Pritchard, Humphrey, Bl.

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PRITCHARD, HUMPHREY, BL.

Lay martyr; sometimes given as Humphrey ap Richard; b. in Wales; d. July 5, 1589, hanged at Oxford, England. While the pious Humphrey worked at St. Catherine's Wheel Inn, opposite the east end of St. Mary Magdalen's Church, Oxford, he covertly assisted refuge Catholics for 12 years. He was arrested and sent to Bridewell Prison, London, with BB. Richard yaxley, Thomas Belson, and George nichols for assisting unlawful seminary priests. When told during his trial in Oxford that he did not know what it was to be a Catholic, he replied that he knew what he was to believe and that he would willingly die for so good a cause. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on Nov. 22, 1987 with George Haydock and Companions.

Feast of the English Martyrs: May 4 (England).

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

Bibliography: r. challoner, Memoirs of Missionary Priests, ed. j. h. pollen (rev. ed. London 1924). j. h. pollen, Acts of English Martyrs (London 1891).

[k. i. rabenstein]

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