Sergeant, Richard, Bl.
SERGEANT, RICHARD, BL.
Priest, martyr; alias Lee, Lea, or Long[e]; b. in Gloucestershire, England; hanged, drawn, and quartered April 20, 1586 at Tyburn. He was the son of Thomas Sergeant of Stone and his wife Katherine Tyre of Hardwick. After earning his baccalaureate at Oxford (c. 1570–71), he entered the English College at Rheims and was ordained priest at Laon (1583). He left for England on September 10, working for several years in the mission prior to his indictment at the Old Bailey on April 17, 1586, as Richard Lea, alias Longe. He suffered with Bl. William thomson, who was also executed as an unlawful priest. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on Nov. 22, 1987 with George Haydock and companions.
Feast of the English Martyrs: May 4 (England).
See Also: england, scotland, and wales, martyrs of.
Bibliography: Harleian Soc. Publ. xxi (London, 1885), 258. r. challoner, Memoirs of Missionary Priests, ed. j. h. pollen (rev. ed. London 1924) 1, nos. 32, 33. j. foster, Alumni Oxonienses (Oxford 1892). j. h. pollen, Acts of English Martyrs (London 1891).
[k. i. rabenstein]