Robert Dalby

Robert Dalby (died 1589) was an English Catholic priest and martyr.

For Robert Dalby (MP), see Wallingford (UK Parliament constituency).

Life

Robert Dalby (sometimes called Drury),[1] came from Hemingbrough in the West Riding of Yorkshire (now the East Riding of Yorkshire) lived at first as a Protestant minister. Becoming a Catholic, he entered the English College at Rheims on 30 September 1586 to study for the priesthood. He was ordained a priest at Châlons on 16 April 1588.[2] It was on 25 August that year that he set out for England. He was arrested almost immediately upon landing at Scarborough on the Yorkshire coast and imprisoned in York 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.[2] It was carried out outside the city of York[3] on 16 March 1589. His fate was shared by a fellow priest, known to us as John Amias.[4] 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.[2]

Both priests were declared "Blessed" by Pope Pius XI on 15 December 1929.

See also

References
  1. Stanton, Richard. A Menology of England and Wales, Burns & Oates, Ltd. London 1892
  2. "Blessed Robert Dalby", The Newman Connection
  3. Bean, Dan. "York martyrs remembered at ceremony", York Press, 17 August 2012
  4. Pollen, John Hungerford. "English Confessors and Martyrs (1534-1729)." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 10 Apr. 2013

Sources

Anstruther, Godfrey Anstruther. Seminary Priests, St Edmund's College, Ware, vol. 1, 1968, p. 96.

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