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.

Edward Osbaldeston was an English martyr, born about 1560. Не was hanged, drawn and quartered at York, 16 November 1594.

Life

Edward Osbaldeston was born about 1560 at Osbaldeston Hall near Blackburn, Lancashire. He was the son of Thomas Osbaldeston, and nephew of Edward Osbaldeston, of Osbaldeston Hall. He went to the English College of Douai, then at Reims, where he was ordained deacon in December 1583, and priest 21 September 1585. He was sent on the English mission 27 April 1589, and was apprehended at night through the instrumentality of an Anglican priest named Thomas Clark at an inn at Tollerton, Yorkshire, upon St. Jerome's day, 30 September 1594.

He had said his first Mass on the feast day of St. Jerome, and in consequence had a great devotion to that saint.

The day following his arrest he was taken to York where he was tried at the next assizes and attained of high treason for being a priest.

Bishop Challoner prints the greater part of a letter addressed by the martyr to his fellow-prisoners in York Castle, the full text of which is still extant, and which reveals the great humility and serene trust in God with which he anticipated his death.

Edward Osbaldeston was among the eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales beatified by Pope John Paul II on 22 November 1987.