He was inspired to study for the priesthood by a meeting with Saint Edmund Campion. Ordained at Reims, France, he returned to England as a Jesuit priest to minister clandestinely to the faithful. Arrested for the “crime” of being a Catholic priest he was tortured and refused all offers to save his life by renouncing the Faith. He was executed at Tyburn on February 18, 1594 by being hanged, drawn and quartered.
Saint of the Day Quote: Blessed William Harrington
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Good that there is a monument of sorts to these holy souls.
Friends of Tyburn is, no surprise, a Catholic organization. The plaque is located on the front of the Tyburn Convent building in the City of Westminster, London. The Benedictine convent was was founded by French Mother Marie Adele Garnier in March 1903. Inside there is a shrine to the 105 martyrs with some relics and a replica of the Tyburn Tree. Is is not a tree but a three sided gallows which can accommodate many executions. A tyburn means a boundary stream.
https://englishmartyrsyork.org.uk Founded in 1882 the parish takes in the Tyburn on the Knavesmire where over one hundred of the Martyrs of England were cruelly put to death for their witness to the Catholic faith.
Also beautiful pictures of the St. Margaret Clitherow shrine and The Shambles are included in https://skinnedcartree.com/the-shrine-of-saint-margaret-clitherow-in-york-shambles.html#htoc-the-death-penalty
I know a young women who left NZ about 15 years ago, and became a Tyburn nun. Her 2 sisters still live here in Tauranga – the older one is a paramedic with St.John’s Ambulance service. The other is a bit of a globetrotter. She walked last year on the Chartres pilgrimage – and from time to time goes back to London & stays briefly at Tyburn with her sister, then works in care for the elderly facilities. In addition to the youngest sister being a Tyburn nun, the two older sister have dedicated themselves to virginity. The are beautiful young women in every sense of the word.
Thanks for sharing, Don. Admirable young women.
Hi CAM. I have read your mention of St. Margaret Clitherow, who has an indirect relationship to my family. An English ancestor of mine, William Nicholson who was a member of the Nicholson family from whom my family has inherited our Catholic faith. Briefly, he was born in 1816 at Thelwall Hall, Cheshire, which he inherited when he was 21. He studied law & was interested in religion – he was Anglican, as his branch of the family had defected, but he joined the Oxford Movement & became Catholic. He became fascinated in the story of Margaret Clitherow and in 1849 wrote a book – “The Life & Death of Margaret Clitherow the Martyr of York” and was published. There is only one copy extant, held in the British Museum. My mother also had a great devotion to St. Margaret, the Pearl of York, no doubt inspired by her (several greats) uncle William Nicholson.
Isn’t history fascinating. 🙂
It would seem that the wheels of justice have been grinding slowly but effectively the past four centuries for the English (Anglican) church that displaced so many Catholics. Despite the lifeline in the form of the Ordinariate thrown them by Rome, they appear to insist on self destruction. Their institution is no loss but the people find themselves without a home.
Don Beckett, yes indeed history is fascinating. You are lucky that you can trace the Nicholson history of your Catholic family.
Reading the English Martyrs Parish web site I saw that the Bar Convent was within the parish. Established in 1686, it is the oldest surviving Catholic convent in the British Isles. The laws of England at this time prohibited the foundation of Catholic convents and as a result of this, the convent was both established and operated in secret. Under the guise of being widows the nuns were able to operate a girls school.
In the 18th century a new front wall was added which allowed a clandestine two story chapel to be built inside the building. When completed in 1769 the chapel had a priest hole and 8 different escape routes into the chapel in case the building was stormed.
The First Catholic Repeal Act in 1778 made life easier for the Convent as it allowed them to practise legally and legalised Catholic schools. This led to a new climate of religious freedom within Britain that allowed the nuns to wear the religious habit for the first time since the creation of the Convent. The passing of the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791 in turn led to the Bar Convent being granted a licence to act as a public place of worship for the first time in its history.[4]
This information is from The Bar Convent, Wikipedia.
Donald Link, are you writing of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter which is for former Anglicans Communities who are now Catholic?