Blessed John Amias | |
|---|---|
 John Amias and Robert Dalby, "At the place of Execution." Illustration for Memoirs of Missionary Priests by Bishop Challoner (Jack, 1878) | |
| Born | possibly Wakefield, Yorkshire, England |
| Died | 16 March 1589 Outside the city of York |
| Beatified | 15 December 1929 by Pope Pius XI |
| Feast | 16 March |
John Amias (died 16 March 1589) was a Roman Catholic priest who was martyred in England. He was beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1929.
There is some doubt about his early life and his real name. One story is that he was indeed John Amias or Amyas, born at Wakefield in Yorkshire, England, where he married and raised a family, exercising the trade of cloth-merchant. On the death of his wife, he divided his property among his children and left for the Continent to become a priest. [1] There is also a possibility that he was really William Anne (surname), youngest son of John and Katherine Anne, of Frickley near Wakefield.
Regardless of his actual name, on 22 June 1580, a widower calling himself "John Amias" entered the English College at Rheims to study for the priesthood. He was ordained a priest in Rheims Cathedral on 25 March 1581. On 5 June of that year Amias, set out for Paris and then England, as a missionary, in the company of another priest, Edmund Sykes. Of his missionary life we know little. Towards the end of 1588 he was seized at the house of a Mr Murton at Melling in Lancashire and imprisoned in York Castle. Given the 1585 Act making it a capital offence to be a Catholic priest in England the sentence of hanging, drawing and quartering was inevitable. It was carried out outside the city of York on 16 March 1589. Amias was beginning to address the assembled people, and explain that it was for religion, and not treason, that he suffered, but was not allowed to proceed. [2]
His fate was shared by a fellow priest, Robert Dalby. [1] Both were beatified by Pope Pius XI on 15 December 1929.
George Nichols was an English Catholic martyr.
John Boste is a saint in the Catholic Church, and one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
John Jones O.F.M, also known as John Buckley, John Griffith, Godfrey Maurice, or Griffith Jones, was a Franciscan priest and martyr. He was born at Clynnog Fawr, Caernarfonshire (Gwynedd), Wales, and was executed 12 July 1598 at Southwark, England. He is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
John Adams was an English Catholic priest and martyr.
Robert Dibdale was an English Catholic priest and martyr.
Robert Dalby was an English Catholic priest and martyr.
The Dryburne Martyrs: Richard Hill, Richard Holiday, John Hogg and Edmund Duke were English Roman Catholic priests and martyrs, executed at Dryburne, County Durham, in the reign of Elizabeth I. They were beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1987.
John Shert was an English Catholic priest and martyr, who was executed during the reign of Elizabeth I.
Thomas Ford, a Devonshire native, was a Catholic martyr executed during the reign of Elizabeth I.
Luke Kirby was an English Catholic priest and martyr from the North of England, executed during the reign of Elizabeth I. He is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
Polydore Plasden (1563–1591) was one of the Catholic Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. A native of London, he studied for the priesthood at Rheims and Rome, and was ordained in 1586 before being sent back to England soon after.
Edward James was an English Catholic priest and martyr.
Ralph Crockett was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1929.
William Harrington was an English Jesuit priest. He is a Roman Catholic martyr, beatified in 1929.
George Haydock was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987. He is not to be confused with his relative, also a priest, George Leo Haydock (1774–1849).
James Fenn was an English Catholic priest and martyr who was beatified on 15 December 1929, by Pope Pius XI. James Fenn was the brother of the Catholic priest and writer John Fenn and of Robert Fenn. All three brothers were choristers and scholars.
The Oaten Hill Martyrs were Catholic Martyrs who were executed by hanging, drawing and quartering at Oaten Hill, Canterbury, on 1 October 1588. The gallows had been put up in 1576. These four were beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1929.
Nicholas Woodfen born Nicholas Wheeler, also known as Nicholas Devereux, was an English Roman Catholic priest who was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, London on 21 January 1586. He is considered a Catholic martyr and one of the Eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales who were executed between 1584 and 1679. He was beatified on 22 November 1987 by Pope John Paul II.
Edward Thwing was an English Catholic priest and martyr.
