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ST JOHN SOUTHWORTH, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 27 JUNE

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JUNE

Saints celebrated on the 27th of June

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SAINT JOHN SOUTHWORTH, PRIEST AND MARTYR

Saint John Southworth was born in Lancashire, 1592 and martyred at Tyburn, June 28, 1654. A member of a junior branch of the Southworths of Samlesbury Hall, Blackburn, he was ordained priest at the English College, Douai, and was sent on the mission, October 13, 1619. He was arrested and condemned to death in Lancashire in 1627, and imprisoned first in Lancaster Castle, and afterwards in the Clink, London, whence he and fifteen other priests were, on April 11, 1630, delivered to the French Ambassador for transportation abroad. 

HE FREQUENTLY VISITED THE PLAGUE-STRICKEN DWELLINGS OF WESTMINSTER

In 1636 he had been released from the Gatehouse, Westminster, and was living at Clerkenwell, but frequently visited the plague-stricken dwellings of Westminster to convert the dying. 

HE WAS ARRESTED IN WESTMINSTER

In 1637 he seems to have taken up his abode in Westminster, where he was arrested, November 28, and again sent to the Gatehouse. Thence he was again transferred to the Clink and in 1640 was brought before the Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical, who sent him back there June 24. On July 16 he was again liberated, but by December 2 he was again in the Gatehouse. 

HE INSISTED ON PLEADING "GUILTY" TO BEING A PRIEST

After his final apprehension he was tried at the Old Bailey, and as he insisted on pleading "guilty" to being a priest, he was reluctantly condemned by the Recorder of London, Sergeant Steel. He was allowed to make a long speech at the gallows, and his remains were permitted to pass into the possession of the Duke of Norfolk's family, who had them sent to the English College at Douai. The wonderful recovery in 1656 of Francis Howard, seventh son of Henry Frederick, Earl of Arundel, was attributed to these relics, which were secreted during the French Revolution. 

From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913

[The relics of the Saint's body, hidden during the French Revolution, were rediscovered in 1927, and brought back to England, where they are enshrined in Westminster Cathedral. St John and 39 other Martyrs of England and Wales were canonised by Pope Paul VI.]

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