Né en 1575 Francis (
François ) Page appartenait à une famille aristocratique du Middlesex, mais il
vit le jour à Anvers en pays flamand. Il fut élevé dans la religion protestante
et étudia le droit à Londres. Il tomba amoureux de la fille - catholique - d'un
avocat londonien. Elle accepta de l'épouser s' il se convertissait au
catholicisme. Il étudia donc la religion catholique avec le révérend père
Gerard, jésuite. Celui-ci fut emprisonné à cause des persécutions
ant-catholiques et le néophyte zélé continua de lui rendre visite en prison, ce
qui causa son arrestation pendant quelques temps.
Une fois libéré, il
renonça à ses projets de mariage et résolut d' entrer dans la Compagnie de
Jésus. Il poursuivit ses études théologiques au Collège Anglais de Douai en
France et fut ordonné en 1600.
Il revint en Angleterre
en attendant d'entrer au noviciat jésuite en Flandre et exerça son ministère en
cachette pendant deux ans.
Il demeurait chez la
veuve Anne Line, future sainte et martyre, qui accueillait chez elle des
Jésuites dont le Père Gerard, libéré de prison.
Il fut dénoncé par une
femme devenue anglicane et emprisonné à Newgate pour avoir célébré la
messe " romaine. "
Il fut reçu dans la
Compagnie de Jésus en prison. Il fut écartelé le 20 avril 1602 après avoir
proclamé publiquement qu'il était " fils de l' Eglise et fils de
saint Ignace. "
Le Pape Pie XI l'a
béatifié en 1929.
SOURCE : http://ut-pupillam-oculi.over-blog.com/tag/english%20speaking%20saints/2
Bienheureux Martyrs
Anglais
Prêtres catholiques
martyrs à Tyburn (+ 1602)
Saint Francis, saint Thomas, saint Robert, tous prêtres catholiques qui furent mis à mort sur l'échafaud de la place Tyburn, à Londres, pour avoir défendu l'Église romaine au temps de la reine Élisabeth.
À Londres, en 1602, les bienheureux prêtres et martyrs François Page, de la
Compagnie de Jésus, et Robert Watkinson, qui furent ensemble condamnés à mort,
sous la reine Élisabeth Ière, à cause de leur sacerdoce, que le second avait
reçu un mois seulement auparavant, et tous deux durent monter sur l'échafaud à
Tyburn.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/6651/Les-Martyrs-Anglais.html
Bienheureux martyrs
anglais
On commémore ce jour d’autres victimes de la persécution anglaise : les bienheureuxRichard Sargeant et Guillaume Thomson, prêtres décapités en 1584, Maurice MacKenraghty, prêtre pendu en 1585 après deux ans de prison, Antoine Page exécuté en 1593. Avec eux encore les bienheureux François (Francis) Page et Robert Watkinson, et le vénérable Thomas Tichborne, qui furent conduits à la potence de Tyburn, à Londres, le 20 avril 1602, le lendemain de la pendaison de Jacques Duckett.
Francis Page est issu d’une famille de Harrow (proche de Londres) émigrée à Anvers pour vivre sa foi catholique. Il suivit ses études à Douai où il fut ordonné prêtre en 1600, après quoi il fut envoyé en mission en Angleterre. Il fut arrêté alors qu’il célébrait la messe de la Présentation du Seigneur dans la maison d’Anne Line. S’étant évadé, il fut vendu un an plus tard par une femme qui, après s’être déclarée catholique, était revenue à l’anglicanisme pour s’adonner à la dénonciation lucrative des prêtres. C’est pendant son emprisonnement qu’il fut reçu parmi les Jésuites. Parce qu’il était prêtre, il fut donc pendu et écartelé au gibet de Tyburn.
