Bienheureux Jean Thules et Roger Wrenno, martyrs
John Thules fut ordonné prêtre à Rome à l'âge d'environ 24 ans. De retour en Angleterre, il assista les catholiques persécutés et fut arrêté dans le Lancaster. Il fut emprisonné avec Roger Wrenno, originaire du même comté. Tous deux furent pendus en 1616, sous le roi Jacques Ier, pour leur fidélité à l’Église catholique.
Bienheureux Jean Thules et Roger Wrenno
Martyrs en Angleterre (✝ 1616)
Jean Thules (John Thules) a été ordonné prêtre à Rome à l'âge d'environ 24 ans. De retour en Angleterre, il servit les catholiques persécutés par les protestants pendant plus de 20 ans. Il fut arrêté dans le Lancaster et emprisonné avec un catholique nommé Roger Wrenno.
À Lancaster en Angleterre, l’an 1616, les bienheureux martyrs Jean Thules, prêtre, et Roger Wrenno, originaires du même comté, qui, sous le roi Jacques Ier, furent pendus pour leur fidélité à l’Église catholique.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/11518/Bienheureux-Jean-Thules-et-Roger-Wrenno.html
Ven. John Thulis
English martyr, born at Up Holland, Lancashire, probably about 1568; suffered at Lancaster, 18 March, 1615 or 1616. He arrived at the English College, Reims, 25 May, 1583, and received tonsure from Cardinal Guise on 23 September following. He left for Rome, 27 March, 1590, where he was ordained priest, and was sent on the mission in April, 1592. He seems to have been a prisoner at Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, when he signed the letter of 8 November, 1598, in favour of the institution of the archpriest, and the letter of 17 November, 1600, against it. Later he laboured in Lancashire, where he was arrested by William, fifteenth earl of Derby, and was committed to Lancaster Castle, where his fellow-martyr Roger Wrenno, a weaver, was confined. They managed to escape one evening just before the Lent assizes, but were recaptured the next day. After that he was imprisoned with thieves, four of whom he converted. These were executed with the martyrs. Thulis suffered after three thieves. His quarters were set up at Lancaster, Preston, Wigan, and Warrington. Wrenno was hanged next, and, the rope breaking, he was once more offered his life for conformity, but ran swiftly to the ladder and climbed it as fast as he could, saying to the sheriff, who remonstrated, "If you had seen that which I have just now seen, you would be as much in haste to die as I am now." A curious metrical account of their martyrdom, as well as portions of a poem composed by Thulis, are printed by Father Pollen in his "Acts of the English Martyrs" (London, 1891), 194-207.
Wainewright, John. "Ven. John Thulis." The
Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 18
Mar. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14711a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for
New Advent by Mark Dittman.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. July
1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal
Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2020 by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14711a.htm
Bl. John Thules and Roger Wrenno
John Thules, of Whalley, England, was ordained a priest in Rome around
the age of twenty-four. Returning to England, he served his country’s
persecuted Catholics for over twenty years. In Lancashire, he was arrested by
the Protestant authorities and imprisoned with a Catholic weaver,
Roger Wrenno. Father Thules converted four thieves imprisoned with them.
The priest and
Roger were sentenced to death for their faith. After Father Thules had been
executed by drawing and quartering, Roger was placed in the noose to begin his
execution, but the rope broke, sending him tumbling to the ground, still alive.
The sheriff immediately offered him a second chance to escape death if he would
agree to deny his faith. But instead, Roger, who had apparently experienced
a supernatural vision,
ran to the scaffold ladder and eagerly scaled it, telling the sheriff, If you
had seen that which I have just now seen, you would be as much in haste to die
as I am now. He was thereupon hung.
SOURCE : http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5742
BLESSED JOHN THULES (1568-1616), BLESSED ROGER WRENNO
(1578-1616)
Fr JohnThules was arrested at the house of Roger
Wrenno, a ‘poor weaver’ from Chorley. They managed to escape from Lancaster
Castle, but after walking all night they found that they had been going in
circles and were still within sight of their prison. Recaptured and condemned,
they were offered their lives if they would recant their faith. Both refused.
The first attempt to hang Wrenno failed when the rope broke. Seeing this as
divine intervention, the Sheriff said to him ‘It is God’s will thou shouldst
not die; take the oath therefore and be a good subject and the King will show
mercy’. Wrenno replied, ‘If you had seen that which I have just now seen, you
would be as much in haste to die as I now am’. He quickly mounted the scaffold
again and was hanged.
