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.
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
- 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
- 10 November 1986 by Pope John Paul II (decree of martyrdom)
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
>>> Visualizza la Scheda del Gruppo cui
appartiene
Weston, Inghilterra, 1580 circa - York, Scozia, 21 marzo 1607
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.
