Portrait de William Ireland, in James Granger. A Biographical History of England: from Egbert the Great to the Revolution, 1824
Bienheureux Guillaume Ireland et Jean Grove, martyrs
Guillaume Ireland était né en 1636 dans le Lincolnshire en Angleterre. Après des études au séminaire anglais de Saint-Omer, il entra dans la Compagnie de Jésus, en 1655. Il passe quelques années au couvent des clarisses de Gravelines en qualité de confesseur puis il est envoyé en Angleterre, en 1677. L’année suivante, il est faussement accusé de complicité dans le soi-disant complot papiste de Titus Oates. Arrêté, il est condamné à mort par pendaison avec son domestique, Jean Grove, en 1679 et écartelé.
Bienheureux Guillaume Ireland et Jean Grove
Martyrs en Angleterre (+ 1679)
Guillaume Ireland était originaire du Lincolnshire en Angleterre. Après des études au séminaire anglais de Saint-Omer, il entra dans la Compagnie de Jésus. Arrêtés pour un soi-disant complot papiste contre le roi Charles II, ils furent tous deux pendus à Tyburn-Londres puis écartelés selon la tradition. Ils furent béatifiés en décembre 1929.
À Londres, en 1679, les bienheureux Guillaume Ireland, prêtre jésuite, et Jean Grove, son domestique. Accusés faussement du crime de trahison sous le roi Charles II, ils subirent le martyre pour le Christ à Tyburn.
Martyrologe romain
Le Bienheureux
William Ireland
Death: 01/24/1679
Nationality (place
of birth): Angleterre
Le P. William Ireland travailla pendant 10 ans en
Flandre, avant de pouvoir retourner dans son Angleterre natale. Dès son retour
il fut nommé ‘procureur’ (responsable des finances) de la province anglaise,
fonction qu’il exerça pendant une année seulement avant de devenir la première
victime de l’infâme complot de Titus Oates.
Il étudia au Collège Anglais à St-Omer en Flandre, et
entra au noviciat à l’âge de 19 ans. Après ses études de théologie à Liège, il
a été ordonné en 1667. Pendant les 10 années qui suivirent il enseigna à son
Alma Mater et fut confesseur des Pauvres Claires à Gravelines. Finalement il
put retourner en Angleterre en juin 1677, et s’établit à Londres où il utilisa
le pseudonyme de ‘forgeron’, tandis qu’il s’occupait des finances des jésuites.
Titus Oates était un ministre protestant apostat, qui haïssait la Compagnie de
Jésus. Avec au autre ministre protestant, Israel Tonge, il inventa une histoire
comme quoi les jésuites anglais planifiait d’assassiner le roi Charles II, de
renverser le Gouvernement et la religion établie et de réinstaller le
catholicisme. Cette histoire inventée engendra une colère furieuse et un
renouveau des persécutions des catholiques. Parmi les premières victimes
figurait le P. Ireland, qui a été arrêté en même temps que le P. John Fenwick
et leur assistant laïc, Mr. John Grove. Ils furent emprisonnés à la prison de
Newgate et chargés de lourdes chaînes qui déchirait la chair de leurs jambes.
Leur procès eut lieu après 3 mois, le 17 décembre 1678; avec eux furent aussi
jugés le P. Thomas Whitbread et Thomas Pickering, un frère bénédictin.
Au procès, Titus Oates témoigna qu’il avait été
présent à une réunion des jésuites en Avril de cette même année et qu’il avait
entendu élaborer des plans pour assassiner le roi. Il prétendait que les PP.
Ireland, Fenwick et Grove participaient à cette réunion, tandis que le P.
Whitbread et le Fr. Pickering étaient chargés d’exécuter le meurtre. D’après
Oates on avait vu le P. Ireland traîner aux environs de la résidence royale en août;
un attentat avait été commis, mais jusqu’à 3 fois le coup du pistolet du Fr.
Pickering ne partit pas. Un deuxième témoin se montra d’accord avec la plus
grande partie du premier témoignage. Le P. Ireland produisit des témoins pour
témoigner qu’il était dans les Midlands et North Wales au moment où il était
supposé avoir traîné près du palais royal. Pour le contredire Oates avait payé
une servante qui prétendit l’avoir vu à Londres à ce moment. Sur foi de faux
témoignage les PP. Ireland et Grove et le Fr. Pickering furent jugés coupables
de haute trahison et condamnés à être pendus, et écartelés. L’exécution fut
retardée d’un mois par ordre royal, parce que le roi Charles II ne croyait
absolument pas que les jésuites fussent mêlés à un complot contre lui, mais par
crainte de la colère populaire, il permit que les exécutions aient lieu.
