Micklegate Bar, Hospital of St. Thomas, York,
England.
Bienheureux Matthieu Flathers, prêtre et martyr
Matthieu Flathers fut condamné à mort sous le roi
Jacques Ier, parce qu’après des études au séminaire de Douai, il était entré,
bien que prêtre, en Angleterre, puis pendu et dépecé encore vivant, à York en
1608.
SOURCE : http://www.paroisse-saint-aygulf.fr/index.php/prieres-et-liturgie/saints-par-mois/icalrepeat.detail/2015/03/21/14041/-/bienheureux-matthieu-flathers-pretre-et-martyr
Bienheureux Matthieu
d'York
Prêtre et
martyr (+ 1608)
Matthieu Flathers fut
condamné à mort sous le roi Jacques Ier, parce qu'il était entré, bien que
prêtre, en Angleterre, puis pendu et dépecé encore vivant à York.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/10220/Bienheureux-Matthieu-d-York.html
Matthew Flathers
Prêtre anglais, Martyr, Bienheureux
1580-1607
Matthew Flathers, est
probablement né vers 1580 à Weston, en Angleterre.
Il a fait ses études à Douai
(France) et a été ordonné prêtre à Arras, en la solennité de l'Annonciation, le
25 Mars 1606. Trois mois plus tard, il a été envoyé à la mission anglaise, mais
a été découvert presque immédiatement par les émissaires du gouvernement, qui,
après la conspiration des poudres, avait redoublé de vigilance dans la traque
des prêtres de la religion proscrite. Il a été jugé et condamné à mort, mais,
par un acte de clémence inhabituelle, cette peine a été commuée en bannissement
à vie. Mais après un bref exil, Matthew résolut de retourner en Angleterre et
d’y continuer avec une intrépidité peu commune, son ministère sacerdotal. Mais
après quelque temps de mission intense auprès de ses compatriotes du Yorkshire,
il fut de nouveau arrêté et traduit en justice à York, sur la charge d’avoir
été ordonné à l’étranger et d’exercer des fonctions sacerdotales en Angleterre.
On lui a proposé la liberté à condition qu’il prête serment d'allégeance au
décret récemment promulgué. Sur son refus, il a été condamné à mort et conduit
à la place commune d'exécution en dehors de Micklegate Bar, York, pour y être
pendu, comme le stipulait alors la Loi.
La pendaison, et le traitement
qui lui a été réservé, semble avoir été réalisée d'une manière particulièrement
brutale, et des témoins oculaires racontent que le spectacle tragique excitait
la commisération de la foule des spectateurs protestants, qui en étaient
horrifiés. Cette cruauté sans nom a fait que l’un des conseillers municipaux
exprime le souhait de ne plus voir couler le sang des catholiques. C’était le
21 mars 1607 ; Matthew Flathers n’avait que 27 ans.
Blessed Matthew Flathers
Memorial
21 March
29
October as one of the Martyrs
of Douai
22
November as one of the Martyrs
of England, Scotland, and Wales
Profile
Studied at
the English College in Douai, France. Priest in
the apostolic vicariate of England,
serving covert Catholics during
the persecutions of
James I. Martyr.
Born
1560 in
Weston, near Otley, West Yorkshire, England
Died
21 March 1608 in
York, North Yorkshire, England
Venerated
10
November 1986 by Pope John
Paul II (decree of martyrdom)
Beatified
22
November 1987 by Pope John
Paul II
Additional
Information
Catholic
Encyclopedia
books
A
Calendar of the English Martyrs of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
Hagiography
Circle
images
Santi e Beati
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
Martirologio Romano, 2005 edition
Santi e Beati
MLA
Citation
‘Blessed Matthew
Flathers‘. CatholicSaints.Info. 4 November 2021. Web. 20 March 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-matthew-flathers/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-matthew-flathers/
Bl.
Matthew Flathers
Matthew Flathers, of Weston, England, was
ordained a priest
in Arras, France
on the solemnity
of the Annunciation, March 25, 1606. Almost immediately after returning to
England to begin his priestly ministry there, he was captured by the Protestant
authorities, and then banished from the country. But determined to serve the
Catholics of his native land, come what may, Father Flathers soon secretly
re-entered England. He was quickly re-arrested and this time
sentenced to death for being a priest. At York, he was executed by drawing and
quartering, always a brutal procedure, but in Father Flathers� case it was done
with such exceptional barbarity that the Protestant onlookers were horrified
and sympathized with the martyred priest. Thereafter the Protestants of York
extended their sympathy to the whole Catholic
population. One city councilman declared that he wanted to see all the
bloodshed against Catholics ended.
Ven. Mathew
Flathers
(Alias Major).
An English priest and martyr; b. probably c. 1580 at Weston, Yorkshire, England; d. at York, 21 March, 1607. He was educated at Douai, and ordained at Arras, 25 March, 1606. Three months later he was
sent to English mission, but was
discovered almost immediately by the emissaries of the Government, who, after
the Gunpowder Plot, had redoubled their vigilance in
hunting down the priests of the proscribed religion.
