A map of Durham, England from 1610
Bienheureux Jean
Speed, martyr
Jean Speed ou Spence,
pour avoir protégé des prêtres catholiques, fut pendu à Durham, en Angleterre,
l’an 1594 sous la reine Elisabeth Ière.
Bienheureux Jean Speed
Martyr à Durham en Angleterre (+ 1594)
John Speed ou Spence,
laïc béatifié en 1929 avec les martyrs de Durham pour avoir protégé des prêtres
catholiques dont saint John
Boste.
À Durham en Angleterre,
l’an 1594, le bienheureux Jean Speed, martyr. Sous la reine Élisabeth Ière, à
cause de l’aide qu’il avait apporté à des prêtres, il fut condamné à mort et
pendu au gibet.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/11411/Bienheureux-Jean-Speed.html
Blessed John Speed
English
martyr, executed at Durham,
4 Feb., 1593-4, for assisting the venerable martyr St.
John Boste, whom he used to escort from one Catholic house
to another. He died with constancy, despising the inducements offered to bring
him to conformity. With him was condemned Mrs. Grace Claxton, wife of William
Claxton, of the Waterhouse, in the parish of
Brancepeth, Durham,
at whose house Boste was
taken and probably Speed also. She was, however, reprieved on being found to be
with child.
Note: In 1929, John Speed was beatified by Pope Pius XI as one of the Durham Martyrs. The priest John Boste was canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970 among the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
Sources
CHALLONER, Missionary
Priests, I, no. 100, ad finem; POLLEN, English Martyrs 1584-1603 (London,
1908), 239.
Wainewright,
John. "Blessed John Speed." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton
Company, 1912. 6 Mar.
2021 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14214a.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Herman F. Holbrook. O Blessed
John, and all ye holy Martyrs, pray for us.
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 : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14214a.htm
Also
known as
John Spence
one of the Martyrs of
England and Wales
one of the Durham Martyrs
Profile
Layman. Martyred for
befriending and protecting Catholic priests,
including Saint John
Boste, during the persecutions of Elizabeth
I.
Born
4 February 1594 at Durham, 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
A
Calendar of the English Martyrs of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
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
websites
in nederlandse
MLA
Citation
‘Blessed John
Speed‘. CatholicSaints.Info. 25 February 2022. Web. 9 March 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-john-speed/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-john-speed/
Bl. John Speed
Feastday: February 4
Death: 1594
An English martyr. he was
a layman sometimes called Spence. He was executed at Durham for
befriending Catholic priests. John was beatified in 1929 as one of
the Durham Martyrs.
SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=4049
Blessed John Speed
(Spence) M (AC)
Born in Durham; died
there 1594; beatified in 1929. John was a layman martyred for befriending and
aiding Catholic priests (Attwater2, Benedictines).
SOURCE : https://web.archive.org/web/20191030235901/http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0204.shtml
The Durham Martyrs of 1594
July
24th
In the year 1594 four men
in the country of Durham gave their lives for the Church, and they were
beatified with other English martyrs in 1929. The first, on February 4, was a
layman, Blessed John Speed (alias Spence), who was hanged in the city of
Durham for "being aiding and assisting to priests, who he used to serve in
guiding and conducting from one Catholic house to another. He died with
constancy, despising the proffers that were made to him to bring him to
conform" (Challoner).
Blessed John Boste was
born at Dufton in Westmorland about the year 1544 and educated at Queen's
College, Oxford, of which he became fellow. He was received into the Church in
1576 and four years later went to Rheims, where he was ordained priest in the
following year and returned to England. He laboured with such energy and
success in the North that he became one of the most sought-after of priests,
whether by his friends of his enemies. He was betrayed by one Francis
Ecclesfield. To forward his purpose by inspiring confidence in Mr Boste, this
Ecclesfield had sacrilegiously received the sacraments from his hands; he then
informed Sir William Bowes, and the priest was taken in his hiding-place at
Waterhouse, the residence of Mr. William Claxton, near Durham.
He was taken up to
London, where he was so terribly racked in the Tower to induce him to betray
his friends that he was permanently crippled. He was sent back to Durham for
trial at the July assizes. With him was arraigned Blessed George Swallowell, a
converted Protestant minister; he was wavering in his resolution, but the sight
of Mr. Boste's "resolute, bold, joyful and pleasant" bearing
encouraged him to stand firm and make in open court a declaration of his faith,
whereupon the priest equally publicly absolved him. The man suffered a few days
later at Darlington. Mr. Boste was condemned for his priesthood, and on July 24,
1594, was put to death at Dryburn, outside Durham. An eye-witness (the Ven.
Christopher Robinson, afterwards martyred) states that he recited the Angelus as
he mounted the ladder, and that he was cut down so soon ("after a space of
a Paternoster") that he revived while being carried for
dismemberment, which was begun while he was yet living. Another witness states
that he prayed, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus forgive thee!" for his
executioner even as his heart was being torn from his body.
