Edmund Sykes

Last updated

Blessed Edmund Sykes
BornLeeds
Died(1587-03-23)23 March 1587
York
Venerated in Roman Catholic Church
Beatified 1987

Edmund Sykes (born at Leeds; executed at York Tyburn, 23 March 1587) was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.

Contents

Life

He was a student at the English college at Reims, where he was ordained 21 February 1581. He was sent to the English Mission on 5 June following. [1]

Sykes worked in Yorkshire, travelling around as a pilgrim for about three years when his health broke down. He worked primarily around Leeds, and it was there Arthur Webster, an apostate Catholic, took advantage of his illness to betray him. Sykes was committed to the York Kidcot by the Council of the North. He consented once to be present at a Protestant service; but he refused to repeat the act and remained a prisoner. [1] After confinement for about six months, he was again brought before the council and sentenced to banishment. On 23 August 1585, he was transferred to Hull Castle, and within a week shipped beyond the seas.

He made his way to Rome, where he was entertained at the English College, for nine days from 15 April 1586. He wanted to atone for his lapse by the pilgrimage, and he also entertained some thoughts of entering a religious order. He decided that it was God's will that he should return to the English mission, and reaching Reims on 10 June, he left again for England on 16 June. [1]

After about six months he was betrayed by his brother, to whose house in Wath he had resorted, and was sent a close prisoner to York Castle by the council. He was arraigned at the Lent Assizes, condemned as a traitor on the score of his priesthood, and on 23 March 1587 was drawn on the hurdle from the castle yard to York Tyburn, where he suffered the death penalty. [2]

Bl. Edmund Sykes Parish, Leeds is named for him. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmund Campion</span> 16th-century English Jesuit priest, martyr and saint

Edmund Campion, SJ was an English Jesuit priest and martyr. While conducting an underground ministry in officially Anglican England, Campion was arrested by priest hunters. Convicted of high treason, he was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn. Campion was beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1886 and canonised in 1970 by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. His feast day is celebrated on 1 December.

Robert Johnson, a Shropshire native, was a Catholic priest and martyr during the reign of Elizabeth I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Cottam</span> English Catholic priest and martyr

Thomas Cottam was an English Catholic priest and martyr from Lancashire, who was executed during the reign of Elizabeth I.

Thomas Worthington, D.D. was an English Catholic priest and third President of Douai College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polydore Plasden</span> English Roman Catholic saint

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregory Martin (scholar)</span> English scholar and translator

Gregory Martin was an English Catholic priest, a noted scholar of his time, academic and Doctor of Divinity, and served as the chief translator of the Rheims and Douai Version of the Bible, the first full, official Catholic English Bible translation, translated from the Latin Vulgate.

Cæsar Clement was an English Catholic recusant.

Robert Nutter was an English Catholic priest, Dominican friar and martyr. He was beatified in 1987.

William Patenson was an English Roman Catholic priest and martyr. He was beatified in 1929.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Rowsham</span> English Roman Catholic priest and martyr

Stephen Rowsham was an English Catholic priest, executed on 3 April 1587. He is a Catholic martyr, and was beatified by Pope John Paul in 1987.

Henry Fitzsimon was an Irish Jesuit controversialist.

Edward Rishton was an English Roman Catholic priest.

William Hart was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1886.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Haydock</span> English Roman Catholic priest and martyr

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).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Tichborne</span> English martyr

Thomas Tichborne was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is regarded as a Catholic martyr.

Martin Sherson (1563–1588) was an English Roman Catholic priest.

John Lockwood was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1929.

Thomas Vavasour was an English Roman Catholic physician, and pensioner of St John's College, Cambridge.

Richard Martin was an English martyr. A layman, Martin was charged with being a "receiver and maintainer of priests" for having bought supper for Robert Morton, a priest.

Edward Thwing was an English Catholic priest and martyr.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Whitfield, Joseph Louis. "Edmund Sykes." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 28 March 2016
  2. Whitfield,Joseph L., "Venerable Edmund Sykes", Lives of the English Martyrs, (Edwin Hubert Burton and John Hungerford Pollen,eds.) Longmans, Green and Co., 1914, 274.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  3. Bl.Edmund Sykes Catholic Parish, Leeds
Attribution