The Year 1589

JOHN AMIAS and ROBERT DALBY, Priests.¹

JOHN AMIAS (some call him Anii) was a native of Yorkshire^ an alumnus of Doway College during its residence at Rhemes^ where he was made priest the 25th of 1581, and sent upon the English mission on the 5th oijune of the same year, together with Mr. Edmund Sykes.

Robert Dalby was a native of the bishopric of Durham^ an alumnus also and priest of the same College, sent upon the mission in 1588. They both fell into the hands of the persecutors, and were condemned to die the death of traitors upon account of their priestly character. They suffered together at York on the i6th of Marche 1588-9. Dr. Champney in his manuscript history [ad Annum Elizabeth 31,] gives the following account of them: — ‘ This year, on the 1 6th of March^ John Amias and Robert Dalby ^ priests of the College of Doway y suffered at York as in cases of high treason, for no other cause but that they were priests ordained by the authority of the See of Rome^ and had returned into England^ and exercised there their priestly functions for the benefit of the souls of their neighbours. I was myself an eye-witness of the glorious combat of these holy men, being at that time a young man in the twentieth year of my age; and I returned home confirmed by the sight of their constancy and meekness in the Catholic faith, which by God’s grace I then followed. For there visibly appeared in those holy servants of God so much meekness, joined with a singular constancy, that you would easily say that they were lambs led to the slaughter.

‘ They were drawn about a mile out of the city to the place of execution, where being arrived and taken off the hurdle, they prostrated themselves upon their faces to the ground, and there employed some time in prayer, till the former, [Mr. Amias^'\ being called upon by the Sheriff, rose up, and with a serene countenance walked to the gallows and kissed it, then kissing the ladder, went up. The hangman having fitted the rope to his neck, bid him descend a step or two lower, affirming that by this means he would suffer the less. He then turned to the people, declared. That the cause of his death

1589] JOHN AMIAS AND ROBERT DALBY was not treason, but religion. But here he was interrupted, and not suffered to go on. Therefore composing himself for death, with his eyes and hands lifted up to heaven, forgiving all who had any ways procured his death, and praying for his persecutors, he recommended his soul to God; and being flung off the ladder, quietly expired: for he was suffered to hang so long till he seemed to be quite dead. Then he was cut down, dismembered, and bowelled, his bowels cast into a fire that was prepared hard by for that purpose, his head cut off, and the trunk of his body quartered. All this while his companion, Mr. Dolby, was most intent on prayer; who being called upon, immediately followed the footsteps of him that had gone before him, and obtained the like victory. The Sheriff’s men were very watchful to prevent the standers by from gathering any of their blood, or carrying off any thing that had belonged to them. Y^et one, who appeared to me to be a gentlewoman, going up to the place where their bodies were in quartering, and not without difficulty making her way through the crowd, fell down upon her knees before the multitude, and, with her hands joined and eyes lifted up to heaven, declared an extraordinary motion and affection of soul. She spoke also some words, which I could not hear for the tumult and noise. Immediately a clamour was raised against her as an idolatress, and she was drove away; and whether or no she was carried to prison, I could not certainly understand.’ So far Dr. Champney.