He was brought to trial, under the statute of 27 Elizabeth, on the charge of
receiving orders abroad, and
condemned to death. By an act of unusual clemency, this sentence was commuted to banishment for life;
but after a brief exile, the undaunted priest returned to England in order to fulfil his mission, and, after ministering
for a short time to his oppressed coreligionists in Yorkshire was again
apprehended. Brought to trial at York
on the charge of being ordained abroad and exercising priestly functions in England, Flathers was offered his life on condition
that he take the recently enacted Oath of Allegiance. On his refusal, he was condemned to death and taken to the common place of execution
outside Micklegate Bar,
York. The usual punishment of
hanging, drawing, and quartering seems to have been carried out in a peculiarly
brutal manner, and eyewitnesses relate how the tragic spectacle excited the
commiseration of the crowds of Protestant spectators.
Wintersgill, H.G. "Ven.
Mathew Flathers." The Catholic Encyclopedia.
Vol. 6. New York: Robert
Appleton Company, 1909. 21 Mar. 2015
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06098a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was
transcribed for New Advent by Joseph P. Thomas.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. September 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2020
by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Blessed Mathew Flathers
Martyred at York, 21st March 1608
Mathew was born at Weston near Otley in 1560, the youngest of eight
children. Little is known about his early life. He was educated at University
College, Oxford and eventually entered the English College at Douai in 1604 at
the age of 44. He was ordained a priest on 25th March 1606 at Arras. Shortly
after he returned to England, he was captured and condemned to death for
receiving Catholic orders overseas. The sentence was changed to perpetual
banishment, but again he returned to England and made his way to Yorkshire.
In 1607 he was arrested and imprisoned in York castle. He was tried the
following year for high treason. Father Flathers could have saved himself by
taking an Oath of Allegiance but he refused and was executed. He died in great
agony, hanged, but cut down from the scaffold while still alive, he was then
struck on the head, disembowelled and quartered. Mathew Flathers was martyred
outside Micklegate Bar, York on Easter Monday, 21st March 1608.
Beato Matteo
Flathers Martire
Festa: 21 marzo
>>> Visualizza la
Scheda del Gruppo cui appartiene
Weston, Inghilterra, 1580
circa - York, Scozia, 21 marzo 1606/8
Sacerdote cattolico
inglese del XVI-XVII secolo, visse una breve vita intrecciata alle complesse
vicende religiose dell'Inghilterra Elisabettiana. Ordinato sacerdote ad Arras
nel 1606, tornò in Inghilterra per la sua missione pastorale, sfidando un clima
ostile ai cattolici. Arrestato e condannato a morte per la sua fede, la pena fu
commutata in esilio. Ma il suo zelo missionario lo spinse a tornare, venendo
nuovamente catturato. Rifiutò il giuramento di fedeltà alla Corona e subì il
martirio con la barbara pena di impiccagione, trascinamento e squartamento il
21 marzo (data incerta tra 1606 e 1608).
Etimologia: Matteo =
uomo di Dio, dall'ebraico
Martirologio
Romano: A York sempre in Inghilterra, beato Matteo Flathers, sacerdote e
martire, che, alunno del Collegio Inglese di Douai, fu dilaniato vivo per
Cristo durante il regno di Giacomo I.
Mathew Flathers (noto
anche come Matthew e con l'alias "Major") nacque a Weston, West
Riding of Yorkshire, intorno al 1580. La sua vita, seppur breve, si intreccia
con le complesse vicende religiose dell'Inghilterra Elisabettiana, offrendoci
uno spaccato vivido della persecuzione dei cattolici durante quel periodo.
Dopo aver completato gli studi a Douai, il 5 giugno 1605, Flathers venne
ordinato sacerdote ad Arras il 25 marzo 1606, divenendo oblato dell'ordine
benedettino. Tre mesi dopo, il 30 giugno, egli giunse in Inghilterra per
iniziare la sua missione pastorale, accompagnato da Thomas Somers.
Tuttavia, il clima religioso in Inghilterra era ostile ai cattolici. Il
complotto della polvere da sparo del 1605 aveva inasprito le tensioni e le
autorità erano particolarmente attive nella caccia ai preti cattolici. Fu così
che Flathers venne ben presto scoperto e arrestato.
Processato ai sensi dello statuto di Elisabetta 27, con l'accusa di aver
ricevuto ordini sacerdotali all'estero, Flathers fu condannato a morte. Una
successiva commutazione della pena in esilio a vita gli permise di lasciare
l'Inghilterra, ma il suo zelo missionario lo spinse a tornare ben presto.
Dopo un breve periodo di servizio tra i cattolici dello Yorkshire, Flathers fu
nuovamente arrestato grazie all'operato di Stephen Proctor, Timothy Whittingham
e Thomas Posthumous Hoby. Portato in giudizio a York, gli venne offerta la
salvezza in cambio del giuramento di fedeltà alla Corona, da poco emanato. Al
suo rifiuto, la condanna a morte fu confermata.
Il 21 marzo (la data precisa della sua morte varia tra il 1606, 1607 e 1608),
Flathers subì il martirio con la barbara pena di impiccagione, trascinamento e
squartamento. Le cronache raccontano che, dopo la sua morte, alcuni uomini
infierirono sul suo corpo con alabarde, spade e accette.
Autore: Franco Dieghi
SOURCE : https://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/46370
