The Irish Martyrs Podcast
31st July; John Travers
Ireland's first known reformation martyr was John Travers. This is the story of his martyrdom. 1535. VENERABLE JOHN TRAVERS [1] , I.O.S.A. (From Bruodin’s Propugnaculum, p. 426) The first of our martyrs in later times mentioned by name, for others no doubt preceded him whose names are written only in the Book of Life, was John Travers, a native of Dublin, a priest of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine, and a Doctor of Theology. He wrote anonymously a famous work bearing the title On the Authority of the Roman Pontiff. [2] In it he proved clearly that the primacy of Henry VIII. was a mere fiction, and only a name, without any foundation in fact or in reason. Whereupon he was seized by the King’s ministers and sent to London. He was kept in the Tower for four months in succession. During that time he was examined on four different occasions, And put to various kinds of torture, and being found faithful and steadfast, he was declared guilty of high treason by Cromwell and the other flatterers of the King. He was led out, as is the custom among the English, his hands tied behind his back and a rope round his neck, placed on a hurdle, and taken in this manner to the usual place of execution. [3] (A hurdle is a moveable section of light fence traditionally made from wattle, in medieval England a hurdle was used as a makeshift sledge, to which a prisoner was tied to be dragged behind a horse to a place of execution.) [4] When he reached the top of the ladder leading to the gallows, he prayed for pardon, and heartily exhorted the bystanders to pray earnestly to God, the refuge of sinners, for the conversion and salvation of the King and of all the mad heretics who adhered to him. And then he exclaimed in a loud voice. ‘It is not for any crime, Christian hearers, that I have been sent hither from Ireland, my native country, but rather because I professed the Catholic faith, which I, like my ancestors, have drunk in with my mother’s milk; and also, because I am supposed to be the author of a certain work lately spread abroad among the Catholics. The moment of my death is now close at hand, which will surely open for me the door to eternal life. Hence it behoves me not to use any ambiguous or obscure language for the purpose of concealing the truth. Wherefore I declare openly that I am a priest of the Catholic and Apostolic Church, and, moreover, that it was with these three fingers,’ and he raised aloft the three fingers of his right hand, ’I wrote that work on the Authority of the Roman Pontiff.’ When he had said these words, the sheriff gave the order; he was hanged, cut down before life was quite extinct, and quartered. A wonderful thing then took place. His right hand and his intestines were cast into the fire; and while other parts were reduced to ashes, the three fingers of his right hand which he had raised aloft on the scaffold, were seen in a like position in the midst of the flames, and afterwards were found whole and fresh, as if they had never been cast into the fire, like the right hand of King Oswald, the martyr, which the Venerable Bede [5] tells us remained up to his own time fresh and uncorrupted, in token, no doubt, of the divine approval of his charity to the poor. Harpsfield [6] says he was assured by eye-witnesses that the flesh on the martyr’s fingers remained fresh long after his death. O’Sullevan says Travers was put to death on the 30th July; Fitzsimon on the 31st He is one of the two hundred and sixty Venerable Servants of God put to death in England for the faith, whose cause of beatification or declaration of martyrdom has been allowed by the decree of December 4th, 1886, to be introduced in the Sacred Congregation of Rites. See also Harpsfield, Bridgewater, Fitzsimon, White, Copinger, O’SuJlevan , O’Daly, and Lynch. [1] Broudin writes the name Tanner; but it is usually written as above. The complete identity of the facts given under both names by the different authors shows that they refer to one person only, not to two, whatever his name may have been. [2] Though I’ve searched for this book, I have not been able to find a copy of it in any library in this country. [3] Tyburn, close to the present Marble Arch. A stone marks the spot where Tyburn Gate stood. [4] Channel4.com (25 March 2009) "Perkin Warbeck (1474-99)" Henry VIII: The Mind of a Tyrant. Retrieved 2011-11-19 [5] Hist. Eccl.Angl., iii.6 [6] In whose work he is called Gravesius, no doubt a misprint for Traversius See Dial, p995 Please pray for final perseverance for all of us! May the martyrs of old inspire us all.
