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Blessed John Speed

Historical Article from The Catholic Encyclopedia

Catholic Encyclopedia

Historical Context

This article preserves the historical wording and context of the printed encyclopedia. Dates, statistics, terminology, disciplinary descriptions, and civic or ecclesiastical circumstances may reflect the period in which the article was published.

Article Text

[alias Spence]

English martyr, executed at Durham, 4 Feb., 1593-4, for assisting the venerable martyr St. John Boste, whom he used to escort from one Catholic house to another. He died with constancy, despising the inducements offered to bring him to conformity. With him was condemned Mrs. Grace Claxton, wife of William Claxton, of the Waterhouse, in the parish of Brancepeth, Durham, at whose house Boste was taken and probably Speed also. She was, however, reprieved on being found to be with child.

Sources

CHALLONER, Missionary Priests, I, no. 100, ad finem; POLLEN, English Martyrs 1584-1603 (London, 1908), 239.

Source Record

Author
Wainewright, John
Publication
The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1912.
Nihil Obstat
Nihil Obstat. July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.
Imprimatur
Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.