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four were admitted ; in 1895eight more were added, with
one not in the Roman pictm'es), while the lists drawn
up by Bishops Smith and Challoner led to the " admis-
sion of the cause" of 241 martjTs (all but twelve post-
Gregorian), who are therefore called " Venerables".
Forty-four were left with their fate stUl in suspense,
and are called Dilati. Except seven, these are all
"Confessors", who certainly died in prison for their
faith, though it is not yet proven that they died pre-
cisely because of their imprisonment. There is yet
another class to be described, ^^"hile the foregoing
cause was pending, great progress was being made with
the arrangement of papers in the Public Record Office
of London, so that we now know immeasurably more
of the persecution and its victims than before the
cause began. In short, over 230 additional sufferers
seemed possibly worthy of being declared martyrs.
They are called the Prwtermissi, because they were
passed over in the first cause. A new cause was there-
upon held at Westminster (September, 1888, to Au-
gust, 1889), and the proceedings have been sent to
Rome. For reasons which it is not necessary to touch
upon here, it was thought best to include every possi-
ble claimant, even those of whom there was very little
definite information, and the far-reaching cause of
Queen Mary Stuart. This, however, proved a tactical
mistake. An obscure cause needs as much attention
as a clear cause, or more. Moreover, the Roman courts
are, on the one hand, so short-handed that they
grudge giving men to a work which will lead to little
result, and, on the other hand, they are overwhelmed
with causes which certainly need attention. In order
to facilitate progress, therefore, the cause has been
split up; the case of Queen Mary has been handed
over to the hierarchy of Scotland, and other simplifi-
cations have been attempted; nevertheless the cause
of the Prcetermissi so far hangs fire. Apostolic letters
for a Processus de Scriptis were issued by the Sacred
Congregation of Rites on 24 March, 1899, ordering the
then Archbishop of Westminster to gather up copies of
all the extant writings of the martyrs declared Vener-
able. This proved a lengthy task, and when com-
plete the collection comprised nearly 500 scripta, and
over 2000 pages. It was not completed till 17 June,
1904. Then, by special concession, four censors were
appointed to draw up a preliminary censura in Eng-
land, and this was forwarded to Rome, v.here, after
further consideration, a decree was drawn up and con-
firmed by the pope on 2 March, 1906, declaring that
none of the writings produced would hinder the cause
of the martyrs now under discussion. In the course
of the same year a further decree was obtained, allow-
ing altars for the bcati, but not without many restric-
tions.
I. Beati. — The sixty-three Blessed will be noticed in detail elsewhere, and the principal authorities will be there noted. Their names are here arranged in companies when they were tried or died together.
(1) Under King Henry VIII. — Cardinal: John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, 22 June, 1535. Lord Chancellor: Sir Thomas More, 6 July, 1535. Carthu- sians: John Houghton, Robert LawTence, Augustine Webster, 4 May, 1535; Humphrey Middlemore, Wil- liam Exmew, Sebastian Newdigate, 19 June, 1535; John Rochester, James Walworth, 11 May, 1537; Thomas Johnson, William Greenwood, John Davye, Robert Salt, Walter Pienson, Thomas Greene, Thomas Scryven, Thomas Redyng, Richard Bere, June-Scpt., 1.537; Robert Home, 4 Au^., 1540. Benedictines: Richard Whiting, Hugh Farringdon, abbots, 15 Nov., 1.539; Thomas Marshal (or John Beche), 1 Dec, 1539; John Thome, Roger James, William Eynon, John Rugg, 15 Nov., 1539. Doctors of Divinity: Thomas Abel, ICdward Powell, Richard Fetherstone, .30 July, 1540. Other secular priests: John Hailc, 4 May, 1535; John Larke, 7 March, 1544. Other religious orders: Rich- ard Reynold, Brigittine (4 May, 1535); John Stone,
