Blessed Hugh Green and the Arundells of Lanherne

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Blessed Hugh Green endured incredible agonies during his hanging, drawing, and quartering on August 19, 1642 at the hands of an inept executioner:

His parents, who were Protestants, sent him to Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he took his degree in 1605, but was afterwards converted and entered Douai College in 1610. He left again in 1612 to try his vocation among the Capuchins. From want of health or some other cause, he was unable to continue, and became a chaplain at Chideock Castle, Dorsetshire, the home of Lady Arundell of Lanherne. On 8 March, 1641, Charles I, to placate the Puritan Parliament, issued a proclamation banishing all priests from England, and Green resolved to obey this order. Unfortunately the news had been late in reaching him, and when he embarked the month of grace given for departure was just over. He was therefore arrested, tried, and condemned to death in August. In prison his constancy so affected his fellow-captives that two or three women sentenced to die with him sent him word that they would ask his absolution before death. They did so after confessing their sins to the people, and were absolved by the martyr. A providential reward for his zeal immediately followed. A Jesuit Father, despite the danger, rode up in disguise on horseback, and at a given sign absolved the martyr, who made a noble confession of faith before death. As the executioner was quite unskilled, he could not find the martyr's heart, and the butchery with appalling cruelty was prolonged for nearly half an hour. After this the Puritans played football with his head, a barbarity happily not repeated in the history of the English martyrs.

The Lady Arundell of Lanherne at that time would have been Elizabeth, the wife of Sir John Arundell, according to this blog:

Arundell, Sir John (c.1605-42), kt. Eldest son of John Arundell (c.1564-1633) and his wife Ann, daughter of Henry Jerningham alias Jernigan of Costessey Hall (Norfolk), born about 1605. The date of his knighthood has not been traced. He married Elizabeth (d. 1656), daughter of William Brock and had issue:
(1) Sir John Arundell (c.1623-1701), kt. (q.v.).
He inherited the Lanherne estate from his father in 1633.
He was buried in 1642. His widow was buried at St Columb Major, 8 April 1656.

The Arundells of Lanherne were faithful Catholics and had suffered for their faith: another of their chaplains, Father John Cornelius, SJ (born John Conor O'Mahony, the son of Irish parents living in Cornwall) also suffered martyrdom during the reign of Elizabeth I and there were repercussions:

Another Sir John Arundell, who died in 1589 — or, according to the Isleworth Register (Oliver's Collections), in 1591 — at Isleworth, was converted to Catholicism, as Dodd tells us in his 'Church History,' by Father Cornelius (a native of the neighbouring town of Bodmin). In defence of Cornelius Sir John Arundell lost his own liberty, and was confined for nine years in Ely Palace, Holborn (cf. Morris's Troubles of our Catholic Forefathers, 1875; Simpson's Edmund Campion, 1867; and Challoner's Memoirs of Missionary Priests, 1803). 

According to the Landed Families blog cited above, that Sir John Arundell (born around 1530) had a connection with another martyr--the protomartyr of missionary priests, St. Cuthbert Mayne:

Cuthbert Mayne, the first seminary priest to be executed, praised Sir John from the scaffold at Launceston on 30 November 1577, the government could no longer tolerate his refusal to accept the Elizabethan settlement, and thereafter he came under constant pressure. Vulnerable as a recusant to accusations of disloyalty, Sir John suffered repeated imprisonment, fines, and enforced residence in London for the remainder of his life, despite his public declaration both of his loyalty to the queen and of his willingness to defend her and the realm against the pope. He married, about 1560, Lady Anne (d. 1602), daughter of Edward Stanley, 3rd Earl of Derby, and widow of Charles Stourton (c.1520-57), 8th Baron Stourton, and had issue.

Three of his daughters joined convents on the Continent!

Father Hugh Green was beatified in a large troup  by Pope Pius XI in 1929. He is honored among the Chideock Martyrs and with the Douai Martyrs.

Blessed Hugh Green, pray for us!

Image credit: Arms of Lord Arundell of Wardour: Sable six martlets Argent

August Martyrs: Blesseds Christopher Robinson and Hugh Green

Other than their priesthood and their secret mission to England, these two martyrs from two different centuries have in common not just the method of their martyrdom but the horrendous ineptitude of their executioners:

Blessed Christopher Robinson, martyred on August 19, 1598, had witness the brutal execution of St. John Boste, so he knew what he faced. He was from Woodside, England, and studied for the priesthood at the English College at Reims, France. After being ordained in 1592, he returned to England and served Catholics in the regions of Cumberland and Westmoreland. In 1594 he witnessed Father John Boste's execution in Durham, writing a detailed account. Father Robinson was arrested on March 4, 1597 and confined until his execution, being visited often by Anglican ministers urging him to conform. On the day of his execution, the rope to be used to hang him broke twice, and he protested to the executioner that this delay was cruel, testing his resolve and spirit. Since the ropes broke, he would have fallen to the ground and that increased his suffering. The executioner then used two ropes the third time and then proceeded with the hanging, quartering, and beheading.

