Rugg, John, Bl.

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RUGG, JOHN, BL.

Priest and martyr; hanged, drawn, and quartered at Reading, England, Nov. 15, 1539. John Rugg was a former fellow of the two St. Mary Winton colleges and the first holder of the Wykehamical prebend "Bursalis" at Chichester Cathedral. He had retired from active ministry to Reading Abbey in 1532. There he was arrested and tried for high treason for refusing to recognize Henry VIII's supremacy over the Church of England. He was executed with Bl. Hugh faringdon, abbot of Reading, and John Eynon (or Onyon), a priest of St. Giles's, Reading. They were beatified by Pope Leo XIII on May 13, 1895.

Feast of the English Martyrs: May 4 (England); Dec. 1 (Dioceses of Portsmouth and Westminster; English Benedictines).

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

Bibliography: 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).

[k. i. rabenstein]