William Bentney

William Bentney (1609 – 30 October 1692) was an English Jesuit priest during the Penal Times. [ [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02484a.htm William Bentney] - Catholic Encyclopedia article]

He was born in Cheshire. He entered the Society of Jesus on 7 September, 1630, was sent to the English missions in 1640, and labored there with great zeal and success for forty-two years. He was then arrested, at the instigation of a nobleman to whose sisters he was administering the sacraments, and was taken to the Leicester jail. No one in those parts being willing to bear witness against him, Bentney was at once transferred to Derby, where he was tried and sentenced to death at the spring assizes of 1682. His execution was delayed for unknown reasons, and on the accession of James II he was released. He was rearrested, however, tried and condemned after the Revolution, but the sentence remained suspended, and in 1692 he died in Leicester jail.

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*Catholic