By Fr. Scott Archer
“For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it: for he that
shall lose his life for my sake, shall save it.”[1]
In
the annals of that dark era of persecution following the Protestant Revolution in
England are written the names of the saints and blesseds who gave their lives
for Christ and His Church. In the beginning, the martyrs were those who simply
remained true to the Faith established by Christ; the Faith in which they had
been baptized and raised. As the years passed, sons and daughters of the new
religion began to see the light of the Church shine within their hearts and
converted to the Faith of their Fathers. Many of the latter, steadfast to the
end, are counted today among those who shed their blood for Christ. One such
convert and martyr is Blessed William Scott.
William
Scott was born in Chigwell, Essex, about 1578 and baptized in the Church of
England. He was the son of William Scott, lord of the manor of Woolston, and
Prudence, daughter and co-heiress of Edmund Alabaster of Brett’s Hall,
Tendring, Essex.[2]
His temperament inclined towards the study of law, he attended Trinity Hall,
Cambridge, and received a degree in civil law in 1600. He set off for London to
train as barrister.[3]
While
at the home of a friend in London, he began to read a Catholic book. He found
the arguments convincing and thus began a two-year journey that would lead him
to embrace the Catholic Faith. He was received into the Church by the
Benedictine, Saint John Roberts.[4] Roberts also received him as a postulant of
the Benedictine Order; however, Scott and other postulants were arrested while
attempting to leave England for the Benedictine abbey in Valladolid, Spain. Scott
was released and subsequently entered the novitiate at the abbey of St. Facundo
in Sahagún, Spain, receiving in religion the name Maurus.[5]
Following his ordination in 1610,
Scott longed to be sent on the English mission to offer the Holy Sacrifice of
the Mass on his native soil and bring the sacraments to the faithful as well as
to convert souls to the true Faith. This was agreeable to his superiors, and he
went first to the priory of St. Gregory the Great, Douai in Flanders, to
prepare for this great undertaking, after which he arrived in England in
December of 1610.[6]
Upon returning to England, Scott discovered
the man who received him into the Catholic Church had been condemned to death
for being a priest. He spent the night before the execution with Roberts and
was a witness to his being hanged, drawn, and quartered. Carefully observing
where the body parts of Roberts had been thrown in a trench, Scott, along with others,
later recovered the remains of the saint. He was eventually arrested himself
and spent a year in prison. Scott went back to Douai after his release was
secured by the ambassador for Savoy. He returned to England in 1612.[7]
Scott arrived by boat from Gravesend, and in danger of being discovered as a priest, he threw into the Thames a bag containing his breviary, his priestly faculties, and some medals and crosses. He was arrested while the bag with its contents was retrieved by a fisherman in his net and given to George Abbot, the Anglican archbishop of Canterbury.[8]
Scott arrived by boat from Gravesend, and in danger of being discovered as a priest, he threw into the Thames a bag containing his breviary, his priestly faculties, and some medals and crosses. He was arrested while the bag with its contents was retrieved by a fisherman in his net and given to George Abbot, the Anglican archbishop of Canterbury.[8]
Abbot informed Scott that he would
be released if he took the oath of loyalty to King James I. It was, however, an
oath a Catholic could not accept as it was also an oath of infidelity to the
pope and the Catholic Church. He declared instead, “I am a loyal servant to His
Majesty… also for the past and for the future, that I have been and to the last
moment of my life will be ever loyal to my king; which is more than you exact
by your statute.”[9] Perhaps
needless to say, these words were not sufficient.
On
May 28, 1612, Scott was tried at the Old Bailey, London, during which his own
knowledge of the law, aided by God’s grace, was quite evident. In the course of
the trial, Scott refused to confess his priesthood, stating that it was not up
to him to convict himself but for his prosecutors to convict him on evidence. The
chief evidence against him, presented by Abbot, was the paper “giving leave”
for him to offer Mass. Scott responded, “Giving leave, but to whom? Was my name
there expressed? If not, your lordship might have kept that argument to
yourself, with the rest of the things in the bag.”[10]
When
Abbot inquired if Scott was a priest, he instead demanded of the archbishop,
“My lord, are you a priest?” The prelate answered, “No.” Scott countered, “No
priest, no bishop.” Abbot responded, “I am a priest, but not a massing priest.”
