Saint Guillaume Carter
Martyr en Angleterre (+ 1584)
Il fut condamné à être pendu à Tyburn pour sa fidélité à l'Église catholique romaine durant la persécution menée par la reine Élisabeth I.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/5088/Saint-Guillaume-Carter.html
William Carter
1548-1584
William (Guillaume) naquit en 1548 à Londres, de John Carter, un marchanbd de tissus, et de Agnes.
De 1563 à 1573, William fut apprenti chez un imprimeur, puis fut secrétaire de Nicholas Harpsfield, le dernier archidiacre de Canterbury, qui fut bientôt mis en prison.
Il se maria et ouvrit une imprimerie, sous le nom de Johannes Bogardi, et établissant ses publications à Douai, pour tromper la surveillance des autorités anglaises.
Il publia des livres catholiques, parmi lesquels une édition de mille exemplaires de A Treatise of Schism (Gregory Martin), qui lui valut l’arrestation à Poultry Counter en septembre-octobre 1578, et la prison à Gatehouse.
On chercha aussi à extorquer des informations de son épouse, qui était terrorisée. Cette femme mourut peu après, durant la prison de son époux.
En 1582, William fut transféré à la Tour de Londres, où il paya ses repas de sa poche, jusqu’en été.
On le tortura sur le chevalet.
Dans le livre en question, était écrit que la foi catholique triompherait ; il était rappelé aussi que Judith avait tué Holopherne (cf. Livre de Judith) ; ce paragraphe fut interprété comme une incitation à l’assassinat de la reine, ce qui n’avait évidemment jamais été l’intention des Catholiques. En quinze minutes, la cour de Old Bailey décida de la culpabilité de William et de sa condamnation à mort.
William fut exécuté à Tyburn le 11 janvier 1584, et fut béatifié en 1987.
SOURCE : http://www.samuelephrem.eu/
Blessed William Carter
- 11 January
- 22 November as one of the Martyrs of
England, Scotland, and Wales
Profile
Married layman. Apprentice to several Catholic printers. Imprisoned and tortured for 18 months for “printinglewd (i.e., Catholic) pamphlets,” possessing books upholding Catholicism, hiding vestments and other equipment in his home. His wife died while he was in jail. Eventually charged with printing and publishing theTreatise of Schisme, which allegedly incited violence by Catholics and which was said to have been writtenby a traitor and addressed to traitors; the jury debated 15 minutes before returning a guilty verdict. One of the Martyrs of England, Scotland, and Wales.
Born
- hanged, drawn,
and quartered on 11 January 1584 at Tyburn, London, England
SOURCE
: https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-william-carter/
Menology of England and Wales – Venerable William Carter
Venerable William Carter, by trade a printer, was arrested and tried for the publication of a treatise against Schism, written by the learned Gregory Martin. The object of the work was to dissuade Catholics from attending the heretical worship; but one passage of it was, by a most unjust interpretation, represented as a covert exhortation to the murder of Queen Elizabeth. On this atrocious charge, the innocent publisher was condemned to the cruel penalties of high treason, one of the presiding judges being John Aylmer, the Protestant Bishop of London.
MLA Citation
Father Richard Stanton. “Venerable William
Carter”. Menology of England and Wales, 1887. CatholicSaints.Info.
29 December 2019. Web. 11 January 2020. <https://catholicsaints.info/menology-of-england-and-wales-venerable-william-carter/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/menology-of-england-and-wales-venerable-william-carter/
The One Hundred and Five Martyrs of Tyburn – 11 January 1584
Venerable William Carter
Layman. He was a Londoner, and a Printer and Bookseller by profession. Zeal for the dissemination of Catholic truth was the cause of his martyrdom. A series of imprisonments interrupted his work, but as soon as he recovered liberty he returned to the task of spreading literature for the exhortation and comfort of his fellow Catholics. This he achieved with great difficulty owing to the extreme danger of the times, and it is said that his Printing Press was so small that he could hardly print more than one page at a time, while some books he copied entirely by hand. He was held in high esteem by his friends, and one of the reasons why he was so cruelly racked when finally arrested, was that he had been entrusted with the custody of Chalices and Vestments whose owners he refused to betray. At the trial, the chief accusation against him was that he had instigated the Queen’s enemies (Catholic Englishwomen) to murder their Sovereign. A Treatise on Schism, the book for the printing of which he was condemned, contained a paragraph about Judith and “Holofernes, the master heretic,” and this it was affirmed was only a paraphrase indicating Elizabeth. While the jury retired to confer on the verdict, Carter availed himself of the opportunity of confessing to a priest who was waiting like him for the death sentence. The day following his trial, William Carter was dragged to Tyburn and there hanged and quartered.
