- Philip Powell (martyr)
Blessed Philip Powell (sometimes spelled Philip Powel) (
2 February 1594 –30 June 1646 ) was alawyer who became aBenedictine monk andpriest , serving as a missionary inEngland during the period ofrecusancy . He wasmartyred at Tyburn.Early life
Powell is usually said to have been born in
Tralon ,Brecknockshire ,Wales . From his youth he was a student oflaw , taught principally by David Baker, (who would later become aBenedictine himself, taking the nameAugustine Baker ). At the age of sixteen he went to study at one of theInns of Court ,London , and afterwards practiced civil law.Priesthood
Three or four years later he received the
Benedictine habit, becoming part of the community of St. Gregory atDouai (now atDownside Abbey , near Bath). In 1618 he wasordained priest and in 1622 left Douai to go on mission inEngland . In around 1624 he becamechaplain to the Poyntz family at Leighland,Somerset .When the
English Civil War broke out he retired toYarnscombe andParkham inDevon . He then served for six months as chaplain to the Catholic soldiers in General Goring's army inCornwall , and, when that force was disbanded, took ship forSouth Wales . The vessel was captured on 22 February, 1646, and Powell was recognised and denounced as a priest.Imprisonment and Martyrdom
On 11 May he was sent to London and confined in St. Catherine's Gaol,
Southwark , where his treatment brought on a severe attack ofpleurisy . His trial, which had been fixed for 30 May, did not take place till 9 June, at Westminster Hall. He was found gulity of being a priest and was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn.It is recorded that that when informed of his death sentence, Powell exclaimed "Oh what am I that God thus honours me and will have me to die for his sake?" and called for a glass of sack (or
sherry ).He was beatified by
Pope Pius XI in 1929.References
*catholic|Philip Powel
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