BL. RICHARD LEIGH, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 30 AUGUST

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST

Saints celebrated on the 30th of August

WELCOME!

BLESSED RICHARD LEIGH, PRIEST AND MARTYR

Blessed Richard Leigh, born in Cambridgeshire c. 1561, was martyred at Tyburn on August 30, 1588. Ordained priest at Rome in February, 1586 - 1587, he came on the mission the same year, was arrested in London, and banished. Returning he was committed to the Tower in June 1588, and was condemned at the Old Bailey for being a priest. 

With him suffered four laymen and a lady, all of whom have been declared "Venerable". Edward Shelley of Warminghurst, Sussex, and East Smithfield, London (son of Edward Shelley, of Warminghurst, a Master of the Household of the sovereign, and the settler in "Shelley's case", and Joan, daughter of Paul Eden, of Penshurst, Kent), aged 50 or 60, who was already in the Clink for his religion in April, 1584 was condemned for keeping a book called "My Lord Leicester's Commonwealth" and for having assisted the Venerable William Dean. He was apparently uncle by marriage to Benjamin Norton, afterwards one of the seven vicars of Dr. Richard Smith. Richard Martin, of Shropshire, was condemned for being in the company of the Venerable Robert Morton and paying sixpence for his supper. Richard Lloyd, better known as Flower (alias Fludd, alias Graye), a native of the Diocese of Bangor (Wales), aged about 21, younger brother of Father Owen Lloyd, was condemned for entertaining a priest named William Horner, alias Forrest. John Roche (alias Neele), an Irish serving-man, and Margaret Ward, gentlewoman of Cheshire, were condemned for having assisted a priest named William Watson to escape from Bridewell.

[The title "venerable" in the original text has been replaced by "blessed" afterwards, as this holy Martyr was beatified on December 15, 1929 by Pope Pius XI.]

Source: John B. Wainewright, Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913

⬅️ The Holy Martyrs of England and Wales

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Blessed Richard may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. 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.