BL. NICHOLAS GARLICK, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 24 JULY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JULY

Saints celebrated on the 24th of July

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BLESSED NICHOLAS GARLICK, PRIEST AND MARTYR

[Blessed Nicholas Garlick was an English] priest and martyr, born at Dinting, Derbyshire, about 1555; died at Derby, July 24, 1588. He studied at Gloucester Hall, now Worcester College, Oxford, matriculating in 1575, but did not take a degree, perhaps because of the Oath of Supremacy thereto annexed. 

He next became master of the high school at Tideswell in the Peak, where he exercised such a holy influence over his pupil that three of them eventually went with him to Reims and one at least, Christopher Buxton, became a martyr. He went to Reims in June, 1581, was ordained, and returned to England in January, 1583. 

After a year of labour, probably in the Midlands, he was arrested, and in 1585 sent into exile, with the knowledge that he would find no mercy if he returned. Nevertheless he was soon back at work in the same neighbourhood. He was arrested by the infamous Topcliffe at Padley, the home of John Fitzherbert, a member of a family still surviving and still Catholic, the arrest being made through the treachery of a son of the house. Topcliffe obtained the house and lived there till he died in 1604. 

With Garlick was arrested another priest, Robert Ludlam, or Ludham, who had, like Garlick, been at Oxford and had engaged in teaching before his ordination in May, 1581. In Derby Gaol, a small and pestiferous prison, they found a third priest, Richard Simpson [Sympson], who was of Garlick's college at Oxford. There he had taken Protestant orders, but was soon after reconciled to the Church, for which he suffered long imprisonment in York Castle. In this trial his faith had grown stronger, but having been ordained and passed through many labours, including exile, and when he yet again was in danger of wavering, Garlick and Ludlam cheered him up, reconciled and comforted their fellow-captive, and all three were tried and suffered together.

Source: John Hungerford Pollen, Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913

⬅️ The Holy Martyrs of England and Wales

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that we who know how courageously your holy martyr Nicholas confessed the faith, may experience his goodness as he intercedes for us with you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.