ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER
Saints celebrated on the 7th of September
WELCOME!
BLESSED RALPH CORBY, PRIEST AND MARTYR
Ralph Corby [Corbie], S.J., who was known upon the mission by the name of Carlington, was born near Dublin in Ireland, of English parents, natives of the bishoprick of Durham, and zealous converts, who went over into Ireland for the freer exercise of their religion. Here our confessor was brought into this world, on lady-day in March 1598, and when he was five years old accompanied his parents in their return to England, with whom he lived partly in Lancashire, and partly in the bishopric, for the persecutors suffered them not to continue long in the same place till the age of 15, being all the while remarkably dutiful and obedient to his parents, modest and reserved in his words, peaceful and meek in his temper, wonderfully sincere and exact in his speech, despising money, and when any was given him, giving it away to a younger brother, and above all very devout at his prayers, and a great lover of the blessed Virgin, whose little office he used to recite upon all Sundays and holydays: all which virtues were,under God, due to his pious education; his parents being very virtuous themselves, and taking care to bring up their children such. Insomuch that both parents and children all entered into religion; the father and his three sons in the Society of Jesus, the mother and her two daughters in the holy order of St Bennet.
Young Mr Ralph at fifteen years of age was admitted into the English college of St Omer's, where he spent six years in the study of humanity, and then was sent into Spain; where he employed five years, more in the study of philosophy and divinity; one year at Seville, where his health permitted him not to remain any longer, and four at Valladolid, where he was made priest. He then returned into Flanders, made his noviceship in the Society of Jesus at Watten, finished his divinity at Liege [Liège], and after two years spent at Ghent, was sent upon the English mission in 1623.
His missionary labours were employed amongst the poorer sort of catholics in the bishopric of Durham, where he travelled much, winter and summer, day and night, and generally on foot; to instruct, comfort, and administer the sacraments to a persecuted people, scattered here and there in the villages of that country; and this for the space of 12 years, suffering very much all the while from a bad state of health, and meeting with very indifferent accommodations, both as to lodging and diet, from his country hosts; whose hearts nevertheless he had gained in such manner by his virtue and charity, that they loved him as their father, and reverenced him as an apostle.
He had long aspired after the happiness of dying for Christ, and now the time came on when his desire was to be accomplished. It was on the 8th of July 1644, when going to Mass at a country house in Hampsterly, not far from Newcastle, he was apprehended by the parliament soldiers, rushing into the house, and scarce giving him time to put off his vestments, and was hurried away to Sunderland, where a committee of the sequestrators was then sitting. To these men he readily confessed himself to be a priest; and being required to sign a paper in which his confession was set down in writing, he obeyed, and without more ado was put on shipboard to be carried to London.
Here to his great comfort he found the reverend Mr John Duckett, a prisoner for the same cause, and now designed to be his companion in the same voyage, as he afterwards was both in prison and in death. And here these two servants of God contracted a holy friendship, which death itself could not dissolve, and being founded in God, will unite them in God to all eternity.
As soon as these two confessors of Christ were arrived at London, they were carried before a committee of the parliament at Westminster where their confession, which they had signed before, of their being priests, was produced, and acknowledged by them for their own act and deed. Upon which they were ordered to Newgate, and conducted thither through the streets lined with the mob, by a whole company of soldiers, with their captain at their head, beating their drums, and shooting off their muskets from time to time, as if they had taken in war the generals of their enemies, and like the old Romans were carrying them in triumph.
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| Newgate Prison, where Fr Corby and Fr Duckett were held |
In Newgate the servants of God remained close prisoners till the next sessions, that is, till the month of September. And as the violent disposition of the parliament at that time with regard to priests made them look for nothing else but the sentence of death, so they took care to prepare for it by giving themselves up to prayer and other religious exercises; seeming at the same time by a pious emulation, to vie with one another, which should excel in humility, charity, patience, zeal for the divine glory, and other heroical virtues; yet so as to maintain a wonderful harmony of will, and mutual concord in all things, to the great edification of all that came near them.
But what was particularly remarkable in these two confessors, was, their pious strife upon the occasion lately mentioned in our account of Mr Duckett: when some hopes being given, that the life of one of them might be saved, by way of exchange for a Scottish officer (a lieutenant colonel) at that time the emperor's prisoner; the imperial resident made the offer first to F. Corby, and he after many thanks to his excellency, modestly declined it, and desired it might be conferred on Mr Duckett, who, he said, was young and healthful, and in all other respects well qualified to do good service upon the mission; whereas for himself he was grown infirm, and if his life was spared could do little service. On the other hand Mr Duckett, when the offer was made to him, returning thanks both to the resident and F. Corby, equally declined the favour, and professed it would be better placed on F. Corby, a person of known experience, zeal and piety, and far better qualified to serve the mission than himself. And thus to the great edification of the resident, who came in person to Newgate on this occasion, the offer he made was handed to and fro between them, neither being willing to accept of it, till an expedient was proposed to save them both; but it succeeded not, for the parliament, it seems, was resolved they both should suffer.