Robert Watkinson fut aussi ordonné prêtre en France et, malgré un état de santé fragile, gagna l’Angleterre immédiatement après son ordination. Le lendemain de son arrivée, un inconnu s’adressa à lui avant de disparaître : « Jésus vous bénisse, vous semblez malade et souffrant, mais soyez dans la joie car d’ici quatre jours, vous serez délivré de toutes vos infirmités ! » Et il en fut ainsi : arrêté, il fut pendu moins d’un mois après avoir été ordonné prêtre.
Thomas Tichborne était né à Hartley Mauditt dans le Hampshire. Il était
parent du vénérable Nicolas Tichborne qui souffrit le martyre le 24 août 1601.
Prêtre et enflammé d’amour pour Dieu il consuma dans la joie le sacrifice qu’il
avait fait de lui-même, ce 20 avril 1602.
©www.paroisse-saint-aygulf.fr
29 October as
one of the Martyrs
of Douai
Profile
Raised in a Protestant
family from Harrow-on-the-Hill, England. Convert to Catholicism. Studied at Douai, France where
he was ordained in 1600.
Worked in England to
minister to covert Catholics who
faced government persecution. Arrested and
sentenced to death for
the crime of being a priest.
While he prison he
became a Jesuit. Martyr.
Born
20 April 1602 at
Tyburn, London, England
8 December 1929 by Pope Pius XI (decree
of martyrdom)
15 December 1929 by Pope Pius XI
Additional
Information
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
books
Dictionary of Patron Saints’ Names
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
Martirologio Romano, 2005 edition
MLA
Citation
“Blessed Francis
Page“. CatholicSaints.Info. 19 April 2024. Web. 19 November 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-francis-page/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-francis-page/
St. Francis Page
Feastday: April 20
Death: 1602
Jesuit martyr of
England. Born in Antwerp, Belgium, Francis was a member of an English Protestant family of
Harrow-on-the-Hill, in England. Reconciled to the Catholic faith,
he was ordained in 1600 and sent from Douai, France, to England. He was
arrested there two years later. While in prison, Francis entered the Society of
Jesus, the Jesuits. He was martyred at Tyburn, England, and was beatified in 1929.
SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=3457
Saints
of the Day – Blessed Francis Page, S.J., Martyr
Article
Born in Antwerp, Belgium;
died at Tyburn, England, in 1602; beatified in 1929. The parents of Francis
Page were English Protestants from Harrow-on-the-Hill. He converted to
Catholicism, studied in the seminary at Douai, and was ordained to the
priesthood in 1600. He was sent to the English missions, where he was captured.
During his imprisonment prior to his execution, Francis was received into the
Jesuits (Attwater2, Benedictines).
MLA
Citation
Katherine I
Rabenstein. Saints of the Day, 1998. CatholicSaints.Info.
5 November 2023. Web. 20 November 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saints-of-the-day-blessed-francis-page-s-j-martyr/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saints-of-the-day-blessed-francis-page-s-j-martyr/
Three Martyrs at Tyburn:
April 20, 1602
Thomas Tichborne (born at
Hartley, Hampshire, 1567; executed at Tyburn, London, 20 April 1602) was an
English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.
He was educated at Reims
(1584–87) and Rome, where he was ordained on Ascension Day, 17 May 1592.
Returning to England on 10 March 1594, he worked in Hampshire. There he escaped
apprehension by the authorities until the early part of 1597.
He was sent a prisoner to
the Gatehouse in London, but in the autumn of 1598 was helped to escape by his
brother, Nicholas Tichborne, and Thomas Hackshot, who were both executed
shortly afterwards. Betrayed by Atkinson, an apostate priest, he was
re-arrested and on 17 April 1602, was brought to trial with Robert Watkinson (a
young Yorkshire man who had been educated at Rome and ordained priest at Douai
a month before) and James Duckett, a London bookseller (see yesterday's post).
On 20 April he was executed with Watkinson and Francis Page, S.J. Tichborne was
in the last stages of consumption when he was executed. Whether he was related
to Chidiock Tichborne, one of the Babington
Plot conspirators, I cannot tell.
