Saint Cuthbert Mayne
Douai-trained priest executed at Launceston in 1577
- Rank
- Saint
- Kind
- Martyr, Priest
- Life
- 1544 – 1577
- Era
- 16th century
- Feast
- 29 November
- Countries
- United Kingdom
Life story
Cuthbert Mayne was born at Youlston, near Barnstaple in Devon, in south-west England; he was baptised in March 1543 or 1544. An uncle, a priest who rejected Roman authority, arranged his schooling at Barnstaple, and he went on to Oxford, studying at St Alban Hall and then St John's College. He took his bachelor's degree in 1566 and his master's in 1570. At about eighteen or nineteen he had been ordained a minister of the Church of England.
At Oxford he came to know Edmund Campion, Gregory Martin and others who later became Catholics. In late 1570 a letter from Gregory Martin to him fell into the hands of the Bishop of London, and an order was issued for his arrest. Warned in time, he fled to Cornwall and reached Douai in 1573. There he was received into the Church, ordained a priest in 1575 and took his bachelor of theology degree in early 1576.
On 24 April 1576 he left Douai for England with the priest John Payne. He lodged with Francis Tregian at Golden, in the parish of Probus in Cornwall, and worked quietly there. On 8 June 1577 the high sheriff, Richard Grenville, arrested him at Tregian's house.
In September 1577 he was tried on five counts, among them possessing a faculty absolving the queen's subjects, an Agnus Dei medal, teaching papal authority in Launceston gaol, and saying Mass. The jury convicted him of treason. The government decided that the sentence should be carried out, and he was executed at Launceston on 29 November 1577. He is described as one of the first Douai-trained priests to be put to death. He was beatified in 1886 and canonized by Pope Paul VI on 25 October 1970 among the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
Works and witness
- Studied at Oxford, served as an Anglican minister, then became a Catholic
- Ordained a priest at Douai in 1575
- Left Douai for England on 24 April 1576 and worked in Cornwall
- Arrested on 8 June 1577 at the house of Francis Tregian
- Executed on 29 November 1577; canonized in 1970
Saints from the same country
References
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1911), entry Blessed Cuthbert Mayne (New Advent)
Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.