- John Kemble (martyr)
John Kemble (b. 1599,
St Weonards ,Herefordshire - d.22 August 1679 ,Widemarsh Common ,Hereford ) was an EnglishRoman Catholic martyr .He was one of the
Forty Martyrs of England and Wales .Early years and ordination
John Kemble was born at Rhydicar Farm, St Weonards,
Herefordshire , in 1599. He was the son of John and Anne Kemble, the daughter of John Morgan, of the Waen, Skenfrith,Monmouthshire .They were a prominent local
recusant Catholic family. There were four otherpriest s in the family.Kemble was
ordained a priest atDouai College, on23 February 1625 . He returned toEngland on4 June 1625 as a missioner inMonmouthshire andHerefordshire .Pastoral work
Little is known of his work caring for the sustenance of his flock for the next fifty three years. The condition of Catholics had eased somewhat from the ferocious persecution of the Elizabethan period, but priests still needed to perform their ministry discreetly.
Titus Oates' plot
The uneasy tolerance within which Father Kemble had operated was shattered by
Titus Oates ' plot in 1678.The events leading up to the arrest of Father Kemble need to be seen against the backdrop of the plot. Titus Oates was a perjurer who concocted a plot in which the Anglicanref|conversion King Charles the Second would be assassinated and his Catholic brother (later, King James the Second) installed as king in his place.
In the febrile religious atmosphere of the country the plot was credulously believed. However, when the Oates' story was examined in detail the whole fraud was exposed, but by then the damage had been done. Among the many Catholics caught up in the frenzy was Father John Kemble.
Arrest and execution
Father Kemble was staying at his brother's home,
Pembridge Castle , nearWelsh Newton , when he was arrested. He was warned about the impending arrest but declined to leave his flock, saying, "According to the course of nature, I have but a few years to live. It will be an advantage to suffer for my religion and, therefore, I will not abscond."He was arrested by a Captain John Scudamore of Kentchurch. It is a comment on the tortuous values of the age that Scudamore's own wife and children were parishioners of Father Kemble.
Father Kemble, now 80, was taken on the arduous journey to
London to be interviewed about the plot. He was found to have had no connection with the concoction. Nonetheless, he was found guilty of thetreason ous crime of being a priest. He was sentenced to behanged, drawn and quartered .He was returned to
Hereford for the sentence to be carried out. Before he was led out to his execution Father Kemble insisted on saying his prayers and finishing his drink, and the assembled party joined the elderly priest in a final smoke and a drink. To this day the sayings, "Kemble pipe", and "Kemble cup", meaning a parting pipe or cup, are used in Herefordshire.Before his death Father Kemble addressed the assembled crowd, pointing out that no association with the "plot" had been charged to him. The old priest went on to say, "…the failure of the authorities in London to connect me to the plot makes it evident that I die only for profession the Roman Catholic religion, which was the religion that first made this Kingdom
Christian ."Kemble was allowed to die on the
gallows before being drawn and quartered, thus he was spared the agony suffered by many of other Catholic martyrs of England, Scotland and Wales.One of Kemble's hands is still preserved at St.
Francis Xavier , Hereford. His body rests in the (Church of England ) churchyard of St Mary's, Welsh Newton, and local Roman Catholics make an annual pilgrimage to his grave.ainthood
Miracle s were soon attributed to the saintly priest. Scudamore's daughter was cured of throat cancer, and Scudamore's wife recovered her hearing whilst praying at the Kemble's grave.John Kemble was beatified in 1929 by
Pope Pius XI and canonized on25 October 1970 byPope Paul VI . Hisfeast day is22 August .Relatives
The famous
Kemble family are relatives of John Kemble. The family became almost a 'Royal Family' of the English stage in the nineteenth century. The most famous wasSarah Siddons , née Kemble. It has been said that she was the finest English tragic actress ever. She was a great-great grandniece of the Saint.Other noteworthy members of the family, though not Catholics, were:
Roger Kemble ,John Philip Kemble who spent some time at the Roman Catholic College inDouai ,Stephen Kemble ,Charles Kemble ,John Mitchell Kemble ,Frances Anne Kemble who after spending time in theUnited States held strong anti slavery opinions,Adelaide Kemble andHenry Kemble .Asides
*His uncle, George Kemble, of Pembridge Castle, Welsh Newton, was the father of Captain Richard Kemble, who saved Charles II (the reigning King at the time of John Kemble's death) at the
battle of Worcester .*
Sir John Hawkins , in a note to "The Compleat Angler ", turned Kemble into aProtestant in Queen Mary's reign.Dates
*Born 1599 at Rhydica Farm, Saint Weonard's Parish, Herefordshire, England
*Martyred22 August 1679 at Widemarsh Common
*Feast Day 22 August
*Beatified 1929 byPope Pius XI
*Canonised25 October 1970 byPope Paul VI
*25 October ,Feast Day of theForty Martyrs of England and Wales Notes
See Welsh Newton for Pembridge Castle and Father Kemble's local links
External links
*http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintj8t.htm
*http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08616a.htm
*http://www.stthomasirondequoit.com/SaintsAlive/id509.htm
*http://www.tyburnconvent.org.uk/martyrs/martyrs_main.htmlources
*
Encyclopædia Britannica , 15th Edition
*"Edmund Campion", byEvelyn Waugh , Longmans, Green and Co., 1935
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