| Blessed Arthur Bell | |
|---|---|
| Born | 13 January 1590, Temple-Broughton near Worcester |
| Died | 11 December 1643, London |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 22 November 1987 |
| Feast | 22 November (as one of the Martyrs of England, Scotland, and Wales) |
The Blessed Arthur Bell (13 January 1590 – 11 December 1643) was an English Franciscan martyr.[1] He was tried and found guilty of being a Royalist spy and a Roman Catholic priest by a court sitting under the auspices of Parliament during the English Civil War and was executed at Tyburn in London.
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Bell was born at Temple-Broughton near Worcester on 13 January 1590. When he was eight his father died and his mother gave him into the charge of her brother, Francis Daniel of Acton in Suffolk, a man of wealth, learning and piety. When Arthur was twenty-four he was sent to the English college at St.-Omer. He later went to Spain to continue and complete his studies.[2]
Bell received the habit of the Franciscan Order at Segovia, Spain on 8 August 1618, and shortly after the completion of his novitiate and ordination to the priesthood, was called from Spain to labour in the restoration of the English province of the Franciscans. He was one of the first members of the Franciscan community at Douai, where he subsequently fulfilled the offices of guardian and professor of Hebrew. In 1632 Bell was sent to Scotland as first provincial of the Franciscan province there; but his efforts to restore the order in Scotland were unsuccessful. In 1637 he returned to England, where he laboured until November 1643, when he was apprehended as a spy by the parliamentary troops at Stevenage in Hertfordshire and committed to the Newgate prison.[2]
The circumstances of his trial show Bell's devotedness to the cause of the Catholic faith and his willingness to suffer for the faith. When condemned to be hanged, drawn and quartered it is said that he broke forth into a solemn Te Deum" and thanked his judges profusely for the favour they were conferring upon him in allowing him to die for Christ.[2]
The cause of his beatification was introduced at Rome in 1900; Bell was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 22 November 1987.
Bell wrote The History, Life, and Miracles of Joane of the Cross (St.-Omer, 1625). He also translated from the Spanish of Andrew a Soto A brief Instruction how we ought to hear Mass (Brussels, 1624).