built schools and administered confirmationto thousands in the woods and on the mountains.He was often forced to go in disguise, and theepiscopal palace of the successor of St. Patrickwas no more than a thatched cottage. Whenthe persecution broke out afresh, at the insti-gation of Titus Oates, much of his work wasundone, and he was delivered to his enemiesby apostate priests, who afterwards bore falsewitness against him. He was sent to London,and after eighteen months in prison underwenta most unjust trial. He received the death sen-tence with a joyous ' Deo gratias." His lastdays were spent in earnest but tranquil prepar-ation for the final sacrifice. His devoted friendand confessor, Father Corker, wrote of him.


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6o THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEthat his joy seemed to increase with his dangerand was fully accomplished by an assuranceof death. The saintly white-haired Primate ofall Ireland was drawn to Tyburn in his ponti-fical robes, and laid down his life for his sheep" with a courage fearless of death."

JULY 6iH, 1585.YEN. THOMAS ALFIELD, Secular Priest.YEN. THOMAS WEBLEY, Layman.YEN. THOMAS ALFIELD was born inGloucester. He was ordained at Rheims, andafter his return to the English Mission he foundmeans to import into the kingdom some copiesof Dr. Allen's " Modest Answer to the EnglishPersecutors." This was in reply to a book sup-posed to have been written by Cecil, LordTreasurer, in which he attempted to falselypersuade the world that the Catholics who hadsuffered in England since the Queen's accessionto the throne, had not suffered for religion butfor treason.

Father Alfield circulated Dr. Allen's"An-swers " by the help of THOMAS WEBLEY,

a dyer. Both priest and layman were soon calledto account for the part they had taken, and weremost cruelly tortured in the attempt to make


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 61them reveal the names of the persons to whomthe books had been distributed. They werebrought to trial and suffered at Tyburn on theday following their condemnation. Both hadtheir lives offered to them if they would renouncethe Pope and acknowledge Queen Elizabeth tobe the head of the Church. They cheerfullychose martyrdom rather than listen to suchconditions.

JULY I4TH, 1679.YEN. RICHARD LANGHORNE, Layman.A BARRISTER and a zealous Catholic, Langhornewas one of the first victims of Titus Gates andhis associates, being impeached by them as aringleader in their pretended plot, and especiallyas conspiring to kill the King. After more thaneight months' close imprisonment in Newgate,he was tried, and false witnesses having beencalled, he was condemned with Father White-bread, the English Provincial, and the otherfour Jesuit Fathers who were his companions.He declared on the scaffold at Tyburn, thatnot only a pardon, but many preferments andestates had been offered to him if he would for-sake his religion.As the hangman was placing the rope round

his neck, he took it into his hands and kissed it.


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62 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVECrossing himself, he prayed : ' Blessed Jesus,into Thy hands I commend my soul and spirit,now at this instant take me into Paradise. I amdesirous to be with my Jesus."

JULY 26TH, 1641.YEN. WILLIAM WARD, Secular Priest.His real name was Webster, and he was bornat Thornley, in Westmoreland. At the time ofhis martyrdom he was eighty years old, and wasthe first priestly victim of the Long Parliament.He had toiled twelve years on the English Missionand had spent nearly double that time in variousprisons. He was also banished several times.On first landing on the coast of Scotland onhis return from Douai, he was thrust into atotally dark underground dungeon for threeyears. Father Ward belonged to the Third Orderof St. Francis, and was a great lover of poverty,and austere both towards himself and towardsthose he directed, by whom, however, he wasmuch loved. He had always had a great de-votion to the Mother of Our Blessed Lady,inviting all his penitents who bore her name tojoin him in keeping her solemn feast. It was onSt. Anne's Day that he obtained the favour oflaying down his life for Christ. On that morningone of his friends brought him a new coat.


