Bienheureux Ralph Ashley
Martyr (+ 1606)
Anglais, il a servi au collège de Douai puis à Valladolid, Espagne. Il rejoint la Société de Jésus en 1590 et retourne en Angleterre en 1598.
Il est arrêté avec le père Edward Oldcorne en 1604 comme complice d'un présumé complot contre le Parlement. Torturé, écartelé, il meurt le 7 avril 1606.
Béatifié par le Pape Pie IX le 15 décembre 1929.
Voir aussi The
Royal English College, Valladolid.
À Winchester, en
Angleterre, l'an 1606, les bienheureux martyrs Edouard Oldcorne, prêtre, et
Raoul Ashley, religieux de la Compagnie de Jésus, qui exercèrent leur ministère
en cachette pendant de nombreuses années mais, accusés faussement de complot
contre le roi Jacques Ier, ils furent mis en prison, torturés et enfin pendus
et dépecés, alors qu'ils respiraient encore.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/10227/Bienheureux-Ralph-Ashley.html
Ralph Ashley
Le Bienheureux
Death: 04/07/1607
Nationality (place of
birth): Espagne
Ralph Ashley est entré
dans la Compagnie à Valladolid, en Espagne, pour devenir frère. On ignore la
date de sa naissance. Ralph Ashley a d’abord travaillé comme cuisinier au
collège de Doaui. Le 28 avril 1590, il se rendit au collège anglais à
Valladolid, où il devint frère jésuite. En 1598 il retourna en Angleterre pour
servir le Père Edward Oldcorne SJ. Huit ans plus tard, à la suite de la
conspiration des poudres (Gunpowder Plot) il fut arrêté avec Oldcorne à Hindlip
Hall près de Worcester et emprisonné à la Tour de Londres. Il endura patiemment
toutes les tortures qui lui étaient infligées sans dénoncer personne ni révéler
son rapprochement avec son maître. Ils ont tous été renvoyés et jugés à
Worcester, puis condamnés et exécutés le 7 avril 1606 à Red Hill. Avant de
mourir, Ashley a prié et demandé pardon. Il est mort pour son attachement à sa
foi, et non comme traitre à la nation. Il accompagna Oldcorne à leur exécution
commune. Il est rapporté qu'alors qu'Oldcorne attendait de mourir sur une
échelle, Ashley embrassa ses pieds et dit : « Quel homme heureux je suis de
suivre les pas de mon doux père». Ralph Ashley fut béatifié en 1929.
Traducteur: Rigobert
Kyungu Musenge, SJ
SOURCE : https://www.jesuits.global/fr/saint-blessed/le-bienheureux-ralph-ashley/
Also
known as
Ralph Sherington
1 December on
some calendars
Profile
Worked as a cook at
Douay College. Entered the English College at Valladolid on 28 April 1590 where
he became a Jesuit lay
brother. Ill
health forced him to leave college and
return to England.
Along the way he was captured by Dutch heretics; he
stood up to them and explained their errors. Finally landed in England on 9 March 1598.
Servant and
assistant to Blessed Edward
Oldcorne. Arrested on 23 January 1606 at
Hindlip House, near Worcester, England in
connection with the Gunpowder
Plot, and for the crime of helping a priest.
Transferred to the Tower of London on 3 February 1606 along
with Father Garnet
and Saint Nicholas
Owen. Tortured for
information on other Catholics and
for the hiding places of priests.
When they could get no information from him, he was transferred to Worcester,
and condemned for his faith. Martyr.
hanged,
drawn, and quartered on 7 April 1607 in
Worcester, Worcestershire, England
8 December 1929 by Pope Pius XI
15 December 1929 by Pope Pius XI
Additional
Information
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
The Royal
English College of St Alban
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
sites
en français
fonti
in italiano
Martirologio Romano, 2005 edition
MLA
Citation
“Blessed Ralph Ashley“. CatholicSaints.Info.
