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Roger Filcock (alias Arthur Naylor)"Blessed Roger Filcock", San Albano, Valladolid
/ref> (died 27 February 1601, London) was an English Jesuit priest. He was
beatified Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to Intercession of saints, intercede on behalf of individua ...
as a Catholic martyr by Pope
John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
on 22 November 1987.


Life

Born at
Sandwich, Kent Sandwich is a town and civil parish in the Dover District of Kent, south-east England. It lies on the River Stour and has a population of 4,985. Sandwich was one of the Cinque Ports and still has many original medieval buildings, including sev ...
, England, the son of Simon and Margaret Lowe (or Low), he entered the English College at
Rheims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded b ...
on 15 June 1581. He studied at the English college in Rheims, France, and was amongst the first students to go to St Alban's seminary in Valladolid, Spain, where he was ordained in 1597. He desired to enter the Society of Jesus, but it was considered prudent that he first gain some experience on the mission. He headed for Calais, France, on a ship which was pursued by Dutch ships. Rather than permitting themselves to be taken captive, many passengers jumped ship and successfully made it to shore. Filcock however, was captured but managed to escape and landed on the Kent shore of England in early 1598 where he assumed the alias of Arthur and began his priestly ministry."Blessed Roger Filcock, SJ", The Jesuits (Singapore)
/ref> He was admitted as a Jesuit novice by Henry Garnet in 1600. While waiting to go to Flanders for his novitiate, Filcock was apprehended, betrayed by a former fellow student at Valladolid and sent to Newgate prison in London. In 1601, Filcock was charged for being a priest but he would neither admit nor deny, insisting that witnesses and evidence be brought forth. As none was forthcoming, he was brought for trial and heard the indictment against him. He requested to be tried without jury because he did not want the verdict, which he knew would be against him to be on the jurors’ consciences. Nevertheless, the judge directed the jury to find the defendant guilty and Filcock was sentenced to the gallows for high treason. During his time as a missioner he had known
Anne Line Anne Line (''c.'' 1563 – 27 February 1601) was an English Catholic martyr. After losing her husband, she became very active in sheltering clandestine Catholic priests, which was illegal in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Finally arrested ...
, a convert to the Catholic faith and widow whose husband had died in exile after being caught attending Mass. She had managed a variety of safe-houses for priests and lay faithful. Filcock had also been Line's confessor. On Candlemas Day, 1601, Francis Page was about to celebrate Mass in her lodgings when priest-catchers broke in. The priest escaped in the confusion but his hostess was arrested and put on trial at the Old Bailey on 26 February 1601, indicted for harbouring a priest. She was condemned and led to the gallows the next day. She was executed at the same occasion as Dom
Mark Barkworth Mark Barkworth (alias Mark Lambert) was a Catholic priest and martyr (c. 1572 – 1601). Born around 1572 at Searby, Lincolnshire, he studied for a time at Oxford, though no record remains of his stay there. Originally raised as a Protestant, ...
, a
Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , found ...
monk, and Filcock, who had gone on trial on 23 February. This was the first execution of Catholics at
Tyburn Tyburn was a manor (estate) in the county of Middlesex, one of two which were served by the parish of Marylebone. The parish, probably therefore also the manor, was bounded by Roman roads to the west (modern Edgware Road) and south (modern ...
since 1595. Roger Filcock was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 22 November 1987."Dover Deanery visit Tyburn to venerate local martyr", Archdiocese of Southwark
/ref>


See also

*
Douai Martyrs The Douai Martyrs is a name applied by the Catholic Church to 158 Catholic priests trained in the English College at Douai, France, who were executed by the English state between 1577 and 1680. History Having completed their training at Douai ...


References


Sources

The most reliable compact source is Godfrey Anstruther's ''Seminary Priests'', St Edmund's College, Ware, vol. 1, 1968, pp. 21–22, 116, 274–275. {{DEFAULTSORT:Filcock, Roger 16th-century births 1601 deaths People from Sandwich, Kent 16th-century English Jesuits English beatified people People executed under Elizabeth I 17th-century Roman Catholic martyrs 16th-century venerated Christians Executed people from Kent People executed by the Kingdom of England by hanging Eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales