George Beesley

George Beesley (also Bisley ) (* in? The Hill ; † 1. or 2. July 1591 in London ) was a from England originating Roman Catholic priest , martyr , who was beatified 1987th

Beesley was born in The Hill town of Goosnargh Ward , Lancashire , and came from a Catholic family. He received his training in Reims , France , at the English-speaking college in Douai , which at the time was relocated to Reims. He was ordained a priest on March 14, 1587. He was returned on November 1, 1588 to the mission to England, against the Act Against Jesuits and seminarists of Elizabeth I of 1585, which was also the basis of his death sentence and the method of execution. Towards the end of 1590 he was arrested and tortured by Richard Topcliffe so many times that his body was almost entirely skeletal . Nevertheless, even under the worst tortures, he is said not to have betrayed anything that might have endangered other Catholic priests in England. Beesley was hanged, gutted and quartered on Fleet Street , London , on July 1 or 2, 1591 . His last words are said to have been: " Good people, I beseech God to send all felicity. " With him on the same day and in the same way, the also canonized Priest Montford Scott died .

He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on November 22, 1987 , along with 84 other priests and Catholics killed in England . Memorial day for him and Scott is July 1st.

St. Francis Hill Chapel , which belongs to the Lancaster diocese and also has a church window with the image of the Blessed, is located on the site of his birthplace in Goosnargh .

swell

• Beede Camm: Ven. George Beesley in Catholic Encyclopedia , 1913, en: Wikisource
• Thompson Cooper: Beesley, George in Dictionary of National Biography , Volume 04, London 1885–1900, en: Wikisource

Individual evidence

1. ↑ St Francis, Hill Chapel, Goosnargh. Church website with photo of the church window. In: stfrancisgoosnargh.org.uk. Accessed March 29, 2018 .