7 April 2024. Web. 9 April 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-ralph-ashley/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-ralph-ashley/
Ven. Ralph Ashley
Martyr and Jesuit lay-brother;
first heard of, it seems, as cook at Douay College, which he left 28 April,
1590, for the English College at Valladolid.
Here he entered the Society
of Jesus, but after a time returned to England because
of ill-health. He fell in with Father Tesimond (Greenway), who eulogizes very
highly the courage he
had displayed among the Dutch heretics,
by whom he had been captured during his journey. He landed in England 9
March, 1598, and was sent to serve Father
Edward Oldcorne. Eight years later the two were arrested at Hindlip,
near Worcester,
and were committed to the Tower, together with Father Garnet, and Nicholas
Owen, another lay brother, servant to Garnet. The two servants were
terribly tortured, Owen dying of his torments, while the reticent answers and
trembling signatures of Ashley's extant confessions bear eloquent testimony to
his constancy. He was ultimately remanded with Oldcorne to Worcester,
where they were tried, condemned and executed together, 7 April, 1606, giving
an admirable example of heroically faithful service.
Ryan, Patrick
W.F. "Ven. Ralph Ashley." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol.
1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 7 Apr.
2019 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01776d.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Paul T. Crowley. Dedicated to
the Sacred Heart.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2023 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01776d.htm
Ralph Ashley SJ
Ralph Ashley is first
recorded working as a cook at the college in Douai. On 28th April 1590, he left
for the English College, Valladolid, and became a Jesuit lay-brother. In 1598,
he returned to England to serve Father Edward Oldcorne SJ. Eight years later in
the aftermath of the Gunpowder
Plot, he and Oldcorne were arrested at Hindlip Hall near Worcester and
committed to the Tower of London. Ashley patiently and constantly endured all
the tortures inflicted on him without revealing any person or place of his
master’s acquaintance. They were both remanded and tried for treasonin
Worcester, condemned and executed on 7th April 1606 at Red Hill. When Ashley
came to die he prayed and asked for forgiveness and noted that like Oldcorne he
was dying for his religion and not for being a traitor. Prior to his execution,
his last words were, “What a happy man am I to follow the steps of my Father
unto death.” Ralph Ashley was beatified in 1929.
SOURCE : http://www.jesuit.org.uk/profile/ralph-ashley-sj
Blessed Ralph Ashley SJ
Blessed Ralph Ashley
(alias Sherington) is first recorded working as a cook the college in Douai but
served as a Jesuit lay-brother at both the College of Rheims in the Low
Countries (now France) and well as at Valladolid.
Having returned to
England in 1598, he served Father Edward Oldcorne SJ for eight years before
both were arrested near Worcester in the aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot and
committed to the Tower of London. After numerous tortures, they were both tried
for treason at Worcester before being condemned. Brother Ralph was drawn, hung
and quartered on April 7 1607. He was beatified by Pope Pius IX on December 15
1929.
SOURCE : http://www.sanalbano.org/our-beatified-alumni/
April 7, 1606: Blessed
Edward Oldcorne and Ralph Ashley, SJ
Two Jesuits suffered
martyrdom on April 7, 1606 in connection with the Gunpowder Plot early in
James I's reign--although they had no involvement with the Plot, the fact that
they were companions and associates of Father Henry Garnet--and in fact, were
captured with him after hiding for days in different hiding places within
Hindlip Hall. Also captured that day was the designer and builder of those
hiding places, Jesuit lay brother Nicholas Owen. The two lay brothers were in
one hiding place and the two priests in another. The pursuivants could not find
them--searching the house for days--but they finally had to leave their
sanctuaries becauce of hunger and thirst. The illustration at the right shows
Father Oldcorne and Owen enduring torture.
