Preview: Three Martyred Saints in 1595

It's really kind of crazy of me to prepare to talk about three great martyrs in the time Matt Swaim and I will have on the Son Rise Morning Show this coming Monday, August 24. But it's also difficult to tell their stories and the connections among them in three separate segments. Saint Robert Southwell, SJ; Saint Henry Walpole, SJ; Saint Philip Howard--they all suffered martyrdom in 1595:

Saint Robert Southwell was hanged, drawn and quartered on February 15, 1595.

Saint Henry Walpole was hanged, drawn and quartered on April 7, 1595.

Saint Philip Howard died in the Tower of London ("martyr in chains") on October 19, 1595.

Southwell and Howard were connected because Southwell served Howard's wife, Anne (Dacre), as confessor and chaplain even after Howard was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London. They shared incarceration in the Tower for a time, with Saint Philip Howard's dog as a go-between, carrying messages.

Walpole and Southwell were connected because the Jesuits hoped that Walpole could take Southwell's place in the Mission to England after Southwell was arrested, imprisoned and tortured. Both Walpole and Southwell endured torture at Richard Topcliffe's hands.Walpole was imprisoned in the Tower of London while Southwell and Howard were imprisoned there too in 1594 and 1595, but I've never read of any contact with him, even through a dog, by either Southwell or Howard.

Howard and Walpole also share the inspiration for their conversions and Walpole's vocation: Saint Edmund Campion.

Sir Philip Howard converted to Catholicism in 1584, influenced by the example of St. Edmund Campion in 1581; he was received by another Jesuit priest, Father William Weston. Howard was arrested while trying to leave England in 1585 and held in the Tower of London until his death, tried in 1588 for treason because of supposed prayers for the success of the Spanish Armada, and found guilty. No date for execution was ever set. He prayed and fasted and kept himself prepared for death. As a nobleman, he was never tortured, although separation from his wife and children (his son Thomas had been born after he was imprisoned) must have caused him great sorrow. Upon his conversion in 1584 he had become a devoted husband; he had neglected Anne while at Elizabeth I's Court before that. He carved a motto in one of the walls of his cell: Quanto plus afflictionis pro Christo in saeculo, tanto plus gloriae cum Christo in futuro.” (“The more affliction we endure for Christ in this world, the more glory we shall obtain with Christ in the next.”)

Father Robert Southwell, after study and ordination on the Continent, returned to England in 1586; in 1589 he became Lady Anne Howard's chaplain. He wrote An Epistle of Comfort for Philip Howard, urging him to remain true to the Catholic faith. Arrested in 1592, Southwell was tortured by Richard Topcliffe in his home near the Gatehouse Prison for 40 hours and then moved to the Gatehouse for more torture and finally to the Tower of London at his father's insistence that he either be tried and executed or treated like a gentleman in prison, not "hurt, starving, covered with maggots and lice, to lie in his own filth." (His father Robert Southwell was the illegitimate son of Sir Richard Southwell, one of the men who accompanied Sir Richard Rich to Saint Thomas More's cell in the Tower of London to take away More's books and papers and pens!) Thus for three years out of ten of Howard's years in the Tower, Southwell was held in solitary confinement; his father was allowed to provide for his needs, and he had a Bible, a Breviary, and the works of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux--but Richard Topcliffe was still supervising his incarceration.

Father Henry Walpole was converted and inspired by Saint Edmund Campion's martyrdom on December 1, 1581, as some of the blood of the martyr splashed on his sleeve. He had been studying a Gray's Inn for a legal career, but left England to study for the priesthood and join the Society of Jesus. When he arrived in England in December of 1593, he was almost immediately arrested. By the end of February, 1594 he was moved from York to the Tower of London, where he endured torture at the hands of Richard Topcliffe. I don't know if Southwell and Howard knew of Walpole's imprisonment and torture as he was both tracked and hanged by the wrists for hours by Topcliffe. Topcliffe carefully spread out this torture over 14 months, even though Walpole had already confessed that he was Jesuit and had come to England to serve Catholics. He carved his name in the wall of his cell along with a litany of saints' names: Peter, Paul, Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine, and Gregory the Great.

These three men, being well educated gentlemen, were also poets, although Robert Southwell would have to be considered the best poet among them. Henry Walpole was inspired not only to study for the priesthood by Campion's martyrdom, but wrote a poem about him, "Why do I use my paper, ink, and pen" which William Byrd set to music. A poem about the destruction of the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham is attributed to Philip Howard. You might want to listen to this long but informative podcast from CatholicCulture.com featuring more English martyr poets.

I'll provide some details about their martyrdoms in 1595 on Monday, August 24.

Saint Robert Southwell, pray for us!
Saint Henry Walpole, pray for us!
Saint Philip Howard, pray for us!