Saints celebrated on the 30th of May
BLESSED THOMAS COTTAM, PRIEST AND MARTYR
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| "P. Thomas Cottamus, English S.J., hanged for the Faith of Christ in London in England¹" |
Thomas Cottam was born in Lancashire, brought up in Brazen-nose college, in Oxford, where he took the degree of batchelor of arts, March 23, 1568. From whence he went to London, and was there for some sime a schoolmaster; but embracing the catholic religion, he left the kingdom, and went over to Douay, to the English college lately founded there. From Douay, after some time, he was sent to Rome, where he entered into the Society of Jesus: "but there falling into a consuming and lingering sickness, he was, by his superiors, sent to Lyons, in France, to try if by change of air he might be recovered but the sickness so grew and increased upon him, that he was made an unfit man for them, and thereupon they dismissed him.
"Whilst Mr Cottam was at Lyons, Sledd, that infamous Judas, intending to work some mischief, came from Rome in the company of divers Englishmen, whose names and marks he took very diligently and being come to Lyons, found Mr Cottam there; and travelling in his company from thence for some days understood of him, that he meant very shortly to return home to his native country. Whereupon Sledd took his marks more exactly and precisely; and being arrived at Paris, he there presented to the English Embassador the names and marks he had taken, who sent them over to the queen's counsel, and from them they were sent to the searchers of the ports."
In the meantime Mr Cottam went to Rheims, where the college had lately been translated from Douay; and there, "being a deacon and a good preacher long before, he was made priest; and hearing of company that were ready to go into England, he made great haste to go with them, and earnest suit to have leave, partly for his health, and especially for the great zeal he had to gain and save souls.
"He arrived at Dover in June, 1580, in the company of Mr John Hart and Mr Edward Rishton, two learned priests (who are also both condemned) and another a layman. After these four had been searched to their skins, and nothing found about them, Mr Hart was stopped and taken for Mr Orton (to whom he nothing at all resembled), Mr Cottam was likewise stopped, because the marks which Sledd had given of him were indeed, very clear and apparent in him.
"And, for the avoiding of charges, Mr Allen, then major of Dover, and Stevens the searcher, requested the layman, Mr Cottam's companion, (Dr Ely, professor of the cannon and civil law in the university of Douay,) who called himself Havard, to carry him as a prisoner to my Lord Cobham, who agreed very easily thereunto: but as soon as they were out of the town, I cannot, said Havard, in conscience, nor will not, being myself a catholic, deliver you, a catholic priest, prisoner to my Lord Cobham; but we will go straight to London, and when you come there shift for yourself, as I will do for myself.
"Coming to London, Mr Cottam went immediately to one of the prisons, and there conferred with a catholic friend of his, recounting to him the order and manner of his apprehension and escape. His friend told him, that in conscience, he could not make that escape, and persuaded him to go and yield himself prisoner: whereupon he went to his friend Havard (Dr Ely,) and requested him to deliver the major of Dover's letter to my Lord Cobham. Why? what will you do with it? said Havard; I will go, said Mr Cottam, and carry it to him, and yield myself prisoner; for I am fully persuaded, that I cannot make this escape in conscience: Why, said Havard, this counsel that hath been given you proceedeth, I confess from a zealous mind, but I doubt whether it carrieth with it the weight of knowledge: you shall not have the letter, nor you may not, in conscience, yield yourself to the persecutor and adversary, having so good means offered to escape their cruelty. But Mr Cottam still persisting in his demands; Mr Havard said, Well, seeing you will not be turned from this opinion, let us go first and consult with such a man (naming one but newly come over) whom Mr Cottam greatly honoured and reverenced for his singular wit and learning, and for his rare virtues; and if he be of your opinion, you shall have the letter and go in God's name. When they came to this man, he utterly disliked of his intention, and dissuaded him from so fond a cogitation. Mr Cottam being assuaged, but not altogether satisfied, went quietly about his business, and never left London for the matter. The major of Dover's letter being sent back to him again, within two or three days after cometh up the host of the inn, where Mr Cottam was taken.