Two men are
accused of dissent because of their Catholic faith. This
article tells the story of their capture, their escape and their eventual fate.
John Thewlis and Roger Wrennall: Two Lancaster Martyrs
Who Got Away (well, almost)
Posted by Tim Hoare
The stories of the Lancaster Catholic Martyrs in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries often seem to follow a very similar pattern: a clinging or conversion to the Old Faith, priests trained abroad to return to England and die a horrible death for defying the Anglican Establishment, and a willingness, even an eagerness, to suffer as Christ on the Cross suffered. There is drama in the stories but, as we do not know great detail about many of these people, whether men or women, the focus tends to be on that final suffering rather than on just who the Martyrs were and what they were like as individuals. The way the stories are told can reinforce this focus on pure piety and the nature of Catholic faith without giving us much more.
To say this is in no way to belittle the courage,
conviction and faith of the Martyrs, but it is good for our historical
understanding if we can begin to sketch in some of the background detail, to
give the Martyrs flesh and life. In the story of two linked Martyrs, John
Thewlis and Roger Wrennall, an effort has been made to give the picture a
little more depth, however Sketchily. The events narrated and discussed do not
represent original source research and investigation, but attempt a synthesis
of the details in the sources that exist.
The names
When we look at the various printed sources for these two men we can notice immediately the fact that their names differ in spelling. John Thewlis sometimes appears as John Thulis or Thules, and Roger Wrennall as Roger Wrenno. This probably means that authorities and officials who dealt with them heard their names spoken rather than written and wrote down what they thought was the correct spelling. There is no doubt from the sources, however, that we are looking at the same two men. In this account we have chosen to spell the names as Thewlis and Wrennall.
Thewlis maintained his stand and the authorities
maintained theirs.
John Thewlis – his background and motivation
John Thewlis was born in Upholland in the mid to late
1560s, probably 1568. Whether his family were Old Believers or whether he was
converted to Catholicism is uncertain, but he arrived at the English
College in Reims on 25th May 1583, receiving his tonsure from no less a figure
than Cardinal Louis de Guise on 23rd September of the same year. He went to
Rome on 27th march 1590 and was ordained a priest. Thewlis was then sent back
to England to begin his ministry and, if necessary, risk arrest and eventual
martyrdom. So far the story runs on familiar lines.
Back to England….
When he arrived back in England in 1592, Thewlis was soon
arrested and imprisoned in Wisbech Castle, Cambridgeshire. How long he was held
there and in what conditions we cannot say, but he was eventually released,
some sources say he escaped, and resumed his life as a Catholic priest. Does
this mean that he made himself outwardly agreeable to his captors, or that they
were incompetent or could be bribed? The question arises again later in
Thewlis’s story.
….and to Lancashire
Thewlis now began travelling in Lancashire, preaching
and administering the sacraments where he could. Local traditions, particularly
in the areas of Chorley and Whalley, suggest that he was highly successful in
this work, and it is at this point that Roger Wrennall comes into the picture.
Wrennall and Thewlis form a team
We have less detail about Wrennall’s background than we do about Thewlis, but it seems that he must have been a hand weaver by occupation, either from Kirkham or Chorley, sources differing on location. Wrennall attached himself to Thewlis as a travelling companion, probably dealing with the daily practicalities of a priest’s life on the move. Maybe he too had abilities as a lay preacher and had a good working knowledge of the local people, whom to approach, whom to avoid, where to go. It does seem that for a time Thewlis and Wrennall made an effective team, perhaps too effective in the long run.
He ascended to the gallows, was hanged and, amazingly,
the rope broke and Wrennall fell to the ground
Betrayed and imprisoned
Eventually their activities came to the attention of William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby, and it is possible that they were betrayed by a cousin of Thewlis. They were arrested and sent to Lancaster Castle, their trials set for the period of the Lent Assizes in 1616. There is some calendar disagreement over the year date but 1616 seems most likely to be correct.
It is now that the story of the two men takes another
twist. Somehow Thewlis and Wrennall contrived to make an escape attempt from
Lancaster Castle. Were they confined together or was Wrennall adept at passing
messages and fooling the gaolers, whose regime may have been both harsh and
incompetent, as could earlier have been the case at Wisbech?
