Saints celebrated on the 4th of July
BLESSED JOHN CORNELIUS, PRIEST AND MARTYR
John Cornelius (alias Mohun) was born at Bodmin, in Cornwall of Irish parents, and brought up at school in the same town: from whence he was sent to Oxford by Sir John Arundel, who was much taken with his rare genius and diligence in learning.
But Mr Cornelius liking the old religion better than the new, left Oxford, and went beyond the seas to Rheims, (the English college having been lately translated thither, from Douay,) and was there received by Dr Allen, the institutor and first president of that seminary of martyrs. After some stay here, he was sent, in 1580, to Rome, to finish his studies in the English college of that city, where he remained for some years; and had the honour once to make an oration in Latin, and speak it in the pope's chapel on St Stephen's day. Here he was made priest, and from hence was sent upon the English mission, where he laboured with great fruit for about ten years. He was a man of a most mortified life, and greatly addicted to prayer and contemplation; but, withal, zealous and diligent in his pastoral functions, and had a notable talent in preaching, so that he was admired and loved by all that knew him.
Mr Cornelius every day said Mass at five o'clock in the morning, and never without tears. Whenever he read the passion of Christ, in the office of the holy week, he wept exceedingly; that he was sometimes in an ecstasy at his prayers. Once a gentleman, who came to him for counsel, found him on his knees, his hands crossed before his breast, his eyes cast up to heaven, but without motion, and the whole man so absorbed in God, that the gentleman, for some time doubted whether he was alive or dead, and not without difficulty brought him to hear and see him. Mr Cornelius always wore a rough hair shirt, used frequent disciplines, and for many years fasted four days in the week.
Mr Manger relates of him, from the testimony of a worthy gentleman, who was familiarly acquainted with him, that he was very powerful in dealing with those who were possessed; and that from one, in the presence of the same gentleman, he forced the devil to bring forth, from her inward parts, a piece of a rusty knife, of an inch and a half in length, which he took out of her mouth, and a bag of sand of the fashion of a pincushion, and bigness of a little penny purse. He adds also, from the same testimony, that when Mr Cornelius was saying Mass for the soul of John Lord Stourton, (who had died unreconciled, but with great desire of the sacraments, and more than ordinary marks of sorrow and repentance,) he had a vision after the consecration and elevation of the chalice, of the soul of the said Lord Stourton, then in purgatory, desiring him to pray for him, and to request of the lady, his mother, to cause Masses to be said for his soul. This vision was also seen at the same time, by Patrick Salmon, a good religious soul, who was then serving Mr Cornelius, at Mass.
Mr Cornelius was apprehended in the house of the widow of Sir John Arundel, (upon the information of a wicked servant,) on the second Sunday after Easter, in April, 1594, by Mr Trenchard, sheriff of Dorsetshire; and with him, Mr Thomas Bosgrave, a Cornish gentleman, a kinsman of Sir John Arundel, was also hurried away to prison, because, seeing Mr Cornelius in the hands of the officers, hurried away without any hat, he clapped his own hat upon the confessor's head, saying, the honour I owe to your functions may not suffer me to see you go bareheaded. Upon which the sheriff told him, he should bear him company; and, as we shall see by-and-by, for this offence he afterwards also suffered with him. John, or, as others call him, Terence Carey and Patrick Salmon, both natives of Dublin, and servants in the family, were also committed to prison upon this occasion, as aiding and assisting Mr Cornelius.
The confessor was first carried to the sheriff's house, where some protestant ministers strongly attacked him on the subject of religion; but Mr Cornelius maintained the catholic cause with such strong argument, that the sheriff, fearing the influence his words would make upon those that were present, put a stop to the dispute.
Shortly after, the council being informed of all that had passed, the confessor was ordered to be sent up to London, where he was examined by the lord treasurer, the archbishop of Canterbury, and others of the privy council, who strove to extort out of him, first by words, and afterwards by the rack, the names of such catholics as had harboured or relieved him; but his constancy was proof against all their efforts, and he refused to the last to make any discovery which might redound to the prejudice of his benefactors.