Blessed Robert Watkinson
was born in 1579 at Hemingborough, Yorkshire; he left England and studied at
Douai, France, and then Rome in preparation for his ordination in 1602 in
Arras, France. Sent home to work for the reconversion of England, he was
arrested almost immediately and executed at Tyburn. Robert was hanged, drawn,
and quartered on April 20, with Blessed Francis Page and Blessed Thomas
Tichborne. He was beatified in 1929.
And here is the account of
Blessed Francis Page's life and death--please note that he was the priest St.
Anne Line was arrested for aiding:
Francis
Page was
born in Antwerp of well-to-do English Protestant parents. As a young man he
embarked on a lawyer’s career and went to London to study law. He fell in love
with the daughter of the Catholic lawyer for whom he served as a clerk, but she
refused to marry him until he became a Catholic. His Catholic roommate had, as
his confessor, Fr John Gerald, a Jesuit priest. So it was to Fr Gerald that
Francis went for instruction. The more he studied religion, the more he felt
drawn to the priesthood. Much to his fiancee’s sorrow, Francis called off the
marriage as he began to think of the priesthood. When Fr Gerald was arrested
and transferred to the Tower of London, Francis would stand outside the prison
everyday just to get a glimpse of the priest and for his blessing. His
suspicious actions led to a brief arrest and after his release, Francis decided
to follow the call and joined the English College in Rheims, France. He was
ordained in 1600.
Fr Page returned to
London and was active in his priestly ministry for a year. He narrowly escaped
arrest on one occasion just as he was about to celebrate Mass. He barely had
time to remove his vestments, hid them, took a seat among the people who had
come for Mass, when the priest hunters rushed in. The owner of the house who
was hosting the mass helped him escape but she herself was arrested and later
executed for harbouring a priest.
SOURCE : http://supremacyandsurvival.blogspot.com/2012/04/three-martyrs-at-tyburn-april-20-1602.html
April - Blessed
Francis Page, SJ
Born : Date unknown
Died : April 1602
Beatified : December 15,
1929
Francis Page was born in
Antwerp of well-to-do English Protestant parents. As a young man he embarked on
a lawyer’s career and went to London to study law. He fell in love with the
daughter of the Catholic lawyer for whom he served as a clerk, but she refused
to marry him until he became a Catholic. His Catholic roommate had, as his
confessor, Fr John Gerald, a Jesuit priest. So it was to Fr Gerald that Francis
went for instruction. The more he studied religion, the more he felt drawn to
the priesthood. Much to his fiancee’s sorrow, Francis called off the marriage
as he began to think of the priesthood. When Fr Gerald was arrested and
transferred to the Tower of London, Francis would stand outside the prison
everyday just to get a glimpse of the priest and for his blessing. His
suspicious actions led to a brief arrest and after his release, Francis decided
to follow the call and joined the English College in Rheims, France. He was
ordained in 1600.
Fr Page returned to
London and was active in his priestly ministry for a year. He narrowly escaped
arrest on one occasion just as he was about to celebrate Mass. He barely had
time to remove his vestments, hid them, took a seat among the people who had
come for Mass, when the priest hunters rushed in. The owner of the house who
was hosting the mass helped him escape but she herself was arrested and later
executed for harbouring a priest.
Fourteen months later Fr
Page was less fortunate when he was recognized by a woman who pretended to be a
Catholic but had betrayed several priests for the monetary reward offered by
the government. He took refuge in an inn but she raised such an outcry that the
Protestant innkeeper detained Fr Page until the constables arrived to seize
him. At his trial, Fr page was accused of going overseas, of being ordained,
and of returning to England as a priest. In his defence, Fr Page pointed out
that he did not come under that law as he was born in Antwerp, not England.
Nevertheless, he was found guilty of high treason and condemned to the gallows.
Fr Page had contacted Fr
Henry Garnet about entering the Society of Jesus after returning to England as
a priest and was told that he would have to go to Flanders for his noviceship.
When he returned to his cell after his death sentence, he told Fr Henry Floyd,
a Jesuit in a nearby cell: “ Share my joy in such a happy outcome, which opens
up the way to unending happiness.”