Scott replied, “If you are a priest, you are a sacrificing priest, for
sacrificing is essential to priesthood; and if you are a sacrificing priest,
you are a massing priest. For what other sacrifice have the priests of the new
law, as distinct from mere laics, to offer to God, but that of the Eucharist,
which we call the Mass? If then, you are a no massing priest, you are no
sacrificing priest; if no sacrificing priest, no priest at all, and
consequently no bishop.”[11]
In
short order, the jury returned with the expected guilty verdict and Scott was
condemned to death by hanging, drawing, and quartering. Upon hearing his fate,
he proclaimed in a loud voice, “Thanks be to God, never any news did I ever
more wish for, nor were there ever any so welcome to me.” He then spoke to the
people of the court saying, “I have not yet confessed myself a priest, that the
laws might go on of course, and that it might appear whether the judges would
offer to condemn me upon such mere presumption and conjectures which you see
they have done. Wherefore to the glory of God and all the saints in heaven I
confess I am a monk of the Order of Saint Benedict and priest of the Roman
Catholic Church. But be you all witness I pray you, that I have committed no
crime against His Majesty or the country: I am only accused of priesthood and
for priesthood condemned.”[12]
On
May 30, 1612, Scott was taken to the place of execution at Tyburn, arrayed in
his Benedictine habit. He made a declaration of his life, confessing his
conversion and adherence to the true Catholic Faith. He then gave some gold
coins to the executioner saying, “Take these, friend, for love of me. I give
them to you with good will and gladly do I forgive you my death.”[13]
He was then hanged, drawn, and quartered. Scott’s remains were later recovered
by Don Alonzo de Velasco, the Spanish ambassador to England, and some men from
the Spanish embassy.[14]
Blessed
William Scott was beatified by Pope Pius XI on December 15, 1929. Like Saint
Thomas More before him, he desired to see the law take its course in order to
show the world he was convicted purely for being a faithful Catholic and, in
Scott’s case, for being a priest. Once condemned, he thanked God with an
eloquence worthy of one about to die for Christ the King. To the very end, he
was a faithful disciple of his Master, and showed the depth of his love in
losing his life; thus, saving it.
[2] Camm, Dom Bede,
“A Martyr’s Home and Family,” in The Downside Review, vol. 47, Jan. 1, 1929,
33.
[3] “Maurus Scott,”
Wikipedia, accessed Nov. 27, 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurus_Scott.
[4] “Maurus Scott.”
[5] Thurston, Herbert J., S.J., and Attwater,
Donald, ed., Butlers’s Lives of the Saints, Vol, II, 431.
[6] “Maurus Scott.”
[7] “Maurus Scott.”
[8] Weldon, Dom Bennet. O.S.B., Chronological
Notes Containing the Rise, Growth, and Present State of the English
Congregation of the Order of St. Benedict, Drawn from the Archives of the
Houses of the Said Congregation at Douay in Flanders, Dieuluart in Lorraine,
Paris in France, and Lambspring in Germany, Where Are Preserved the Authentic
Acts and Original Deeds, Etc. An: 1709 (Standbrook Worchester: The Abbey of
Our Lady of Consolation, 1881).
[9] “Maurus Scott.”
[10] Bowden, Henry Sebastian, Mementoes of
the Martyrs and Confessors of England and Wales, ed. Donald Attwater (Burns
& Oats, London, 1962), 129-130.
[11] “The Priest: Seeing Him Who is Invisible,”
Silverstream Abbey Vultus Christi blog, accessed Dec. 11, 2019,
https://vultuschristi.org/index.php/2015/04/the-priest-seeing-him-who-is-invisible/.
[12] Weldon, Chronological Notes.
[13] “Maurus Scott.”
