Bl. Edward Osbaldeston

Edward Osbaldeston was born at Osbaldeston Hall, but little else is known of his early life. He was ordained in Rheims Cathedral on the Feast of St Jerome, September 3rd 1585, and arrived in England on April 27th 1589. He wisely decided to work in Yorkshire, where he was unknown. Here he was based in a cottage, travelling to local districts on horseback. Whilst staying at an inn in Tolerton, he was recognised by a lapsed Catholic priest called Mr Clark. In a letter to his Jesuit friend, a Fr Richard Holtby, he describes how he came to be arrested on the Feast of St Jerome, to whose special patronage and protection he had committed himself. The following day he was taken to York Castle, where his horse and Mass vestments were confiscated. In his letter to Fr Holtby, he asked for news as to how his fellow-priests had faced martyrdom and asked God for the grace to be as brave and courageous as they had been. He was arrested on the Feast of St Jerome, tried in York and duly executed for being a Catholic priest on November 16th 1592.

Source: Edward Popham, The Martyrs of the Salford Diocese