September Martyrs: A Franciscan Friar and Two Laymen

Franciscan Thomas Palaser or Palasor and two laymen, John Norton and John Talbot who had assisted him were executed on September 8, 1600, near the end of Elizabeth I's reign/life. According to the Royal English College of Valladolid, Spain:

BLESSED Thomas PALASER OSF was probably born in Ellerton-upon-Sway, near Richmond in the County of Yorkshire. He was seminarian at Rheims (France) and in VALLADOLID, where he was ordained a priest the year 1596. He was arrested shortly after returning to England, but escaped. He exercised his Mission in the north of the Country. Condemned for being a priest, he was stripped, hung, drawn and quartered in Durham, on the 8th of September 1600 (the same day as the Image of the Virgin "The Vulnerata" was solemnly received into the Chapel, before the wife of the King Philip III, Margarita Lady of Austria). More about "The Vulnerata" here.

He was beatified by Pope Saint John Paul II, on the 22nd of November 1987.

His two lay companions, Blessed John Norton and Blessed John Talbot, were also beatified that day, just as they shared the day of execution. Father Palaser was arrested in the home of John Norton, whose wife Margaret was also arrested. Norton, Mrs. Norton and Talbot were all found guilty of the felony of assisting a traitor, a Catholic priest. Mrs. Norton was not executed because she was pregnant at the time.

The College Prayer to Our Lady:
May our Lady Vulnerata and all our Martyr Saints intercede for us with the Lord, that our students and benefactors, past and present, may be helped and saved by him. Amen.

St. Ambrose Barlow, OSB

From the English College of Valladolid in Spain:

ST. Ambrose BARLOW OSB was born in Barlow Hall near Manchester, in the year 1595. Son of Sir Alexander Barlow and Mary Brereton, he was baptised in November of the same year in Didsbury.

He received his first academic training in the College of St. Gregory at Douai, and on the 20th of September 1610 was admitted as a pupil of the Royal College of St. Alban in VALLADOLID. On completing the second year of philosophical studies, he returned to Douai, where in 1616, in the College of St. Gregory, he made his religious profession. The following year he was ordained a priest.

On going to England, he exercised his missionary ministry mainly in the south of the county of Lancashire. His way of living was said be very simple and apostolic, and his enthusiasm for his sacred trade such that he was nonchalant about the dangers of the religious persecution.

Several times he was stopped and incarcerated. On Easter Sunday, the 25th of April 1631, at the moment of ending a mass the Protestant vicar of EccIes and his followers, armed with sticks and shields, arrested him. He was dragged before a judge, and incarcerated.

On the 7th of September, after four months of detention, he was processed in Lancaster, before Sir Robert Heath who had received orders from the government to inflict on him the maximum punishment, as a deterrent to the Catholics who were very numerous in that county.

Upon the reading of the indictment, Father Ambrose, without more ado, admitted to being a priest and having exercised his apostolate in England for more than twenty years. The following day he was formally sentenced, and on Friday 10th of September 1641 he was stripped hung and quartered.

Pope Paul VI, on the 25th of October 1970, solemnly canonised him.

 

Some of the background on his family is particularly interesting:

 

Ambrose was born at Barlow Hall, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, near Manchester in 1585. He was the fourth son of the nobleman Sir Alexander Barlow and his wife Mary, daughter of Sir Uryan Brereton. The Barlow family had been reluctant converts to the Church of England following the suppression of the Church of Rome in England and Wales. Ambrose's grandfather died in 1584 whilst imprisoned for his beliefs and Sir Alexander Barlow had two thirds of his estate confiscated as a result of his refusing to conform with the rules of the new established religion. On 30 November 1585, Ambrose was baptised at Didsbury chapel and went on to adhere to the Anglican faith until 1607, when he converted to Roman Catholicism.
In 1597, Ambrose was taken into the stewardship of Sir Uryan Legh, a relative who would care for him whilst he served out his apprenticeship as a page. However, upon completing this service, Barlow realised that his true vocation was for the priesthood, so he travelled to Douai in France to study at the English College there before attending the Royal College of Saint Alban in Valladolid, Spain.

A Priest and Two Laymen in 1600

Franciscan Thomas Palaser and two laymen, John Norton and John Talbot who had assisted him were executed on September 8, 1600, near the end of Elizabeth I's reign/life. According to the Royal English College of Valladolid, Spain:

BLESSED Thomas PALASER OSF was probably born in Ellerton-upon-Sway, near Richmond in the County of Yorkshire. He was seminarian at Rheims (France) and in VALLADOLID, where he was ordained a priest the year 1596. He was arrested shortly after returning to England, but escaped. He exercised his Mission in the north of the Country. Condemned for being a priest, he was stripped, hung, drawn and quartered in Durham, on the 8th of September 1600 (the same day as the Image of the Virgin "The Vulnerata" was solemnly received into the Chapel, before the wife of the King Philip III, Margarita Lady of Austria). More about "The Vulnerata" here.

He was beatified by the Pope John Paul II, on the 22nd of November 1987.

His two lay companions, Blessed John Norton and Blessed John Talbot, were also beatified that day, just as they shared the day of execution. Father Palaser was arrested in the home of John Norton, whose wife Margaret was also arrested. Norton, Mrs. Norton and Talbot were all found guilty of the felony of assisting a traitor, a Catholic priest. Mrs. Norton was not executed because she was pregnant at the time.

The College Prayer to Our Lady:
May our Lady Vulnerata and all our Martyr Saints intercede for us with the Lord, that our students and benefactors, past and present, may be helped and saved by him. Amen.