« The
Tyburn Tree » (L'arbre de Tyburn, gravure, 1680), appelé ainsi car le
triple gibet en bois s'y dressa jusqu'en 1759. En 1571 fut érigé le premier gibet permanent, de forme triangulaire,
sur lequel vingt-quatre personnes pouvaient être pendues à la fois
Bienheureux Thomas
Sherwood, martyr
Marchand drapier
londonien, il se destina au sacerdoce au séminaire de Douai. Rentré à Londres
pour assister son vieux père, il fut arrêté en pleine rue et pendu à Tyburn, en
1579.
Bienheureux Thomas
Sherwood
Martyr en
Angleterre (+ 1578)
Né vers 1552, Thomas
Sherwood fut arrêté, emprisonné et torturé pour avoir refusé de reconnaître la
suprématie royale d'Élisabeth Iére.
À Londres, en 1578, le
bienheureux Thomas Sherwood, martyr. Marchand drapier, il se destinait au
sacerdoce lorsqu’il revint à Londres pour assister son père malade et âgé. Il
fut dénoncé, arrêté dans la rue et condamné pour haute trahison, parce qu’il
regardait le reine Élisabeth Ière comme excommuniée, et fut pendu à Tyburn.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/11429/Bienheureux-Thomas-Sherwood.html
II - LA FERMETÉ DES
MARTYRS.
Peut-être ai-je trop
célébré l'héroïsme tranquille devant la mort. La mort pour le chrétien n'est
pas le mystère, c'est tout au plus l'inconnu, et l'inconnu qui se découvre.
Pour l'athée, c'est le néant. Pour tous deux la mort n'a rien de troublant ;
ils y entrent sans effroi et sans regret. Pour le martyr chrétien non plus, à
qui l'enseignement de ses maîtres a représenté le sacrifice de tout son sang
comme le gage de la charité parfaite et de, l'indubitable conquête de Dieu, la
mort n'a rien de troublant.
Il n'en est pas de même
de la souffrance ; et c'est ici que la force de l'âme se révèle dans sa douce
et imperturbable grandeur. Nous avons pu mettre en opposition les sentiments
des premiers chrétiens et des fidèles de l'époque de la Réforme à propos de la
patrie; lorsqu'il s'agit de l'endurance des martyrs, cette opposition ne
reparaît plus.
Épaphrodite s'occupait un
jour à faire tordre la jambe d'Épictète, son esclave. « Tu la casseras, » dit
Épictète. La jambe cassa. « Je te l'avais dit (1) » — Plutarque fit un jour
dépouiller de son vêtement et battre de verges un de ses esclaves. Celui-ci se
mit à réciter à Plutarque un livre de Plutarque sur la colère. — Plaute
observait que les esclaves « s'endurcissent sous le fouet comme des ânes »,
qu'ils bravent la mort sans sourciller, et Sénèque remarquait que les hommes de
la classe la plus vile savent faire de grands efforts pour se dérober à leur
condition.
Dans quelle mesure
peut-on comparer l'endurance des martyrs avec l'intrépidité des païens au milieu
de la souffrance ? La question vaudrait la peine d'être posée, dût-on ne pas la
résoudre ou ne regarder qu'un de ses aspects. Ce qui fait le martyre, c'est la
confession. Mourir pour attester une vérité incontestée — un théorème de
géométrie, par exemple — servirait peu; mourir pour un objet d'éternelle «
contradiction » (Luc, II, 34), c'est, en un certain sens, prouver, et prouver
de manière à convaincre des tempéraments intellectuels très vigoureux et très
éclairés (Par exemple : saint Justin, Tertullien, Arnobe). Que dans une
situation donnée, se répétant des milliers de fois, des individus isolés ou des
groupes appartenant à une même confession religieuse fassent des milliers de
fois les mêmes réponses, tiennent la même conduite, témoignent des mêmes
ardeurs, et cela pendant vingt siècles et dans le monde entier, voilà, à coup
sûr, un phénomène digne d'attention qu'aucun précédent historique ne nous
permet d'expliquer par une étroite discipline ou par l'emploi d'un formulaire
appris de mémoire. Or, voilà que se présente une explication. « Lorsqu'on vous livrera
aux magistrats, disait Jésus à ses disciples, ne ruminez pas à l'avance ce que
vous leur devez dire : dites seulement ce qui sera inspiré sur l'heure même,
parce que ce ne sera pas vous qui parlerez, mais ce sera le Saint-Esprit (Marc,
XIII, 11). » Laissons faire le commentaire de ces paroles par les martyrs. Un
homme de garde ayant entendu le gémissement de sainte Félicité pendant son
accouchement lui dit : « Que sera-ce quand tu seras aux prises avec les bêtes?