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 63You are right to dress me better than usual,"

he said, " since I am going to a more splendidbanquet and a more joyful wedding than any atwhich I have ever been present."" If God had given me a thousand lives," hesaid on the scaffold, ' I should deem myselfhappy to sacrifice them all for my priesthoodand the Catholic Church." Told that he wasbeing put to death for seducing the people," Would to God," he exclaimed, " I had con-verted more. Nay, even all England ! '

JULY 3 IST, 1581.BLESSED EVERARD HANSE, Secular Priest.HE was born in Northamptonshire, and broughtup as a Protestant. At a time when he had fallenill in the midst of his fame as a popular preacher,he was converted to the Catholic religion. Onhis recovery he entered the English Seminaryat Rheims, returning to England after his ordin-ation. His apostolate only lasted a few weeks.One day, when visiting prisoners for the Faithin the Marshalsea, he was apprehended onsuspicion of being a seminary priest, some spieshaving noticed that his boots were of foreignmanufacture. He was cast into a dungeon inNewgate with thieves and felons, and there ladenwith heavy chains.


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64 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEThe day before he offered the sacrifice of his

life, he wrote to his brother : ' I pray you becareful for my parents. . . my prayers shallnot be wanting to aid you by God's grace. Givethanks to God for all that He hath sent ; castnot yourself into dangers wilfully, but pray toGod, when occasion is offered, you may take itwith patience. The comforts at the presentmoment are unspeakable, the dignity too highfor a sinner, but God is merciful. Bestow mythings you find ungiven away upon my poorkinsfolk. . . . Have me commended to myfriends, let them think I will not forget them.The day and hour of my birth is at hand. . . ."

In the anguish of a most cruel death, theMartyr was heard to cry : " O happy day ! '

AUGUST 4TH, 1540.BLESSED WILLIAM HORNE, Carthusian

Lay Brother.YEN. EDMUND BRINDHOLM, SecularPriest.

YEN. CLEMENT PHILPOT, Layman.BLESSED WILLIAM HORNE was one ofthe ten Carthusians of the London Charterhousewho, on refusing to sign the Oath of the King'ssupremacy, were dragged to Newgate and there


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 65treated with inhuman cruelty. He and his com-panions, three Priests, one Deacon, and fiveLay Brothers, were rivetted by means of heavyfetters fastened to their necks and legs, to thewalls and columns of their dungeon. Theirhands were bound behind them, and they werethus left to perish of starvation. From this fatethey were saved for a time by the courageouscharity of Blessed Thomas More's adopteddaughter, Margaret Clement, who came tominister to and feed them at the risk of her life.When she could do this no longer, the valiantconfessors laid down their lives one by one tillWilliam Home alone survived. Some time laterhe was taken from prison to Tyburn there toconsummate his sacrifice and share his triumphwith Father BRINDHOLM and CLEMENTPHILPOT. He was the last of the fifteen sonsof Blessed John Houghton, who followed himalong the road to martyrdom.


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66 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEAUGUST 24TH, 1601.

YEN. NICHOLAS TICHBOURNE, Layman.YEN. THOMAS HACKSHOT, Layman.YEN. NICHOLAS TICHBOURNE wasborn at Hartley, in Hampshire. He was relatedto Yen. Thomas Tichbourne, Priest, martyredat Tyburn a year later. Father Tichbourne owedthis extra time of his apostolate to the self-sacrificing devotion of his kinsman and ofThomasHackshot, who laid down their lives in hisstead, being condemned for having assisted inrescuing him.YEN. THOMAS HACKSHOT was born at

Mursley, in Buckinghamshire. His part in thematter was this : Knowing that the holy prisonerwas to be conducted through a certain street bya single keeper, he awaited their coming, andknocking down the officer, gave the priest theopportunity to escape. Being less careful of hisown safety, he was seized and cast into thedungeon which the priest had just vacated.There he endured diverse torments, till atlength he was brought to trial and sentenced todie for the same cause of Christian charity withNicholas Tichbourne.


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 67AUGUST 30TH, 1588.

YEN. RICHARD LEIGH, Secular Priest.YEN. EDWARD SHELLEY, Layman.YEN. RICHARD MARTIN, Layman.YEN. RICHARD FLOWER, Layman.YEN. JOHN ROCHE, Layman.YEN. MARGARET WARD, Gentlewoman.YEN. R. LEIGH was martyred for the solecause of his priesthood, and his companionseither for being reconciled to the Church orfor assisting and relieving priests.

