Catherine Dammartin (died 15 February 1553) was a nun in
Metz
Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...
who left her convent, adopted evangelical views, and married
Peter Martyr Vermigli
Peter Martyr Vermigli (; 8 September 149912 November 1562) was an Italian-born Reformed theologian. His early work as a reformer in Catholic Italy and his decision to flee for Protestant northern Europe influenced some other Italians to convert ...
.
She is buried with
Frideswide, the patron saint of
Oxford
Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town.
The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
.
Life
Catherine lived for her early adult life as a nun in Metz. After the ideas of Protestant reformers began to circulate in the region, she left the convent and moved to Strasburg, where evangelical ideas were popular.
She married Peter Martyr in 1545. When he was appointed the first canon of
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...
on 20 January 1551, local residents did not welcome his married status. All previous canons had lived single, celibate lives; Peter and Catherine proved to be a rare exception to this rule until modern times.
The windows of their lodgings on Fish Street were repeatedly broken. Subsequently, they moved to a study within the cloisters of Christ Church, later demolished in March 1684. They both caught a serious disease from which Peter recovered but Catherine died. She was initially buried in the cathedral at Oxford, near the tomb of
St Frideswide.
described her as "reasonably corpulent, but of most matronlike modesty", and skilled in cutting "plumstones into curious faces".
Exhumation and reburial
In 1557 a commission against heresy, headed by
James Brooks, sought evidence of her heresy, with a view to burning her body; none was obtained, as the persons examined 'did not understand her language'.
Reginald Pole
Reginald Pole (12 March 1500 – 17 November 1558) was an English cardinal and the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, holding the office from 1556 to 1558 during the Marian Restoration of Catholicism.
Early life
Pole was born at Stourt ...
sent an order to
Richard Marshall, dean of Christ Church, for the disinterment of the body, as it lay near that of the saint. Marshall transferred the corpse to a dungheap in his stable.
In 1558 an ecclesiastical commission deputed
James Calfhill to superintend the reinterment. The remains were identified, and, purposely mingled with supposed relics of Frideswide, were buried at the northeast end of the cathedral, after an oration ending 'hic requiescit religio cum superstitione'.
References
16th-century French people
1553 deaths
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