» Elle répondit : « Ce que je souffre en ce moment, c'est ma souffrance ; mais
alors un autre sera en moi qui souffrira pour moi parce que je souffrirai pour
lui (Passion des saintes Perpétue et
Félicité).» — Le martyr Flavien vit en songe saint Cyprien à qui il demanda
si le coup de la mort était très douloureux. « Le corps ne sent rien, répondit
l'évêque, quand l'âme s'est donnée toute à Dieu (Passion des saints Montan, Luce, etc). » Ces textes ne semblent
laisser aucune place à une explication tirée de la préparation prolongée et de
l'emploi du formulaire. Cependant préparation et formulaire ont existé.
Tertullien nous apprend l'efficacité du jeûne et de l'ascèse. « Voilà,
dit-il, comment on s'endurcit à la prison, à la faim, à la soif, aux privations
et aux angoisses ; voilà comment le martyr apprend à sortir du cachot tel qu'il
y est entré, n'y rencontrant pas des douleurs inconnues, n'y trouvant que ses
macérations de chaque jour, certain d'être victorieux dans le combat, parce
qu'il a tué sa chair et que sur lui les tourments n'auront point de pince où
mordre. Son épiderme desséché lui sera une cuirasse ; les ongles de fer y
glisseront comme sur une corne épaisse. Tel sera celui qui, par le jeûne, a vu
souvent de près la mort et s'est déchargé de son sang, fardeau pesant et importun
pour l'âme impatiente de s'échapper (Tertullien, De jejunio, 12). » Ce que nous savons des mortifications que
s'imposaient Alcibiade à Lyon (Lettre de l'Eglise de Lyon, 18), Émilien en Numidie
(Passion des saints Jacques et Marien,
8), Procope de Scythopolis (Passion de
saint Procope, 1), confirme le langage de Tertullien. L'existence d'un
formulaire est également incontestable. Le début d'un traité composé par saint
Cyprien ne laisse aucune place au doute. « Au moment où la persécution et ses
angoisses vont nous atteindre, dit-il, où la fin du monde et la venue de
l'antechrist sont proches, tu as souhaité, mon cher Fortunat, que, pour
préparer et affermir les âmes des frères, je choisisse dans les saintes
Écritures des exhortations qui excitent au combat les soldats de Jésus-Christ.
Dans la mesure de ma faiblesse qu'assistera l'Esprit d'en-haut, je tirerai des
paroles du Seigneur des armes destinées aux fidèles. Ce serait peu que, comme
l'accent d'un clairon, notre voix animât le peuple de Dieu, si nous ne
soutenions par les textes saints la foi et le courage des croyants. Pour ne
point fatiguer de longs discours celui qui lira ou écoutera mes paroles, je
n'ai fait ici qu'un abrégé. Des divisions, faciles à apprendre et à retenir,
comprendront les préceptes divins, et je t'envoie moins un traité de ma main
que des matériaux mis en ordre pour ceux-là qui voudraient écrire par eux-mêmes
(S. Cyprien, De exhortatione
martyrii, pref.). » Un fait vient corroborer ce texte. Saint Denys
d'Alexandrie répondit à l'interrogatoire par une sentence de l'Écriture ; il
observa plus tard que les mots lui étaient venus d'eux-mêmes sur les lèvres (Eusèbe, Histoire
ecclésiastique, l. VII, 11).