GEORGE NICOLS and RICHARD YAXLEY,

Priests.²

George NICOLS was a native of Oxford, and an alumnus and priest of Doway College during its residence at Rhemes, whence he was sent upon the mission in 1583. My author gives him the character of a man of extraordinary virtue and learning, and of a zealous and laborious missioner, who during the six years of his mission was the happy instrument, in the hands of God, of the conversion of many souls. His mission was chiefly in and about Oxford, where, amongst other pious adventures, the writers of his life particularly take notice of the reconciliation of a noted highwayman, who being apprehended and committed to Oxford Castle^ was, by the conversation of some Catholics who were prisoners there for their religion, brought to a sense of his crimes, and a desire of confessing them and dying in the Catholic faith; insomuch that he did nothing else night and day but bewail his sins, longing for the hour when he might cast himself at the feet of a Catholic priest to confess them. His Catholic fellow-prisoners found means to acquaint Mr. Nicols with these particulars, and failed not to instruct their convert how to prepare himself for a visit from this gentleman, who, on the very morning of the day of execution, (no opportunity offering before), came to the jail, together with a crowd of others, whom curiosity brought to see this famous malefactor before his death; and passing for a kinsman and acquaintance of the prisoner, after mutual salutations he took him aside as it were to comfort and encourage him, and heard his confession, for which he had prepared himself by spending the whole night before in prayers and tears, and which he made with great signs of a truly contrite heart; and having given him absolution, he left him wonderfully comforted and armed against the terrors of death, which he now with joy was ready to welcome. The prisoner then declared himself a Catholic; and though many persuasions were used to make him return to the Protestant religion, he persisted to the end in his resolution of dying in the old faith, and professed under the gallows. That if he had a thousand lives ^ he would ioyf idly part with them rather than renounce the Catholic Roman faith.

Richard Yaxley, who was Mr. Nicols' s companion in death, was born at Boston, in Lincolnshire, of a gentleman’s family, and was also an alumnus and priest of the same College, and was sent from Rhemes upon the English mission in 1586. He was by many years younger than Mr. Nicols, and having his mission in the same country, regarded him as a father. They were apprehended together at the house of a pious Catholic widow, who kept the St. Catherine's Wheel in Oxford, by the officers of the University, who broke in at midnight and hurried them away, together with Mr. Belson, a Catholic gentleman, who was come hither to visit his ghostly father, Mr. Nicols, and Humphrey ap Richard, the servant of the inn. The next morning they were all carried before the Vice-Chancellor, where several doctors were assembled, with many others who had the curiosity to see and hear the prisoners. Here they were examined concerning their religion, and they all readily answered. They were Catholics. Then they were farther interrogated if there were not any priest among them. After some demur for fear of prejudicing any other persons, Mr. Nicols, judging that it would be for the greater glory of God to confess his character, stoutly said, I confess that by the grace of God and of the Holy See Apostolic, I am a priest of the true Holy Catholic Roman Church. The Vice-Chancellor and his assessors from thence inferred that he must needs be a traitor and withal some of them charged him with blasphemy in taking to himself the name of Priest, which, as they pretended, belonged to Christ alone. This brought on a dispute concerning religion, in which Mr. Nicols pressed his adversaries so close, that the standers by appearing not a little moved with his arguments, the Vice-Chancellor thought proper to put an end to the controversy by sending away the two priests to one prison and Mr. Belson and the servant to another, and ordered them all to be put in irons. Having thus, as they flattered themselves, tamed their spirits, they sent one of their most celebrated divines to the two priests to confer with them concerning the Blessed Sacrament. But Mr. Nicols managed this controversy also so well, and urged so home the plain words of Christ in the institution of the Blessed Sacrament, together with the current doctrine of the holy fathers and of all antiquity, and the authority of the Church and of her general Councils, compared with the novelty of the opposite doctrine, the inconstancy and infinite dissensions of its teachers and uncertainty what they would be at, that he stopped the mouth of his adversary, to the great advantage of the Catholic cause in the minds of many who came into the prison to hear the dispute. Henceforward it was thought proper to let disputing alone, and to attack them another way. Therefore, the next day they were all four brought, in their irons, before the Vice-Chancellor and his Council and examined again — not now concerning their faith, but why they, being priests, had presumed to come over into England; how they had employed their time here; with whom they had conversed, and upon what subjects; what acquaintance they had amongst Catholics, &c. To these questions the servants of God answered. That they came over upon no other errand hut to win souls to Jesus Christ and to teach them the Catholic faith; that this was their whole business hei'e; and that they 7ieither knew, nor treated, nor thought of anything else, but how to discharge this great duty, though they were sensible of the danger which they thereby incurred by the laws; but they thought this was the least they could do for the honour and service of Hhn who had died for them, and for whom they should be glad to sacrifice their lives. But as for any other Catholics, they could not be prevailed on to name any, or bring any into danger. Upon this they were sent back to their prisons, and the Queen’s Council was informed of all that had passed.

