- Robert Dibdale
Robert Dibdale, also spelled Debdale, was a Catholic priest and martyr. He was born the son of John Dibdale of
Shottery , in the parish ofStratford-on-Avon and the birthplace ofWilliam Shakespeare 's wife Anne Hathaway at a date unknown. He had a brother Richard and sisters Joan and Agnes. It would seem the family were Catholics.Peter Ackroyd placed Dibdale or Debdale in the King’s New School in Stratford, the same grammar school attended byWilliam Shakespeare . [http://books.google.com/books?id=eXdRAAAACAAJ&dq=Peter+Ackroyd]Peter Ackroyd , "Shakespeare: The Biography". Doubleday, 2005, p. 64] English government records show that in 1581 his absence abroad at Louvain since about 1576 had been noted by the authorities. However, Catholic records show that by 1581 he had been to Rome and had reached the English College at Rheims, arriving onDecember 29 1579 and set out for England onJune 22 1580 . At this point he had still not been ordained. He was immediately arrested on landing at Dover. It is recorded that he was committed to theGatehouse byJuly 29 the same year, being discharged onSeptember 10 1582 . His whereabouts immediately thereafter are obscure but onMarch 14 1583 he again entered the English College at Rheims and was ordained a priest in Rheims Cathedral onMarch 31 1584 . Using the alias Palmer, he set out for England onAugust 2 that year. He was arrested near Tothill Street inLondon onJuly 24 1586 and was imprisoned first at theCounter then atNewgate . Given the 1585 Act making it a capital offence to be a Catholic priest in England the terrible sentence of hanging, drawing and quartering was inevitable. It was carried out atTyburn, London onOctober 8 1586 . His fate was shared by two fellow priests, John Adams and John Lowe. All three priests were declared Blessed (the last stage prior to sainthood) by PopeJohn Paul II onNovember 22 1987 .ources
The most reliable compact source is Godfrey Anstruther, "Seminary Priests", St Edmund's College, Ware, vol. 1, 1968, p. 101.
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