On the eve of his
execution, Fr Page was allowed to visit Fr Floyd and the two priests spent the
night in prayer and early the next morning, Fr Floyd celebrated Mass. Fr Page
wrote out the Jesuit vow formula and signed it in the presence of Fr Floyd.
When morning came, Fr Page was dragged to Tyburn, the place of execution
outside London with two priests, Frs Thomas Tichborne and Robert Watkinson. At
the gallows a minister tried to engage him in a discussion on religion, but he
would not hear of it. Instead Fr Page faced the people and then made a public
profession of his Catholicism and expressed his happiness in dying for his faith
and priesthood. He also announced that he had taken his vows as a member of the
Society of Jesus just before he was hanged and then dismembered.
SOURCE : https://www.jesuit.org.sg/april-0-bl-francis-page-sj/
Francis Page SJ
Blessed Francis Page
(Date of birth uncertain, 1602) became a Catholic in order to win the hand of
the woman he wanted to marry, but discovered a call to become a priest as he
learned more about the Catholic religion. He was arrested before he could enter
the novitiate, but he took Jesuit vows shortly before his execution.
Born in Antwerp of
well-to-do English parents, Page returned to England to study law. He fell in
love with the daughter of the Catholic lawyer for whom he served as a clerk,
but she refused to marry him were he not Catholic. The more he studied
religion, the more he felt drawn to the priesthood, much to the young woman's
chagrin. The young student went to a Jesuit, Father John Gerard, for religious
instruction. When Gerard was arrested and incarcerated in the Tower of London,
Francis Page stood outside the prison day after day. His suspicious actions led
to a brief arrest, but he decided to follow the call and crossed the Channel to
Rheims, France, where he entered the English College.
When he returned to
London after being ordained in 1600, he was able to do ministry for over a
year. He narrowly escaped arrest one time just as he was about to begin
celebrating Mass. He barely had time to remove his vestments and then sit in
the congregation as though waiting for the priest to appear. The woman who was
hosting the Mass in her home, Anne Line, helped him escape but she herself was
arrested and later executed for harboring a priest. She was canonized in 1970.
Fourteen months later
Page was not so fortunate when he was recognized by a woman who made it her
business to turn priests in so she could collect the reward. He took refuge in
an inn but she raised such an outcry that the innkeeper kept Page until
authorities arrived to seize him. Page's trial on April 19, 1602 led to a
predictable condemnation to die for high treason. He had applied to become a
Jesuit but was not able to go back to the Continent to enter the novitiate. The
night before he was killed he was allowed to join a Jesuit imprisoned in the
adjoining cell; the young priest took vows as a Jesuit, a fact he proudly
proclaimed the next day as he stood at the gallows, just before he was hung and
then dismembered.
Originally
published on the website of the Jesuit Curia in Rome
SOURCE : http://www.jesuit.org.uk/profile/francis-page-sj
Beato Francesco Page Gesuita,
martire
>>>
Visualizza la Scheda del Gruppo cui appartiene
Anversa, 1575? - Londra,
20 aprile 1602
Apparteneva a una
aristocratica e ricca famiglia inglese del Middlesex, ma nacque in Belgio, ad
Anversa, nella seconda metà del XVI secolo. Fu allevato nel protestantesimo e
studiò diritto a Londra dove intraprese la carriera di avvocato presso un noto
studio legale, dove si innamorò della figlia cattolica del suo datore di
lavoro. La giovane gli disse che avrebbe acconsentito a sposarlo solo se si
fosse convertito al cattolicesimo: lui accettò la proposta. Allora lei,