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, those cruelties pale in comparison with what Blessed Hugh Green endured on August 19, 1642 at the hands of an inept executioner:

His parents, who were Protestants, sent him to Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he took his degree in 1605, but was afterwards converted and entered Douai College in 1610. He left again in 1612 to try his vocation among the Capuchins. From want of health or some other cause, he was unable to continue, and became a chaplain at Chideock Castle, Dorsetshire, the home of Lady Arundell of Lanherne. On 8 March, 1641, Charles I, to placate the Puritan Parliament, issued a proclamation banishing all priests from England, and Green resolved to obey this order. Unfortunately the news had been late in reaching him, and when he embarked the month of grace given for departure was just over. He was therefore arrested, tried, and condemned to death in August. In prison his constancy so affected his fellow-captives that two or three women sentenced to die with him sent him word that they would ask his absolution before death. They did so after confessing their sins to the people, and were absolved by the martyr. A providential reward for his zeal immediately followed. A Jesuit Father, despite the danger, rode up in disguise on horseback, and at a given sign absolved the martyr, who made a noble confession of faith before death. As the executioner was quite unskilled, he could not find the martyr's heart, and the butchery with appalling cruelty was prolonged for nearly half an hour. After this the Puritans played football with his head, a barbarity happily not repeated in the history of the English martyrs.

Christopher Robinson was beatified by Pope John Paul II amidst the 85 Martyrs of England and Wales; Hugh Green by Pope Pius XI in 1929. Blessed Hugh Green is honored among the Chideock Martyrs and with the Douai Martyrs; Blessed Christopher Robinson is also numbered among the Douai Martyrs.

Blessed Christopher Robinson, pray for us!

Blessed Hugh Green, pray for us!

Two Martyrs on the Son Rise Morning Show

I'll be on the Son Rise Morning Show at 7:45 a.m. Eastern today to talk about two English martyrs who suffered tremendously when being hung, drawn, and quartered for their priesthood on August 19 in two different years: Blessed Christoper Robinson in 1598 (during the reign of Elizabeth I) and Blessed Hugh Green in 1642 (during the English Civil War).

Blessed Christopher Robinson had witnessed the brutal execution of St John Boste in July, 1594:

[St. John Boste] suffered at Dryburn, outside Durham. He recited the Angelus while mounting the ladder, and was executed with extraordinary brutality; for he was scarcely turned off the ladder when he was cut down, so that he stood on his feet, and in that posture was cruelly butchered alive. An account of his trial and execution was written by an eye-witness, [Blessed] Christopher Robinson, who suffered martyrdom shortly afterwards at Carlisle.

So when the rope broke twice at his execution, he complained of the physical AND mental cruelty of the process, according to Father Henry Garnet, SJ:

'One Robinson, a seminary priest, was lately in a purchased gaol-delivery hanged at Carlisle. The rope broke twice and the third time he rebuked the sheriff for cruelty saying that, although he meant no way to yield but was glad of the combat, yet flesh and blood were weak, and therefore he showed little humanity to torment a man for so long. And when they took order to put two ropes, then, said he, by this means I shall be longer a-dying, but it is no matter, I am willing to suffer all.’

The terms "hung, drawn, and quartered" roll rather trippingly off the tongue, but such a statement reminds us of the endurance these martyrs displayed and the love and passion for Jesus and His Church they had to endure such agony and torture.

Blessed Hugh Green suffered even greater indignity and cruelty, for he had no proper exeuctioner, not even one familiar with human anatomy: the barber forced into service for the purpose spent almost thirty minutes trying to locate his heart, removing his liver instead. A soldier finally beheaded the poor priest, and the Puritans in Dorchester used his head as a football after his death. Brutal.

Not for the Faint of Heart: Blessed Hugh Green

Hugh Green was born in 1584 of Protestant parents; he took his degree at Cambridge in 1605, but then converted to Catholicism and went to Douai to study for the priesthood in 1610. He tried his vocation as a Capuchin, but left that order and was ordained in 1612.

In England he served the Catholics of Dorchester and was given refuge by Lady Blanche Arundell of Lanherne. The Mad Monarchist offers this profile of Lady Blanche, who certainly did not blanch at danger!:

