Nicholas Owen (Jesuit)
Saint Nicholas Owen SJ | |
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Martyr | |
Born | c. 1562 Oxford, England |
Died | 1/2 March 1606 (aged 43 - 44) Tower of London, England |
Venerated in | Catholic Church |
Beatified | 15 December 1929 by Pope Pius XI |
Canonized | 25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI |
Feast | 22 March (individual) 4 May (Forty Martyrs) |
Nicholas Owen,
Life
Nicholas Owen was born around 1562 in
Owen served as a servant of
Owen was of very short stature, and suffered from a hernia, as well as a crippled leg from a horse falling on him.[5]: 181, 183 Sometimes, he built a more easily discovered outer hiding place, which concealed an inner hiding place. The location of the secret room was known to only himself and the owner of the house. One certain example of his work survives, at Broad Oaks Manor[6]: 53 and it is extremely likely that Baddesley Clinton is the unidentified house in which seven priests hid in one of his hides during a search in 1591, as the hide and the house match the description perfectly.[6]: 39 Probable examples of his work survive at Sawston Hall in Cambridgeshire, Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk, Huddington Court and Harvington Hall in Worcestershire.[6]: 58, 40, 72, 99 There is no reason to think the turret hide at Coughton Court in Warwickshire is Owen's work.[6]: 234 Due to the ingenuity of his craftsmanship, some may still be undiscovered.
For many years, Owen worked in the service of the Jesuit priest
In early 1606, Owen was arrested a final time at Hindlip Hall in Worcestershire, starved, with Ralph Ashley, out of one of his own hides after four days, the two having had nothing to eat but an apple. [6]: 179 Realising just whom they had caught, and his value, Secretary of State Robert Cecil exulted: "It is incredible, how great was the joy caused by his arrest... knowing the great skill of Owen in constructing hiding places, and the innumerable quantity of dark holes which he had schemed for hiding priests all through England".[1]
Death
After being committed to the
I verily think no man can be said to have done more good of all those who laboured in the English vineyard. He was the immediate occasion of saving the lives of many hundreds of persons, both ecclesiastical and secular.[9]
Veneration
Owen was
There are Catholic churches dedicated to Saint Nicholas Owen in Little Thornton, Lancashire and Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire.
The Catholic school academy company that serves the Kidderminster, Hagley and Stourbridge areas near Harvington Hall is named in his honour.
Portrayals in fiction
- Owen is portrayed, as a minor character, in Robert Hugh Benson's novel Come Rack! Come Rope! (1912), where he is named "Hugh Owen".
- One of his priest holes plays a key role in the Catherine Aird mystery novel A Most Contagious Game (1967). A priest hole attributed to him is also part of Peter Carey's novel Parrot and Olivier in America (2010).
- Owen and his work play a key role in The House of a Hundred Whispers by Graham Masterton, published in 2020 by Head of Zeus Ltd.
- Owen is also a minor character in Leonard Tourney's novel Catesby's Ghost: A Mystery of Shakespeare (2022).
- Owen has a minor role in Botany Manor, published by Whitethorn Games in 2024.
See also
Marshalsea |
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References
- ^ a b Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
- ^ Reynolds, Tony. "St Nicholas Owen: Priest-Hole Maker" Gracewing 2014
- .
- ^ "The Jesuit Curia in Rome". www.sjweb.info. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
- ^ ISBN 9781729755396.
- ^ ISBN 9781738427000.
- ^ Hodgetts, Michael (2024). "Nicholas Owen: Jesuit Lay Brother?". Midlands Catholic History. 31.
- ISBN 1871217636.
- ^ a b Narrative of the Gunpowder Plot, Fr. John Gerard, S.J.
- ^ "Life of St. Nicholas Owen". St. Nicholas Owen church, Little Thornton. Archived from the original on 31 May 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2014.