Blessed Alexander Rawlins | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1560 Oxford, England |
| Died | (1595-04-07)7 April 1595 York, England |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholicism |
| Beatified | 15 December 1929, Rome by PopePius XI |
| Feast | 7 April |
Alexander Rawlins (1560 - 7 April 1595) was an English Roman Catholic martyr, beatified in 1929.
WhileRichard Challoner says that Rawlins was born somewhere on the border betweenWorcestershire andGloucestershire, Rawlins stated to the examiners that he was born a Catholic in the city of Oxford. He went to school in Winchester before continuing his studies atHart Hall at Oxford. He then went to London where he apprenticed himself to an apothecary.[1]
In June 1586, he was arrested for the second time, withSwithun Wells, a known Catholic sympathizer, and seminarian Christopher Dryland and imprisoned inNewgate. After imprisonment, he was banished as "an obstinate Papist".[2] Sailing fromSouthampton he landed atSaint-Malo and proceeded toPicardy. He travelled widely, mostly on foot, going to Rome and Paris before arriving atReims, where he entered thecollege in December 1587. Rawlins was ordained a priest at Soissons on 18 March 1590 and sent on the English mission on 9 April. He arrived in England as a missioner withEdmund Gennings and Hugh Sewell.[3] His mother's maiden name was Yeale, and Rawlins sometimes went by the alias "Francis Yeale".
Rawlins worked in York and Durham. On Christmas Day 1594 he was arrested atWinston, Durham. In the spring of 1595, he was in York awaiting trial, where he was joined byHenry Walpole. On Monday 7 April they were bothhanged, drawn and quartered atKnavesmire. Rawlins was put to death first.[4] The hangmen would have cut him down to be disembowelled alive, but they were stayed by a gentleman on horseback who made them wait until Rawlins was dead, and then lower the rope so his body should not fall.[5]
His feast is 7 April.