Lady Blanche Arundell was a monarchist I wish I knew more about, but from what I do know she was my kind of girl. The Lady Blanche was born in 1583, the sixth daughter of Lord Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester and Lady Elizabeth Hastings a well respected, Catholic and staunchly royalist family. On May 11, 1607 she married Lord Thomas Baron Arundell of Wardour who, went King Charles I of Britain raised the royal standard at Nottingham was quick to cast his lot with his monarch. While her husband was away at the front Lady Blanche Arundell showed her own heroism when Wardour Castle, Wiltshire, came under attack by the forces of Parliament. With only herself, her children, a handful of maid-servants and 25 men she resolved to defend the castle, her home and family against 1,300 Roundhead troops, including artillery, led by Colonel Edward Ludlow and Sir Edward Hungerford. For eight grueling days Lady Blanche defended the castle against the hopeless odds until she was finally forced to capitulate. However, thanks to her staunch defense she was able to negotiate honorable terms for her surrender which were signed on May 8, 1643. Lady Blanche was able to leave the castle with her head held high but she had no money and no place to go. Fortunately Lord Hertford provided her with accommodations at Salisbury. Her husband later returned at the head of royalist column and took back the castle his wife had so heroically defended but sadly he was later wounded in battle and died at Oxford the same year. When Lady Blanche Arundell died at Winchester on October 28, 1649 she was buried alongside her husband at Tisbury. Her brave defense of her hearth and home, her children and family honor, all in the cause of her King warrants Lady Blanche being listed among the pantheon of great English royalists of the Civil War.

Just before the beginning of the Civil War, Charles I passed another law making the presence of Catholic priests in England a crime punishable by death (forced by Parliament). Although Hugh Green intended to leave England under this ban, he was too late.

He was captured near Lyme Regis, imprisoned and then executed on August 19, 1642. In prison his constancy so affected his fellow-captives that two or three women sentenced to die with him sent him word that they would ask his absolution before death. They did so after confessing their sins to the people, and were absolved by the martyr. A providential reward for his zeal immediately followed. A Jesuit Father, despite the danger, rode up in disguise on horseback, and at a given sign absolved the martyr, who made a noble confession of faith before death.

The story of his execution is more appalling than usual: there was no experienced executioner available, so a barber-cum-executioner spent almost half an hour trying to locate his heart after he had been hung. Finally a soldier mercifully ended this torture. When his head was cut off, the Puritans used it as a football! As Archbishop Challoner notes, this was not an event repeated in the annals of the English martyrs. Blessed Hugh Green is honored at the Church of Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs and St. Ignatius, Chideock, as one of the Dorset martyrs. Here is a link to some pictures of the church.

Please note that this is Jane Austen country, and any reader of Persuasion would remember Anne Elliott's fateful visit to Lyme Regis!

In a very strange coincidence, there was an American style football player named Hugh Green, who was born in 1959. He played for both the Miami Dolphins and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Sunday Shrine Series: Church of Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs, and St. Ignatius

This church is the shrine of the Dorset martyrs, whom I have mentioned before.

As the website states, the Dorset martyrs are among the "clouds of witnesses" of the English Martyrs:

Of these, eight are associated with Chideock. Seven were put to death and are known as the Chideock Martyrs. The eighth, John Jessop, was put in prison for his Faith and died there. Their portraits are displayed above the nave in the Church.

Fr.Thomas Pilchard was a Jesuit and despite being banished, in 1586 he returned to England and became Chaplain at Chideock Castle where he was concealed. While he was here, he made many converts including William Pike, a carpenter in Chideock. Both were put to death in Dorchester and were beatified, together with Jessop, in 1987.

Blessed John Cornelius was a friend and Chaplain to the Arundells at Chideock Castle. Around Easter 1594, a servant betrayed his presence and he was arrested along with

Thomas Bosgrave, a nephew of Lady Arundell, and two servants, John Carey and Patrick Salmon, all of whom had tried to save Fr. Cornelius. All four were executed at Dorchester on 4th July 1594 and beatified in 1929.

Blessed Hugh Green also became Chaplain to the Arundell family and was martyred in 1642 after being arrested at Lyme Regis as he tried to escape to France. He was beatified in 1929.

More about the history of the shrine and pilgrimages here.

Hugh Green, English Martyr

Hugh Green was born in 1584 of Protestant parents; he took his degree at Cambridge in 1605, but then converted to Catholicism and went to Douai to study for the priesthood in 1610. He tried his vocation as a Capuchin, but left that order and was ordained in 1612.

In England he served the Catholics of Dorchester and was given refuge by Lady Blanche Arundell of Lanherne. Just before the beginning of the Civil War, Charles I passed another law making the presence of Catholic priests in England a crime punishable by death. Although Hugh Green intended to leave England under this ban, he was too late.

He was captured near Lyme Regis, imprisoned and then executed on August 19, 1642. The story of his execution is more appalling than usual: there was no experienced executioner available, so a barber-cum-executioner spent almost half an hour trying to locate his heart after he had been hung. Finally a soldier mercifully ended this torture. When his head was cut off, the Puritans used it as a football! As Archbishop Challoner notes, this was not an event repeated in the annals of the English martyrs. Blessed Hugh Green is honored at the Church of Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs, and St. Ignatius, Chideock, Dorset. Please note that this is Jane Austen country, as any reader of Persuasion would remember Anne Elliott's fateful visit to Lyme Regis!

In a very strange coincidence, there was an American style football player named Hugh Green, who was born in 1959. He played for both the Miami Dolphins and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.