Nous nous trouvons donc
en face de deux disciplines qui se confondent, pensons-nous, dans une
explication unique quoique dans des mesures inégales. Il ne viendra
probablement à l'esprit de personne de tenir pour non avenue, à l'heure suprême
du martyre, la longue série de mérites acquis par les mortifications
volontairement imposées pendant les années écoulées de la vie. C'est un coefficient
que nous croyons pouvoir introduire dans les facteurs de l'endurance, tout en
le jugeant très inférieur à l'autre coefficient qui est l'assistance du
Saint-Esprit. On ne saurait donc essayer de préciser à l'aide de l'érudition
toute seule la portée historique du texte de l'Évangile que nous avons cité. Il
faut tenir compte d'un élément d'une nature infiniment délicate, presque
inexprimable, irréductible en tous cas à la précision quantitative, réel
cependant et duquel le martyr Quirin témoigne lorsqu'il dit au proconsul « Le
Seigneur qui m'assiste, va te répondre par ma voix (Passion de saint Quirin, 2.). »
Mais, avant d'aller plus
loin, revenons à nos martyrs de la Réforme. Ceux-ci ne se conduisent pas avec
moins de vaillance que les héros de la primitive Église. On trouvera dans ce
volume le récit des tortures infligées à Jean Ogilvie, aux chartreux de
Londres, aux franciscains de Gorcum. Nous n'en voulons rien détacher pour ces
pages ; d'ailleurs le choix est facile entre tant d'autres actions. Une des
plus cruelles épreuves est celle de l'emprisonnement. « Au lieu de prisons
humaines, dit un de nos vieux jurisconsultes, on fait des cachots, des
tasnières, cavernes, fosses et spelunques plus horribles, obscures et hideuses
que celles des venimeuses, et farouches bestes brutes ; où l'on fait roidir de
froid, enrager de male-faim, haner de soif et pourrir de vermine et povreté
(1). »
Tous ces supplices, nous
les retrouvons dans la Tour de Londres, où la malpropreté la plus révoltante et
la vermine ne sont rien en comparaison de la plaie des rats. Le bienheureux Thomas Sherwood (2) est
enfermé en un réduit situé au-dessous du niveau de la Tamise, dont la crue fait
refluer d'énormes rats dans ce trou où règne une obscurité complète. Sans armes
pour se défendre, le captif est mordu cruellement. Ce supplice avait été prévu,
ainsi qu'en témoigne l'ordre d'écrou conservé aux archives de Whitehall et
portant que « le nommé Sherwood », qui refuse de répondre à l'interrogatoire,
sera mis dans le cachot avec les rats » (3), d'où il ne sortira que pour être
mis à mort. Susanna Rookwood subira elle aussi le supplice des rats. James
Duckett, libraire, est enfermé dans un égout ; il y séjourne plusieurs
semaines, chargé de chaînes et à demi asphyxié, conservant néanmoins « un
visage gai et tranquille (4). » Robert Southwel voit ses vêtements tomber de
pourriture et la vermine envahir tout son corps. Son père, gentilhomme
protestant, écrit à la reine Elisabeth pour la supplier de ne pas faire languir
son fils, mais de le faire mourir s'il est coupable (5).
(1). JOACHIMI DU
CHALARD, Sommaire exposition des ordonnances de Charles IX sur les
plaintes des trois Estats du Royaume tenuz à Orléans, l'an MDLX, in-4°, Paris,
1562, p. 115.
(2). Thomas Sherwood,
laïque, exécuté le 7 février 1577.
(3). Acts of english
Martyrs, p. 1.
(4). Id., p. 245.
(5). Record of the
english Provinces, ser. I, p. 301.
LES MARTYRS. TOME VII. LA
RÉFORME (1573-1642). Recueil de pièces authentiques sur les martyrs depuis les
origines du christianisme jusqu'au XX° siècle. TRADUITES ET PUBLIÉES Par le R.
P. Dom H. LECLERCQ Moine bénédictin de Saint-Michel de Farnborough,
Paris-Poitiers 1908. lmprimii potest. FR. FERDINANDUS CABROL, Abbas Sancti
Michaelis Farnborough. Imprimi potest. Die 11 Julii 1907. Imprimatur. Pictavii,
die 17 Julii 1907.+ HENRICUS, Ep. Pictaviensis. (i534-4573). PARIS 1907. A MON
TRÈS CHER E. P. A. RENOIR Témoignage d'une amitié profonde et durable, in
Christo, pro Christo.
29
October as one of the Martyrs
of Douai
Profile
A draper’s assistant and
a physically small man. Both parents had been arrested for
clinging to their faith during
a time when Catholicism was
outlawed in England.
Thomas aspired to the priesthood,
and planned to go to Douai, France to study.
Condemned to the Tower of London for
his faith,
he was tortured to
obtain the location where he had attended Mass; while
in prison,
he ministered to other prisoners.
Thomas stated that he considered Queen Elizabeth to
be excommunicated from
the Church,
and that he denied her supremacy over the Church;
this caused his conviction for treason. Martyr.
