Having written about the early Christian martyrs and some of their modern counterparts in my last blog, I have been reading about the Elizabethan Jesuit martyr, St Robert Southwell in Conscience is My Crown by Patricia W. Claus (Gracewing £12.99). Actually, the book is a study of four interrelated men of the period, the Rev Robert Lenthall, his cousin William Lenthall and John Hampden as well as Robert Southwell, but the saint’s life is naturally the most moving part.
Christian martyrs are made not born. Southwell, who secretly arrived back in England in 1587 after studying for the priesthood in Rome, was realistic about his chances of evading capture under the punitive anti-clerical laws of Elizabeth I, writing soberly, “I know very well that sea and land are gaping wide for me; and lions, as well as wolves, go prowling in search of whom they may devour.” Yet he still added bravely, “But I welcome, more than fear, their fangs.”