Les PP. Ireland et Grove furent amenés à Tyburn le 24
janvier 1679. Le peuple de Londres leur lança une volée de pierres et
d’insultes, tandis qu’on les traînait jusqu’au gibet. On les pendit jusqu’à ce
que mort s’en suive, leurs corps furent ensuite écartelés.
Initialement regroupé et édité par: Tom Rochford,SJ
Traducteur: Guy Verhaegen
SOURCE : https://www.jesuits.global/fr/saint-blessed/le-bienheureux-william-ireland/
Stone marking the site of the Tyburn tree on the
traffic island at the junction of Edgware
Road, Bayswater Road and Oxford
Street. Photographie : RioVerde, 2010
Wainewright, John. "Ven. William
Ireland." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert
Appleton Company, 1910. 6 Apr.
2021 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08130a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for
New Advent by Annie Donahue.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. October
1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal
Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2020 by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Also known as
William Ironmonger
William Iremonger
Profile
Eldest son of William Ireland of Crofton Hall,
Yorkshire, England and
Barbara Eure of Washingborough, Lincolnshire, England. Studied at
English College, Saint Omer, France.
Joined the Jesuits at
Watten, Belgium in 1655;
made his profession and was ordained in 1673. Confessor to
a Poor
Clare convent at
Gravelines, France.
Sent to England in 1677 where
he used the name William Ironmonger and ministered to covert
Catholics. Jesuit procurator
of the province. Arrested on 28
September 1678 and falsley
accused of complicity in the Titus
Oates Plot. Martyr.
Born
hanged in 24
January 1679 at
Tyburn, London, England
8
December 1929 by Pope Pius XI
15
December 1929 by Pope Pius XI
Additional Information
Catholic
Encyclopedia, by John B Wainewright
Mementoes
of the English Martyrs and Confessors, by Father Henry
Sebastian Bowden
books
A
Calendar of the English Martyrs of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
Book of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other sites in english
sitios en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti in italiano
Martirologio Romano, 2005 edition
spletne strani v slovenšcini
MLA Citation
“Blessed William Ireland“. CatholicSaints.Info. 2
February 2020. Web. 6 April 2021.
<https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-william-ireland/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-william-ireland/
Blessed William Ireland, SJ
Born : 1636
Died : Jan 24, 1679
Beatified : Dec 15, 1929
William Ireland was born in Lincolnshire, England. He
was educated at the English College at Saint-Omer, Flanders and entered the
English Jesuit Novitiate at Watten, Flanders at nineteen. He did theology at
Liege and was ordained in 1667. For ten years after his ordination he taught at
Saint-Omer and was confessor to the Poor Clares at Gravelines.
He returned to England in 1677 and was appointed
procurator of the English Province. He was based in London and was travelling
under the name “Ironmonger”. His apostolate however lasted slightly over a year
because Titus Oates, a renegade Anglican minister who hated the Jesuits,
concocted a ridiculous story accusing the English Jesuits of planning to
assassinate the king, overthrowing the government and of reinstating the
Catholic Church. This fabricated “Popish Plot” roused the fury of the nation
and renewed the persecution of the Catholics resulting in the arrest of Frs
Ireland, John Fenwick and their lay assistant John Grove at their residence in
the dead of the night. They were imprisoned at Newgate where they suffered from
three months of incarceration before being brought to trial together with Fr
Thomas Whitbread and the Benedictine brother, Thomas Pickering.
At the trial, Oates falsely testified that he was
present at a special meeting of Jesuits in April that year when plans were supposedly
made to murder the king and that Frs Ireland, Fenwick and Whitbread were
present at that meeting. Oates also declared that Fr Ireland was seen at the
royal residence in August and that the assassination would have taken place had
Bro Pickering’s pistol not failed to fire. Fr Ireland maintained that he was
away from London at the time he was falsely alleged to be seen near the royal
palace and was able to produce evidence. Instead a young maid, bribed by Oates
came forth to say that she had seen the priest in London during that same
period. On the basis of this false testimony, Fr Ireland Br Pickering and Mr
Grove were found guilty of high treason and ordered to be hang, drawn and
quartered.
The execution was postponed for a month because
Charles II never believed that the Jesuits were involved in a plot against him,
but when Oates produced more disreputable witnesses, the king, fearing the
people’s anger, agreed to proceed with the executions.
On Friday, January 24, 1679, Fr Ireland and Mr Grove
were taken to Tyburn, the place of execution. Br Pickering was given a
reprieve, but was later executed on May 9. At the gallows, Fr Ireland professed
both their innocence and denied any plot against the king’s life and said: “ I
beg God Almighty to shower down a thousand and a thousand blessings upon his
Majesty……and all the royal family, and also on the whole kingdom. As for the
Catholics that are here, we desire their prayers for a happy passage into a
better world, and that God would be merciful to all Christian souls….. and so I
beseech all good people to pray for us and with us.” On completing these words,
Fr Ireland and Mr Grove recollected themselves in prayer. The cart was drawn
from under them and they remained hanging until they were dead. The bodies were
then cut down and quartered. Fr Ireland was forty-three years old and had been
a Jesuit for twenty-four years. He was the first Jesuit martyr of the infamous
Titus Oates plot.
