Eustace White (1559 - 1591) was a Catholic priest. Due to his service he was put on trial in December 1591 and subsequently

hanged, drawn and quartered To be hanged, drawn and quartered became a statutory penalty for men convicted of high treason in the Kingdom of England from 1352 under Edward III of England, King Edward III (1327–1377), although similar rituals are recorded during the rei ...

at Tyburn on 10 December 1591, along with another priest and three laymen. He is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales and has been canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1970.

Life

Born in Louth, Lincolnshire, in 1559, he converted to the Roman Catholic Church in 1584 and was disowned by his father.Whitfield, Joseph Louis. "Ven. Eustace White." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 21 Jan. 2013
/ref> He travelled to Europe to study for the priesthood and was ordained, probably at the Venerable English College, Rome, in 1588. He returned to England for his ministry later that year - the year of the

Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aris ...

. He thus began his ministry just as anti-Catholic feeling was reaching fever pitch.

Martyrdom

A conversation with a fellow traveller led to his arrest in Dorset three years later in 1591. White put up a very articulate defence in the West Country, but was subsequently sent to London and imprisoned in Bridewell Prison. In October 1591 the Privy Council authorised the use of torture on White. A letter from him still survives, written a few weeks before his execution, and is addressed to Father Henry Garnet from prison, 23 November 1591: He was put on trial in December 1591 and subsequently

at Tyburn on 10 December 1591, along with another priest and three laymen. Before being executed, he forgave Topcliffe his cruelties, and prayed for him, and at his execution, telling the people that his only treason was his priesthood, and thanked God for the happy crown to his labors. Being cut down alive, he rose to his feet, but was tripped up and dragged to the fire where two men stood upon his arms while the executioner butchered him.

Veneration

There is a stained glass window of Saint Eustace White in St. Mary's Catholic Church in Louth, where the martyr was born. A book entitled ''Saint Eustace White: Elizabethan Priest and Martyr'' was written by Mark Vickers.

References

External links

Book review: St Eustace White, Elizabethan Priest and Martyr
{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Eustace 1559 births 1591 deaths People from Louth, Lincolnshire Catholic saints who converted from Protestantism Forty Martyrs of England and Wales English saints English College, Rome alumni Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism English Roman Catholic saints 16th-century English Roman Catholic priests People executed under Elizabeth I by hanging, drawing and quartering Executed people from Lincolnshire 16th-century Christian saints