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.
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
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
Blessed Francis Page
- 20 April
- 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
- 8 December 1929 by Pope Pius XI (decree of martyrdom
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.
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.
Beato Francesco Page Gesuita,
martire
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
