The Year 1578

JOHN NELSON, Priest *

JOHN NELSON was the son of Sir N. Nelson, Knight, and was born at Shelton, near York. Being come to near forty years of age, and hearing of the College lately established at Doway, in Flanders, he went over thither in the year 1574, in order to qualify himself there, by virtue and learning, for the priestly ministry, by which he might be of service to his native country, in reclaiming sinners from the errors of their ways. Accordingly, being judged by his superiors duly qualified, he was by them presented to holy orders, and was ordained priest at Bynche, by the Archbishop of Camhray, in June 1576, at the same time with Messieurs John Colington, Jonas Meredith, Roger Wakeman, and Richard Chapman; and he was sent upon the E^iglish mission the 7th of November the same year.

‘ Mr. Nelson^ was taken in London upon the ist of December 1577, the evening, as he was saying the matins for the next day following, and was presently sent to prison upon suspicion of Papistry, as they term the Catholic faith; and, after five or six days, he was brought forth to be examined before the High Commissioners. Here they tendered him the oath of the Queen’s supremacy, which he refused to take; and being asked why he would not swear, he answered. Because he had never heard or read that any lay prince could have that pre-eminence. And being further demanded. Who then was the head of the Church? he answered, sincerely and boldly. That the Pope's holmess was, to whom that supreme authority in earth was due, as being Christ's vicar, and the lawful successor of St. Peter.

‘ Secondly, They asked him his opinion of the religion now practised in England; to which he answered, wfithout any hesitation. That it was both schismatical and heretical. Whereupon they bid him define what schism was. He told them. It was a voluntary departure from the unity of the Catholic Roman faith. Then (seeking¹² to ensnare him) they further urged, What is the Queen then, a schismatic or no? He answered. He could not tell, because he knew not her mind in setting forth or maintaining of the religion now publicly used in England. The Commissioners replied that the Queen did both promulgate it and maintain it, and pressed him to tell them, if she did so, whether then she were a schismatic and a heretic or no. Mr. Nelson paused awTile, as being unwilling to exasperate his prince, if he might have chosen, but yet more unwilling to offend God and his own conscience, and to give the scandal to the world; then he answered, conditionally. If she be the setter foi'th, said he, and defender of this religion^ now practised in England ^ then she is a schismatic and a heretic. Which answer, when they had extorted out of him, they said, he had spoken enough, they sought no more at his hands.

‘ So he was sent back to prison, and about seven weeks after was brought forth to his trial, where the same questions being again proposed to him, and he answering still the self-same to every question as he had done before, sentence of death was pronounced against him, as against one guilty of treason, February the ist, 1577-78. When the sentence was pronounced against him, he never changed his countenance, nor did there ever appear in him any sign of a troubled mind, but he took his condemnation very meekly, and prepared himself with a good courage for death. The jailor’s wife, moved with compassion, offered him wine, thereby, as she thought, to assuage the heaviness of his mind. But he would not taste it, saying. That he rather desired a cup of cold water, as more meet for him. And from the very hour the sentence was pronounced against him till the hour of his death, he took no other food but bread and small-beer.

‘ He was so delighted with prayer and secret meditation, that he would not hear of any other things willingly, especially if they were worldly matters. A friend of his advised him to read and meditate upon the lives and deaths of the martyrs. Though he disliked not the counsel, yet he answered. That {by God's mercy) he had enough to occupy his mind withal, and to meditate upon full well. And being put in mind, by the same friend, with what alacrity and joy of mind many thousand martyrs had suffered the most exquisite torments for Christ’s sake, and that they never complained nor shrunk thereat; he answered. That this same thought came often to his mind, and afforded him such comfort, that he no ways doubted but that he should find and feel the {like) grace of God's consolation in the midst of his agony. And surely this courage and willingness to die came from this: that on the Thursday before his arraignment and

JOHN NELSON death, he had cleansed his conscience by Confession, and had fortified himself by receiving the Blessed Sacrament of the altar. For a priest coming to visit him, with others in company, desirous to communicate at Mr. Nelson's hands, wishing it might be upon Candlemas Day, because of the solemnity of the feast; after they had considered of the matter, they saw it was no fit day, because such festivals are more subject to suspicion, and therefore they concluded to defer it till the day after Candlemas Day; but Mr. Nelson wished rather to prevent the feast, and to communicate upon the Thursday before; which was done, though (at that time) neither he nor any of his friends suspected that he should so shortly come to his martyrdom. When, behold! the very next day after, word was brought him that he was to be arraigned on the morrow, and should be undoubtedly condemned if he did not revoke his former words: and so it fell out indeed, as you have heard. [So that it was God’s special providence that he pitched upon the Thursday before the feast; for otherwise he must have died without the sacred Viaticum.]

