The Martyrs of Gorkum

Several years ago, when Matthew Bunson was the editor of OSV's The Catholic Answer Magazine, he published my article on the Martyrs of Gorkum (July/August 2016). OSV has ceased print publication of that magazine, but that article--and some others I written around that time--is on-line in a publication called Simply Catholic. I had to write a rather long historical exposition to explain the circumstances of these martyrdoms, describing the conflict between Catholics and Protestants in the Netherlands during the Eighty Years War, including the role of "The Sea Beggars", pirates that Elizabeth I supported by allowing them to dock at English ports:

In Gorkum, the Calvinist Sea Beggars caught and imprisoned eleven Franciscan friars and lay brothers, four parish priests, two Norbertine canons, an Augustinian canon regular and a Dominican friar . . .:

• Godfried of Mervel, Vicar of Melveren, Sint-Truiden, Franciscan priest, vicar of the friary in Gorkum
• Theodore of der Eem, Franciscan friar and priest, chaplain to a community of Franciscan Tertiary Sisters in Gorkum
• Nicholas Pieck, Franciscan friar, priest and theologian, guardian of the friary in Gorkum
• Nicasius of Heeze, Franciscan friar, theologian and priest
• Jerome of Weert, Franciscan friar, priest, pastor in Gorkum
• Anthony of Hoornaar, Franciscan friar and priest
• Willehad of Denmark, Franciscan friar and priest
• Francis of Roye, Franciscan friar and priest
• Anthony of Weert, Franciscan friar and priest
• Peter of Assche, Franciscan lay brother
• Cornelius of Wijk bij Duurstede, Franciscan lay brother
• Leonard van Veghel, secular priest and pastor of Gorkum
• Andrew Wouters, secular priest, pastor of Heinenoord in the Hoeksche Waard
• Godfried van Duynen, secular priest, former pastor in northern France
• Nicholas Poppel, secular priest, chaplain in Gorkum
• Adrian van Hilvarenbeek, Norbertine canon and pastor in Monster, South Holland
• James Lacobs, Norbertine canon
• Jan of Oisterwijk, canon regular, a chaplain for the Beguinage in Gorkum

John of Cologne, a Dominican pastor, came to Gorkum after hearing of the others’ arrest to offer spiritual consolation and thus was arrested.

These 19 were held in prison from June 26 until July 6 and then taken in two separate groups to Brielle to appear before the leader of the Sea Beggars, William de la Marck.

They were given the chance to renounce their allegiance to the pope and to deny the Real Presence in the Eucharist. They refused.

Throughout their imprisonment and interrogations, the 19 were brutalized, offered for public display and held in spite of orders from the leader of the Dutch rebellion, William the Silent (the Prince of Orange).

On July 9, 1572, these witnesses to Christ were hanged. Their bodies were mutilated during their executions and after, before they were dumped in a ditch.

Catholics in the Netherlands immediately started visiting the site of their execution and venerating them as martyrs and intercessors. Their relics were taken to a Franciscan friary in Brussels.

Pope Benedict XIV beatified the Franciscans and their companions in 1675.

Brad S. Gregory recounts in “Salvation at Stake: Christian Martyrdom in Early Modern Europe” (Harvard University Press, 1999) that on Dec. 9, 1688, the archbishop of Mechelen honored the Gorkum martyrs with a Mass and procession in Brussels that began at the friary and continued to the Cathedral of St. Gudule (now dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel) and back to the friary.

Gregory notes that “virtually every [person in Brussels] must have known about the Gorkum martyrs and the local repose of their relics” (pp. 300-301) after this great event.

When the friary was suppressed in 1796 during the French Revolution’s campaign of de-Christianization (Brussels was in French territory then), the relics were moved to the Church of St. Nicholas just off the Grand Place.

Pope Pius IX canonized the Gorkum martyrs in 1865 and, in 1870, a gilded bronze reliquary was created for the relics, decorated with their images on the sides of the rectangular case and events from their arrest and martyrdom on the lid. . . .

Please read the rest there. More about the painting of their martyrdom here.

