John Adams (ca. 1543 – 8 October 1586) was an English Catholic

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 ...

and

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 ...

Life

He was born at

Winterborne St Martin Winterborne St Martin, commonly known as Martinstown, is a village and civil parish in southwest Dorset, England, situated southwest of Dorchester, beside Maiden Castle. In 2013 the estimated population of the civil parish was 780. In the cen ...

in DorsetStanton, Richard, ''A Menology of England and Wales'', p.480, Burns & Oates, Ltd., London, 1892
/ref> at an unknown date (ca. 1543?) and became a Protestant minister. He later entered the

Catholic Church 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 ...

and travelled to the English College then at

Rheims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...

, arriving on 7 December 1579. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

a priest at

Soissons Soissons () is a commune in the northern French department of Aisne, in the region of Hauts-de-France. Located on the river Aisne, about northeast of Paris, it is one of the most ancient towns of France, and is probably the ancient capital ...

on 17 December 1580. He set out for the mission in England on 29 March 1581,Ryan, Patrick W.F. "Ven. John Adams." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 13 Mar. 2013
/ref> but returned to Rheims and again set our for England 18 June 1583.Wainewright, John Bannerman. "Venerable John Adams", ''Lives of the English Martyrs'', (Edwin H. Burton and J. H. Pollen eds.), London. Longmans, Green and Co., 1914
/ref> He is known to have worked in Hampshire but details of his later, as of his earlier life, are patchy. It may be that he was taken prisoner at Rye only a short time after landing in England and that he escaped. In 1583 he was described as a man of "about forty years of age, of average height, with a dark beard, a sprightly look and black eyes. He was a very good controversialist, straightforward, very pious, and pre-eminently a man of hard work. He laboured very strenuously at Winchester and in Hampshire, where he helped many, especially of the poorer classes." Captured at

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

, he was brought to London and arrived at the

Marshalsea The Marshalsea (1373–1842) was a notorious prison in Southwark, just south of the River Thames. Although it housed a variety of prisoners, including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition, it became known, in ...

prison on 7 March 1584. His sentence this time was banishment and he was expelled on 15 September 1585 with some seventy-two other priests. Landing at Boulogne, he arrived at

in France on 14 November 1585, but then immediately set out for England again. He was arrested at Winchester as he stepped out of his house, and this time taken to

the Clink The Clink was a prison in Southwark, England, which operated from the 12th century until 1780. The prison served the Liberty of the Clink, a local manor area owned by the Bishop of Winchester rather than by the reigning monarch. As the Libe ...

in London on 19 December 1585. This time, as was to be expected, he was not treated so lightly, especially since that year an Act had been passed which made it a

capital offence Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

to be a Catholic priest in England. The sentence of

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

was carried out at

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 ...

, London on 8 October 1586. His fate was shared by two fellow priests,

John Lowe John Lowe may refer to: Sports * John Lowe (darts player) (born 1945), English darts player. * John Lowe (footballer) (1912–1995), Scottish football player * John Lowe (rugby league), English rugby league footballer * John Lowe (cricketer) (18 ...

and Robert Dibdale, and possibly his own brother, a layman. This latter fact is not certain and the forename is not in any case known. All three priests were beatified (the last stage prior to

canonisation Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of s ...

) by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

on 22 November 1987.

References

Sources

* Godfrey Anstruther, ''Seminary Priests,'' St Edmund's College, Ware, vol. 1, 1968, pp. 1–2. {{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, John 1540s births 1586 deaths English beatified people People from West Dorset District 16th-century English Roman Catholic priests Anglican priest converts to Roman Catholicism 16th-century English Anglican priests People executed under Elizabeth I by hanging, drawing and quartering Eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales 16th-century Roman Catholic martyrs 16th-century venerated Christians Martyred Roman Catholic priests Executed Roman Catholic priests Executed people from Dorset People executed at Tyburn

Life

See also

References

Sources