Ven. William Southerne

Brief profile of the English martyr, who was arrested while saying Mass, and executed in 1618

English martyr, suffered at Newcastle-under-Lyme, 30 April, 1618. An alumnus and priest of the English College at Douai, he laboured mainly at Baswich, near Stafford, which then belonged to a branch of the Fowler family. He was arrested while saying Mass, and committed by a neighboring justice to Stafford gaol. He was immediately sentenced to death for being a priest and refusing to take the oath of allegiance; he remained in prison for six days after condemnation, no hangman being forthcoming.