Franciscan Martyrs of Gorkum, South Holland

On Saturday, July 12, the Franciscans of England will celebrate several martyrs during the Recusant era and the Popish Plot crisis. Today, Franciscans (and Dominicans) in the Netherlands and Belgium remember the Gorkum martyrs, brutally tortured and executed by Calvinist pirates against the wishes of Prince William of Orange. From Catholic Exchange:

On July 9, 1572, nineteen priests and religious were put to death by hanging at Briel, the Netherlands. They had been captured in Gorkum on June 26 by a band of Calvinist pirates called the Watergeuzen (sea-beggars) who were opposed to the Catholicism of the Spanish princes of the country.

During their imprisonment, the priests were tortured, subjected to countless indignities, and offered their freedom if they would deny the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and the primacy of the pope. Despite a letter from Prince William of Orange ordering their release and protests from the magistrates of Gorkum, the men were thrown half-naked into the hold of a ship on July 6, and taken to Briel to be killed in the presence of a Protestant nobleman, Admiral Lumey, who was noted for his hatred of Catholicism. Their bodies, mutilated both before and after death, were callously thrown into a ditch.

The scene of the martyrdom soon became a place of pilgrimage. Accounts of several miracles, performed through the martyrs’ intercession and relics, were used for their beatification. Most of their relics are kept in the Franciscan church at Brussels to which they were secretly conveyed from Briel in 1616.

The 19 martyrs, canonized by Pope Pius IX on June 29, 1865, are:

1.     Leonard van Veghel (born 1527), spokesman, secular priest, and since 1566 pastor of Gorkum

2.     Peter of Assche (born 1530), Franciscan lay brother

3.     Andrew Wouters (born 1542), secular priest, pastor of Heinenoord in the Hoeksche Waard

4.     Nicasius of Heeze (born 1522), Franciscan friar, theologian and priest

5.     Jerome of Weert (born 1522), Franciscan friar, priest, pastor in Gorcum

6.     Anthony of Hoornaar, Franciscan friar and priest

7.     Godfried van Duynen (born 1502), secular priest, former pastor in northern France

8.     Willehad of Denemarken (born 1482), Franciscan friar and priest

9.     James Lacobs (born 1541), Norbertine canon

10. Francis of Roye (born 1549), Franciscan friar and priest

11. John of Cologne, Dominican friar, pastor in Hoornaar near Gorkum

12. Anthony of Weert (born 1523), Franciscan friar and priest

13. Theodore of der Eem (born c. 1499–1502), Franciscan friar and priest, chaplain to a community of Franciscan Tertiary Sisters in Gorkum

14. Cornelius of Wijk bij Duurstede (born 1548), Franciscan lay brother

15. Adrian van Hilvarenbeek (born 1528), Norbertine canon and pastor in Monster, South Holland

16. Godfried of Mervel, Vicar of Melveren, Sint-Truiden (born 1512), Franciscan priest, vicar of the friary in Gorkum

17. Jan of Oisterwijk (born 1504), canon regular, a chaplain for the Beguinage in Gorkum

18. Nicholas Poppel (born 1532), secular priest, chaplain in Gorkum

19. Nicholas Pieck (born 1534), Franciscan friar, priest and theologian, Guardian of the friary in Gorkum, his native city

The church alluded to in the Catholic Exchange article is St. Nicholas Church in Brussels, not too far from the Grand Place. The martyrs' reliquary is a large rectangular case decorated with their images on the sides, and events of their arrest and martyrdom on the lid. The relics had been transferred originally to a nearby Franciscan friary which was suppressed during the French Revolution (1796), and then moved to St. Nicholas; the gilded bronze reliquary was created in 1870 for the relics. 

Prince William the Silent might have ordered the Calvinist pirates to release the Catholic priests, demonstrating mercy, he was not accorded the same justice as King Philip II of Spain declared him an outlaw and promised a reward for his assassination. Balthasar Gerard wanted the reward and shot the Prince of Orange to death on July 10, 1584, 12 years and one day after the Gorkum martyrs were hung. Gerard was captured, tortured, and brutally executed--obviously not receiving the reward he sought.