BLESSED FRANCIS DICCONSON, PRIEST AND MARTYR
Francis Diconson [Dicconson], a Yorkshireman, suffered with Miles Gerard, who was born in Lancashire, of a gentleman's family. These two were both priests of Douay college, during its residence at Rheims, and were sent together upon the English mission, from Rheims, on the 31st of August, 1589; though Mr Gerard had been ordained priest in 1583. The ship in which they went for England was overtaken by a violent storm, by which they were cast away upon the coast of Kent.
But it was not God's will that they should perish by this less glorious death, his divine providence having reserved for them the crown of martyrdom. They escaped therefore to the shore, where they met with a more violent storm, for being immediately apprehended, (upon suspicion, or the information of some of the ship's crew,) and cast into prison, they were arraigned, tried, and condemned for coming into England, being priests; and, upon this account, had sentence of death, as in cases of high treason, and they both suffered with constancy, at Rochester, April 30, 1590 [April 13, 1590].
Source: Bishop Richard Challoner, Memoirs of Missionary Priests, Volume 1
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