Crime -- Great Britain; Criminals -- Great Britain; Executions and executioners; Tyburn gallows (London, England)
On arrival at the place of execution our holy Father was the first
loosed, and then the executioner, as the custom is, bent his knee before
him, asking pardon for the cruel work he had to do. O good Jesu,
“Quis non fleret,
Christi servum si videret,
In tanto supplicio,
Quis non posset contristari”;
beholding the benignity of so holy a man, how gently and moderately he
spoke to the executioner, how sweetly he embraced and kissed him, and
how piously he prayed for him and for all the bystanders. Then on being
ordered to mount the ladder to the gibbet, where he was to be hanged, he
meekly obeyed. Then one of the King’s Council, who stood there with many
thousand people, who came together to witness the sight, asked him if he
would submit to the king’s command and the Act of Parliament, for if he
would he should be pardoned. The holy Martyr of Christ answered: “I call
Almighty God, and I beseech you all in the terrible Day of Judgment, to
bear witness, that being here about to die, I publicly declare that not
through any pertinacity, malice, or rebellious spirit, do I commit this
disobedience and denial of the will of our lord the king, but solely
through fear of God, lest I should offend His Supreme Majesty; because
our holy mother, the Church, has decreed and determined otherwise than
as your king and his Parliament have ordained; wherefore I am bound in
conscience and am prepared, and am not confounded, to endure these and
all other torments that can be inflicted, rather than go against the
doctrine of the Church. Pray for me, and have pity on my brethren, of
whom I am the unworthy Prior.” And having said these things, he begged
the executioner to wait until he had finished his prayer, which was,
“_In te Domine speravi_,” down to “_In manus tuas_,” inclusive. Then on
a sign given, the ladder was turned, and so he was hanged. Then one of
the bystanders, before his holy soul left his body, cut the rope, and so
falling to the ground, he began for a little space to throb and breathe.
Then he was drawn to another adjoining place, where all his garments
were violently torn off, and he was again extended naked on the hurdle,
on whom immediately the bloody executioner laid his wicked hands. In the
first place _verenda abscidit_, then he cut open his belly, dragged out
his bowels, his heart, and all else, and threw them into a fire, during
which our most blessed Father not only did not cry out on account of the
intolerable pain, but on the contrary, during all this time until his
heart was torn out, prayed continually, and bore himself with more than
human endurance, most patiently, meekly, and tranquilly, to the wonder
not only of the presiding officer, but of all the people who witnessed
it. Being at his last gasp, and nearly disembowelled, he cried out with
a most sweet voice, “Most sweet Jesu, have pity on me in this hour!”
And, as trustworthy men have reported, he said to the tormentor, while
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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