William Ward (real name Webster) (about 1560 at Thornby in Westmoreland – 26 July 1641 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 ...

) was an English

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

priest. He is a Catholic martyr,

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 ...

in 1929.

Life

He was over forty when he went to Douay College to study for the priesthood; no details have been preserved of his earlier life, though he is believed to be a convert from

Anglicanism Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

. He arrived there on 18 September 1604; received the

minor orders Minor orders are ranks of church ministry. In the Catholic Church, the predominating Latin Church formerly distinguished between the major orders —priest (including bishop), deacon and subdeacon—and four minor orders—acolyte, exorcist, lecto ...

on 16 December 1605; the subdiaconate on 26 October 1607; the

diaconate A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

on 31 May 1608; and the priesthood on the following day. On 14 October he started for England, but was driven onto the shores of Scotland, arrested, and imprisoned for three years. On obtaining his liberty, he travelled to England where he worked for thirty years, twenty of which he spent in various prisons. He was zealous and fiery by temperament, severe with himself and others, and especially devoted to hearing confessions. Though he had the reputation of being a very exacting director, his earnestness drew to him many penitents. He was in London when Parliament issued the proclamation of 7 April 1641, banishing all priests under pain of death, but he refused to retire, and on 15 July was arrested at the house of his nephew. Six days later he was brought to trial at the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

and was condemned to death on 23 July. He was executed on the feast of St. Anne, to whom he ever had a great devotion. An oil portrait, painted shortly after the martyrdom from memory or possibly from an earlier sketch, is preserved at

St. Edmund's College, Ware St Edmund's College is a coeducational independent day and boarding school in the British public school tradition, set in in Ware, Hertfordshire. Founded in 1568 as a seminary, then a boys' school, it is the oldest continuously operating and ...

References

;Attribution * The entry cites: **''Third Douay Diary'' in

Catholic Record Society The Catholic Record Society (Registered Charity No. 313529), founded in 1904, is a scholarly society devoted to the study of Reformation and post-Reformation Catholicism in England and Wales. It has been described as "the premier Catholic histo ...

, X (London, 1911); **

Richard Challoner Richard Challoner (29 September 1691 – 12 January 1781) was an English Roman Catholic bishop, a leading figure of English Catholicism during the greater part of the 18th century. The titular Bishop of Doberus, he is perhaps most famous for hi ...

, ''Memoirs of Missionary Priests'' (London, 1741-2), using a contemporary account written by one of Ward's penitents. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, William 1560s births 1641 deaths English beatified people 17th-century venerated Christians People from Westmorland Executed people from Cumbria 16th-century English Roman Catholic priests 17th-century English Roman Catholic priests People executed by Stuart England One Hundred and Seven Martyrs of England and Wales