Blessed
Edward Oldcorne was a Jesuit priest, ordained in Rome, Italy, and
received into the Society in 1587. Worked in the English mission in
Worcestershire for 16 years. Father Edward developed throat cancer, but kept
preaching through the pain. He made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint
Winifred of Wales in Flintshire to seek a cure; his cancer healed, and he
returned strong and healthy to his vocation.
Edward fell victim to the
revenge following the Gunpowder Plot, a foolish conspiracy hatched by a small
group of frustrated Catholic Englishmen to blow up the king and parliament. All
it did was provide an excuse for renewed persecution of Catholics, especially
Jesuits. Edward was arrested, falsely accused, and tortured on the rack for
five days for information about the Plot. He was hung, drawn and quartered on
April 7, 1607 with Blessed Ralph Ashley, SJ.
Blessed
Ralph Ashley worked as a cook at Douai College. Entered the English
College at Valladolid on 28 April 1590 where he became a Jesuit lay brother.
Ill health forced him to leave college and return to England. Along the way he
was captured by Dutch heretics; he stood up to them and explained their errors.
Finally landed in England on 9 March 1598.
Servant and assistant to
Blessed Edward Oldcorne. Arrested on 23 January 1606 at Hindlip House, near
Worcester, England in connection with the Gunpowder Plot, and for the crime of
helping a priest. Transferred to the Tower of London on 3 February 1606 along
with Father Henry Garnet and Saint Nicholas Owen. Tortured for information on
other Catholics and for the hiding places of priests. When they could get no
information from him, he was transferred to Worcester, and condemned for his
faith.
Of the four Jesuits
captured at Hindlip
Hall, three were recognized as martyrs by the Catholic Church and beatified
or canonized. The torture and questioning of the two lay Jesuit brothers, St.
Nicholas Owen and Blessed Ralph Ashley, was focused on discovering more hiding
places like the ones the four Jesuits had been hiding in at Hindlip Hall. Owen died
as a result of the torture meted out to him. Blessed Edward Oldcorne, because
he was found with Garnet, was questioned about the plot. Father Henry Garnet
has not been proclaimed a martyr by the Church, I presume because of questions
about his involvement in the Gunpowder Plot. According to the old Catholic
Encyclopedia (1909):
It is a matter of regret
that we have as yet nothing like an authoritative pronouncement from Rome on
the subject of Garnet's martyrdom. His name was indeed proposed with that of
the other English Martyrs and Confessors in 1874, and his cause was then based
upon the testimonies of Bellarmine and the older Catholic writers, which was the
correct plea for the proof of Fama Martyrii, then to be demonstrated. But these
ancient authorities are not acquainted with Garnet's actual confessions which
were not known or published in their time. The consequence was that, as the
discussion proceeded, their evidence was found to be inconclusive, and an open
verdict was returned; thus his martyrdom was held to be neither proved nor
disproved. This of course led to his cause being "put off" (dilatus)
for further inquiry, which involves in Rome a delay of many years.
"A delay of many
years" indeed.
SOURCE : http://supremacyandsurvival.blogspot.ca/2013/04/april-7-1606-blessed-edward-oldcorne.html<
Walpole and Rawlins;
Oldcorne and Ashley
Four martyrs on April 7:
two in 1595 and two more in 1606:
St. Henry Walpole, who is
one of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales canonized in 1970, was influenced by
the martyrdom of St. Edmund Campion to become a priest and return to England as
a Jesuit missionary (drops of blood from Campion's torturous death fell on
Walpole):
According to this blog,
after studying for the priesthood on the Continent, becoming a Jesuit, and
enduring imprisonment while serving English Catholics in the Spanish
Netherlands, Walpole returned to England on December 4, 1593 and was betrayed
and captured almost immediately.
One night of freedom in
England was followed by 16 months of imprisonment. Walpole admitted during his
first interrogation that he was a Jesuit and had come to England to convert
people. He was transferred to York Castle for three months, and was permitted
to leave the prison to discuss theology with Protestant visitors. Then he was
transferred to the Tower of London at the end of February, 1594, so that the
notorious priest-torturer Richard Topcliffe could wrest information from
him.
