By DONAL ANTHONY FOLEY
Father John Gerard: The Persecuted Priest, by Michael F. Morley (77 pages, St. Edwards Press Ltd., available as paperback and Kindle at amazon.com).
Father John Gerard: The Persecuted Priest focuses on the life of a priest who was at the center of events during the reign of Elizabeth I, when Catholics were facing horrendous persecution in England. The book begins in the year 1564, the year of the future Fr. Gerard’s birth in Lancashire in North West England, which at the time, and for centuries afterwards, was a stronghold of the faith.
The setting for Fr. Gerard’s life’s work was the aftermath of the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII, when a centuries old way of life was abruptly destroyed. Initially, Henry’s accession to the throne in 1509 had been greeted with rejoicing after the oppressive reign of his father, the “miserly tax enthusiast” Henry VII.
The young Thomas More was certainly enthusiastic about the new ruler, not realizing that he would eventually be executed by Henry after he declared himself Supreme Head of the Church in England.
The young John Gerard grew up during the reign of Elizabeth, Henry’s daughter, as the country was steadily Protestantized. Indeed, when he was only five years old, his father was imprisoned for being part of a plot to rescue Mary Queen of Scots from Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire.
John was forced to go to the Continent to continue his education, and it was while abroad that he decided to become a Jesuit. He returned to England at the age of 19, but was imprisoned for a year in Marshalsea prison, before he was able to make his way to the English college in Rome.
Three years later, in 1588, the year of the Spanish Armada, he was ordained a priest, and with Fr. Edward Oldcorne returned to England and began his priestly ministry, knowing full well that St. Edmund Campion, a fellow Jesuit, had been hanged, drawn and quartered in 1581 for his priestly work. Fr. Gerard made his way to London, and then to the Midlands, where he acted the part of a young gentleman, a disguise which enabled him to exercise a widespread and very effective ministry for several years.
In 1591, while at a country house with six other priests, Fr. Gerard was saying Mass early one morning when the house was raided by pursuivants, paid priest-hunters. The priests and three helpers had to conceal themselves in an underground culvert. On this occasion they escaped, and two years later, while at Braddocks manor house in Essex, he again providentially escaped detection. He concealed himself in one of the priest’s holes constructed by the lay Jesuit brother, Nicholas Owen, who was also known as “Little John,” and who eventually died under torture. He has now been canonized.
But one of the servants in the house later betrayed him to the authorities and in London, in April 1594, he and Nicholas Owen were captured. After four days in a small and foul prison cell, he was brought before Richard Topcliffe, the notorious priest hunter. But he refused to divulge any information and was moved to another prison, the Clink, where the more relaxed regime allowed him to resume, in part, his priestly ministry.
Then, in 1597, Fr. Gerard was moved to the Tower of London to face further questioning — and torture. This involved him being suspended by manacles from a pillar so that the feet could not touch the ground. This caused him excruciating pain in the chest and stomach, but he refused to give any information to his tormentors. After two hours he lost consciousness, but was revived and the cruel torture continued.
This procedure was repeated on several occasions, leaving Fr. Gerard in a pitiful condition, and he was then threatened with the dreaded rack. But he so powerfully affirmed his desire to suffer martyrdom if necessary that the authorities relented and returned him to his cell in the Salt Tower.
A little later, through bribing his warder, a man named Bennett, he was able to say Mass in another prisoner’s cell, that of John Arden, a Catholic gentlemen, which was in the nearby Cradle Tower. While he was there, Fr. Gerard realized that this tower was next to the moat. The sudden thought came to him that if it was possible to descend by means of a rope this could be a way of escape.
He secretly communicated this idea to his superior, Fr. Henry Garnet, and he reluctantly agreed to the attempt being made. It was agreed that two of Fr. Gerard’s trusted servants, John Lillie and Richard Fulwood, should bring up a boat by night, and that he should throw down a length of twine for them to attach a rope to.
The first attempt nearly ended in disaster and had to be abandoned, leading to the boat being caught in the outgoing tide and jammed against London Bridge. Despite the danger of detection, it was agreed to try again, and so, on October 4, 1597, again under cover of darkness, the rope was successfully retrieved and tied to a great cannon on the top of the Cradle Tower.
John Arden went first and successfully made it down the rope to a wharf and the waiting boat. But in so doing, he stretched the rope, and Fr. Gerard’s hands and arms were weak after his recent torture, which made grasping the rope very difficult. He made slow and painful progress, but then summoning what remained of his strength got to a point where Lillie could grab his legs and haul him to safety.
They rowed away, and then Fr. Gerard made his way to a safe house where he rejoiced to see Nicholas Owen. With him he made his way by horseback to meet up with Fr. Garnet at a house in Enfield Chase, about twelve miles to the north. Fr. Gerard also arranged for his warder, Bennett, and his family, to be taken to safety in the Midlands. The result was that a year later his former jailer was received into the Church.
Fr. Gerard resumed his priestly ministry, which mostly involved staying in various country houses where the possibility of apprehension by the pursuivants was always a danger. He said Mass, heard Confessions, preached and made converts, while also arranging for young men to go to abroad to try their vocations. He had several more narrow escapes and avoided capture by secreting himself in priest’s holes.
Heroism
In the last chapter of the book, Michael F. Morley discusses the Gunpowder plot, and details how it is quite possible that Robert Cecil, the Elizabethan spymaster, was secretly aware of the plot and encouraged the conspirators. Certainly there is evidence that he at least had prior knowledge of it.
In the aftermath of the plot, Fr. Henry Garnet was, on May 3, 1606, executed, and on the same day, Fr. Gerard, disguised as a servant, made his way to Spain as part of the entourage of an ambassador. His eighteen-year ministry in England was at an end, and he spent the rest of his life as a Jesuit priest working in Flanders, France, and Italy. He died peacefully at age of seventy-three in 1637.
Father John Gerard: The Persecuted Priest, is a brief but inspiring book which brings out the heroism and extraordinary character of Fr. Gerard very well. It is potent reminder of the courage exercised by him and his companions in the defense of the faith at a time of fearful persecution. And it is also an encouragement to Catholics to persevere in the face of the difficulties the Church is experiencing in our own times.
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(Donal Anthony Foley is the author of a number of books on Marian Apparitions, and maintains a related website at www.theotokos.org.uk. He has also written two time-travel/adventure books for young people, and the third in the series is due to be published later this year — details can be seen at: http://glaston-chronicles.co.uk.)
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