Sutton, Robert, Bl.
SUTTON, ROBERT, BL.
Priest, martyr; b. c. 1545 at Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England; hanged, drawn, and quartered July 27, 1588 at Stafford. He received his master's degree from Christ Church, Oxford (1567). In 1571, he was the Anglican rector of Lutterworth, Leicestershire, but was converted to Catholicism by his younger brother William, who later became a Jesuit. The 30-year-old Robert and his 25-year-old brother Abraham arrived together at the English College of Douai on Mar. 23, 1575. They were ordained priests at Douai and left for England on Mar. 19, 1578. Robert labored in Staffordshire until his arrest and banishment in 1585. Upon his return, he was apprehended, tried, and condemned for high treason because he was a seminary priest. Catholics were able to secure part of his remains as relics. His thumb is now at Stonyhurst College. This beatus is the second English martyr of this name; the other, the companion of Bl. William hartley. This Robert Sutton was beatified by Pope John Paul II on Nov. 22, 1987 with George Haydock and Companions.
Feast: July 27; May 4 (Feast of the English Martyrs in England).
See Also: england, scotland, and wales, martyrs of.
Bibliography: r. challoner, Memoirs of Missionary Priests, ed. j. h. pollen (rev. ed. London 1924), I, no. 44. j. foster, Alumni Oxonienses (Oxford 1892). j. h. pollen, Acts of English Martyrs (London 1891), 323–26.
[k. i. rabenstein]