Walpole was tortured
brutally on the rack and was suspended by his wrists for hours, but Topcliffe
stretched the tortures out over the course of a year to prevent an accidental
death. Walpole endured torture 14 different times before being returned in 1595
to York to stand trial under the law that made it high treason for an
Englishman simply to return home after receiving Holy Orders abroad. The man
who had once aspired to be a lawyer defended himself ably, pointing out that
the law only applied to priests who had not given themselves up to officials
within three days of arrival. He himself had been arrested less than a day
after landing in England, so he had not violated that law. The judges responded
by demanding that he take the Oath of Supremacy, acknowledging the queen's
complete authority in religion. He refused to do so and was convicted of high
treason.
On April 7, Walpole was
dragged out of York to be executed along with another priest who was killed
first. Then the Jesuit climbed the ladder to the gallows and asked the
onlookers to pray with him. After he finished the Our Father but before he
could say the Hail Mary, the executioner pushed him away from the ladder; then
he was taken down and dismembered. The Jesuits in England lost a promising young
priest whom they had hoped would take the place of Father Southwell; they
received another example of fidelity and courage.
Blessed Alexander
Rawlins:
Alexander was born in
Worcestershire, England, where he was jailed twice for his fervent Catholicism.
In 1589 he went to the English seminary in Reims and was ordained there in
1590. Returning to England the following year (with another future martyr and
saint, Father
Edmund Gennings), Alexander was arrested. He was condemned to death and on
April 7, 1595, and along with Henry Walpole was hanged, drawn, and quartered in
York, England. He was beatified in 1929.
For the stories of
Blessed Edward Oldcorne and Blessed Ralph Ashley, click here.
They were arrested, tortured, and executed in the aftermath of the Gunpowder
Plot during the reign of James I.
Saint Henry Walpole,
Blessed Alexander Rawlins, Blessed Edward Oldcorne, Blessed Ralph Askley, pray
for us.
SOURCE : http://supremacyandsurvival.blogspot.com/2015/04/walpole-and-rawlins-oldcorne-and-ashley.html
Blessed Edward Oldcorne
& Ralph Ashley, SJ MM (AC)
Died 1606; beatified in
1929. Edward Oldcorne was born in York, ordained for the priesthood in Rome,
and received into the Society of Jesus in 1587. He worked in the Midlands from
1588 until his arrest. He was condemned to death at Worcester for alleged complicity
in the Gunpowder Plot. Ralph Ashley was a Jesuit lay- brother who was martyred
with Fr. Oldcorne, whom he was attending (Benedictines).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0407.shtml
Menology
of England and Wales – Venerable Edward Oldcorne and Venerable Ralph Ashley,
Martyrs, 1606
Edward Oldcorne was a
native of Yorkshire, and was sent for his studies to the English College at
Rheims, and afterwards to that at Rome. When ordained priest and about to be
sent on the Mission, he obtained admission into the Society of Jesus, with a
dispensation from the regular noviceship, in place of which his labours in the
dangers of the Mission were to be counted. He was sent by his Superior into
Worcestershire, and took up his abode at Henlip, the seat of Mr. Abington.
There he laboured during seventeen years with great zeal and equal success, and
the many escapes he had from his persecutors seemed to be something miraculous.
On the discovery of the
gunpowder plot, Father Henry Garnet, who was especially sought for by the
King’s officers, took refuge at Henlip, and was eventually discovered in the
same hiding-place with Oldcorne. They were both arrested as conspirators, and Oldcorne
sent for trial to Worcester. He denied all knowledge of the conspiracy, until
it was divulged by public report, and there was no evidence against him until
Littleton, one of the conspirators, in the hope of saving his own life, charged
him with being of the number of the plotters. The unhappy man, however, when
his expectation proved to be vain, on the scaffold acknowledged that his
accusation was untrue, and humbly begged pardon of the injured priest.
