- Robert Dalby
Robert Dalby (d. 1589) was an English Catholic priest and martyr. He came from
Hemingbrough in theEast Riding of Yorkshire and lived at first as a Protestant minister. Becoming a Catholic, he entered the English College at Rheims onSeptember 30 1586 to study for the priesthood. He was ordained a priest atChâlons onApril 16 1588 . It was onAugust 25 that year that he set out for England. He was arrested almost immediately upon landing at Scarborough on the Yorkshire coast and imprisoned inYork Castle . 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 outside the city of York onMarch 16 1589 . His fate was shared by a fellow priest, known to us as John Amias. On arrival at the place of execution the prisoners prostrated themselves in prayer. Robert Dalby had to watch his fellow priest be hanged and quartered before his own turn came, but he displayed no hesitation in going to his death. Both priests were declared Blessed (the last stage prior to sainthood) by PopePius XI onDecember 15 1929 .ources
The most reliable compact source is Godfrey Anstruther, "Seminary Priests", St Edmund's College, Ware, vol. 1, 1968, p. 96.
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