THE
P RTAL
September 2011
Saint John
Kemble
Page 6
A Recusant
Martyr
by Joanna Bogle
In Monmouthshire, a tradition lingered for a long time that the last pipe of the day was known as a “Kemble
pipe”. This was in honour of St John Kemble, hero priest and martyr, who died for the Catholic faith in his
80s, as a result of the Titus Oates Plot. We marked his feast-day on August 22 nd .
worked quietly and humbly
John Kemble was ordained a priest
in 1625 after studying at Douai
in France. It was illegal at that
time to be a Catholic priest,
and savage penal laws were
in force. But in the part of
Wales where he ministered,
Catholicism was quietly
flourishing and the Faith
was practised openly, under
the protection of the local
landowners at Raglan Castle.
John Kemble, whose family
were well known as recusants,
worked quietly and humbly and
was much-loved, by Catholics and
Protestants alike. He travelled around
Monmouthshire bringing the Mass and the
Sacraments to people for over fifty years.
Only with the rabble-rousing campaigning of Titus
Oates did things change. He was a liar and a perjurer
who started a rumour that Catholics were plotting to
murder the king, Charles II. There was no truth in Oates’
stories, but his campaign gave thugs an opportunity to
earn cash and popularity. A local bully began to name
Catholics in Monmouthshire who he said were part of
the “plot”. Father Kemble was among those arrested.
The situation was all the more ridiculous because he
and his whole family were known to be patriots – a
nephew had been instrumental in saving the king’s life
some years previously.
arrested in 1679
The elderly Father Kemble was arrested in 1679 and
sentenced under the law which had been established
in the reign of Elizabeth I, which established the
death penalty for any man who went abroad to train
as a Catholic priest. He could have saved his life if
he had pretended there was indeed a plot against the
King and provided plausible details about it. But he
was not prepared to lie. He said that he was perfectly
prepared to die for the Catholic Church
– the Church which had brought
Christianity to his country.
By now the truth had begun
to emerge about Titus Oates
and it was clear that there
was not, and never had been
any plot by Catholics against
the king. But it had become
clear that John Kemble was
a Catholic priest, and had
been living and working as
one for several decades – and
this was theoretically against
the law, so unless he was prepared
to deny his priesthood the court had
to do something.
sentence of death
The sentence of death was pronounced on August
22 nd , and Kemble made just one request – that he be
allowed to smoke a last pipe and say his prayers. The
magistrate – who had not wanted to sentence him and
had tried every possible way to avoid doing so – asked
that a bowl of wine be brought for the old priest too.
And so John Kemble spent his last hours calmly, and
then went to his death.
It was a cruel death because the executioner was
distressed and confused and did not want to carry out
his task, and so bungled it, inflicting suffering as the
rope was mishandled and death took almost half an
hour.
John Kemble’s courage and faith established him as
a saint locally and the story of his life and death was
passed on from one generation to the next. Today he is
honoured as one of the Martyrs of England and Wales,
canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1970.
St John Kemble, priest, patriot, man of valour, man
of prayer, dedicated to truth, pray for us.