They were both therefore brought to the bar upon the 4th of September, at the Old Bailey, where their trials were soon over, both having confessed before under their own hands, that they were priests. "Tis true, Mr Corby alleged that he was a native of Ireland, and therefore out of the case of the statute but the recorder told him he was mistaken, and ordered the statute of the 27th of Elizabeth to be read, by which it is made high treason for any man born within the queen's dominions, of which Ireland is a part, to remain in England after being made priest, &c. The jury therefore, as directed, brought them both in guilty, and the following day they both received sentence of death according to the usual form; and returned with joy to the prison, there to wait for that blessed and happy Saturday, as F. Corby expresses it in his letter written to his superior the day that he was condemned, which is the vigil of her glorious nativity (the 7th of September) by whose holy intercession, I hope, says he, to be born again to a new and everlasting life.
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At their return to Newgate they were thrust down into the condemned hole amongst the felons, by one of the turnkeys, who also began to strip them and load them with irons; till the master-keeper, who was more humane, though not without some consideration of money to be paid by them, allowed them a better lodging. The last day of their mortal life, and the whole ensuing night, they devoted to prayer fasting, watching so as not so much as once to close their eyes, and spiritual conferences with those who came to visit them, as many did, both English and foreigners; and amongst the latter most of the ministers of catholic princes and states then residing in London, as also the duchess of Guise, who passed the whole night in watching and prayer with them; and having made her confession to F. Corby, received the blessed Sacrament at his hands, and purchased the chalice in which he said his last Mass, which she afterwards kept as a precious relic. The French envoy also made his confession to the Father, anal received from him a pair of beads and a blessed medal, to be sent to the queen-mother of France, and professed after his departure, how much he had been edified by the sight and conversation of both these champions of Christ, and that he had never seen their equals for christian fortitude. Many others also there were that confessed to them, and received at their hands in their last Masses, to the great comfort of their souls.
It was observed that F. Corby, who from the time of his condemnation till then, had been full of joy at the approach of his happy dissolution, whilst he was saying his last Mass, like his Saviour in the garden, appeared to be as it were in an agony of sadness and fear, which discovered itself in his gestures, and in his voice, to the surprise of the standers-by, who afterwards inquiring of him the meaning of it, learnt from his own mouth that certain melancholy thoughts at that time pressed in upon him, which overclouded his soul, till by earnest prayer to God they were dispelled, and tranquility and joy succeeded in their place; and so from that time till his happy death, he continued cheerful and joyful; and told his friends, who wept at their last parting with him, when he was going out in order for execution, that they had no reason to weep, but rather if they loved him, ought to rejoice and congratulate with him, who was going to meet so great a happiness.
And now the 7th of September was come, when these two soldiers of Christ were to fight their last battle; when about ten o'clock in the morning they were called down to the hurdle, they went forth with their crowns shaved, the one in the religious habit of the Society of Jesus, and the other in his clergyman's cassock; and being pinioned down according to custom, they were drawn from Newgate to Tyburn. Many catholics asked and received their blessing in the way; and even the protestants who saw them could not help admiring their courage and constancy. When they were arrived at the place of execution, they kissed the gallows, and giving God thanks, got into the cart, where their stood five malefactors, who were to be executed with them. Mr Duckett for his part made no speech, but stood silent, with his eyes lifted up towards heaven. F. Corby contented himself with a short discourse, in which he gave an account of the cause for which he and his companion were to die, viz, merely for being catholic priests, nothing else being alleged against either of them.
The sheriff told him, they had seduced many, and were to die because having been made priests beyond the seas, they had returned into England and seduced the king's subjects, in contempt of the laws of God and the kingdom.
Pardon me, Mr Sheriff, said F. Corby, there is no contempt of the laws of God in the case and if our desiring the salvation of our neighbours, if our receiving for this purpose the holy order of priesthood, instituted by Christ, if our bringing back to Christ's fold the sheep that were gone astray, be against the laws of the kingdom, and punishable by death; I would have the whole world understand, that in such a cause we are not afraid of death, but earnestly desire it, and embrace it with open arms. Yes, Mr Sheriff, we most willingly render this day to our Saviour, who most willingly died for us all, this life of ours, due a thousand times over to his merits and death: and we shall joyfully die for the love of him, and for the cause of our religion.
This was the sum of his words, says my author, diligently noted by a catholic that stood near; nor was there opportunity for his speaking much more to the people but the confessor was not wanting in exhorting and animating one of the five, who were to suffer with him, Hauard by name, condemned, though, as it is thought, wrongfully, for coining, who had been lately reconciled in prison, and made a public profession of his faith at the gallows, regretting very much that he had known it so late and declaring aloud, that there was no other way to eternal salvation.
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| The Manner of Execution at Tyburn |
And now the two confessors most lovingly embraced each other, and took their leave for a moment to meet for ever in a happy eternity. The sheriff would not permit them to be cut down, till he was assured they were quite dead. But then on the other hand, he shewed his zeal against popery by ordering all things to be burnt, even to the very apron and sleeves of the hangman, that had been sprinkled with any of their blood, that the papist dogs, as he said, might have nothing to keep for relics. Yet some there were, who, notwithstanding all this diligence of the sheriff, found means to procure some pieces of Mr Duckett's cassock, one of his hands, and the whole cassock of F. Corby. He suffered September 7, 1644, ætatis anno 46, societatis 20.
From his Life printed at Antwerp in 1645.
1645. Five months did not fully pass from the execution of Mr Duckett and Mr Corby, when another gentleman of the same character suffered at the same place, for the same cause.
Source: Bishop Richard Challoner, Memoirs of Missionary Priests, Volume 2
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