O.S.A., 12 May, 1.53S; John Forest, O.S.F., 22 May,
1538. Laymen and women : Adrian Fortescue, Knight
of St. John, 9 July, 1539; Margaret Pole, Countess of
Sahsbury, 2S May, 1541; German Gardiner, 7 March,
1544. (2) Under Queen Elizabeth. — Mart>TS con-
nected with the Excommunication: John Felton, S
Aug., 1570; Thomas Plumtree p., 4 Jan., 1571; John
Storey, D.C.L., 1 June, 1571; Thomas Percy, Earl of
Northumberland, 22 Aug., 1572; Thomas Woodhouse
p., 13 June, 1573. First martjTs from the seminar-
ies: Cuthbert Mayne, ProtomartjT of Douai College,
29 Nov., 1577; John Nelson p. and S.J. before death, 3
Feb , 1578; Thomas Sherwood, church student, 7 Feb.,
1578; Everard Ilanse p., 31 July, 15S1. Martyrs of
the Catholic Revival: Edmund Campion, S.J., Ralph
Sherwin, ProtomartjT of English College, Rome, .Alex-
ander Briant p. and S.J. before death, 1 Dec, 1581;
John Payne p., 2 .Vpril, 1582; Thomas Ford p., John
Shert p., Robert Johnson p., 28 May, 1582; William
Filby p., Luke Kirby p., LawTence Richardson p.,
Thomas Cottam p. and S.J. before death, 30 May,
1582. York martyrs: William Lacey p., Richard Kirk-
man p., 22 Aug., 1582; James Thompson p., 28 Nov.,
1582; William Hart p., 15 March, 1583; Richard Thir-
keld p., 29 May, 1583.
II. Vener.vbles. — Separate notices will be given of the more notable martjTS and groups of mart jts. But, though they all died heroically, their hves were so re- tired and obscure that there is generally but little known about them. It may, however, be remarked that, being educated in most cases in the same semi- naries, engaged in the same work, and suffering under the same procedure and laws, the details which we know about some of the more notable martyrs (of whom special biographies are given) are generally also true for the more obscure. The authorities, too, will be the same in both cases.
(1) Under King Henry VIII (12).— 1537-38: An- thony Brookby, Thomas Belchiam, Thomas Cort, Franciscans, thrown into prison for preaching against the king's supremacy. Brookby was strangled with his own girdle, the others died of ill treatment. 1539: Friar Waire, O.S.F., and John Griffith p. (generally known as Griffith Clarke), Vicar of Wandsworth, for supporting the papal legate, Cardinal Pole, drawn and quartered (8 July) at St. Thomas Waterings; Sir Thomas Dingley, Ivnight of St. John, beheaded, 10 July, with Bl. .\drian Fortescue, q. v. John Travers, Irish .\ugustinian, who had written against the suprem- acy; before execution his hand was cut off and burnt, but the writing fingers were not consumed, 30 July. 1540—44: Edmund Brindholme p., of London, and Clement Philpot 1., of Calais, attainted for having " ad- hered to the Pope of Rome", hanged and quartered at Tyburn, 4 Aug., 1540; Sir David Gonson (also Genson and Gunston), Knight of St. John, son of Vice- Admiral Gonson, attainted for "adhering" to Cardinal Pole, hanged and quartered at St. Thomas Waterings, 1 July, 1541; John Ireland p., once a chaplain to More, condemned and executed with Bl. John Larke, 1544; Thomas Ashby 1., q. v., 29 March, 1.544.
(2) Under Queen Elizabeth.— 15S:i: John Slade 1., q. v., 30 Oct., Winchester, with John Bodey 1., 2 Nov., Andover. 1584: William Carter 1., q. v., 11 Jan., Ty- burn; George Haydock p., q. v., with James Fenn p., Thomas liemerford p., John Nutter p., John Munden p., 12 Feb., Tyburn; James Bell p., q. v., with John Finch 1., q. v., 20 .\pril, Lancaster; Richard White 1., q. v., 17 Oct., Wrexham. 15S5: Thomas .\lficld p., q. v., with Thomas Webley 1., 6 July, Tyburn; Hugh Taylor p., q. v., with Marmaduke Bowes 1., 26 Nov., York. From this time onwartis almost all the priests suffered under the law of 27 Elizabeth, merely for their priestly character. 1586: Edward Stransham p., q. v., with Nicholas Woodfen p., 21 Jan., Tyburn; Mar- garet Clitherow 1., q. v., 25 March, York; Richard Ser- geant p., q. v., with William Thompson p., 20 April,
