Alexander Briant, SJ (17 August 1556 – 1 December 1581) was an English

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

and martyr, executed at Tyburn.

Life

He was born in

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, and entered Hart Hall, Oxford (now Hertford College), at an early age. While there, he became a pupil of Robert Parsons, and he completed his studies with him at Balliol College, which, along with his association with Richard Holtby, led to his conversion. After leaving university, he entered the English College at

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

then went to the English College, Douai, and was ordained priest on 29 March 1578. Assigned to the English mission in August of the following year, he laboured with zeal in his own county of

.Saxton, Eugene. "Blessed Alexander Briant." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 1 February 2019 A party of the persecution, searching for Parsons, placed Alexander Briant under arrest on 28 April 1581. Arrested along with Briant was Gilbert Bodey, brother of John Bodey. Gilbert Bodey was scourged at Bridewell and afterwards confined to Counter Prison. He was released on bond, and when not called to appear, escaped to Rheims.

Trial and Execution

In the hope of extorting information, Briant was sent to the Counter. After fruitless attempts to this end, he was taken to the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...

where he was subjected to torture. It was during this confinement that Briant penned his letter to the Jesuit Fathers in England requesting admission into the Society, which was granted. He was arraigned with six other priests on 16 November 1581, in Queen's Bench, Westminster, on the charge of high treason, and condemned to death. In his letter to the Jesuit Fathers, he says that he felt no pain during the various tortures he underwent, and adds: ''"Whether this that I say be miraculous or no, God knoweth."'' He was twenty-five years old when he was executed by being

hanged, drawn and quartered To be hanged, drawn and quartered was a method of torture, torturous capital punishment used principally to execute men convicted of High treason in the United Kingdom, high treason in medieval and early modern Britain and Ireland. The convi ...

on 1 December 1581. Through either malice or carelessness of the executioner, he was put to needless suffering. Edmund Campion and Ralph Sherwin were also executed with him.

Veneration and relic

Alexander Briant was beatified on 29 December 1886 by Pope Leo XIII. Alexander Briant was

canonized Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of sa ...

in 1970 by

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales with a common

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

of 25 October. His individual feast day is celebrated on 1 December, the day of his martyrdom. A relic, a

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...

, which is housed in the

English College in Rome The Venerable English College (), commonly referred to as the English College, is a Catholic Church, Catholic seminary in Rome, Italy, for the training of priests for Catholic Church in England and Wales, England and Wales. It was founded in 157 ...

, has the names of five priests. Briant is one of those names stitched in the cloth. In 2023, a pastoral area of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Clifton was named in honour of Briant.

References

External links

Patron Saints Index: ''Saint Alexander Briant''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Briant, Alexander Jesuit saints 1556 births 1581 deaths Catholic saints who converted from Protestantism Executed people from Somerset Forty Martyrs of England and Wales Alumni of Hart Hall, Oxford English College, Reims alumni English Roman Catholic saints Converts to Roman Catholicism 16th-century Christian saints 16th-century Roman Catholic martyrs 16th-century English Jesuits People executed under the Tudors for treason against England People executed under Elizabeth I People executed at Tyburn