Soon after this an order came down from the Council to have the prisoners sent up to London^ who, pursuant to the instructions given from above, were set upon Rosinantes^ with their hands tied behind them, and the two priests also, for greater disgrace, with their legs tied under their horses’ bellies, and in this manner were conducted, under a strong guard, from Oxford to London, being treated all the way with great cruelty by their guards and affronted and abused by the populace, more especially when they came to London, where they were attended from the very outskirts of the town to the gate of the prison by an insolent mob, loading them with reproaches and injuries, which they bore with an invincible patience, setting before their eyes the sufferings of their Redeemer. And to add to their affliction, a young gentleman of the University, a graduate in Arts, who out of pure compassion had attended them all the way from Oxford, and afforded them what service he could, was, in reward of his charity, taken up as soon as he came to London; and whereas the persecutors could not proceed against him with any colour of law, they charged him with being mad, and as such confined him to Bedlam, to be there treated (as one that had lost his senses) with low diet, and to be beaten into his senses again; in which manner they kept him a long time, for no other fault but that of having been serviceable to these servants of God in their journey.

After they had remained some days in prison at London, they were carried before Secretary Walsingham, the capital enemy of the Catholics, who put the like questions to them as the Vice-Chancellor had done before; to which Mr. Nicols would give no other answer. But that they were all Catholics, and that he, for his own part, was, though unworthy, a priest of the Holy Roman Church. If you are a priest, said the Secretary, then of course you are a traitor. A strange consequence, honoured sir, said Mr. Nicols, since it is certain that they who first converted England /rom Paganism were all priests. But they, said the Secretary, did not disturb the nation as you do, nor stirred up seditions against their sovereigns. To which the confessor replied. That if preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, if instructing the ignorant in the Catholic faith, be disturbing the nation or stirring up sedition, then were they equally guilty; if not, both we and they are equally innocent, nor can there be any treason in the case. With this the two priests were ordered to Bridewell, where they were tortured and hanged up in the air for the space of five hours together, to make them confess by whom they had been harboured or entertained, &c. But these torments they bore with great courage and constancy, and generously refused to the end to name any one who might be brought into trouble upon their account. Artifices were also employed, and a pretended convert was sent to Mr. Nicols, desiring to be addressed by him to some priest that was at liberty for further instructions. But the man of God, who was very discreet, discovered the trick, and would have nothing to say to the false catechumen. After this they separated the two priests from each other, and thrust Mr. Nicols down into a dark and stinking dungeon, full of nauseous insects, but translated Mr. Yaxley from Bridewell to the Tower ^ where he was every day put upon the rack, till at length it was resolved in the Council that they should be sent back to Oxford to be executed there, for an example to the scholars and other inhabitants of that city.

This resolution was no sooner taken than the prisoners, under the same guard as before had brought them up to town, and with the like cruel treatment, were conducted back again to Oxford, to be tried at the assizes there; and that none of them might escape. Sir Francis Knollys, one of the Privy Council, was appointed to be present at their trial to overawe the jury, that they might bring in a verdict agreeable to the inclinations of the court. And first the good widow, their hostess, was tried, and cast in a prcemunire, condemned to the loss of all her goods and to perpetual imprisonment; which sentence she received with joy, only regretting that she was not to die with her ghostly fathers. Then the two priests were condemned to die as in cases of high treason; and lastly, Mr. Belson and the servant, being convicted of having been aiding and assisting to the priests, were on that account sentenced to die as in cases of felony. They all received their respective sentences with cheerfulness, giving thanks to God for the honour He did them of dying for His cause, and mutually embraced one another with extraordinary marks of the inward joy of their hearts. They were drawn to the place of execution on July the 5th, 1589, still retaining the same serenity in their countenance and joy in their hearts; and meeting there with an infinite multitude of people assembled to see their last conflict, they saluted them, saying. Behold, we are here brought to die for the confession of the Catholic faith, the old religion in which our forefathers and ancestors all lived and died.