affinché Francesco potesse avere la necessaria istruzione religiosa, gli fece
conoscere il suo direttore spirituale, il gesuita Giovanni Gerard, allora in
prigione a causa della persecuzione che infieriva in quel tempo contro i
sacerdoti rimasti fedeli alla Chiesa romana. I due diventarono amici, e
l’insegnamento e l’esempio del maestro, nonché lo zelo posto dal neofita,
furono tali che Francesco non solo si convertì ma decise di diventare
sacerdote. Così il prospettato vantaggioso matrimonio andò in fumo; e con esso,
il giovane rinunciò anche a tutti i suoi beni. Le continue visite alla prigione
condussero al suo arresto; subito dopo essere stato liberato chiese di essere
ammesso al Collegio Inglese di Douai, al di qua della Manica, dove entrò nel
1598. Ordinato sacerdote due anni dopo, tornò in patria, dove, in attesa di
recarsi nelle Fiandre a fare il noviziato essendo stata accettata la sua
richiesta di entrare nella Compagnia di Gesù, poté esercitare nascostamente per
due anni il suo ministero a Londra grazie all’ospitalità della pia vedova Anna
Line - morta martire e festeggiata il 27 febbraio - che aveva messo la sua casa
a disposizione di padre Giovanni Gerard e di altri sacerdoti. Un giorno, mentre
Francesco Page celebrava la Messa in quella casa, irruppero all’improvviso i
persecutori anticattolici; riuscì a malapena a fuggire e riprese il suo
apostolato nascondendosi altrove; ma poco dopo la delazione di una donna
apostata, che si era unita per denaro ai cacciatori di preti, portò al suo
arresto. Rinchiuso nelle prigioni di Newgate con l’accusa di essere un
sacerdote cattolico e di aver celebrato la Messa in Inghilterra, fu processato
quasi subito e condannato a morte. Mentre era in carcere fu accolto tra i Gesuiti.
Salì con grande serenità sul patibolo a Londra il 20 aprile 1602, proclamandosi
pubblicamente "figlio della Chiesa cattolica e di sant’Ignazio" e
dichiarando di essere lieto di morire per una buona causa: «Cioè - spiegò - per
la mia fede e il sacerdozio e per aiutare ad assistere attraverso il mio
ministero le anime del prossimo». Dopo l’impiccagione, come era barbaro uso il
suo corpo fu sventrato e squartato. Francesco Page fu innalzato agli onori
degli altari da Pio XI nel 1929.
Martirologio
Romano: A Londra sempre in Inghilterra, beati Francesco Page, della
Compagnia di Gesù, e Roberto Watkinson, sacerdoti e martiri, che per il loro
sacerdozio, per uno dei quali iniziato da appena un mese, furono costretti,
sotto la regina Elisabetta I, a salire insieme sul patibolo di Tyburn.
La storia delle
persecuzioni anticattoliche in Inghilterra, Scozia, Galles, parte dal 1535 e
arriva al 1681; il primo a scatenarla fu come è noto il re Enrico VIII, che
provocò lo scisma d’Inghilterra con il distacco della Chiesa Anglicana da Roma.
Artefici più o meno
cruenti furono oltre Enrico VIII, i suoi successori Edoardo VI (1547-1553), la
terribile Elisabetta I, la ‘regina vergine’ († 1603), Giacomo I Stuart, Carlo
I, Oliviero Cromwell, Carlo II Stuart.
Morirono in 150 anni di
persecuzioni, migliaia di cattolici inglesi appartenenti ad ogni ramo sociale,
testimoniando il loro attaccamento alla fede cattolica e al papa e rifiutando i
giuramenti di fedeltà al re, nuovo capo della religione di Stato.
Primi a morire come
gloriosi martiri, il 4 maggio e il 15 giugno 1535, furono 19 monaci Certosini,
impiccati nel tristemente famoso Tyburn di Londra, l’ultima vittima fu
l’arcivescovo di Armagh e primate d’Irlanda Oliviero Plunkett, giustiziato a
Londra l’11 luglio 1681.
L’odio dei vari nemici
del cattolicesimo, dai re ai puritani, dagli avventurieri agli spregevoli
ecclesiastici eretici e scismatici, ai calvinisti, portò ad inventare efferati
sistemi di tortura e sofferenze per i cattolici arrestati.
