Augustine Bernher ( fl. 1554) was a priest in England.

Life

Bernher, a clerk and servant of

Hugh Latimer Hugh Latimer ( – 16 October 1555) was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and Bishop of Worcester during the Reformation, and later Church of England chaplain to King Edward VI. In 1555 under the Catholic Queen Mary I he was burned at the s ...

Bishop of Worcester A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

, was a Swiss, or, according to Fox, a Belgian. During the reign of

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

he was minister of a

congregation A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: *Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administra ...

in London, and is said to have lived much at

Baxterley Baxterley is a small village and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire in England. According to the 2001 Census, it had a population of 335, reducing to 328 at the 2011 Census. The village is about two miles west of A ...

. When Latimer was committed to the

Tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

on 13 September 1553, Bernher attended him there, and the next year waited on him and the other bishops imprisoned at

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. In this year also he succoured

John Jewel John Jewel (''alias'' Jewell) (24 May 1522 – 23 September 1571) of Devon, England was Bishop of Salisbury from 1559 to 1571. Life He was the youngest son of John Jewel of Bowden in the parish of Berry Narbor in Devon, by his wife Alice Bell ...

when in great need during his flight from Oxford, and so saved his life. Throughout the

Marian persecutions Protestants were executed in England under heresy laws during the reigns of Henry VIII (1509–1547) and Mary I (1553–1558). Radical Christians also were executed, though in much smaller numbers, during the reigns of Edward VI (1547–155 ...

he was a constant friend to Catholic

martyrs A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external ...

, and a kind of overseer to the wives and fatherless children of those who died for their religion. In a letter written shortly before his death, Robert Glover bade his wife be guided by Bernher, whom he called "an angel of God"; and

John Bradford John Bradford (1510–1555) was an English Reformer, prebendary of St. Paul's, and martyr. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London for alleged crimes against Queen Mary I. He was burned at the stake on 1 July 1555. Life Bradford was born ...

, writing from his prison, addressed him as "my own good Augustine". He comforted and attended on Glover, Careless, Joyce Lewis, and Cuthbert Sympson, who suffered martyrdom in 1555–8. In the reign of Elizabeth he was rector of Sutton (Memorials, i. 589), or, according to Tanner, of Southam, and was noted for the

indignation IndigNation was Singapore's annual, month-long lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer pride season, first held in August 2005 to coincide with the republic's 40th National Day. Background IndigNation begun as a series of LGBT-themed events meant to f ...

he expressed against the priests who conformed to the ecclesiastical changes then enforced. He wrote ''Testimonies taken out of God's Word, &c.'', ''An Answer to Certain Scriptures, &c.'', manuscripts in the

Bodleian The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...

Library, ''Epistola ad dominum suum'' (Ridley), a manuscript in

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mon ...

, and edited Latimer's Sermons with a Latin preface addressed to Catherine, Duchess of Suffolk, (published 1572, another edition 1635), and Latimer's Works (Parker Soc.), i. 311. Notices of Bernher are in works published by the

Parker Society The Parker Society was a text publication society set up in 1841 to produce editions of the works of the early Protestant writers of the English Reformation. It was supported by both the High Church and evangelical wings of the Church of England, an ...

, e.g. Bradford's Works, i. 306, ii. 168, 186, and Ridley's Works, 381.

References

Sources

16th-century English clergy {{England-reli-bio-stub