The first that was called upon to go up the ladder was Mr. Nicols, who, after having made his prayer to God, and to the people the profession of his faith, would have spoken more at large upon the subject, but was interrupted and forbid to go on; so recommending his soul into the hands of his Creator, he was thrown ofF the ladder, and happily finished his course. He was followed by Mr. Yaxley, who, after having embraced the dead body of his companion with great affection, and recommended himself in this his last conflict to the prayers of his happy soul, going up the ladder, and beginning to speak to the people, was in like manner interrupted; and, after a short profession of his faith, was also flung off. The standers by seemed to have a more than ordinary compassion for him, upon account of his youth, beauty, and sweet behaviour, and the consideration of his family; but all these things he despised for the sake of his Master, for whom he willingly offered himself a sacrifice. Their bodies were cut down, bowelled, and quartered, and their heads were set on the old walls of the castle, and their quarters over the gates of the city. Some false zealots disfigured their faces, cutting and hacking them with their knives, because of the extraordinary beauty which was observed in them; and it was much taken notice of that, in the disposing of their quarters, the right hand of Mr. Nicols^ instead of hanging down from the shoulder, as is natural on the like occasions, stood up erect on high, and turned against the city in the posture and manner of one that was threatening.

THOMAS BELSON, Gentleman *

Thomas BELSON was bom at Brill, the seat of the family, in the county of Oxford. I find him in the Doway Diary at the College of Rhemes in 1584, from whence he departed for Englajid on the 5th of April of that year, in company of Mr. Francis Ingolhy, priest, who suffered at York in 1586. We have already seen how he was apprehended in the company of Mr. Nicols and Mr. Yaxley, examined both at Oxford and at London, and finally tried and candemned with them for his hospitality and charity to them; and God was pleased he should be their companion in death; for no sooner was Mr. Nicols and Mr. Yaxley dead, but Mr. Belson was also ordered up the ladder to finish his course. He first embraced the dead bodies of his pastors, which were then in quartering, and begged the intercession of their happy souls, that he might have the grace to imitate their courage and constancy. He added. That he looked upon himself very happy that he had been their ghostly child, and was now to suffer with them, and should quickly he presented before the Almighty in so good company. And thus, with great³

WILLIAM SPENSER cheerfulness, he delivered his body to the executioner and his soul to his Maker.

The last in the combat was LIumphrey Pritchard, a Welshman, a plain, honest, and well-meaning soul, and, as our authors all agree, a great servant of God, who for twelve years had done signal service to the poor afflicted persecuted Catholics in those evil days. He came to the gallows with a cheerful and smiling countenance, and being now upon the ladder, and turning to the people, he said, I call you all to witness, in the presence of God and of His holy angels, that I am a Catholic, and that I was condemned to die for the confession of the Catholic faith, and that I die willingly for the. Catholic faith. A minister that stood by told him he was a poor ignorant fellow, and did not know what it was to be a Catholic. To whom Humphrey replied. That he very well knew what it was to be a Catholic, though he could not, perhaps, explain it in the proper terms of divinity; that he knew what he was to believe, and for what he came there to die; and that he willingly died for so good a cause. With that he was thrown off the ladder, and so reposed in the Lord.

They all suffered 5, 1589.

WILLIAM SPENSER, Priest *

WILLIAM SPENSER was born in Yorkshire, and educated in Doway College during its residence at Rhemes, from whence he was sent upon the English mission in 1584, The particulars of his labours and sufferings I have not found, only that he was apprehended, tried, and condemned for receiving holy orders beyond the seas by authority derived from the Bishop of Rome, and coming over to England, and there exercising his priestly functions. He received the sentence of death with an undaunted courage, and suffered with great constancy, being hanged, drawn, and quartered at York, the 24th September, 1589.