"This host, as providence would have it, met with Havard, and, taking him by the shoulder said, Gentleman, you have undone me, because the prisoner you promised to deliver is escaped. Wherefore you must come with me to one Mr Andrews, my Lord Cobham's deputy, and give him satisfaction in the matter. Havard was somewhat amazed at this sudden summoning; but after a while coming to himself, he said, Why, my host, if I deliver you the prisoner again you will be contented? Yes, said the other, deliver me the prisoner, and I have nothing to say to you. Upon this they went to Mr Cottam's lodging; but he was removed, the people of the house knew not whither. The host would fain have had this Havard, so called for the time, to go with him to the said Andrews: but Havard sought all means to avoid his company, being sure, if he had once come within the persecutor's paws he should not escape them so easily; and being as then loth to fall into further trouble he said to the other, my host, there is no such necessity why I should go to Mr Andrews: for if I did, perhaps he would pick some quarrel with me by reason of the prisoner's escape; and I might come to trouble, and you would reap no gain or profit thereby. But this I will do for your discharge, I will bring you to a merchant, who I think, will give you his hand that I shall bring you the prisoner by four of the clock, or else that I shall deliver you my body again. I am content, saith he, so that I have the one of you two. To the merchant therefore they went, who, at the request of Havard, his brother-in-law gave his hand and promise for the performance of the condition before specified. (Which promise, though punctually performed, cost the merchant eight months imprisonment afterwards; but how justly will be one day examined before the just Judge.) Thus Havard leaving his host in the merchant's house, went forth into the city with another in his company, to see if he could meet with Mr Cottam.
"And coming into Cheapside, there by chance, he met him; and after ordinary salutations, he said, Mr Cottam, such a man is come to town, and hath so seized upon me for your escape, that either you or I must needs go to prison: you know my state and condition, and may guess how I shall be treated, if once I appear under my right name before them: you know also your own state. Now it is in your choice whether of us shall go for one must go, there is no remedy and to force you I will not, for I had rather sustain any punishment whatsoever. Mr Cottam, lifting up his eyes and hands to heaven, said these words: Now God be blessed. I should never while I lived have been without scruple, if I had escaped from them. Nothing grieveth me, but that I have not dispatched some business that I have to do. Why said Havard, it is but ten of the clock yet; and you may dispatch your business by four of the clock, and then you may go to them. Whither is it, said he, that I must go? To the sign of the Star, saith Havard, in New Fisi-Street; and there you must enquire for one Mr Andrews, my Lord Cobham's deputy; to him you must surrender yourself. I will, said he; and so they parted, and never saw one the other after.
"Mr Cottam, after he had dispatched all his business, went at four o'clock, all alone, to the place appointed, and there yielded himself prisoner (an invincible proof of his being innocent of any treason) and was carried to the court, lying then at Nonesuch, or Oatlands. From whence, after five days' conference with divers [protestant government] ministers that laboured, but in vain, to pervert him, he was sent to the Marshalsea for religion, and not for treason; and from thence to the Tower, there to be racked; not for to reveal any secret treason, as the adversaries most falsely pretend; but tormented because he would not confess his private sins unto them [the protestant government ministers], as he both confidently and truly affirmed to their faces at his arraignment. After a long confinement he was led to Westminster, and there unjustly condemned with Father Campion and others; and on the 30th of May following, drawn to Tyburn, where we have seen his behaviour in the cart, and how he was set down again before Mr Richardson's execution.
