Bl. Edward Osbaldeston

Edward Osbaldeston, of Lancashire, England, journeyed to France to study for the priesthood. Following his ordination at Reims on September 21, 1585, he celebrated his first Mass on September 30, the feast of Saint Jerome, developing thereafter a special devotion to this Church Father. Three and a half years later, Father Osbaldeston was sent back to England to labor among his fellow English Catholics suffering persecution under Queen Elizabeth I. He served in Yorkshire until an apostate priest betrayed him to the Protestant authorities. Father Osbaldeston was apprehended in September of 1594 on the feast of his special patron, Saint Jerome, the ninth anniversary of his first Mass. Condemned to death for the "treason" of being a priest, Father Osbaldeston wrote a farewell letter to his fellow prisoners in which he manifests his extraordinary humility and his profound confidence in God. He was executed at York by drawing and quartering.