It was for this latter offence that MARGARETWARD was condemned. Hearing that FatherWatson was suffering cruel torments in Bride-well, where no one ventured to succour him, shefound means, by making friends with the jailor'swife, to give him food and finally procuredhim a rope by which he made his escape. Shewas at once apprehended, imprisoned andloaded with irons. She was moreover hung bythe hands and cruelly scourged, all of whichsufferings she accepted as preludes to the

martyrdom by whichshe hoped with the grace

of God to be honoured. When brought to trial,she said that never in her life had she done any-thing of which she repented less, that death forsuch a cause would be very welcome to her, and


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68 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEthat she was willing to lay down not one life only,but many if she had them. She showed to theend an unswerving constancy.

SEPTEMBER 7TH, 1644.YEN. RALPH CORBY, Priest, S.J.YEN. JOHN DUCKETT, Secular Priest.WHILE yet a student at Douai, RALPH CORBYwas much given to mental prayer, passing longnights in heavenly communications. He be-longed to a very religious family. His father andtwo brothers became Jesuits, and his motherand two sisters entered the Order of St. Benedict.In the second year after Ralph Corby's icturnto England, when on his way to baptize twochildren, he was captured by some Parliamentsoldiers and committed to prison on account ofhis priesthood. He was sent to London to betried at the same time as John Duckett.YEN. JOHN DUCKETT was born at Under-

winder, in Yorkshire, in 1613, and was madepriest in 1639. It was on the Feast of the Visi-tation of Our Lady that he was apprehended.He was taken to London, together with FatherCorby, and the two confessors, having beencondemned, were taken back to prison to " waitfor that blessed and happy Saturday which is


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 69the Vigil of Her glorious nativity." When hopeswere given that the life of one of them might besaved, neither was willing to accept the offer atthe expense of the other. Ven. John Ducketthad often testified that " ever since he was apriest he did much fear to live but nothing fearto die." Arrived at Tyburn, the Martyrs em-braced each other and kissed the rope andgallows, dying most joyfully for the love of theirSaviour and for the cause of their religion. JohnDuckett was thirty, and Ralph Corby forty-sixyears of age.

OCTOBER STH, 1586.VEN. JOHN ADAMS, Secular Priest.VEN. JOHN LOWE, Secular Priest.VEN. RICHARD DIBDALE, Secular Priest.THESE three Martyrs were condemned andsuffered martyrdom by reason of their priestlycharacter and for exercising their sacred func-tions. The first was born in Dorsetshire.VEN. JOHN LOWE was a Londoner. He

was a convert and had been a Protestant Minister.VEN. RICHARD DIBDALE was born in

Worcestershire. He practised the office of anexorcist, and delivered and reconciled to the


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70 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEChurch many possessed persons who, by for-saking their religion, had fallen into the powerof the Evil One. He forced the devils to confessto their confusion the virtue which is containedin the Sign of the Cross, Holy Water, and therelics, both of the ancient saints and of the Mar-tyrs who suffered in England in those days forthe Catholic Faith.

OCTOBER I2TH, 1642.YEN. THOMAS (JOHN BAPTIST) BULL-AKER, Priest, O.F.M.HE was born at Chichester, in Sussex, in 1604.His life was given to God from the first. Atthe age of eighteen he obtained permission fromhis father to become a missionary priest. Heis described as a tall, handsome youth, grave,modest and remarkably like the pictures of OurLord.

After studying for a short time at a JesuitCollege, at Valladolid, Bullaker became con-vinced that his vocation lay rather in the Orderof St. Francis. He was ordained in time as aFranciscan priest, and soon after he begged asecular dress and set off on foot to Bordeaux,landing in England without a penny. He labouredand endured many hardships on the missionfor eleven years, and was finally seized, by the


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 71apostate Wadsworth, while saying Mass. Hishostess and her little son were likewise takenby the pursuivants. At his trial, when he wascalled a traitor and seducer of the people, hesaid : ' Now you give me occasion to rejoice,because you treat me with the same title as theJews did my Saviour."

