BL. WILLIAM RICHARDSON, PRIEST AND MARTYR

BL. WILLIAM RICHARDSON, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 17 FEBRUARY

BLESSED WILLIAM RICHARDSON, PRIEST AND MARTYR

William Richardson, aka Anderson, the last martyr under Queen Elizabeth, was born according to Challoner at Vales in Yorkshire (i.e. presumably Wales, near Sheffield), but, according to the Valladolid diary, he was a Lancashire man; he was executed at Tyburn, February 17, 1603.

He arrived at Reims July 16, 1592 and on August 21 following was sent to Valladolid, where he arrived December 23. Thence, October 1, 1594, he was sent to Seville where he was ordained.

According to one account he was arrested at Clement's Inn on February 12, but another says he had been kept a close prisoner in Newgate for a week before he was condemned at the Old Bailey on February 15, under stat. 27 Eliz., c. 2, for being a priest and coming into the realm.

He was betrayed by one of his trusted friends to the Lord Chief Justice, who expedited his trial and execution with unseemly haste, and seems to have acted more as a public prosecutor than as a judge. At his execution he showed great courage and constancy, dying most cheerfully, to the edification of all beholders. One of his last utterances was a prayer for the queen.

Source: 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 William 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.

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