Christopher Bales
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The Venerable Christopher Bales, also spelled Christopher Bayles, alias Christopher Evers (1564? - 1590), was an English Catholic priest and martyr.
[edit] Biography
Christopher was born at Coniscliffe near Darlington, County Durham, England, about 1564; he was executed on 4 March, 1590. He entered the English College at Rome on 1 October, 1583, but owing to ill-health was sent to the College at Reims, where he was ordained 28 March, 1587. Sent to England 2 November, 1588, he was soon arrested, racked and tortured by Topcliffe, and hung up by the hands for twenty-four hours at a time; he bore all most patiently. At length Bales was tried and condemned for high treason, on the charge of having been ordained beyond seas and coming to England to exercise his office. He asked Judge Anderson whether St. Augustine, Apostle of the English (who did the same), was also a traitor. The judge said no, but that the act had since been made treason by law.
He suffered 4 March, 1590, "about Easter", in Fleet Street (London), opposite Fetter Lane. On the gibbet was set a placard: "For treason and favouring foreign invasion". He spoke to the people from the ladder, showing them that his only "treason" was his priesthood. On the same day, Venerable Nicholas Horner suffered in Smithfield for having made Bales a jerkin, and Venerable Alexander Blake in Gray's Inn Lane for lodging him in his house.
[edit] Sources and References
- This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913. [1]
- Bridgewater, Concertatio Ecclesiae Catholicae in Anglia (Trier, 1589)
- Challoner, Memoires
- Pollen, Acts of English Martyrs (London, 1891)
- Northern Catholic Calendar
- Knox, Douay Diaries (London, 1878)
- Morris, Catholics of York under Elizabeth (London, 1891)
- Foley, Records S. J., Roman Diary (London, 1880).