‘ Upon Monday, the 3d of February, being the day of his martyrdom, he came very early, before day, up to the higher part of the prison, whereas from Saturday till then he had been kept in a low dungeon. Two of his nearest kinsmen coming to him, found him earnest at his prayers, with his hands joined together and lifted up, insomuch that the other prisoners there present did both mark it, and wonder at it much. When they had talked awhile together, and he saw them so full of sorrow that they had much ado to abstain from weeping, yet for all that he was nothing moved himself, neither gave any sign or appearance of sorrow, neither in voice or countenance, but rebuked them, saying. That he looked for some comfort and consolation of them in that case, and not by their tears to be occasioned to grieve; willing them further to lament and weep for their own sins, and not for him, for he had a sure confidence that all should go well with him.

‘ When his kinsmen took their last farewell of him, they fell into such immoderate tears and lamentations that he was somewhat moved therewith, but stayed and repressed nature by-and-by, and so dismissed them: and they were no sooner gone but two Ministers came in, seeking to remove him from his faith, but in vain; for he utterly refused to have any talk with them, desiring them to let him be in quiet, and so they did, and departed from him.

‘ When he was brought forth of the prison, and laid upon the hurdle, some of the officers exhorted him to ask the Queen’s Majesty, whom he had highly offended, forgiveness. He answered, I ucill ask her no pardon, for I riever offended her. At which words the people that stood about him raged, saying. Then he should be hanged like a traitor as he was. Well, said he, God's will he done. I perceive that I must die, and surely I am ready to die with a good will; for better is it to abide all punishment, be it ever so grievous, here, than to suffer the eternal torments of hell fire.

‘ Being come to the place of execution, and put into the cart, the first wmds he spoke were. In manus tuas Domine, &c. Then he besought such of the standers-by as were Catholics to pray with him and for him, saying, either in Latin or in English, the Pater, Ave, and Creed, which he himself said in Latin, adding thereto the Cofifiteor and the psalms Miserere and De profundis; which being finished, turning himself round about to all the people, he spoke to them in this sort, / call you all this day to witness, that I die in the unity of the Catholic Church; and for that unity do now most willhigly suffer my blood to be shed: and therefore I beseech God, and request you all to pray for the same, that it would please God, of His great mercy, to make you, and all others that are not such already, true Catholic men, and both to live and die in the unity of our holy mother the Catholic Roman Church. At which words the people cried out. Away with thee and thy Catholic Romish faith; but this notwithstanding, he repeated the same prayer again.

‘ Then he requested to be forgiven of all men, as well absent as present, if he had offended any; protesting that he forgave all his enemies and persecutors, desiring God also to forgive them. Here again he was willed to ask the Queen forgiveness, which he refused to do for awhile; at last he said. If I have offe7ided her or any else, I ask her and all the world forgiveness, as I forgive all; and so the hangman being ordered to despatch, Mr. Nelson prayed a little while to himself, and then requested all such as were Catholics to pray with him. That Christ, by the merits of His bitter Passion, would receive his soul into everlasting joy. When the cart was drawn away, a great multitude cried with a loud voice. Lord receive his soul.

‘ He was cut down before he was half dead, and so dismembered and ripped up; and, as the hangman plucked out his heart, he lifted himself up a little, and, as some that stood near report, spoke these words, I forgive the Queen, and all that were causers of my death', but I, though I saw his lips move, yet heard not so much: and the hangman had three or four blows at his head before he could strike it off. His quarters were hanged on four of the gates of the city, and his head set upon London Bridge.' So far my old English author.