Born
hanged,
drawn, and quartered on 7
February 1578 at
Tyburn, London, England
29
December 1886 by Pope Leo
XIII (cultus
confirmation)
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Mementoes
of the English Martyrs and Confessors, by Father Henry
Sebastian Bowden
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
MLA
Citation
‘Blessed Thomas Sherwood‘. CatholicSaints.Info.
14 April 2022. Web. 9 March 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-thomas-sherwood/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-thomas-sherwood/
Book of Saints –
Thomas Sherwood
Article
(Blessed) Martyr (February
7) (16th
century) A youth who, yet a layman,
designed to cross to Douai and become a priest.
This being betrayed to the authorities, they caused him to be arrested,
racked and otherwise grievously tortured.
In the end he was hanged and
cut down alive, to be afterwards barbarously butchered at
Tyburn (A.D. 1578).
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate.
“Thomas Sherwood”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info.
6 February 2017. Web. 10 March 2026. <https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-thomas-sherwood/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-thomas-sherwood/
Blessed Thomas Sherwood M
(AC)
Born in London in 1551;
died at Tyburn in 1578; beatified in 1886. Thomas was preparing to go to Douai
to study for the priesthood when he was denounced as a Catholic, arrested in
London, and imprisoned in the Tower. He was racked in an effort to force him to
disclose the place where he had heard Mass. He was finally hanged, drawn, and
quartered on the charge of denying the queen's ecclesiastical supremacy
(Attwater2, Benedictines).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0207.shtml
Bl. Thomas Sherwood
Martyr,
born in London,
1551; died at Tyburn, London, 7 February, 1578. His parents also
suffered for their conscience,
both enduring imprisonment for
the Faith.
After leaving school in
1566, Thomas assisted his father,
a London woollen
draper, for about ten years; then, feeling that his vocation was
to the priesthood,
he made arrangements to go to Douay
College and was in London settling
his affairs, and obtaining the means for his support and education.
While so engaged he was recognized in Chancery Lane and betrayed
by George Marten, son of Lady Tregonwell. Being examined before
the Recorder as to his opinion of the bull of Pius
V and as to whether an excommunicated queen
held lawful sovereignty, he denied all knowledge of
both Bull and excommunication,
but expressed his opinion that if the queen were indeed excommunicated her
rule could not be lawful. He was detained at Westminster,
where the attorney-general visited him and found him constant in that opinion.
On 17 November, 1577, he was committed to the Tower by the Privy Council to be
retained close prisoner,
from conference with any person,
and if he did not willingly confess such things as were demanded of
him, he was to be committed to the dungeon amongst the rats. He was repeatedly
examined, and twice racked in order to elicit where he had
heard Mass and who had been present thereat, but his constancy was
unshaken. After being racked, he was cast into a dark and fetid dungeon, where
he was kept absolutely without clothes, without food, and with nothing but the
bare earth to lie upon. His friends were not allowed to supply his needs, and
the utmost concession that William Romper could obtain was permission to supply
him with straw to lie upon. He was brought to trial on 3 February, and
pronounced guilty of high
treason for denying the queen's supremacy; four days later he
was executed.
He was a man of good wit and judgment and, being well
instructed in religious matters, was very helpful to many poor Catholics.
Small in stature, he was of healthy constitution and of a cheerful disposition,
which he maintained even amidst his torture.
Sources
Vatican Archives;
PERSONS, Memoirs in Cath. Rec. Soc., II (London, 1906), documents in
the Public Record Office; Tower Bills in Cath. Rec. Soc., III;
POLLEN, Acts of English Martyrs (London, 1891); CHALLONER, Memoirs
of the Missionary Priests.
Whitfield, Joseph
Louis. "Bl. Thomas Sherwood." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol.
14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 26 Nov.
2020 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14697b.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Thomas M. Barrett. Dedicated to
those souls who are suffering for their Faith.
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/14697b.htm
SHERWOOD, THOMAS, BL.
Lay martyr; b. London,
England, 1551; d. hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn (London), Feb. 7,
1578. After leaving school (1566), Thomas assisted his father, a London wool
draper who himself had been imprisoned for the faith. Discerning a vocation to the
priesthood, Thomas was arranging to attend the English College at Douai when he
was recognized in Chancery Lane and betrayed by George Marten, son of Lady
Tregonwell. When questioned about his opinion of the excommunication of the
queen, he acknowledged his ignorance of Pius V's bull, but stated that if she
were indeed excommunicated, her rule could not be lawful. Thus, he was detained
at Westminster for further examination and committed to the Tower
of London by the Privy Council (Nov. 17, 1577). He was repeatedly
examined, threatened with the horrors of the dungeon, and twice racked to
betray other Catholics, but he remained steadfast. Eventually he was cast naked
into the fetid dungeon without food and without permission for visitors to
supply his needs. He was tried on Feb. 3, 1578, and condemned for denying the
Act of Supremacy. He died at the age of 27. He was beatified by Pope Leo
XIII on May 13, 1895.