– 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-11-january-1584/
Ven. William Carter
English
martyr, born in London,
1548; suffered for treason at
Tyburn, 11 January, 1584. Son of John Carter, a draper, and Agnes, his wife, he
was apprenticed to John Cawood, queen's printer, on Candlemas
Day, 1563, for ten years, and afterwards acted as secretary to Nicholas
Harpsfield, last Catholic archdeacon of Canterbury,
then a prisoner.
On the latter's death he married and set up a press on Tower Hill. Among
other Catholic books
he printed a new edition (1000 copies) of Dr.
Gregory Martin's "A Treatise of Schism", in 1580, for which
he was at once arrested and imprisoned in
the Gatehouse. Before this he had been in the Poultry Counter from 23 September
to 28 October, 1578. He was transferred to the Tower, 1582, and paid for his
own diet there down to midsummer, 1583. Having been tortured on the rack, he
was indicted at the Old Bailey, 10 Jan., 1584, for having printed Dr. Martin's
book, in which was a paragraph where confidence was expressed that the Catholic Faith would
triumph, and pious Judithwould
slay Holofernes. This was interpreted as an incitement to slay the queen,
though it obviously had no such meaning.
Sources
GILLOW, Bibl. Dict. Eng. Cath., s.v. Carter,
Williams; Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. (London, 1905-), I, 60, 65; II, 228,
229; III, 4,15; IV, 129, 138; V, 8, 30, 39.
Wainewright, John. "Ven. William
Carter." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York:
Robert Appleton Company,1912. 11 Jan.
2020 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15630b.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for
New Advent by Michael T. Barrett. Dedicated to the martyrs of England.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. October
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/15630b.htm
JANUARY 11
Blessed William Carter
A printer and bookseller who worked to the defend the
Catholic Faith
Martyr (1549-1584)
His life
+ William was a printer and bookseller who had been
apprenticed to a Catholic in London and who later served as secretary for a
professor of Greek at Oxford University who was serving a prison sentence for
his adherence to the Catholic Faith.
+ He was arrested in 1575 (for the first time) on the
charge of “printing lewd [i.e. Catholic] pamphlets and for owning a history of
the Church in England; he would be arrested several times in the following
years.
+ William’s final arrest occurred in 1581, after he
published A Treatise of Schism, a booklet written in the hopes of
preventing Catholics from becoming members of the state-sponsored Church of
England. His home was invaded and various liturgical vestments and other
Catholic publications were found. After his wife, Jane, was tricked into
providing damning evidence against her husband, William was tortured in the
hopes he would reveal the names of prominent Catholics.
+ Imprisoned in the Tower of London for another
eighteen months (during which time his wife died), William was condemned to
death on the charges of treason after only 15 minutes of deliberation. William
spent that time making his final confession to a priest who was being tried
with him.
+ Blessed William Carter was hanged, drawn, and
quartered on January 11, 1584, and beatified with 84 other martyrs in 1987.
For reflection
“Among these eighty-five martyrs we find priests
and laymen, scholars and craftsmen. The oldest was in his eighties, and the
youngest no more than twenty-four. There were among them a printer, a
bartender, a stable-hand, a tailor. What unites them all is the sacrifice of
their lives in the service of Christ their Lord.”—Pope Saint John Paul II,
Beatification of the Martyrs of England, Scotland and Wales
Prayer
Almighty ever-living God,
by whose gift blessed William
fought for righteousness’ sake even until death,
grant, we pray, through his intercession,
that we may bear every adversity for the sake of your
love
and hasten with all our strength
towards you who alone are life.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy
Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(Prayer from The Roman Missal: Common of
Marytrs—For One Martyr)
Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson,
S.D.S.
Access our archives of daily saint biographies here
SOURCE : https://aleteia.org/daily-prayer/
Blessed William Carter
Saint of the Day for January 11
(c. 1548 – January 11, 1584)
Born in London, William Carter entered the printing
business at an early age. For many years he served as apprentice to well-known
Catholic printers, one of whom served a prison sentence for persisting in the
Catholic faith. William himself served time in prison following his arrest for
“printing lewd [i.e., Catholic] pamphlets” as well as possessing books
upholding Catholicism.
