Bl. Matthew Flathers

Matthew Flathers, of Weston, England, was ordained a priest in Arras, France on the solemnity of the Annunciation, March 25, 1606. Almost immediately after returning to England to begin his priestly ministry there, he was captured by the Protestant authorities, and then banished from the country. But determined to serve the Catholics of his native land, come what may, Father Flathers soon secretly re-entered England. He was quickly re-arrested and this time sentenced to death for being a priest. At York, he was executed by drawing and quartering, always a brutal procedure, but in Father Flathers' case it was done with such exceptional barbarity that the Protestant onlookers were horrified and sympathized with the martyred priest. Thereafter the Protestants of York extended their sympathy to the whole Catholic population. One city councilman declared that he wanted to see all the bloodshed against Catholics ended.