Walter Colman

Friar Minor and English martyr: date of birth uncertain; died in London, 1645

Friar Minor

and

English martyr

:

date

of birth uncertain; died in

London

, 1645. He came of noble and wealthy

parents

and when quite young left

England

to study at the English College at

Douai

. In 1625 he entered the

Franciscan Order

at

Douai

, receiving in religion the name of Christopher of St. Clare, by which he is more generally known. having completed his year of

novitiate

, he returned to

England

at the call of the

provincial

,

Father John Jennings

, but was immediately

imprisoned

because he refused to take the Oath of Allegiance. Released through the efforts of his friends, he went to

London

, where he was employed in the

duties

of the sacred ministry and where, during his leisure moments, he composed "The Duel of Death" (London, 1632 or 1633), an elegant metrical treatise on death, which be dedicated to Queen Henrietta Maria, consort of Charles I. When the

persecution

broke out anew in 1641, Colman returned to

England

from

Douai

, whither he had gone to regain his health. On 8 Dec. of the same year he was brought to trial, together with six other

priests

, two of whom were

Benedictines

and four members of the

secular clergy

. They were all condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered on 13 Dec., but through the interposition of the French ambassador the execution was stayed indefinitely. Colman lingered on in Newgate for several years until he died, exhausted by starvation and the hardships of the dungeon where he was confined.

Sources

THADDEUS, The Franciscans in England (London, 1898), 62, 72, 106; COOPER in Dict. Nat. Bioq., s.v. Colman; HOPE, Franciscan Martyrs in England (London, 1878), xi, 123 sqq; MASON, Certamen Seraphicum (Quaracchi, 1885), 211, 228; LEO, Lives of the Saints and Blessed of the Three Orders of St. Francis (Taunton, 1887), IV, 368.