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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > A modern saint: John Plessington (d. 1679) Plessington was born to > a royalist Catholic family in England. He went abroad to study and > returned to England as a priest in 1663. He was accused of taking > part in the "popish plot" to murder Charles II (that Titus Oates had > actually invented). JP was found guilty and hanged. He was > canonized in 1970 as one of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales. He would have been hanged, drawn and quartered, actually. The English authorities considered that hanging was too good for Catholics; or, to put the matter more exactly, it was considered treasonable to be a Catholic priest, and any priest caught suffered the punishment of a traitor. We have our own local martyr here in Pickering, Blessed Nicholas Postgate, also accused of being part of the "popish plot" and hanged, drawn and quartered in York on August 7th 1679. We have his portable altar hanging on our own altar, so that every time I say Mass, I am saying it on his altar, which is a great privilege. Perhaps I might say a little more about him on August 7th. - Bill. ===== ___________________________________________________________ALL-NEW Yahoo! Messenger - sooooo many all-new ways to express yourself http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html