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| Bl. John Cornelius was tortured by the government to extract information about fellow Catholics in England, but he steadfastly refused to disclose any information in order to prevent any harm being done to them. |
Upon this Mr Cornelius was sent back into the country, there to take his trial, and there to die. The three last days before the assizes, he spent wholly in prayer and pious exhortations to his fellow prisoners, without eating, in a manner, or sleeping, and so prepared himself for his conflict.
After this, he was brought to the bar with his three companions, where they were all found guilty by the jury: Mr Cornelius of high treason, for being a priest, and coming into this kingdom and remaining here; Mr Bosgrave and the other two, of felony, for aiding and assisting Mr Cornelius, knowing him to be a priest.
After the jury had brought in their verdict, the three laymen cast themselves at the feet of Mr Cornelius, to crave his blessing; and they were all sent back to prison, sentence not being to be pronounced till the next day. They prepared themselves for it by prayer, and animated one another by pious colloquies, in which they passed that night; and, on the following day, they were all sentenced to die. It was observed, that judge Walmsley pronounced the sentence with tears in his eyes. Mr Cornelius would have spoken to the judges after sentence was given, but was ordered to be silent. However, the judges assured them all that their lives should be saved, if they would conform and go to the protestant [government enforced] church, which they all stoutly refusing, were sent back to prison, there to prepare for their last end.
They were condemned on the 2nd of July, 1594, and on the 4th were carried out to their martyrdom. Mr Cornelius was drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution; the other three walked on foot. The confessor animated them by the way to suffer death with courage and constancy; and, indeed, it appeared by their countenances that they went to the gallows with as much content and satisfaction as if they had been going to a feast. Mr Cornelius made also the best use he could of his time in favour of a malefactor who was to suffer with them; whom he so effectually exhorted to faith and repentance, that the man declared aloud, that he looked upon himself happy that he was to die in such good company.
The first that was ordered up the ladder was John Carey, a man of great courage. He kissed the rope when it was to be put about his neck, saying, O precious collar! then made a profession of his faith, for which he declared he died, and so was turned off. The next was Patrick Salmon, a man much admired and beloved for his virtues. In dying, he admonished the people that the only way to secure their eternal welfare, was to embrace that faith for which he and his companions laid down their lives. Mr Bosgrave was called upon next, who being a man of reading, made a speech to the people of the certainty of the catholic faith, which was heard with great attention, the ministers standing by and not offering a word in vindication of their religion. And now it was come to Mr Cornelius's turn to ascend the ladder; at the foot of which he knelt down and prayed a little while, then kissed the ground, and afterwards the feet of his companions, who were still hanging; then addressing himself to the gallows, he saluted it with those words of St Andrew, O bona crux diu desiderata, &c. O good cross, a long time desired, &c. And going up the ladder, offered several times to speak to the people, and was as often interrupted. Then he declared what had hitherto been kept a secret, viz: that he was admitted into the society of Jesus, in London, by the superior of the English Jesuits, and was to have gone over with others to make his noviceship in Flanders, had he not been prevented by his apprehension.
After which he prayed aloud for his persecutors, and for the conversion of the queen, and so was flung off the ladder, and shortly after cut down and quartered. His quarters were set up upon four poles, but after- wards were taken down by the catholics, and buried with the bodies of his companions. His head was nailed to the gallows, till it was removed at the desire of the town, apprehending the scourges of God upon them, as they had experienced before on the like occasions. Yet we are told, that the following year, a dreadful plague ensued amongst them, which carried off so many that the living were not sufficient to bury the dead. Mr Cornelius and his companions suffered at Dorchester, July 4th, 1504.
From a manuscript relation in my hands, penned by the Reverend Mr Manger; and from the bishop of Tatrasons's history of the persecution of England, 1. 5. c. 4.; from a relation sent out of England, three months after Mr Cornelius's martyrdom.
Source: Bishop Richard Challoner, Memoirs of Missionary Priests, Volume 1
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