Richard Leigh (martyr)

For other people named Richard Leigh, see Richard Leigh (disambiguation).

Richard Leigh (c. 1557 – 1588) was an English Roman Catholic martyr born in Cambridge, the scion of Cheshire gentry, squires of the West Hall, High Legh since the 11th century.

Blessed

Richard Leigh
BornCambridgeshire, England
Died30 August 1588
Tyburn, London, England
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church
Beatified15 December 1929 by Pope Pius XI
Feast30 August

Life

Leigh coat of arms

Richard Leigh was the son of Richard Leigh, who attended Cambridge University, and Clemence Holcroft, daughter of Sir John Holcroft.[1] He was the subject of a childhood arranged marriage at Middleton, 22 September 1562 with Anne Belfield (married in 1574 William Assheton, steward of the manor of Rochdale), daughter of Ralph Belfield, of Clegg Hall, who had died without a male heir in 1552. Her sister, Elizabeth, was married on the same day to Alexander Barlow (later Sir Alexander Barlow) and both marriages were subsequently annulled on the grounds of being so young that "doth not remember that he ever was marryed."[2]

Leigh attended Shrewsbury School before studying divinity at Reims and at Rome, where he was ordained in 1586.[3] He returned to England but before reaching Cheshire, was arrested in London and banished. He returned to England again and was arrested on 4 July 1588, about two weeks before the arrival of the Spanish Armada. In the aftermath of the failed invasion, there was an immediate reaction against Catholics.

Imprisoned in the Tower of London, he was condemned at the Old Bailey for being a priest and hanged at Tyburn on 30 August 1588, with five others who have been declared Venerable: Richard Martin, John Roche, Edward Shelley, Richard Lloyd (alias Flower) and Margaret Ward.[4][5] Leigh was beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1929.

See also

References

  1. ^ Burke's Landed Gentry (1952 edn), LEIGH formerly of West Hall, High Legh.
  2. ^ The History of the Parish of Rochdale in the County of Lancaster (1889) p. 340, Lt-Col. Henry Fishwick FSA, later Pres. Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society
  3. ^ Walsh, Michael. "Richard Leigh", A New Dictionary of Saints, Liturgical Press, 2007 ISBN 9780814631867
  4. ^ Wainewright, John. "Ven. Richard Leigh." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 3 Feb. 2014
  5. ^ Stanton, Richard. A Menology of England and Wales, Burns & Oates, 1887, p. 427Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.