With Mr. Spenser was hanged one Mr. Robert Hardesty, a layman of great probity and piety, for having harboured and relieved the confessor of Christ, knowing him to be a priest.⁴

CHRISTOPHER BALES, Priest, with NICHOLAS HORNER, and ALEXANDER BLAKE, Laymen.^

CHRISTOPHER BALES was born in the parish of Cunsley^ in the bishopric of Durham^ and performed his studies abroad, partly in the English College of Rome, and partly in that of Rhemes. Erom the latter he was sent priest upon the English mission in 1588. Here, after some time, he fell into the hands of the adversaries of his faith, and, besides the miseries usually attending imprisonment, suffered much from their cruelty, being grievously racked in order to oblige him to confess where he had said Mass and by whom he had been entertained or relieved; insomuch that at one time he was hung up in the air for twenty-four hours together, all which he bore with wonderful patience and courage, though otherwise of an infirm body and inclined to a consumption. At length, being brought to the bar, he was arraigned, tried, and condemned upon the statute of the 27th of Elizabeth, for being made priest beyond the seas, and coming into England to exercise his priestly functions. When sentence was to be pronounced upon him, and the judge, according to custom, asked if he had anything to allege for himself, he desired to ask one thing, which was— Whether St. Augustine, the monk sent by the Pope of Rome to preach the Christian Catholic faith to the English, was guilty of treason incomplying with that commission or no? To which, when the court had answered that he was not, Why, then, said the confessor, do you arraign and condemn me for a traitor, who do the same thing as he did, and to whom nothing can be objected but what might equally be objected to him? They told him the difference was, that by their laws his case was now made treason; and without any further arguing proceeded to pronounce the sentence of death in the usual form. He was drawn to Eleet Street to a pair of gallows erected over against Fetter Lane, and was there hanged, bowelled, and quartered, March the 4th, 1589-90.

On the same day were hanged Nicholas Horner, a layman, born at Grantly, in Yorkshire, for relieving and assisting the said Mr. Bayles, and Alexander Blake, also a layman, for the same cause.⁵

CHRISTOPHER BALES, ETC.

Of all these, thus writes Mr. Stow in his Chronicle: — ‘ Christopher Bayles, made priest beyond sea, was convicted of treason for remaining in this realm, contrary to the statute. Also Nicholas Horner and Alexander Blake^ convicted of felony, for relieving of Bayles, contrary to the like statute. These were all executed on the 4th of March. Bayles was hanged, bowelled, and quartered in Fleet Street; Horner was hanged in Smithfield, Blake in Gray's Inn Lane.'

The Bishop of Tarrasona, in his History of the English Persecution, Book II., chap. 18, numbs. 3 and 4, relates of Mr. Horner that he was apprehended once before for harbouring priests, and at that time was kept so long in a filthy dungeon, that with the dampness of the lodging one of his legs was mortified, so that he was obliged to have it cut off. But that, whilst the surgeon was at work, God was pleased to favour him with a vision, which so strongly drew his attention and so sweetly entertained him, that he was not at all sensible of so painful an operation. After this, the persecutors, having some compassion for him, set him at liberty, till being accused a second time of relieving priests, and convicted of this felony, and not consenting to save his life by going to the Protestant church, he was condemned to die. The night before his execution, finding himself overwhelmed with anguish and fear, he betook himself to his prayers, and then seemed to perceive a crown hanging over his head; and lifting up his hands to take hold of it, to see what it should be, he could feel nothing. Afterwards rising from his prayers, he perceived the same crown still over his head, and that, as he moved or changed his place, it still moved with him, and this for the space of above an hour, — which vision afforded him unspeakable comfort, and caused him to die the next day with extraordinary marks of joy. This vision was related by the confessor himself to a friend, who was with him in prison, a little before he was carried out to execution, who wrote the whole account to Father Robert Southwell on the 1 8th of March of the same year, which letter, says my author, I have seen. The same is confirmed by Father Ribadeneira and Dr. Champney in their histories.

