Widmerpool, Robert, Bl.
WIDMERPOOL, ROBERT, BL.
Lay martyr; b. Widmerpool, Nottinghamshire, England; hanged at Canterbury, Oct. 1, 1588. After completing his education at Gloucester Hall, Oxford, Widmerpool was tutor to the sons of Henry, ninth Earl of Northumberland, then a schoolmaster. He was arrested for helping an illegal priest find refuge in the home of the countess of Northumberland, imprisoned at the Marshalsea, and condemned to die with the priests (BB.) Robert wilcox, Edward campion, and Christopher buxton. After the executioner put the rope of the gallows around his neck, Widmerpool thanked God for the glory of martyrdom in Canterbury for the cause for which St. Thomas died. 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: r. challoner, Memoirs of Missionary Priests, ed. j. h. pollen (rev. ed. London 1924; repr. Farnborough 1969) I, 61–63. h. foley, Records of the English Province of the Society of Jesus (London 1877–82) I, 478, 481. j. morris, ed., The Troubles of Our Catholic Forefathers Related by Themselves, 3 v. (London 1872–77) III, 39. j. h. pollen, Acts of English Martyrs (London 1891) 327.
[k. i. rabenstein]