Sentenced to be taken on a hurdle to Tyburn,there to be hanged, cut down and beheaded,Father Bullaker knelt and recited the Te Deum.To one who informed him in prison of the earlydate of his death, he said : ' I thank youheartily, my friend, for this long desired andjoyful news. Believe me, were it not for mygreat poverty, I would not send you awayempty-handed."From the scaffold he preached with his dying

lips of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. '

NOVEMBER 27111, 1633.YEN. ARTHUR McGEOGHAN, Priest, O.P.HAVING completed his studies in Spain, he wasseized when returning to his Province, and castinto prison in London by English heretics. Hewas brought to trial under a malicious pretext,and condemned to death. At Tyburn he madeopen profession of being a Catholic and a


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72 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEDominican, and, with a fearless countenance,met his end praying : ' O thou glorious Virgin,Mother of Our God and Saviour, pray to thySon Jesus Christ to receive my soul."He was hanged, and while still alive his limbs

were cut asunder.His judge, Falkland, Viceroy of Ireland,

suffered the penalty of the unjust sentence, ashe himself was led to acknowledge when hisleg was broken in an extraordinary way.

After the martyrdom, an enquiry was heldat the wish of Queen Henrietta Maria, theresult of which was that Charles I causedplacards to be posted, on which it was statedthat Father McGeoghan had been unjustlyaccused and condemned, and those responsiblefor the crime were held up to scorn.

DECEMBER IST, 1581.BLESSED EDMUND CAMPION, Priest,S.J.BLESSED RALPH SHERWIN, Secular Priest.BLESSED ALEXANDER BRIANT, Priest,SJ.

A PLAY on the name of the first of these Martyrsdescribed exactly what he was the Pope'sC(h)ampion. Nothing could daunt his valour,neither promises of worldly gain, the basest


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 73calumny, public ridicule, the exquisite tortureof the rack, none of these things, which were inturn applied to break his spirit, succeeded. It istrue he had consented to be made a deaconafter the new manner when he was at Oxford,but his repentance for this momentary weak-ness was so strong that it won for him hisvocation to the Priesthood in the Society ofJesus, and was a powerful incentive to be trueto the Faith ever after. It was in accordancewith Dr. Allan's advice that he embraced theperilous mission of re-evangelising his owncountry, and it was by a series of hairbreadthescapes that he carried forward an apostolate ofmarvellous fruitfulness. His natural gifts stoodhim in good stead ; he had the wit and elo-quence that had led to his fall in the days whenhe cared for a Queen's praise ; now he devotedall his talents to the Heavenly Master, hopingfor no sweeter reward than that which wasgrantedto him at the age of forty-two. After sufferingsuch cruel torments in prison that it was fearedthe rack-men had gone too far and the gallowswould be deprived of a prey, he was neverthe-less found in a state of calm cheerfulness on theday of execution.When his turn came, BLESSED RALPHSHERWIN kissed with great devotion the blood

F


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74 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEof Edmund Campion dripping from the handsof the executioners. Like Campion, it was askedof him very expressly whom he meant when heprayed for and forgave the Queen. He replied :" Yea, for Elizabeth Queen, I now at this instantpray my Lord God. ... He died with thecry on his lips : ' Jesu, Jesu, Jesu, be to me aJesus."BLESSED ALEXANDER BRIANT. The

third of these Priests, who the night before hadheard one another's confessions in prison, im-mediately followed the other two on the fatalcart. His martyrdom was even more cruel owingto the negligence of the hangman, and also tothe inhuman efforts of those who, when he wasin his last extremity, endeavoured to make himrecant. Again the question was put : " What ofthe sovereignty of the Queen ? ' He declaredthat being a true Catholic he fully accepted theBull of Pius V, by which the Queen wasformally excommunicated. He then began the* Miserere * and yielded up his soul to Godafter long torments."


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 75DECEMBER 3RD, 1678.