L

MYLES GERARD and FRANCIS DICONSON,

Priests.⁶

These two were both priests of Doway College during its residence at Rhemes. The former was born in Lancashire^ of a gentleman’s family; the latter in Yorkshire. They were sent together upon the English mission from Rhemes on the 31st of August, 1589, though Mr. Gerardhdid been ordained priest in 1583. The ship in which they went for England was overtaken by a violent storm, by which they were cast away upon the coast of Kent. But it was not God’s will that they should perish by this less glorious death, His divine providence having reserved for them the crown of martyrdom. They escaped therefore to the shore, where they met with a more violent storm; for being immediately apprehended upon suspicion, or the information of some of the ship’s crew, and cast into prison, they were arraigned, tried, and condemned for coming into England, being priests; and upon this account had sentence of death as in cases of high treason, and they both suffered with constancy at Rochester, April 30, 1590.

EDWARD JONES and ANTONY MIDDLETON,

Priests. f

The former was born in North Wales, in the diocese of St. Asaph; the latter in Yorkshire. They were both priests of Doway College during its residence at Rhemes, from whence Mr. Middleton was sent upon the English mission in 1586; Mr. Jones in 1588. Their missionary labours were employed in and about London, and with great fruit, the more because Mr. Middleton, being low of stature and of a young look, for a long time was not suspected to be a priest; and Mr. Jones, though his time upon the mission had not been long, being a zealous preacher, had justly acquired to himself a great esteem amongst the Catholics. They⁷

1590] EDWARD JONES AND ANTONY MIDDLETON were both apprehended by the means of certain priest-catchers, who, to bring about their villainy more effectually, had feigned themselves Catholics. Ribadeneira^ who is followed by Dr. Champney and Raissius, affirms that they were hanged up, without any formal trial, before the doors of the houses where they were taken — Mr. Jones in Fleet Street near the Conduit, Mr. Middleton at Clerkenwell; and that upon the gallows on which they were hanged the executioners had caused to be written in great letters. For Treason and Foreign Invasion, to make their cause more odious to the people; but that this artifice did not take, and the spectators, instead of applauding their proceedings, departed highly displeased with these tyrannical measures. Mr. Middleton desired to have leave to speak to the people, which not being allowed him, he contented himself with this short speech: I call Almighty God to witness that I here die barely for the Catholic faiths and for being a priest and a preacher of the true religion; and I beseech the Divine Majesty to vouchsafe to accept of this my death for the forgiveness of my sins, the advancement of the Catholic faith, and the conversion of heretics. A gentleman there present cried out, Sir, you have spoken very well, and what is sufficient. With this Mr. Middleton was flung off the ladder, and, as the Bishop of Chalcedon's catalogue affirms from the testimony of eye-witnesses, was cut down and bowelled whilst he was yet alive. They suffered on the 6th of May, 1590.

This same year, four other gentlemen of the same character were executed at Durham, of whom we are now to speak. Wilson and Molanus put them in the following year, but they are certainly mistaken, as appears from the Dozoay Register, followed by Dr. Champney, by the Bishop of Chalcedon, and Raissius,

EDMUND DUKE, RICHARD HILL, JOHN HOGG, and RICHARD HOLIDAY, Priests *

Edmund duke was bom in Kent, and was first a student in the English College, then residing at Rhemes, where I find him promoted to minor orders, September 23, 1583. From thence he was sent to Rome, where he finished his studies and was made priest.⁸

