October 1591 and the Pursuivants are on the hunt! The time 5am, the place, a small country manor in Warwickshire called Baddesley Clinton, home to the Catholic Ferrers family, now living as recusants under Queen Elizabeth I.
A hammering on the door alerts the household; Fr Robert Southwell was about to celebrate the first Mass of the day, in secret for fear of Elizabeth's men who hunted priests as dogs hunt their prey. Seven other priests are in the house which was used as a planning meeting place for priests on the run. All is uproar as the priest hunters (Pursuivants) hammer on the door demanding entry with a string of foul oaths. The servants at the door employ delaying tactics but the Pursuivants are enraged at the time taken to unlock the door, meanwhile Fr Southwell has dis-robed and the other priests are busy hiding their clothes, satchels and swords (yes, swords, not so much for assault as for disguise, a man in Elizabethan times who walked the highways sans sword would have stood out like a sore thumb).
Finally, all is stashed away and the priests hurry to the various priest holes dotted around the house. The Vaux sisters are in residence and one of them has her two young children with her. These too must be hidden lest childish answers to inquisitors' questioning gives the game and the lives of the priests away.
At last the door is opened and the hunters fall through it like "leopards" and rush frantically around the house.
The servants are mustered and questioned one by one:
"Are there priests hidden in this house?" "No"
"Have you seen any Popish priests here recently?" "No"
"Do you know where we may find these priests who are guilty of treason?" "No"
Eventually, the Pursuivants give up and leave the property without discovering any of the hidden priests who included, Fathers Gerard, Southwell, Garnet, Stanney, Oldcorne, two others and, quite possibly, Nicholas Owen, master carpenter and creator of most of the priests' holes in country houses of the time.
Did the servants lie? Of course they did. If they had given up the priests about a quarter of the English Mission would have been wiped out instantly and their lives made forfeit after torture and final hanging, drawing and quartering.
Was the lie a sin? No, most definitely not!
Did the priests lie when they disguised themselves in secular dress? Yes
Did Nicholas Owen lie when he constructed priests' holes to deceive the Pursuivants? Yes
Did the craftsmen who created hiding places for the Blessed Sacrament out of everyday objects lie? Yes
But no sins were committed by these deceptions. It would be unthinkable for any man or woman to have owned up to the deceit of concealing the Sacrament or the Priests and so give up good men and women to evil.
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| Baddesley Clinton - house of lies but also of safety for the priests |
A hammering on the door alerts the household; Fr Robert Southwell was about to celebrate the first Mass of the day, in secret for fear of Elizabeth's men who hunted priests as dogs hunt their prey. Seven other priests are in the house which was used as a planning meeting place for priests on the run. All is uproar as the priest hunters (Pursuivants) hammer on the door demanding entry with a string of foul oaths. The servants at the door employ delaying tactics but the Pursuivants are enraged at the time taken to unlock the door, meanwhile Fr Southwell has dis-robed and the other priests are busy hiding their clothes, satchels and swords (yes, swords, not so much for assault as for disguise, a man in Elizabethan times who walked the highways sans sword would have stood out like a sore thumb).
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| A Priest's hiding hole is hidden in the ceiling above this fireplace |
At last the door is opened and the hunters fall through it like "leopards" and rush frantically around the house.
The servants are mustered and questioned one by one:
"Are there priests hidden in this house?" "No"
"Have you seen any Popish priests here recently?" "No"
"Do you know where we may find these priests who are guilty of treason?" "No"
Eventually, the Pursuivants give up and leave the property without discovering any of the hidden priests who included, Fathers Gerard, Southwell, Garnet, Stanney, Oldcorne, two others and, quite possibly, Nicholas Owen, master carpenter and creator of most of the priests' holes in country houses of the time.
Did the servants lie? Of course they did. If they had given up the priests about a quarter of the English Mission would have been wiped out instantly and their lives made forfeit after torture and final hanging, drawing and quartering.
Was the lie a sin? No, most definitely not!
Did the priests lie when they disguised themselves in secular dress? Yes
Did Nicholas Owen lie when he constructed priests' holes to deceive the Pursuivants? Yes
Did the craftsmen who created hiding places for the Blessed Sacrament out of everyday objects lie? Yes
But no sins were committed by these deceptions. It would be unthinkable for any man or woman to have owned up to the deceit of concealing the Sacrament or the Priests and so give up good men and women to evil.
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