John Nelson (1535 – 3 February 1578) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

martyr 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 externa ...

who was executed during the reign of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

. Nelson was from

Skelton, York Skelton is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of the City of York, in North Yorkshire, England. It is north-north-west of the city of York, west of Haxby, and on the east bank of the River Ouse. Skelton was in the ancient roy ...

.Nuns of Tyburn Convent, ''The One Hundred and Five Martyrs of Tyburn'', p.21, Burns & Oates, 1917
/ref> He was nearing 40 when he left for Douai in 1573 for training as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

.Camm O.S.B., Bede, ''Lives of the English Martyrs'', p.223, Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1914
/ref> Two of his four brothers would later follow him there to become priests. He was ordained at

Binche Binche (; wa, Bince; Dutch: ''Bing'') is a city and municipality from Wallonia, in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Since 1977, the municipality consists of Binche, Bray, Buvrinnes, Épinois, Leval-Trahegnies, Péronnes-lez-Binche, Ressaix, an ...

in the

County of Hainaut The County of Hainaut (french: Comté de Hainaut; nl, Graafschap Henegouwen; la, comitatus hanoniensis), sometimes spelled Hainault, was a territorial lordship within the medieval Holy Roman Empire that straddled what is now the border of Belg ...

by Monsignor Louis de Berlaymont,

Archbishop of Cambrai The Archdiocese of Cambrai ( la, Archdiocesis Cameracensis; French: ''Archidiocèse de Cambrai'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France, comprising the arrondissements of Avesnes-sur-Help ...

, on 11 June 1576. The date and place of his admission to the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

are unknown. The following November, he left for his mission, which appears to have been in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He was arrested on 1 December 1578 at his residence, "late in the evening as he was saying the Nocturne of the Matins for the next day following", and was put into

Newgate Prison Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey Street just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, t ...

as a suspected Papist.Wainewright, John. "Blessed John Nelson." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 4 Feb. 2013
/ref> He had written to the French Jesuits during his imprisonment for permission to be admitted to the Society. When interrogated about a week later, he refused to take the oath recognizing the Queen's supremacy in spiritual matters, and was induced by the commissioners to declare the Queen a schismatic. Under the Legislation of 1571, this was high

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

and was punishable by death.Dillon, Anne. ''The Construction of Martyrdom in the English Catholic Community, 1535–1603'', Routledge, 2017, no pagination
/ref> He was condemned to death on 1 February 1578, and was confined after the trial in an underground dungeon in the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...

, the ''Pit of the Tower''. While in prison he subsisted on bread and water and was able to say

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

. On his execution day he refused to see several

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

minister Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

s, after meeting with family members. He was taken to

Tyburn Tyburn was a manor (estate) in the county of Middlesex, one of two which were served by the parish of Marylebone. The parish, probably therefore also the manor, was bounded by Roman roads to the west (modern Edgware Road) and south (modern Ox ...

and was allowed to speak before the bystanders, who were mostly hostile in the historically Protestant London. When asked to beg pardon of the Queen, he responded, "I will ask no pardon of her, for I have never offended her." He then asked any

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

s in the crowd to pray with him as he recited several common

prayer Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified a ...

s in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

. He was hanged and cut down alive, then quartered. His last words were, reportedly, "I forgive the queen and all the authors of my death". He was

beatified Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...

on 29 December 1886 by Pope Leo XIII.

References

Sources

*The most reliable compact source is Godfrey Anstruther, ''Seminary Priests'', St Edmund's College, Ware, vol. 1, 1968, pp. 245–247. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, John 1534 births 1578 deaths English beatified people 16th-century English Jesuits Jesuit martyrs People executed under Elizabeth I by hanging, drawing and quartering Martyred Roman Catholic priests 16th-century Roman Catholic martyrs 16th-century venerated Christians Executed people from North Yorkshire Clergy from York Forty-one Martyrs of England and Wales

See also

References

Sources