Feast of the English
Martyrs: May 4 (England).
See Also: England, Scotland, and Wales, Martyrs of.
Bibliography: R. Challoner, Memoirs
of Missionary Priests, ed. J. H. Pollen (rev. ed. London 1924; repr.
Farnborough 1969). J. H. Pollen, Acts of English Martyrs (London
1891).
[K. I. Rabenstein]
New Catholic Encyclopedia
SOURCE : https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/sherwood-thomas-bl
The One Hundred and Five Martyrs of Tyburn – 7 February 1578
Blessed Thomas
Sherwood, layman
He was born in London,
and was one of a large family. He had returned from Douai in order to arrange
with his father about remaining at the seminary, and was one day talking in
Chancery Lane when the cry was raised, “Stop the traitor!” It was the unworthy son
of a Catholic lady with whom he was staying who thus betrayed him. Having
replied to the question put to him that he believed the Holy Father to be the
Head of the Church, the young seminarist was sent to prison on a charge of high
treason. In the vain attempt to force him to reveal where and by whom he had
heard Mass said, he was taken to the Tower to be cruelly racked. The only words
which escaped him were: “Lord Jesus, I am not worthy that I should suffer these
things for Thee, much less am I worthy of those rewards which Thou hast
promised to give to such as confess Thee.” He was then thrown into a dungeon
under the banks of the Thames, among the rats, where he endured hunger and cold
for three winter months.
On the Eve of Candlemas,
Sherwood was tried and found guilty of denying the royal supremacy, and the
barbarous sentence was passed. He is described as small, and he looked much
younger than his twenty-seven years; “being of his nature very meek and
gentle.”
– from The One Hundred and Five Martyrs of Tyburn, by
The Nuns of the Convent of Tyburn, 1917
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/the-one-hundred-and-five-martyrs-of-tyburn-7-february-1578/
Mementoes of the English Martyrs and Confessors – Blessed Thomas Sherwood, Layman, 1578
Article
His parents both suffered
much for the faith. His mother was a sister of Mr. Francis Tregian, in whose
house Blessed Cuthbert Mayne was taken. Their son Thomas, one of fourteen
children, followed his father’s trade of draper, intending however to cross to
Douay and become a priest. One day when walking in the streets of London he was
seized on the cry of “Stop the traitor!” raised by a youth Martin Tregony, a virulent
papist-hunter. His mother, Lady Tregony, was a pious Catholic, and Sherwood
frequently visited her, and Martin suspected him of assisting in having Mass
said in her house. At his condemnation Sherwood declared that the Pope and not
the Queen was the head of the Church in England, and was then most cruelly
racked to discover where he had heard Mass. He could not be induced, however,
to betray or bring any man into danger. After this he was cast into a filthy,
dark dungeon, swarming with loathsome and ferocious rats, and only left it
twice during three months to be again tortured on the rack. He had lost the use
of his limbs, was starving, and searched with pain, but no compromising words
passed his lips. He was executed at Tyburn, 7 February 1578, aged
twenty-seven.
MLA
Citation
Father Henry Sebastian
Bowden. “Blessed Thomas Sherwood, Layman, 1578”. Mementoes
of the English Martyrs and Confessors, 1910. CatholicSaints.Info.
21 April 2019. Web. 26 November 2020.
<https://catholicsaints.info/mementoes-of-the-english-martyrs-and-confessors-blessed-thomas-sherwood-layman-1578/>
1579:
Thomas Sherwood, Catholic martyr
February 7th,
2012 Headsman
On this date in 1579,
young Catholic layman Thomas Sherwood was hanged at Tyburn, cut down while
still alive, disemboweled, and quartered.
This casualty of the
Elizabethan era’s dangerous struggle
for the soul of
Britain had popped across to the continent to begin his studies under the
church’s auspices.
