ST JOHN KEMBLE, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 22 AUGUST

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST

Saints celebrated on the 22nd of August

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST JOHN KEMBLE, PRIEST AND MARTYR 

Saint John was born at Rhydicar Farm, St Weonard's, Herefordshire, 1599; son of John Kemble, formerly of Kemble, Wiltshire, and Anne, daughter of John Morgan. 

His uncle, George Kemble, of Pembridge Castle, Welsh Newton, was the father of Captain Richard Kemble, who saved Charles II at the battle of Worcester.

HE WAS SENT ON THE MISSION 

St John Kemble was ordained priest at Douai College, France, on February 23, 1625, he was sent on the mission June 4, and in his old age lived with his nephew at Pembridge Castle. 

HE WAS ARRESTED FOR BEING A CATHOLIC PRIEST

Arrested there by Captain John Scudamore of Kentchurch for being a Catholic priest, he was lodged in Hereford Gaol in November, 1678, and condemned at the end of March following. 

Ordered to London with Father Charles Baker, he was lodged in Newgate and interviewed by Oates, Bedloe, and Dugdale. Sent back to Hereford, the aged priest spent three more months in gaol.

"KEMBLE PIPE"

Before leaving for his execution he smoked a pipe and drank a cup of sack with the under-sheriff, this giving rise to the Herefordshire expressions "Kemble pipe", and "Kemble cup", meaning a parting pipe or cup. He was hung at Widemarsh Common, Hereford, August 22, 1679. One of the martyr's hands is preserved at St Francis Xavier's, Hereford. His body rests in Welsh Newton churchyard. 

(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913)