Profile
Layman. Servant of Blessed William
Ireland and other Jesuits in London, England. Arrested on 28 September 1678,
accused of having received £1500 to help in the Titus Oates
Plot. Served time with Blessed Thomas
Pickering. Martyr.
hanged on 24 January 1679 at
Tyburn, London, England
8 December 1929 by Pope Pius XI
15 December 1929 by Pope Pius XI
Additional Information
Mementoes
of the English Martyrs and Confessors, by Father Henry
Sebastian Bowden
books
A
Calendar of the English Martyrs of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
Book of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other sites in english
sitios en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti in italiano
Martirologio Romano, 2005 edition
Readings
We are innocent, we lose our lives wrongfully, we pray
God to forgive them that are the causes of it. – Blessed John, from the
gallows
MLA Citation
“Blessed John Grove“. CatholicSaints.Info. 2
February 2020. Web. 6 April 2021.
<https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-john-grove/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-john-grove/
Article
Ireland was of gentle birth. His uncle was killed in
the King’s service and his relations assisted Charles II to escape after his
defeat at Worcester. Educated at Saint Omers, he entered the Society of Jesus,
went on the English Mission in 1677, and was apprehended as a conspirator in
the pretended Oates Plot. Oates swore that he had been present with Ireland at
a meeting held in August to kill the King. Ireland proved by the evidence of
above forty witnesses, many of them of note, that he was in the country, when
Oates swore he was in London, at the time named, yet he was condemned to death.
Ireland said he pardoned all who had a hand in his death, that if he were
guilty of treason he would be bound then to declare it, or the name of any
accomplice, even of his own father. “As for ourselves,” he said, “we would beg
a thousand pardons both of God and man; but seeing that we cannot be believed
we must commit ourselves to the mercy of Almighty God, and hope to find pardon
through Christ.”
After begging the prayers of all Catholics, he was
executed at Tyburn, with John Grove, a Catholic layman, whose innocence was
likewise fully proved, 24 January 1679. The cheerful patience and constancy of
both martyrs astonished the beholders.
MLA Citation
Father Henry Sebastian Bowden. “Venerable Ireland,
S.J., and John Grove, Layman, 1679”. Mementoes of
the English Martyrs and Confessors, 1910. CatholicSaints.Info.
21 April 2019. Web. 6 April 2021. <https://catholicsaints.info/mementoes-of-the-english-martyrs-and-confessors-venerable-ireland-s-j-and-john-grove-layman-1679/>
The
One Hundred and Five Martyrs of Tyburn – 24 January 1679
Venerable William Ireland, priest, SJ
Venerable John
Grove, layman
Venerable William Ireland was born in Lincolnshire and
brought up at Saint Omer’s. He entered the Society of Jesus at the age of 19.
He had the reputation of possessing a wonderful calm and evenness of mind on
all occasions. On returning to England, he was apprehended on the first
breaking out of the Titus Oates Plot, and suffered much from the loathsomeness
of the prison and the weight of his iron chains. He was brought to trial with
several others, including John Grove, a layman employed as a servant by the
English Jesuits in their business about town.
Oates and Bedloe swore that Father Ireland had been
present at a consultation held in August for killing the King, although the
priest brought many to witness he was in Staffordshire at the time. Oates and
Bedloe also swore that Grove was appointed to shoot the King, for which deed he
was to receive a preposterous amount of money. On Friday, the 24th of January,
the martyrs were drawn from Newgate to Tyburn, and were abused and pelted by
the mob all the way. They endured every insult with cheerful patience, and died
forgiving those who were guilty of their blood, and praying for their King and
Country.
– from The One Hundred
and Five Martyrs of Tyburn, by The Nuns of the Convent of
Tyburn, 1917
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/the-one-hundred-and-five-martyrs-of-tyburn-24-january-1679/
Beati Guglielmo Ireland e Giovanni Grove Martiri
† Tyburn, Londra, Inghilterra, 24 gennaio 1679
Il sacerdote gesuita William Ireland ed il suo
servitore John Grove furono beatificati nel 1929.
Martirologio Romano: A Londra in Inghilterra,
beati martiri Guglielmo Ireland, sacerdote della Compagnia di Gesù, e Giovanni
Grove, suo domestico, che, sotto il re Carlo II, falsamente accusati di
tradimento, a Tyburn subirono il martirio per Cristo.