An escape – nearly
The attempt, however contrived, was momentarily
successful. Thewlis and Wrennall managed to get out of the Castle and wandered
about the Lancaster area under cover of darkness, but seemingly had no idea
where they were going. It is possible that they got to the River Lune and
thought that by following it they might somehow reach Whalley. If so, their
knowledge of local geography was woefully lacking. The next morning found them
still close to the town of Lancaster and they were easily recaptured and
incarcerated. Some readers may wonder what was the motive behind their botched
escape. Could it have been fear of death, a failure of nerve at becoming
martyrs to the old Faith? The answer must surely be no. Their subsequent story
shows great courage and steadfastness, so their motive was probably to try and
continue their ministry for as long as possible. A dead priest cannot
administer the sacraments to a waiting congregation, cannot preach, cannot
convert.
The gallows loom
From this point on, the story of Thewlis and Wrennall
continues to its tragic and inevitable conclusion on 18th March 1616, though some
attempts were made to turn Thewlis away from his Catholic position. The
renowned Puritan rector William Leigh of Standish was brought in to dispute
with him but to no avail. Thewlis’s Godson, a Mr Ashton (or Assheton) of Lever,
meanwhile offered him £20 a year to renounce his faith, again with no response
other than a refusal. Thewlis was therefore condemned, because of his Catholic
priesthood, as a traitor.
Why do you boggle at it?
Firm in faith
Yet even on the gallows he was invited to take an oath of renunciation and allegiance to the King, but still refused. The authorities demanded, “Why do you boggle at it?” Thewlis responded that if he were offered an oath containing nothing but civil allegiance to the King he would take it. Since the King was head of both Church and State, such a position was unacceptable. Thewlis maintained his stand and the authorities maintained theirs. He was duly hung, drawn and quartered and his head fixed as an example and warning to others on Lancaster Castle walls. His quarters were meanwhile displayed at Lancaster, Preston, Wigan and Warrington. Even on the point of death he remained a formidable presence and is said to have converted four other prisoners charged as thieves.
Another chance!
Wrennall, at his trial, showed just as much
determination in his stand. He was primarily condemned as a felon who had
unlawfully assisted a priest. He ascended to the gallows, was hanged and,
amazingly, the rope broke and Wrennall fell to the ground. Seeing this as a
chance to force him to take an oath of renunciation, the authorities tried to
apply psychological pressure. Wrennall, however, stated: “I am the same man I
was, and in the same mind; use your pleasure with me.” He then ran up the
ladder, having, he said, had a vision of the “good things of the Lord.” A new
rope was brought and his execution reached its conclusion.
An end to the story
This brings us to the end of the story of Thewlis and Wrennall, though it clearly captured the popular imagination amongst local Catholic people. A poem was later composed about the two martyrs. It is dificult not to admire them, whether the listener to their story is a Catholic or not, and the account does resonate in the mind and heart as telling us about real persons. It is not just an enduring example of Catholic piety in the Penal Era.
· Billington, R.N. & Brownbill, J. (1910) St. Peter’s, Lancaster, a history. London: Sands & Co. Pages 39-40.
· Billington’s Blog. Wednesday March 18 2009. Blessed John Thewlis and Roger Wrennall.
· Andrews, W.E. (1826) Review of Fox’s Book of Martyrs. Vol. 3. London: W.E. Andrews. Pages 148-150. Available online.
· Myerscough, J.A. (1958) A procession of Lancaster martyrs and confessors. Glasgow: Burns. Pages 123-126.
· English Martyrs Church, the Sands, Whalley, Sunday 18 March 2012. Feature on Thulis and Wrenno. Online information from website of St. Mary’s Church, Chorley, JCW March 2012.
· Wikipedia. Short article on Thulis and Wrenno
· The poem about these martyrs, plus portions of a verse by Thewlis, has been printed by J. Hungerford Pollen in Acts of the English Martyrs. London, 1891. pages 194-207.
SOURCE : http://www.documentingdissent.org.uk/?p=15512
Beati Giovanni Thules e Ruggero Wrenno Martiri
>>> Visualizza la Scheda del
Gruppo cui appartiene
† 18 marzo 1616
Beatificati
nel 1987 da Papa Giovanni Paolo II.
Martirologio
Romano: A Lancaster in Inghilterra, beati Giovanni Thules, sacerdote, e
Ruggero Wrenno, che, originari della medesima contea,
divennero martiri di Cristo durante il regno di Giacomo I.
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/Detailed/45910.html
Voir aussi : http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/relaunch-of-english-martyrs-film-brings-stories-to-us-audience/