YEN. EDWARD COLEMAN, Layman.HE was a minister's son, and was born inSuffolk and educated at Cambridge. Afterwardshe became a zealous convert. The Duchess ofYork made him her secretary, and he was thusenabled to procure more liberty of consciencefor Catholics and to stand them in good steadin many ways. At the outbreak of the TitusGates Plot, some letters he had written to PereLa Chaise, the French King's confessor, wereseized, and he was brought to trial charged withplotting against the King's life, raising rebellionin Ireland, etc. Gates and Bedloe further de-clared he had received a commission ' fromthe General of the Jesuits " to be secretary ofState. When it was objected that there weremany contradictions in his evidence, Gatescomplained that he had undergone great fatiguefor two days and two nights in the pursuit afterJesuits, and this had so exhausted him that hedid not know what he said.Edward Coleman denied all that was sworn

against him, protesting his innocence with hislast breath. He died having done all in his powerto help the cause of religion,


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76 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEDECEMBER 5TH, 1612.

YEN. JOHN ALMOND, Secular Priest.HE was born at Allerton, near Liverpool, andmade his theological studies at Rheims andRome, returning to England a priest. Beingcondemned for this cause, he was drawn fromNewgate to Tyburn between seven and eighto'clock in the morning on December 5th, 1612.His first act at the place of execution was to takeoff his hat and bless God with a loud voice forholding him worthy to die for His Name andHis Glory. He then turned to the Sheriff andasked him simply what he was to do. He wastold to get into the cart standing under theTree. This he did with difficulty owing to theill-treatment he had received and his long im-prisonment. He then told the bystanders howhe had come there to die for Christ's cause, andhow glad and willing he was to lose his life forHis honour, regretting nothing but that he hadno more lives to lose nor more blood to shed forhis blessed Redeemer. He placed all his hopesin God, confident that He would strengthenhim with His power. At no time did FatherAlmond show signs of fear or faint-heartedness ;he possessed to the end the same smilingserenity with which he had set out on the hurdle.


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 77He desired the executioner to make known tohim when the cart was to be drawn away thathe might die with the sweet Name of Jesus onhis lips.The Protestant Bishop of London, who was

one of the chief promoters of the Martyr'scondemnation, is believed to have received thegrace to die in the communion of the HolyCatholic Church.

DECEMBER IOTH, 1591.YEN. POLYDORE PLASDEN, Secular Priest.YEN. EUSTACE WHITE, Secular Priest.YEN. SYDNEY HODSON, Layman.YEN. BRYAN LACEY, Layman.YEN. JOHN MASON, Layman.BEING brought to Tyburn, the two priests werethe first to yield up their lives. They had allbeen captured at the Mass said by FatherGennings in the house of Yen. Swithin Wells,who with Father Gennings was martyred atGray's Inn Fields.At Tyburn, when pressed by specious ques-

tions as to whether he would defend the Queenagainst the Pope, POLYDORE PLASDEN re-plied : ' I am a Catholic priest, therefore Iwould never fight, nor counsel others to fight


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78 THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVEagainst my religion, for that we.re to deny myfaith. O Christ," said he, looking up to heaven,and kissing the rope " I will never deny Theefor a thousand lives." He was thereuponhanged as a traitor.FATHER WHITE, who was the next to

follow him, had already suffered much whilein Bridewell under the power of the inhumanTopcliffe, being once hung by the hands in ironmanacles for eight hours in the effort to inducehim to reveal the names of those in whose houseshe had said Mass. No torture, however, couldwring from him any other words than * Lord,more pain if Thou pleasest and more patience."YEN. SYDNEY HODSON, BRYAN LACEYand JOHN MASON, the three laymen, whowere their companions, were martyred forhaving assisted and defended priests.