In particolare per tutti
quei sacerdoti e gesuiti, che dalla Francia e da Roma, arrivavano
clandestinamente come missionari in Inghilterra per cercare di riconvertire gli
scismatici, per lo più essi erano considerati traditori dello Stato, in quanto
inglesi rifugiatosi all’estero e preparati in opportuni Seminari per il loro
ritorno.
Tranne rarissime
eccezioni come i funzionari di alto rango (Tommaso Moro, Giovanni Fisher,
Margherita Pole) decapitati o uccisi velocemente, tutti gli altri subirono
prima della morte, indicibili sofferenze, con interrogatori estenuanti, carcere
duro, torture raffinate come “l’eculeo”, la “figlia della Scavinger”, i “guanti
di ferro” e dove alla fine li attendeva una morte orribile; infatti essi
venivano tutti impiccati, ma qualche attimo prima del soffocamento venivano
liberati dal cappio e ancora semicoscienti venivano sventrati.
Dopo di ciò con una
bestialità che superava ogni limite umano, i loro corpi venivano squartati ed i
poveri tronconi cosparsi di pece, erano appesi alle porte e nelle zone
principali della città.
Solo nel 1850 con la
restaurazione della Gerarchia Cattolica in Inghilterra e Galles, si poté
affrontare la possibilità di una beatificazione dei martiri, perlomeno di
quelli il cui martirio era comprovato, nonostante i due-tre secoli trascorsi.
Nel 1874 l’arcivescovo di
Westminster inviò a Roma un elenco di 360 nomi con le prove per ognuno di loro.
A partire dal 1886 i
martiri a gruppi più o meno numerosi, furono beatificati dai Sommi Pontefici,
una quarantina sono stati anche canonizzati nel 1970.
Francesco Page nacque ad
Anversa in una nobile e ricca famiglia di Harrow-on-the-Hill nel Middlesex,
allevato nel protestantesimo studiò Diritto a Londra, dove intraprese la
professione presso lo studio legale di un celebre avvocato, del quale avrebbe
potuto sposare la figlia, se avesse però accondisceso a convertirsi alla
religione cattolica.
La conveniente proposta
fece sì che Francesco aderì alla richiesta e fu presentato dalla ragazza al suo
direttore spirituale, il gesuita padre Giovanni Gerard, detenuto però nelle
carceri di Clink.
Fu tanto profondo
l’approccio con la nuova dottrina, che Francesco Page rinunciando al
prospettato matrimonio, volle addirittura votarsi allo stato ecclesiastico e
lasciando tutti i suoi beni temporali.
Chiese così di essere
ammesso al Collegio inglese di Douai in Francia, dove venivano preparati per il
loro ritorno in Inghilterra, gli aspiranti sacerdoti cattolici fuggiti dalle
persecuzioni in atto.
Entrò a Douai il 9 febbraio
1598 sotto il nome fittizio di John Hickman, venne ordinato sacerdote il 1°
aprile 1600 e ritornò quasi subito in patria; espletò il suo ministero per due
anni con circospezione e zelo nella stessa Londra, ospite della pia vedova Anna
Line (martirizzata poi il 27 febbraio 1601).
Avendo richiesto di
entrare nella Compagnia di Gesù, fu accolto e inviato nelle Fiandre a fare il
noviziato; scampò una prima volta all’arresto in casa della vedova Line, ma poi
tradito da una malvagia donna apostata, fu catturato dai cacciatori di preti.
Rinchiuso nelle prigioni
di Newgate venne processato quasi subito e condannato senz’altro alla pena
capitale per impiccagione perché sacerdote.
Facendo la volontà di
Dio, padre Francesco Page salì il patibolo del Tyburn di Londra il 20 aprile
1602, con grande serenità e coraggio, proclamando pubblicamente di essere
figlio della Chiesa Cattolica e di s. Ignazio.
Fu beatificato da papa
Pio XI il 15 dicembre 1929, insieme ad altri 106 martiri inglesi.
Autore: Antonio
Borrelli