He had not yet completed
them when, on a return trip, a Protestant recognized him and got him locked up
in the Tower, where Sherwood was tortured for information about the whereabouts
of the underground Catholic Mass — but “he was brave beyond his years, no
racking, no cross-examination could make him name any one.”
Sherwood had the
distinction during his confinement of being one of the last earthly creatures
to receive the (attempted) aid of octogenarian fellow-Catholic William
Roper, Sir
Thomas More‘s son-in-law and first biographer. (Roper’s attempts to send
money to the imprisoned Sherwood were intercepted, however.)
Sherwood’s brother recalled of
the martyr,
He was of small learning,
scarcely understanding the Latin tongue, but had much read books of
controversies and devotion, and had used much to converse among Catholic
priests, and by reason thereof, having a good wit and judgment, and withal
being very devout and religious, he was able to give good counsel, as he did to
many of the more ignorant sort, being much esteemed for his virtuous life and
humble and modest behaviour: besides God did give a special grace in his
[conversation] , whereby together with his good example of life, he much moved
and edified others. He was a man of little stature of body, yet of a healthful
and good constitution, and very temperate in his diet.
After his first racking
in the Tower (which was said to be rigorous), being visited by a Catholic
gentlewoman, he showed himself of that joyful and comfortable spirit as she was
astonished thereat. As also his keeper with compassion giving him warning that
he was to be racked again, he was so little moved therewith, as merrily and with
a cheerful countenance he said these words: ‘ I am very little, and you are
very tall; you may hide me in your great hose and so they shall not find me; ‘
which the keeper did afterwards report to divers, much marvelling at his great
fortitude and courage. He was about the age of twenty-seven years when he was
martyred.
SOURCE : http://www.executedtoday.com/2012/02/07/1579-thomas-sherwood-catholic-martyr/
Beato Tommaso Sherwood Martire
in Inghilterra
>>>
Visualizza la Scheda del Gruppo cui appartiene
m. Londra, 7 febbraio
1578
Etimologia: Tommaso
= gemello, dall'ebraico
Emblema: Palma
Martirologio
Romano: A Londra in Inghilterra, beato Tommaso Sherwood, martire, che,
mercante di abiti, si era già avviato verso il sacerdozio a Douai, quando,
recatosi a Londra per assistere il padre vecchio e malato, arrestato mentre
passeggiava per strada, fu condotto al martirio sotto la regina Elisabetta I.
Salita al trono
d’Inghilterra nel 1558, succedendo alla sorellastra Maria la Cattolica, la
regina Elisabetta I reintrodusse nel regno la religione scismatica
dell’anglicanesimo, instaurato da suo padre Enrico VIII; scomunicata dal papa
Pio V nel 1570, rispose con persecuzioni ai cattolici, facendo mettere a morte
quanti non aderivano al suo ordine, vittima più illustre fu Maria Stuart regina
di Scozia, cattolica.
Fra i tanti fedeli a Roma
che morirono in quel periodo vi è anche il beato Thomas Sherwood, nato a Londra
intorno al 1550, fu messo quindicenne ad aiutare il padre nel suo commercio di
stoffe, finché ottenne dai genitori, ferventi cattolici, il permesso di recarsi
nel collegio inglese di Douai in Francia, per studiare e divenire sacerdote.
Ma ancora a Londra in
attesa di trovare i mezzi economici per andare in Continente, incontrò per
strada il giovane Giorgio Martin, figlio della cattolica Lady Tregonwell, il
quale all’opposto della madre era fanaticamente contrario al cattolicesimo,
questi riconosciutalo si mise a gridare “al traditore! Fermate il traditore!”.
Subito arrestato, fu condotto davanti al giudice Fteetwood, accanito
anticattolico, che lo sottopose a lungo interrogatorio circa la sua religione.
Tommaso argomentò che
essendo Elisabetta stata scomunicata dal papa non era più da considerarsi
regina; tanto bastò per essere rinchiuso prima nelle prigioni di Gatehouse a
Westminster e poi trasferito nelle terribili prigioni della Torre, ove fu
spesso torturato per estorcergli i nomi di altri cattolici.
Processato a Westminster
fu condannato alla pena capitale per aver negato la supremazia spirituale della
regina. La sentenza fu eseguita nel famigerato Tyburn di Londra il 7
febbraio 1578.
Anche la madre, dopo la
sua esecuzione, fu imprigionata per 14 anni morendovi di stenti.
Beatificato da papa Leone XIII nel 1886.
Autore: Antonio
Borrelli