But even more, he offended public officials by
publishing works that aimed to keep Catholics firm in their faith. Officials
who searched his house found various vestments and suspect books, and even
managed to extract information from William’s distraught wife. Over the next 18
months, William remained in prison, suffering torture and learning of his
wife’s death.
He was eventually charged with printing and publishing
the Treatise of Schisme, which allegedly incited violence by Catholics and
which was said to have been written by a traitor and addressed to traitors.
While William calmly placed his trust in God, the jury met for only 15 minutes
before reaching a verdict of guilty. William, who made his final confession to
a priest who was being tried alongside him, was hanged, drawn, and quartered
the following day: January 11, 1584.
He was beatified in 1987.
Reflection
It didn’t pay to be Catholic in Elizabeth I’s realm.
In an age when religious diversity did not yet seem possible, it was high
treason, and practicing the faith was dangerous. William gave his life for his
efforts to encourage his brothers and sisters to keep up the struggle. These
days, our brothers and sisters also need encouragement—not because their lives
are at risk, but because many other factors besiege their faith. They look to
us.
SOURCE : https://www.franciscanmedia.org/blessed-william-carter/
Jan. 11, Blessed William Carter, Martyr
Jan 11, 2010
To see the kind of books published in 16th-century London by William Carter and his contemporaries and his predecessors (including the famous Wynken de Worde), click here.
Fleet Street ("fletestrete") was already becoming the center of publishing in London, and printers/publishers identified their exact location by the nearest alehouse sign: "three Pidgeons", "signe of the sonne", "black Spread-Eagle at the West-end of Pauls", etc.
By the time of William Carter it had become necessary to provide false information in colophons for safety's sake. Carter calls himself Johannem Bogardi, and claims his edition of a Peter Canisius book was actually printed in "Duaci" (Douay).
But he got caught. He was imprisoned and tortured for eighteen months. His wife died while he was in prison. Finally, he was put on trial. The jury was out for fifteen minutes. Guilty. William made his final confession to a priest on trial with him. Condemned for printing Catholic books. The next day he was hanged, drawn, and quartered, with all that entailed.
Click here to see his entry on page 14 of Martyrs of England and Wales: 1535-1680. "Ven. William Carter, layman; b. London; printer. Cond. for printing Catholic books. H.D.Q. + Tyburn, January 11."
Click here for a 2009 article from The Catholic Herald about plans for a memorial to the Tyburn Martyrs: "Since the Fifties the site of the gallows has been marked simply by a stone roundel in a traffic island at the intersection of Edgware Road and Bayswater Road, near to Marble Arch, bearing the image of a plain black cross and the words: 'The site of the Tyburn Tree.'"
SOURCE : https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/jan-11-blessed-william-carter-martyr
Beato Guglielmo (William) Carter Martire
Londra, 1548 - † 11 gennaio 1584
Martirologio Romano: A Londra in Inghilterra, beato Guglielmo Carter, martire: uomo sposato, per aver dato alle stampe un trattato sullo scisma, fu impiccato a Tyburn e crudelmente fatto a pezzi sotto la regina Elisabetta I.
La storia delle persecuzioni anticattoliche in Inghilterra, Scozia, Galles, parte dal 1535 e arriva al 1681; il primo a scatenarla fu com’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 persecuzione, 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 dello 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.
Per altri 85 nel 1987, si sono conclusi gli adempimenti necessari e così il 22 novembre 1987 papa Giovanni Polo II li ha beatificati a Roma, con il capofila Giorgio Haydock, confermando il giorno della loro celebrazione al 4 maggio.
Di essi 63 sono sacerdoti, di cui 2 gesuiti, 1 domenicano, 5 francescani e 55 diocesani; gli altri 22 sono laici, fra cui il tipografo William Carter.
William Carter nacque a Londra nel 1548, fu tipografo e per anni segretario dell’ultimo Arcidiacono di Canterbury, Nicola Harpsfield, dopo la morte di questi fondò una tipografia.
In essa stampò tra altri libri cattolici, anche la nuova edizione di “Un trattato sullo scisma” di Gregory Martins; per cui nel 1580 fu arrestato, messo in prigione e torturato.
Infine fra il 10 e l’11 gennaio 1584 fu impiccato e prima di morire venne sventrato, secondo la più che barbara esecuzione in uso in quel triste periodo.
Autore: Antonio Borrelli
