The Curious Circumstances of the Concealed Catholic

n                Regular readers may remember I’venmentioned the fate of Lancashire Catholics several times before (irregularnreaders may like to use the ‘Search’ facility… ), but the story of Father JohnnGerard is one of the most remarkable stories you are ever likely to read. 

nJohnnwas born at Bryn, in Lancashire, on October 4^th 1564 and spent hisnboyhood at Etwall, Derbyshire, one of four country estates owned by his father,nSir Thomas Gerard. A couple of miles over the border, in Staffordshire, isnTutbury Castle (which, incidentally, is the property of the Duchy ofnLancaster), where, several times during 1569, Mary Queen of Scots wasnimprisoned. In 1571, Sir Thomas and two associates, Sir Thomas Stanley andnFrancis Rolston, were committed to the Tower of London on charges of plottingnto free Mary from Tutbury, with the aim of restoring a Catholic monarch to thenEnglish throne. 

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nJohn and his elder brother Tom were taken from their mother andnplaced in the care of a Protestant family until, three years later, Sir Thomasnwas released and the family were reunited at Etwall. John was a large, strongnboy and spent much of his youth hunting with hawks, riding and at other fieldnsports, much to his mother’s concern (although the knowledge he learned thennwould serve him well in later life). The boys were sent to the English CatholicnSchool at Douai, France (Catholics were prohibited from attending Englishnuniversities), and then later to Clermont. 

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nSir Thomas Gerard grew increasinglynbitter at the fines and confiscations he was forced to endure, and as hisnestates shrank he increasingly mismanaged what was left. In a bid to providenfor his family, he signed over ownership of his estates to his sons but to hisndismay John decided to use his inheritance to pay for ordination into the priesthood.nCatholics were not allowed to travel abroad without a permit and John, a membernof such a well-known Catholic family, decided it was pointless to even apply,nso he and five Catholic companions surreptitiously departed for France in ansmall wooden boat. Adverse winds in the Channel thwarted their efforts andnafter five days they were forced into Dover harbour. 

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nAll five were immediatelynarrested and sent under guard to London. John’s family connections gained hisnrelease into the custody of a staunch Protestant uncle, who hoped to curb hisnimpetuous nephew’s spirit but John was having none of it. He flatly refused tonattend Protestant services, mocked his aunt’s entreaties and almost killed thenlocal minister by fright when he dressed as a ghostly monk and haunted thenchurchyard at twilight. When the exasperated uncle threatened to horsewhip him,nthe strapping lad just laughed in his face, so at the end of his patience henreturned his recalcitrant charge to the authorities, which sentenced him to thenMarshalsea prison. 

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nIn prison, he was in the next cell to Father William Thomsonnand, by removing a large stone in the wall, he crawled through and the two thennset about converting the other prisoners, organising masses and smuggling innreligious books. When the prison authorities uncovered the goings-on they triednto take action but the situation had reached a level that the Bishop of Londonncomplained that the Marshalsea had become “a college of caitiffs.’ In 1585,nJohn was persuaded by Anthony Babington to accept an offer of surety, and on anbond of £200 and the requirement to present himself at the prison every threenmonths, he was released. One day, on his way to the Marshalsea he was passingnTyburn when he saw the condemned Father Thomson on his way to his martyrdom –nThomson made the sign of the cross to his friend from the back of the cart andnthe devastated John went to Babington, who was rumoured to be involved in anplot to overthrow Queen Elizabeth. Babington, it is rumoured, told John, “Yournhead will be more useful to the Faith while it remains on your neck,” angrim portent, as he was himself hanged, drawn and quartered the following yearnfor his part in the eponymous Babington Plot. 

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nGerard followed the advice,nskipped his bond and slipped out of the country for Rome, where he was ordainedninto the priesthood in 1587, entering the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) innAugust the following year. In November 1588, just three months after thenSpanish Armada, John and Father Edward Oldcorne were put ashore at Bacton,nNorfolk, whereupon they separated and made their way to London. John disguisednhimself as visiting country squire, and by using the ruse of searching for anlost hawk in order to ask the locals for directions, he travelled the countrynroads and back-ways without arousing suspicion. 

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nAfter making contact withnFather Henry Garnet, England’s head Jesuit, he returned to Norfolk, where henused the name of Mr Thomson (in memory of his martyred friend) to move innsociety. He joked and sported and played cards (although he would not allownobscene or blasphemous words in his presence), playing the part of the countryngentleman and soon became immensely popular in the area. He began to travel,nreturning home to Etwall at one stage, and said Mass where and when he could,navoiding the pursuivants (priest hunters) by hiding in priest holes, the secretnspaces built into the fabric of houses where priests could conceal themselves. 

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nHe carried the altar furniture with him, to spare the families he visited thenrisk of being found with such belongings in their homes, and would turn overnany mattress on which he had slept, so that a casual searcher would not feelnthe warmth of a body having been there. On one occasion he spent four days andnnights hiding beneath a fire grate as pursuivants repeatedly searched a house,nwho had been tipped off by a servant that there was a priest in the house – hensurvived by eating biscuits and quince jelly. This treacherous servant, JohnnFrank, repeatedly reported Gerard’s whereabouts to the pursuivants and itnbecame simply a matter of time before he was taken. On the night of April 23 1594 Frank came to Gerard’s lodgings on the pretence ofndelivering a letter and after making sure that the priest was there, he left.nJust after midnight a body of armed men surrounded the house and, there beingnno way to escape, John Gerard and Nicholas Owen, another Jesuit priest, werentaken prisoner. 

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nAnd that is where things start to get really interesting …

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