POWEL, PHILIP, BL.

Benedictine priest and martyr; alias Morgan, Prosser; b. Trallong, Breconshire, Feb. 2, 1594; d. hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn (London), June 30, 1646. After completing grammar school at Abergavenny, Powel, son of Roger and Catherine Powel, became a law student at the Temple, London. There he fell under the influence of David Baker, who later became the Benedictine Augustine Baker. Philip joined the Benedictines (1614) at St. Gregory's and was ordained in Douai (1618). In 1622 he returned to the English mission where he labored for 20 years in Somersetshire and Devonshire. During the Civil War he was chaplain to the Catholic soldiers in General Goring's army in Cornwall. When the force was disbanded, he set sail for Wales, but the ship was captured, Feb. 22, 1646. Powel was recognized as a priest, arrested, taken to London, and imprisoned at St. Catherine's in Southwark. Following torture, he suffered from pleurisy. He was tried at Westminster Hall, June 9, convicted, and condemned. His mortal remains were buried in the old churchyard at Moorfields and some of his relics are preserved at Downside Abbey, Bath. He was beatified by Pius XI on Dec. 15, 1929.

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

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

Bibliography: Relation du martyre de Philippe Powel, autrement dit le Père Morgan, Religieux Bénédictin (Paris 1647). r. challoner, Memoirs of Missionary Priests, ed. j. h. pollen (rev. ed. London 1924; repr. Farnborough 1969), II, 297. j. h. pollen, Acts of English Martyrs (London 1891).

[k. i. rabenstein]