THE P
RTAL
Saint Robert Southwell
by Joanna Bogle
February 2011 Page 7
A Recusant Martyr
On February 21st , 1595 , Robert Southwell was hung , drawn , and quartered for the crime of being a Catholic priest . He was a poet and a patriot ; some of his poetry forms the basis of part of Benjamin Britten ’ s Ceremony of Carols .
Courage
Southwell was a man of quite outstanding courage : ordained at the age of 23 and arrested after six years of ministry as a priest , he was repeatedly tortured in an effort to extract information about Catholic activity in England but revealed nothing . The torturer Topliffe boasted about using new forms of torture on Southwell and apparently enjoyed watching these – they included hanging him up by the wrists for hours until the limbs were wrenched from their sockets , and bending him double and twisting and twisting his body . Topliffe had Southwell brought to his own home where a room was used for torture . Later , Southwell was transferred to the Tower of London and then to Newgate Prison .
His Trial
At his trial , Southwell objected to being accused of treason : he was loyal to his country , which he loved dearly , and had only sought to offer people the sacraments of the Catholic Church . He asked to be given a fair trial , but this was denied him , and no opportunity was given to him to explain his religious beliefs or the reasons why he sought to minister to people . His sentence of execution was a foregone conclusion .
Sign of the Cross
On the scaffold , Southwell made the Sign of the Cross as best he could with his bound hands . His courage made such a strong impression on the crowd that no one would join in any shout of “ Traitor ” as they were meant to do as he was hanged and cut open . Contemporary accounts describe people being silent and awed , with some speaking of martyrdom .
A Martyr
It had long been feared that Southwell would be revered as a martyr : he was a gentle and courteous man , who had used gentle preaching rather than any
controversy during his years of ministry . He himself knew that he was likely to die a barbarous death , for St Edmund Campion had already met this fate while Southwell was still a student , and Southwell , along with many others , regarded him as a hero and a saint .
Closer Union with Christ
Robert Southwell ’ s style in exhorting English Catholics to courage and patience was to emphasise that they should not panic , but should unite themselves more closely to Christ , and live their faith with a depth and passion that its great reality demanded . His poetry links the state of the Church in England with Scriptural events , and he wrote with warmth – about sin and repentance , death and mercy .
He saw man as something beautiful , created in God ’ s image , and so wished to emphasise sorrow and redemption as central to the reality of man ’ s existence – God loves us , and wants to draw us to him . We are made for Heaven , and God offers us glorious mercy and an abundance of love , poured out from the Cross , brimming with tenderness .
Man ’ s soul of endless beauty image is , Drawn by the work of endless skill and might ; This skillful might gave many sparks of bliss And , to discern this bliss , a native light ; To frame God ’ s image as his worths required His might , his skill , his word and will conspired .
All that he had his image should present , All that it should present it could afford , To that he could afford his will was bent , His will was followed with performing word . Let this suffice , by this conceive the rest ,— He should , he could , he would , he did , the best .
Source : Poetry of the English Renaissance 1509-1660 . J . William Hebel and Hoyt H . Hudson , Eds .
New York : F . S . Crofts & Co , 1941 . 236