medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> >A modern saint: Nicholas Owen (d. 1606) Nicholas was a native of
> Oxford, who served the Catholic cause by going around constructing
> priest holes for Jesuits to hide in in many recusant homes. He was
> arrested in 1594 and tortured, but released when a wealthy Catholic
> bought him out of jail. N then continued helping Jesuits, and may
> have been responsible for a priest's dramatic escape from the Tower
> of London in 1597. He was arrested again in 1606 and died under
> torture. NO was canonized in 1970.
>
The Oxford DNB provides some detail about lay-brother Owen's priest-hole
making: "From documentary and architectural evidence it is possible to
identify the characteristics of his work: a liking for sites away from
outside walls; an ability to think in three dimensions and in curves;
and the inventiveness noted by John Gerard and not shown by some other
builders. Surviving examples include those at Oxburgh, Norfolk (1589?);
Baddesley Clinton, Warwickshire (1588–91); Braddocks, Essex, and
Sawston, Cambridgeshire (both 1592–3); Scotney Old Castle, Kent (by
1598); and Harvington, Worcestershire (about 1602)."
His ingenuity--and fortitude--may be seen as well in his eventual
capture: "Both he and Henry Garnet were finally taken at Hindlip,
Worcestershire, during a twelve-day search in January 1606 when ‘eleven
secret corners and conveyances were found in the said house’...Owen and
a companion, Ralph Ashley alias Chambers, were starved out of a hide in
the long gallery on Thursday, 23 January, after four days with one apple
to eat between them." He died while being tortured in the Tower of
London March 1-2, 1606.
From: Michael Hodgetts, ‘Owen, Nicholas (d. 1606)’, Oxford Dictionary of
National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/21023, accessed 21 March 2005]
Cheers,
Al Magary
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