Father Oldcorne met his
death with great devotion and sentiments of charity towards all, but continued
to protest his innocence. The cruel sentence was fully carried out, and after
his death there were not wanting various occurrences which appeared to be
miraculous attestations of his guiltlessness.
At the same time and at
the same place, the Venerable Ralph Ashley, a lay brother of the Society, also
suffered death by hanging. The only charge which could be brought against him
was that of aiding and abetting Father Oldcorne, by acting as his attendant, an
offence which, according to the law then in force, was the crime of felony.
MLA
Citation
Father Richard Stanton.
“Venerable Edward Oldcorne and Venerable Ralph Ashley, Martyrs, 1606”. Menology of England and Wales, 1887. CatholicSaints.Info.
17 March 2019. Web. 9 April 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/menology-of-england-and-wales-venerable-edward-oldcorne-and-venerable-ralph-ashley-martyrs-1606/>
Beato Randolfo Ashley Religioso
gesuita, martire
>>>
Visualizza la Scheda del Gruppo cui appartiene
† Worcester, Inghilterra,
7 aprile 1606
Durante gli socntri tra
il nascente anglicanesimo ed il cattolicesimo, furono uccisi in odio alla loro
fede, per non aver voluto riconoscere la supremazia regia in ambito religioso,
il sacerdote secolare Edoardo Oldcorne ed il religioso gesuita Randolfo
Ashley. Entrambi furono beatificati nel 1929, unitamente ad un folto
gruppo dei martiri inglesi e gallesi.
Martirologio
Romano: A Worcester sempre in Inghilterra, beati martiri Edoardo Oldcorne,
sacerdote, e Rodolfo Ashley, religioso della Compagnia di Gesù, che
esercitarono clandestinamente per molti anni il loro ministero, finché, sotto
la falsa accusa di cospirazione contro il re Giacomo I, furono gettati in
carcere, torturati e infine tagliati a pezzi ancora vivi.
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/93391
Ralph Ashley
Beato
Death: 04/07/1607
Nationality (place of
birth): España
Ralph Ashley (fecha de
nacimiento desconocida), entró en la Compañía como hermano en Valladolid,
España. La primera noticia que tenemos de él es de cocinero en el colegio de
Douai. El 28 de abril de 1590 se traslada al Colegio Inglés de Valladolid, y se
hace hermano jesuita. El año 1598 vuelve a Inglaterra a las órdenes del P.
Edward Oldcorne SJ. Ocho años más tarde, como consecuencia de la Conspiración
de la Pólvora, fue arrestado junto con Oldcorne en Hindlip Hall, cerca de
Worcester, y encerrado en la Torre de Londres. Ashley soportó todas las
torturas que se le infligieron con gran paciencia y constancia, sin revelar
nombres de personas o lugares que pudieran comprometer a su superior. Ambos
fueron enviados a la cárcel de Worcester y juzgados por alta traición, los
condenaron y ejecutaron en Red Hill el 7 de abril de 1606. A punto de morir,
Ashley entró en oración pidiendo perdón, y proclamó que, al igual que Oldcorne,
moría por su religión y no porque fuese un traidor. Antes de la ejecución sus
últimas palabras fueron, “qué feliz soy de seguir las huellas de mi Padre hasta
la muerte”. Ralph Ashley fue beatificado en 1929.
Otros mártires de Inglaterra y Gales
Traducción: Luis
López-Yarto, SJ
SOURCE : https://www.jesuits.global/es/saint-blessed/beato-ralph-ashley/
Voir aussi : http://har22201.blogspot.com/2015/04/bienheureux-edward-oldcorne-olcorne.html
http://jesuitinstitute.org/Resources/Jesuit%20Martyrs%20of%20England%20and%20Wales.pdf