"When the cart was drawn away from Mr Richardson, Mr Cottam said, O good Laurence pray for me: Lord Jesus receive thy soul; which he repeated several times. All this time Mr Cottam was with the sheriff and the ministers upon the ground, having the rope still about his neck. I could not well hear what persuasions the sheriff and ministers had with him but I do conjecture, that what they said was, that if he would renounce his faith he should have his pardon for I heard him well utter these words, I will not swerve a jot from my faith for anything: yea if I had ten thousand lives, I would rather lose them all, than forsake the catholic faith in any point. And with that he was lifted up into the cart again; and the sheriff said withal, dispatch him, since he is so stubborn.
"Then he was turned backward to look upon Mr Richardson, who was then in quartering, which he did, saying, Lord Jesus have mercy upon them! O Lord, give me grace to endure to the end; Lord give me constancy to the end. Which saying he uttered almost for all the time that Mr Richardson was in quartering, saving once that he said, thy soul pray for me; and at the last he said, O Lord, what a spectacle hast thou made unto me! which he repeated twice or thrice. And then the head of Mr Richardson was held up by the executioner, who said, as the custom is, God save the queen. To which Mr Cottam said, I beseech God to save her and bless her; and with all my heart I wish her prosperity as my sovereign queen, and chief governess. They willed him to say, and supreme head in matters ecclesiastical. To whom he answered, If I would have put in those words, I had been discharged almost two years since. Then the sheriff said, You are a traitor if you deny that. Mr Cottam said, No, that is a matter of faith, and unless it be for my conscience and faith, I never offended her majesty. And with that, he looked up to heaven and prayed secretly; then uttered these words, in te Domine speravi non confundar in æternum; in thee, O Lord, in thee have I hoped, let me not be confounded for ever. And, O Domine tu plura pro me passus es, &c. O Lord thou hast suffered more for me, three times repeating, plura, more.
"Then the sheriff said and no doubt the queen will be merciful unto you. Who answered, My conscience giveth me a clear testimony that I never offended her. Adding, that he wished her as much good as to his own soul; and for all the gold under the cope of heaven, he would not wish that any one hair of her bead should perish to do her harm; and that all that he did here suffer, was for saving his soul; desiring Almighty God, for his sweet Son's sake, that he would vouchsafe to take him to his mercy: saying, that him only he had offended; and desiring God, that if there were anything more unspoken, which were convenient to be spoken, he would now put it into his mind.
"And then he prayed, desiring forgiveness of all the world; and saying, that he did from the bottom of his heart forgive all. Adding, that the sins of this realm have deserved infinite punishment, and God's just indignation; and desiring him, of his mercy, that he would turn his wrath from this people, and call them to repentance, to see and acknowledge their sins. Then he begged all catholics to pray with him; and having said his Pater, and being in the middle of his Ave, the cart was driven away. He hanged till he was dead; and being stripped, he was found to wear within his shirt, a shirt of very coarse canvass, without sleeves, which reached down beneath his middle; which was likely in the nature of a hair shirt, for the punishment of his body; with which kind of things England is not now acquainted."
He suffered May 30, 1582.
From the same eye-witness, and from Raissius his catalogue, p. 37.
Father Lewis of Grenada, in his abridgment of his catechism, chap. 22, gives an account of the death of Mr Cottam, and the other six his companions, from an eye-witness, and looks upon them as illustrious martyrs.
Source: Bishop Richard Challoner, Memoirs of Missionary Priests, Volume 1
¹Thomas Cottam by Melchior Küsel, from: Mathias Tanner, "Societas Jesu usque ad sanguinis et vitae profusionem militans, in Europa, Africa, Asia, et America, contra gentiles, Mahometanos, Judaeos, haereticos, impios, pro Deo, fide, Ecclesia, pietate, sive, Vita, et mors eorum, qui ex Societate Jesu in causa fide", Prague, 1675.
(The Society of Jesus fighting in Europe, Africa, Asia, and America, until the profusion of blood and life, against the Gentiles, Mohammedans, Jews, heretics, impious, for God, faith, the Church, piety, or, Life and death in the cause of faith of those of the Society of Jesus)
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