| Saint John Jones, O.F.M. | |
|---|---|
| Forty Martyrs of England and Wales | |
| Born | unknown Clynnog Fawr, Wales |
| Died | 12 July 1598 |
| Honored in | Roman Catholicism |
| Beatified | 1929, Rome by Pope Pius XI |
| Canonized | 25 October 1970, Rome by Pope Paul VI |
| Major shrine | Pontoise |
| Feast | 12 July |
Saint John Jones, O.F.M.,, also known as John Buckley, John Griffith, or Godfrey Maurice, was a Franciscan friar, Catholic priest and martyr. He was born at Clynnog Fawr, Caernarfonshire (Gwynedd), Wales and executed 12 July 1598. He is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
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Jones came from a recusant Welsh family, who had remained faithful Roman Catholics throughout and despite the Protestant Reformation. [1] As a youth, he entered the Observant Franciscan friary at Greenwich; at its dissolution in 1559, he went to the Continent, and was professed (took his vows) at Pontoise, France.
After many years, Jones journeyed to Rome, where he stayed at the Ara Coeli friary of the Observants (a branch of the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor that followed the Franciscan Rule literally). There he joined the Roman province of the Reformati (an even stricter branch of the Friars Minor). In 1591, Jones had become imbued with the ideals of the 'Stricter Observance'. He begged to be allowed to go upon the English mission.
Jones' superiors considered his request, aware that a priest going on mission to Britain often ended his stay by being hanged, drawn and quartered. In spite of this, his superiors finally allowed Jones' mission request, even to receiving a special blessing and commendation from Pope Clement VIII.
He reached London about the end of 1592, and stayed temporarily at the house which Father John Gerard, S.J., had provided for missionary priests; he then labored in different parts of the country. His brother Franciscans in England elected him their Minister Provincial.
In 1596 the 'priest catcher' Richard Topcliffe was informed by a spy that Father Jones had visited two Catholics and had said Mass in their home. It was later shown that the two Catholics were actually in prison when the alleged offense took place. Regardless, Jones was arrested, severely tortured and scourged. Topcliffe then took Jones to his house and proceeded to torture him, "To him (Topcliffe) was granted the privilege, unique in the laws of England, or, perhaps, of any country, of maintaining a private rack in his own home for the more convenient examination of prisoners." [2].
Following his torture , Jones was imprisoned for nearly two years. During this time Jones helped sustain in his faith, John Rigby, who later also became one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. On 3 July 1598 Father Jones was tried on the charge of "going over the seas in the first year of Her majesty's reign (1558) and there being made a priest by the authority from Rome and then returning to England contrary to statute". He was convicted of high treason and sentenced to be hung, drawn, and quartered.
By this time people were becoming sympathetic to the Catholic victims of these awful butcheries, so the execution was arranged for an early hour in the morning in order to escape notice.
The place was St. Thomas' Watering, in what is now the Old Kent Road, at the site of the junction of the old road to London with the main line of Watling Street. Such ancient landmarks had been immemorially used as places of execution, Tyburn itself being merely the point where Watling Street crossed the Roman road to Silchester.
John Jones' dismembered remains were fixed atop poles on roads leading to Newington and Lambeth (now represented by Tabard Street and Lambeth Road respectively). His remains were later reputedly removed by at least two Catholic Englishmen, one of whom suffered a long imprisonment for this offense. One of the relics eventually reached Pontoise, where Jones had taken his religious vows.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.
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