DECEMBER IOTH, 1610.YEN. JOHN ROBERTS, Priest, O.S.B.YEN. THOMAS SOMERS, Secular Priest.YEN. JOHN ROBERTS was born in Merion-ethshire in Wales, and received his educationabroad, passing successively from Rheims toRome and thence to Spain, where he enteredthe Order of St. Benedict. His apostolic zeal and


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 79devotion was put to the proof, especially at thetime of the Great Plague, when equally fearlessof the persecutors and of the infection, he gavehimself up entitely to ministering to the soulsand bodies ofthose afflicted. He was apprehendedat Mass on the first Sunday of Advent, 1610,and was taken to prison in his priestly vestments.Being brought to Tyburn, he rejoiced to seethat, like his Master, he was to die among thievesand almost the last words he spoke were wordsof encouragement and absolution. The spirit ofpeace and joy that characterised him at all timeswas manifest to all who witnessed the mannerin which he suffered. Two days after hismartyrdom his precious remains were dug outof the pit where they had been thrown ; a partof these relics were taken to Douai, and one armwas sent to the Abbey of St. Martin at Compos-tella, where he had made profession and re-ceived Holy Orders ten years before.Hiscompanioninmartyrdom, VEN.THOMAS

SOMERS, had dedicated his labours to poorCatholics with such zealous love as to be com-monly known as the parish priest of London.He was born in Westmoreland and spent partof his early manhood teaching in a grammarschool in his native countv. He counselled^many a youth to join the students of the English


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8o THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVECollege at Douai, and when the opportunityoccurred he himself went to Douai and in duetime became a missionary priest. In this capacityhis work in England lasted but four years.

DECEMBER IITH, 1643.YEN. ARTHUR (FRANCIS) BELL, Priest,

O.F.M.HE was born near Worcester, and received hisearly education almost entirely from his mother.At the age of 24 he left England to study for thepriesthood. It was during the time of the CivilWars that Father Bell, after labouring on theMission for nine years, was apprehended bythe Parliament soldiers on suspicion of being aspy. They searched him and found among otherpapers, a form for blessing the cord of St.Francis, and this they imagined was a spell. Hewas stripped of sword, money and clothes, andclad in an old tattered soldier's coat, and thuscarried on horseback to London as an object ofderision in every town and village through whichhe passed.

Father Bell had been in Newgate twenty-fourhours when he received a letter telling him ofhis election as Guardian of the Convent atDouai, which office had been vacant since themartyrdom of Father Heath.


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MARTYRS OF TYBURN 81At his trial he returned hearty thanks to his

accusers, saying :c I shall most willingly and

with the greatest joy die with Christ and HisApostles and Martyrs, my cause being the sameas theirs. " His face bore witness to the sweet-ness and serenity of his soul. On coming toTyburn he said : " Now I see verified in mewhat was foretold by happy Thomas Bullaker,"for that Martyr had said before winning his owncrown a year ago : ' God will have me to gofirst, but you shall soon follow me."

Father Bell was left to hang for the space of aMiserere. Under his secular coat was foundthe habit of his Order.

DECEMBER I2TH, 1642.YEN. THOMAS HOLLAND, Priest, SJ.HE was born in Lancashire, and sent over whilestill very young, to the English College at St.Omer's, and from thence to Valladolid, beingfinally ordained priest at Liege. For some timehe was minister at the house of the Jesuits atGhent. After he had pronounced his vows, hewas sent upon the Mission in the hope that thechange would restore his health.A strict search for priests was being made at


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82 MARTYRS OF TYBURNthe time, and he was forced to lie in close con-finement, scarcely venturing to walk in thegarden of the house that sheltered him. Undercover of darkness and disguise, he contrived toserve many souls, especially among the poor.At length he was apprehended and sentencedto die, to which he calmly responded : ' DeoGratias."At Tyburn he heartily thanked God for being

the first of the Society of Jesus to be condemnedto death under that Parliament. He yielded uphis life praying for the royal family, the parlia-ment, and the whole nation," for whose pros-perity and conversion to the Catholic Faith,"he said, " if I had as many lives as there arehairs on my head, drops of water in the ocean,or stars in the firmament, I would most willinglysacrifice them all." These words were greetedwith a shout of applause from the crowd.Of the Martyr's character it is said " that he

had extraordinary talents for promoting thegreater glory of God, and that he made an extra-ordinary use of them."

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The One Hundred and Five Martyrs of Tyburn