Two days after the passion
of John Boste there was hanged, drawn, and quartered for his priesthood at
Gateshead Blessed John Ingram, who had been condemned at Durham at the same
time as Boste and Swallowell. He was born at Stoke Edith, in Herefordshire, and
educated at New College, Oxford. After his conversion he went to the English
College at Rheims and afterwards to Rome, where he was ordained in 1589 and
three years later was sent on the Scottish mission. At the end of 1593 he was
arrested on Tyneside and sent to London, where he was tortured under the eye of
Topcliffe but, in his own words, "I take God to witness that I have
neither named house, man, woman, or child, in time of or before my
torments".
See Challoner's MMP., pp.
197, 202-208, and 597-600. Cf. also the many references to these
martyrs which occur in the Catholic Record Society Publications, vol. v.
Bd. John Ingram was an expert in Latin verse and many of his
"Epigrams" are there printed (pp. 270-285), together with two letters
to his fellow prisoners.
Butler's Lives of The Saints, Herbert J.
Thurston, S.J. and Donald Attwater. Nihil Obstat: PATRICIVS MORRIS, S.T.D., L.S.S., CENSOR DEPVTATVS. Imprimatur: E. MORROGH BERNARD, VICARIVS GENERALIS WESTMONASTERII: DIE XXIII FEBRVARII MCMLIII
SOURCE : http://traditionalcatholic.net/Tradition/Calendar/07-24.html
Beato Giovanni Speed Martire
Festa: 4 febbraio
>>> Visualizza la
Scheda del Gruppo cui appartiene
Stockton-on-Tees,
Inghilterra, 1546 - Durham, Inghilterra, 4 febbraio 1594
Il beato John (o
Giovanni) Speed, fu un martire inglese ucciso nel 1584 a Durham. La sua unica
colpa, oltre al fatto di essere cattolico e quindi essersi rifiutato di far
parte della Chiesa d'Inghilterra, fu quella di aver scortato un sacerdote
durante le sue visite alle case dei cattolici. Quel prete era John Boste,
missionario clandestino nella sua stessa terra, ucciso nel 1594 e canonizzato
nel 1970. Speed forse fu arrestato proprio assieme a Boste nella casa di Grace
Claxton, anch'essa condannata ma poi risparmiata perché era incinta. Accanto a
Boste, il beato Speed aveva trovato la sua via per la santità: fu beatificato
nel 1929.
Martirologio
Romano: A Durham in Inghilterra, beato Giovanni Speed, martire, che,
condannato a morte sotto la regina Elisabetta I per aver prestato aiuto ai
sacerdoti, meritò la corona del martirio.
Giovanni (John) Speed nacque nel 1546 a Stockton-on-Tees, in Inghilterra. Era un cattolico devoto, in un'epoca in cui la Chiesa d'Inghilterra era stata riformata e il cattolicesimo era perseguitato. Speed si rifiutò di aderire alla Chiesa d'Inghilterra e fu arrestato nel 1584.
La sua unica colpa era quella di aver scortato un sacerdote cattolico, John Boste, durante le sue visite alle case dei cattolici. Boste era un missionario clandestino che rischiava la vita ogni volta che lasciava il suo nascondiglio. Speed era pronto a rischiare tutto per aiutare il suo sacerdote, e lo fece senza esitazione.
Speed e Boste furono entrambi condannati a morte. Speed fu impiccato, squartato e bruciato a Durham il 4 febbraio 1584. Aveva solo 38 anni.
La morte di Speed fu un evento significativo per la Chiesa cattolica in Inghilterra. Era un martire, un uomo che aveva sacrificato la sua vita per la sua fede. La sua morte fu un monito ai cattolici che erano ancora fedeli alla Chiesa cattolica, anche in un periodo di persecuzione.
Speed fu beatificato nel 1929 da Papa Pio XI. La sua festa si celebra il 4
febbraio.
Il contesto storico
La morte di Giovanni Speed avvenne durante un periodo di grande tensione religiosa in Inghilterra. Nel 1534, il re Enrico VIII aveva rotto con la Chiesa cattolica e aveva fondato la Chiesa d'Inghilterra. I cattolici che rifiutavano di aderire alla nuova Chiesa erano perseguitati.
In questo contesto, la figura di Giovanni Speed assume un significato particolare. Era un uomo che era disposto a morire per la sua fede, anche quando la sua fede era in minoranza. La sua morte è un esempio di coraggio e di fede, e continua ad ispirare i cattolici di tutto il mondo.
Autore: Franco Dieghi
SOURCE : https://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/39580
John Speed (ook Spence),
Durham, Engeland; martelaar onder
fanatieke anglicanen; † 1594.
Feest 4 februari.
Hij werd ter dood
gebracht, omdat hij onder zijn persoonlijke vrienden een aantal katholieke
priesters telde.
© A. van den Akker
s.j. / A.W. Gerritsen
SOURCE : https://heiligen-3s.nl/heiligen/02/04/02-04-1594-john.php
~ Martyrs of England and
Wales († 1535-1680) ~ (III) : http://newsaints.faithweb.com/martyrs/England03.htm#Speed