Blessed James Bird or Byrd or Beard was hung, drawn, and quartered for the crime of converting to Catholicism and denying the ecclesial supremacy of Elizabeth I on March 25 in 1593--when he was about 19 years old. He was born and he died in Winchester.
He had traveled to Reims in France after his conversion in his 19th year to attend the seminary but had decided that he didn't have a vocation to the priesthood after all. Returning to England, the authorities suspected what he'd been up to and presented him with the Oath of Supremacy (which by statute requiring certain officials to take the oath, he would normally not have been ask to do). When he refused to take the Oath or even attend an Anglican service--even after his father begged him to--he was condemed to death.
This blog tells a rather charming--or horrible--story of his father seeing his head still on the pole upon the gates of Winchester:
BORN at Winchester of a gentleman's family and brought up a Protestant, he became a Catholic and went to study at Rheims. On his return he was apprehended and charged with being reconciled to the Roman Church, and maintaining the Pope under Christ to be the Head of the Church. Brought to the bar he acknowledged the indictment and received sentence of death as for high treason, though both life and liberty were offered him if he would but once go to the Protestant Church. When his father solicited him to save his life by complying, he modestly answered that, as he had always been obedient to him, so he would obey him now could he do so without offending God-After a long imprisonment he was hanged and quartered at Winchester, March 25, 1593. He suffered with wonderful constancy and cheerfulness, being but nineteen years old. His head was set upon a pole upon one of the gates of the city. His father one day passing by thought that the head bowing down made him a reverence, and cried out: "Oh, Jemmy my son, ever obedient in life, even when dead thou payest reverence to thy father. How far from thy heart was all treason or other wickedness."
He was beatified in 1929 by Pope Pius XI.
Showing posts with label Winchester. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Winchester. Show all posts
Monday, March 25, 2013
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Three Among Fifteen in 1591
Blessed Roger Dickinson, priest and martyr
Blessed Ralph Milner, martyr
Blessed Laurence Humphrey, martyr
Martyrs executed at Winchester on this day in 1591 under Elizabeth I; Ralph, a farmer and father of a family was rich in faith, was arrested and executed together with Father Dickinson; Laurence is commemorated on this day because the exact date of his death is uncertain. He was executed for a most unusual reason: he spoke against the Queen while delirious. I presume the authorities thought he revealed his true thoughts while feverish:
After the Spanish Armada scare in 1588, the Elizabethan regime stepped up its persecution of Catholics. Three saints were executed on July 7, 1591 in Winchester--Blessed Roger Dicconsen or Dickinson for being a Catholic priest present in England, Blessed Ralph Milner for being a Catholic layman who assisted a Catholic priest (Father Dickinson), and Blessed Lawrence Humphrey, like Milner a convert and layman. Father Dicconsen had studied for the priesthood at Rheims and come to England as a missionary priest in 1583, serving in Hampshire. He was arrested and sentenced to exile, but returned almost immediately, going to Worcestershire. The judge offered Ralph Milner a reprieve and pardon if he would just go into an Anglican church--Milner had a wife and eight children. But Milner refused and offered his family a final paternal blessing. He was arrested on the day he had received his first Holy Communion, but had been held in the Winchester gaol very loosely, able to come and go and even help the priest who had converted him, Father Stanney. Lawrence Humphrey, while delirious with a fever, was overheard cursing Elizabeth and proclaiming her a heretic. When he recovered he was charged with treason, even though he could not remember saying what witnesses reported. All three were hung, drawn, and quartered as traitors, the priest for being a priest, the laymen for being converts and/or delirious! They were among the fifteen were martyred in 1591, which included eight laymen and seven priests--still in reaction to the Spanish Armada!
Blessed Ralph Milner, martyr
Blessed Laurence Humphrey, martyr
Martyrs executed at Winchester on this day in 1591 under Elizabeth I; Ralph, a farmer and father of a family was rich in faith, was arrested and executed together with Father Dickinson; Laurence is commemorated on this day because the exact date of his death is uncertain. He was executed for a most unusual reason: he spoke against the Queen while delirious. I presume the authorities thought he revealed his true thoughts while feverish:
After the Spanish Armada scare in 1588, the Elizabethan regime stepped up its persecution of Catholics. Three saints were executed on July 7, 1591 in Winchester--Blessed Roger Dicconsen or Dickinson for being a Catholic priest present in England, Blessed Ralph Milner for being a Catholic layman who assisted a Catholic priest (Father Dickinson), and Blessed Lawrence Humphrey, like Milner a convert and layman. Father Dicconsen had studied for the priesthood at Rheims and come to England as a missionary priest in 1583, serving in Hampshire. He was arrested and sentenced to exile, but returned almost immediately, going to Worcestershire. The judge offered Ralph Milner a reprieve and pardon if he would just go into an Anglican church--Milner had a wife and eight children. But Milner refused and offered his family a final paternal blessing. He was arrested on the day he had received his first Holy Communion, but had been held in the Winchester gaol very loosely, able to come and go and even help the priest who had converted him, Father Stanney. Lawrence Humphrey, while delirious with a fever, was overheard cursing Elizabeth and proclaiming her a heretic. When he recovered he was charged with treason, even though he could not remember saying what witnesses reported. All three were hung, drawn, and quartered as traitors, the priest for being a priest, the laymen for being converts and/or delirious! They were among the fifteen were martyred in 1591, which included eight laymen and seven priests--still in reaction to the Spanish Armada!
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