Sherwin (25 October 1550 – 1 December 1581) 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 let ...

priest, executed in 1581. He is a Catholic

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 ...

and

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Or ...

Early years and education

Sherwin was born at Rodsley,

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

to John and Constance Sherwin and christened in Longford church. He was educated at Eton college. In 1568, he was nominated by Sir William Petre to one of the eight

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

ships which he had founded at

Exeter College, Oxford (Let Exeter Flourish) , old_names = ''Stapeldon Hall'' , named_for = Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter , established = , sister_college = Emmanuel College, Cambridge , rector = Sir Richard Trainor ...

,"The martyr who gave up worldly fame for the scaffold", ''Catholic Herald'', 24 November 2010
/ref> probably influenced by Sherwin's uncle, John Woodward, who from 1556 to 1566 had been rector of Ingatestone,

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

, where Petre lived. A talented classical scholar, Sherwin obtained his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in 1571 and

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

on 2 July 1574, and the following year converted to

Roman Catholicism 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 ...

. He soon made for the English College at

Douai Douai (, , ,; pcd, Doï; nl, Dowaai; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord département in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe some from Lille and from Arras, Dou ...

, where he was ordained a priest by the

Bishop 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 23 March 1577. On 2 August 1577, he left for

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, where he stayed at the

English College, Rome The Venerable English College (), commonly referred to as the English College, is a Catholic seminary in Rome, Italy, for the training of priests for England and Wales. It was founded in 1579 by William Allen on the model of the English Colleg ...

for nearly three years. On 18 April 1580, Sherwin and thirteen companions left Rome for England as missionaries. He got into England in early August and started his successful ministry in different parts of the country but not for long."St. Ralph Sherwin" by Father Robert F. McNamara
Retrieved on 1 March 2018

Prison and death

On 9 November 1580, he was arrested while preaching in the house of Nicholas Roscarrock in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

and imprisoned in 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, i ...

, where he converted many fellow prisoners, and on 4 December was transferred to 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 sep ...

, where he was tortured on the rack and then laid out in the snow. Later he was put into isolation cell, without food. He is said to have been personally offered a

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

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". Eli ...

if he converted, but refused. After spending a year in prison he was finally brought to trial with

Edmund Campion Edmund Campion, SJ (25 January 15401 December 1581) was an English Jesuit priest and martyr. While conducting an underground ministry in officially Anglican England, Campion was arrested by priest hunters. Convicted of high treason, he was h ...

on a charge of treasonable conspiracy. He was convicted in

Westminster Hall The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...

on 20 November 1581. Eleven days later he was taken to

Tyburn Tyburn was a Manorialism, 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 sout ...

on a hurdle along with Alexander Briant and

, where the three martyrs were

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 King Edward III (1327–1377), although similar rituals are recorded during the reign of King Henry III ...

. On the scaffold Ralph Sherwin again "professed his innocence, proclaimed his Catholic faith, and prayed for the Queen". Sherwin's last words were ''"Iesu, Iesu, Iesu, esto mihi Iesus!"''. Accessed 2011-10-18.

Veneration

Saint Ralph Sherwin Plaque Rodsley Derbyshire

Sherwin was the first member of the English College in Rome to be martyred. During the years 1581–1681 over forty more students were martyred for their faith. 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 n ...

on 29 December 1886 by

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-ol ...

. He was canonised on 25 October 1970 by

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...

as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales with a common

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context do ...

of 25 October. His individual feast day is celebrated on 1 December, the day of his martyrdom. A Catholic church in the

Chellaston Chellaston is a suburban village on the southern outskirts of Derby, in Derbyshire, England. History An early mention of Chellaston is thought to be a reference to Ceolarde's hill. This is mentioned in a 1009 charter when nearby lan ...

area of Derby, registered in January 1981, was dedicated to Ralph Sherwin. The church was demolished in 2018 to make space for a Lidl supermarket. There is a Sherwin Football Club based in the Normanton area of Derby. Founded in 1973, the club provides football and social opportunities for all ages and both genders in the local community. The club colours are purple with yellow trim.Sherwin Football Club website
/ref>

Notes

External links

"Blessed Ralph Sherwin"
in ''Lives of the English Martyrs Declared Blessed by Pope Leo XIII'' by Edward S. Keogh, Dom Bede Camm. Vol. 2 (1905). (Vol. 1 has list of 63 martyrs and beatification decrees in English). {{DEFAULTSORT:Sherwin, Ralph 1550 births 1581 deaths Forty Martyrs of England and Wales People educated at Eton College English College, Douai alumni English College, Rome alumni Anglican priest converts to Roman Catholicism Catholic saints who converted from Protestantism 16th-century English Anglican priests English Roman Catholic saints Fellows of Exeter College, Oxford 16th-century English Roman Catholic priests Inmates of the Marshalsea People executed under Elizabeth I by hanging, drawing and quartering Executed people from Derbyshire 16th-century Christian saints 16th-century Roman Catholic martyrs People from Derbyshire Dales (district) Beatifications by Pope Leo XIII Canonizations by Pope Paul VI