THOMAS SHERWOOD

Mr. Nelson suffered at Tyhurn^ February 3, 1577-78. Of him Mr. Stow in his Chronicle writes thus: 'John Nelson^ for denying the Queen’s supremacy, and such other traitorous words against her Majesty, was drawn from Newgate to Tyburn^ and there hanged, bowelled, and quartered. One Sherwood was also hanged for the like treason, February 7.’

THOMAS SHERWOOD, Scholar *

Thomas SHERWOOD was bom at London^ of pious and Catholic parents, and by them brought up in the true faith and in the fear of God. But being desirous to improve himself in virtue and learning, he w^ent over to the Ejiglish College, founded not long before in the University of Doway^ in Flanders^ where I find him, in the diary of the house, a student in 1576. Not long after this he returned to Londofi^ in order to settle his affairs, and procure money to help him to carry on his studies.

Whilst he was in Londoii he frequented the house of the Lady Tregony^ a virtuous Catholic, who had a son named Martin^ whose faith and manners were widely distant from those of his mother. This young spark suspected that Alass was sometimes privately said in his mother’s house, and this, as he imagined, by the means of Air. Sherwood, which was the occasion of his conceiving an implacable hatred against him; insomuch that one day, meeting him in the streets, he cried out. Stop the traitor, stop the traitor; and so causing him to be apprehended, had him before the next justice of peace. Where, when they were come. Air. Tregony could allege nothing else against Air. Sherwood but that he suspected him to be a Papist. Upon which the justice examined him concerning his religion, and in particular what his sentiments were concerning the Queen’s church-headship and the Pope’s supremacy. To which Air. Sher-wood candidly answered. That he did not believe the Queen to be the head of the Church of England, and that this pre-eminence belonged to the Pope. And being further asked concerning the Queen’s religion, he made the like answers as we have seen above Air. Nelson did. Upon which he was immediately committed, and cast into a³ dungeon in the Tower, In the mean time his lodgings were searched and plundered of all that he had, and between £20 and of money, borrowed for the use of his poor afflicted father, were carried off by these harpies with the rest.

In the Tower he was most cruelly racked, in order to make him discover where he had heard Mass; but he suffered all their tortures with a greatness of soul not unequal to that of the primitive martyrs, and would not be induced to betray or bring any man into danger. After this he was thrust into a dark, filthy hole, where he endured very much from hunger, stench, and cold, and the general want of all things, no one being allowed to visit him or afford him any comfort. Insomuch that when a Catholic gentleman, [Mr. Roper ^ son-in-law to Sir Thomas More^ pitying his extreme sufferings, had, by the means of another prisoner, conveyed to Mr. Sherwood's keeper some money for the use of his prisoner, the money was by the keeper returned the next day, because the Lieutenant of the Tower would not suffer the prisoner to have the benefit of any such alms. And all that he could be prevailed upon to do, was to lay out one poor sixpence for a little fresh straw for him to lie upon.

In fine, after six months’ suffering in this manner with invincible patience, and gloriously triumphing over chains, dungeons, and torments, during which he often repeated these words. Lord Jesus! Oh, I am not worthy that I should suffer these things for Thee, much less am I worthy of those rewards which Thou hast promised to give to such as confess Thee, he was brought out to his trial, and condemned to die for denying the Queen’s supremacy, and was executed according to sentence, being cut down whilst he was yet alive, dismembered, bowelled, and quartered.

He suffered at Tyhurn, February 7, 1577-78.

This year, 1578, the English Seminary was obliged to leave Doway (after having sent from thence fifty-two priests upon the English mission, besides others sent to Rome), and to repair to Rhemes, where they remained till 1594. The first of those that were ordained at Rhemes, who suffered in England for religious matters, was —

Footnotes

1. Bd. John Nelson. — From Allen’s Brief e Historie; and from an old Latin Manuscript of Douay College; see also Lives of E. M., I. ii. ↩

2. Bishop Yepez, in his History of the English Persecution, 1. ii. c. 63, relates, that the devil, whom Mr. Nelson had forced out of the body of a possessed person a few days before, had threatened him that he would have him taken up in a week, and that it should cost him his life. ↩

3. Bd. Thomas Sherwood. — From Bridgew^ater’s Concertatio Ecclesice Anglicance, Raissius, his Catalogue of the Martyrs of Douay College; and a Latin MS. in my hands; see also Lives of E, M., I. ii. ↩