Richard Hill, John Hogg, and Richard Holiday were all born in Yorkshire, all students of the College, then residing at Rhemes, and were made subdeacons at Soisson the i8th March, 1589, deacons at Laon the 27th of May, and priests at Laon the 23d of September in the same year. They were all sent together upon the English mission (with Mr. Duke, who was lately returned from Rome) on the 22d of March, 1589-90. They landed in the North of England, and travelling through the country, which they were not well acquainted with, they were upon a slight suspicion stopped in a village where they stayed to rest themselves, and were carried before a neighbouring justice of the peace, who, upon examination, finding them to be priests, committed them to Durham Jail. Here they had some conflicts about religion, as well with the prebendaries of Durham as with some other ministers, in which, says my author, Dr. Champney, in his manuscript, the confessors of Christ came off victorious. But there was another more effectual way of stopping their mouths, which was to arraign and condemn them for transgressing the statute of Elizabeth 27, which forbids, under pain of death, priests made by Roman authority to come over into England, or to remain here. Of this transgression they were all found guilty, and upon this account alone had sentence to die, as in cases of high treason. They suffered at Durham, May 27, some say May 6, 1590. The meekness and constancy which appeared in them in this last scene of life edified many and was admired by all. It was also taken notice of as a thing very extraordinary, as we learn from a letter of Mr. Cuthbert Trollop, priest, that the well out of which they took water to boil the quarters of these four holy priests did presently dry up, and so continued for many years after.

This year put an end to all the plots and stratagems of that unwearied persecutor of the English Catholics, and capital enemy of the missioners. Sir Erancis Walsingham, principal Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth. He died miserably on the 6th of April, 1590, of an ulcer and impostume in his bowels, which reduced him to that wretched condition, that, whilst he was yet alive, he yielded so insupportable a stench, that scarce any one could bear to come near him. Ribadeneira and Champney relate that amongst other attempts he made to ruin the Seminaries abroad, he once, by his emissaries, procured to have the well poisoned which supplied the College of Rhemes with water, in order to destroy by poison all the priests and students; and that another time he caused poison to be given to Dr. Allen, the institutor and first president of that community. But the providence of God defeated these and many other of his

1591] ROBERT THORPE AND THOMAS WATKINSON plots. He maintained so many spies abroad, and was at such expense to bring about his wicked enterprises, that he not only spent what was allowed him by the Queen for that purpose, which was very considerable, and the salary of his place, but also his whole estate, leaving nothing to his only daughter but his debts, who, says Dr. Champney in his manuscript, having renounced heresy, now embraces the Catholic faith.

Footnotes

1. John Amias and Robert Dalby. — From the Douay Diary; the Bishop of Chalcedon’s Catalogue; and the Manuscript History of Dr. Champney, who was an eye-witness of their death; see also Lives of E. M.; Acts of E. M.; Troubles y hi. ↩

2. Ven. George Nicols and Richard Yaxley. — From the Douay Catalogues; from Father Ribadeneira, in his Appendix to Dr. Saunders; from the Bishop of Tarrasona’s History of the Persecution; and from Dr. Champney’s Manuscript; see also Lives of E. M. ↩

3. Ven. Thomas Belson. — From the same writers and the Douay Diary; see also D.N.B. ↩

4. Ven. William Spenser. — From the Douay Diary and Catalogues, and Dr. Champney’s Manuscript; see also Lives of E. M.; Acts of E. M.; Troubles iii.; C.R.S., v. ↩

5. Ven. Christopher Bales, or Bayles. — From Ribadeneira’s Appendix; Dr. Champney’s Manuscript; and the Bishop of Chalcedon’s Catalogue; see also Lives of E. M.; Gillow; Foley, Records; Life of Fr. J. Gerard. ↩

6. Ven. Miles Gerard and Francis Dickenson, or Diconson. — From the Bishop of Chalcedon’s Catalogue and Dr. Champney’s Manuscript; see also Gillow; C.R.S., v.; Acts of E. M.; Spanish Calendar, 1590, p. 572. ↩

7. Ven. Edward Jones and Antony Middleton. — From the Douay Diary; the Bishop of Chalcedon’s Catalogue; Dr. Champney’s Manuscript; and Father Ribadeneira; see also Acts of E. M.; C.R.S., v. ↩

8. Ven. Edmund Duke, Richard Hill, John Hogg, and Richard Holiday. — From the Douay Diary; the Bishop of Chalcedon’s Catalogue; and Dr. Champney’s Manuscript; see also Gillow; Catholic Encyclopcedia (s.v. Hill). ↩