Good Evening! For today's Saint of the Day we are featuring the letter 'E' and St. Edmund Arrowsmith. Fr. Arrowsmith is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
St. Edmund was born Brian Arrowsmith in 1585 in Lancashire, England. His father was a yeoman farmer and his mothers family boasted of priests and martyrs. Although he was baptized Brian, he always used his confirmation name, Edmund, in honor of an uncle who trained English priests in France. During his childhood, is family was frequently harassed for adherence to the Roman Church.
At the age of 21, he left England to attend the English Colege, Douai, in France to study for the priesthood. He shortly had to return to England due to ill health, but he recovered and returned to school in 1607. He was ordained in 1612 and sent on the English mission a year later. He ministered to the Catholics of Lancashire without incident until 1622, when he was arrested and questioned by the Anglican Bishop of Chester.
In 1628, after being betrayed, he was arrested again. This time he was convicted of being a Roman Catholic priest and sentenced to death. His final confession was heard by St. John Southworth, who was imprisoned with him. He was hanged, drawn and quartered on August 28, 1628.
Edmund Arrowsmith was canonized as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales by Pope Paul VI in 1970. His feast days are August 28 alone and October 25 with the other martyrs.
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