HANSE, EVERARD, BL.

Priest, martyr; b. Northamptonshire, England; d. hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn (London), July 31, 1581. The Cambridge-educated Everard Hanse rejected the attempts of his brother William, who had been ordained in 1579, to convert him to Catholicism. Nevertheless, he came to an understanding of the truths of the Faith upon reflection during an illness. Upon his recovery he completed seminary studies at Rheims (1580–81) and was ordained. Shortly after his return to England, he was apprehended while visiting Catholics imprisoned in the Marshalsea because his foreign-made shoes roused the suspicion of the jailer. He was questioned and admitted his priesthood, which was not yet a capital crime. Nevertheless, he was held for closer examination. During his indictment he was tricked into denying the royal supremacy in spiritual matters and admitting that "I would have all to believe the Catholic faith as I do." He was found guilty of persuasion to popery, which was high treason under Elizabeth, sentenced, and executed. Afterwards the Spanish ambassador wrote, "Two nights after his death, there was not a particle of earth on which his blood had been shed, which had not been carried off as a relic." He was beatified by Pope Leo XIII on Dec. 9, 1886.

Feast of the English Martyrs: May 4 (England); July 30 (Diocese of Northampton).

See Also: england, scotland, and wales, martyrs of.

Bibliography: b. camm, ed., Lives of the English Martyrs, (New York 1904–05), II, 249–65. r. challoner, Memoirs of Missionary Priests, ed. j. h. pollen (rev. ed. London 1924; repr. Farnborough 1969). j. h. pollen, Acts of English Martyrs (London 1891); ed., Briefe Historie of the Glorious Martyrdom of Twelve Reverend Priests (1582; London, 1908), 98–106.

[k. i. rabenstein]