Father John Adams had been an ordained Church of England minister but after becoming a Catholic went to the English College at Rheims on December 7, 1579 and was ordained a Catholic priest the next December. He returned to England in March of 1581. There is some indication that he may have been captured and imprisoned soon after his arrival but that he also escaped to serve in Winchester and in Hampshire. He certainly was captured in March 1584 and banished, along with 72 other Catholic priests. Father Adams returned to the English mission in the winter of 1585 and was captured again and this time sentenced to death under the Elizabethan statute that made his presence as a Catholic priest in England an act of treason.
Father Robert Dibsdale was born in Stratford-on-Avon in a Catholic family.
He attended the English College at Rheims in 1579 and returned to England on June 22, 1580 before his ordination and was arrested at Dover immediately after landing. Dibsdale was then released on September 10, 1582 and then the record of his activities is obscure until he entered the English College at Rheims again on March 1583. He was ordained a priest in the cathedral at Rheims on March 31, 1584. Father Dibsdale set out for England on August 2 that year. He was arrested near Tothill Street in London on July 24, 1586 and was imprisoned first at the Counter then at Newgate and was found guilty of treason.
Father John Lowe was born in London in 1553, the son of Simon and Margaret Lowe. Indications that he studied in Douai at some port and then entered the Venerable English College in Rome on November 19, 1591--and was ordained a priest at some, although we don't know where or when. He returned to England in 1583. He was captured in London on May 11, 1586 because he was overheard speaking to his mother about his aspirations to martyrdom, which he fulfilled on this date.
Notice that all three had been in England before the passage of the 1585 statute making their presence as priests in their native land an act of treason. Two of the martyrs returned after the statute passed having been exiled before.
Their names are included in this Litany of the Martyrs of London (for private devotion):
Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy. Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy.
Christ hear us. Christ graciously hear us.
God the Father of heaven, Have mercy on us.
God the Son, redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity One God, Have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, Pray for us.
Holy Mother of God, Pray for us.
Our Lady of Ransom, Pray for us.
Our Lady of Walsingham, Pray for us.
Saint Peter, Pray for us.
Saint Paul, Pray for us.
Saint George, Pray for us.
Saint David, Pray for us.
Saint Germanus, Pray for us.
Saint Gregory the Great, Pray for us.
All ye holy Patrons and Protectors of England and Wales,
Pray for us.
Saint John Fisher, Pray for us.
Saint Oliver Plunket, Pray for us.
Saint Ralph Sherwin, Pray for us.
Saint Alexander Briant, Pray for us.
Saint Luke Kirby, Pray for us.
Saint Edmund Gennings, Pray for us.
Saint Eustace White, Pray for us.
Saint Polydore Plasden, Pray for us.
Saint John Almond, Pray for us.
Saint John Southworth, Pray for us.
All ye holy Martyrs of the Secular Clergy, Pray for us.
Saint John Roberts, Pray for us.
Saint Alban Roe, Pray for us.
Saint John Houghton, Pray for us.
Saint Augustine Weber, Pray for us.
Saint Robert Lawrence, Pray for us.
Saint Richard Reynolds, Pray for us.
Saint John Jones, Pray for us.
Saint Edmund Campion, Pray for us.
Saint Robert Southwell, Pray for us.
Saint Henry Walpole, Pray for us.
Saint Thomas Garnet, Pray for us.
Saint Henry Morse, Pray for us.
Saint Nicholas Owen, Pray for us.
All ye holy Martyrs of the Religious Orders, Pray for us.
Saint Thomas More, Pray for us.
Saint Philip Howard, Pray for us.
Saint Swithin Wells, Pray for us.
Saint Margaret Ward, Pray for us.
Saint Anne Line, Pray for us.
All ye holy Martyrs of the Laity, Pray for us.
Blessed John Haile, Pray for us.
Blessed Thomas Abel, Pray for us.
Blessed Edward Powell, Pray for us.
Blessed Richard Fetherston, Pray for us.
Blessed John Larke, Pray for us.
Blessed Thomas Woodhouse, Pray for us.
Blessed Everard Hanse, Pray for us.
Blessed George Haydock, Pray for us.
Blessed Nicholas Woodfen, Pray for us.
Blessed Richard Sergeant, Pray for us.
Blessed William Thompson, Pray for us.
Blessed John Lowe, Pray for us.
Blessed John Adams, Pray for us.
Blessed Robert Dibdale, Pray for us.Blessed Mountford Scott, Pray for us.
Blessed George Beesley, Pray for us.
Blessed Thomas Pormort, Pray for us.
Blessed Robert Drury, Pray for us.
Blessed Thomas Maxfield, Pray for us.
Blessed William Ward, Pray for us.
All ye blessed Martyrs of the Secular Clergy, Pray for us.
Blessed Philip Powell, Pray for us.
Blessed Humphrey Middlemore, Pray for us.
Blessed John Forest, Pray for us.
Blessed Roger Filcock, Pray for us.
Blessed Ralph Corby, Pray for us.
Blessed Thomas Bullaker, Pray for us.
Blessed Henry Heath, Pray for us.
Blessed Arthur Bell, Pray for us.
All ye blessed Martyrs of the Religious Orders, Pray for us.
Blessed Adrian Fortescue, Pray for us.
Blessed John Felton, Pray for us.
Blessed John Storey, Pray for us.
Blessed William Carter, Pray for us.
Blessed Henry Webley, Pray for us.
Blessed Richard Flower, Pray for us.
Blessed John Roche, Pray for us.
Blessed Nicholas Horner, Pray for us.
Blessed Alexander Blake, Pray for us.
Blessed Brian Lacey, Pray for us.
Blessed James Duckett, Pray for us.
Blessed William Howard, Pray for us.
Blessed Margaret Pole, Pray for us.
All ye blessed Martyrs of the Laity, Pray for us.
All ye blessed Martyrs of Tyburn, Pray for us.
All ye blessed Saints and Martyrs of London, Pray for us.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
Spare us O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
Graciously hear us O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, convert England, Jesus, have mercy on this country.
Let us pray :
O God, who from the very birth of Thy Church in this land didst make us the Dowry of Mary and loyal subjects of the Prince of Thine Apostles ; grant by the merits and intercession of these our Saints and Martyrs that we may continue steadfast in the Catholic Faith, nor ever fail to cherish that most blessed Virgin as our Mother, and maintain our allegiance to the See of Peter.
O God, who didst raise up blessed Martyrs from every rank among us, to fight manfully for the true faith and the primacy of the Holy See ; grant us through their merits and prayers that our whole people may agree in the profession of the same faith, and ever enjoy that unity for which Thy Son prayed. Amen.
The Prayer for England :
O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and our most gentle Queen and Mother, look down in mercy upon England, thy Dowry, and upon us all who greatly hope and trust in thee. By thee it was that Jesus, our Saviour and our hope, was given unto the world ; and he has given thee to us that we might hope still more. Plead for us thy children, whom thou didst receive and accept at the foot of the cross, O sorrowful Mother! Intercede for our seperated brethren, that with us in the one true fold they may be united to the chief shepherd, the Vicar of thy Son. Pray for us all, dear Mother, that by faith fruitful in good works we may all deserve to see and praise God together with thee, in our heavenly home. Amen.
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