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Nicholas Postgate
Nicholas Postgate (1596 or 1597 – 7 August 1679) was an English Catholic priest who was executed for treason during the anti-Catholic persecution in England. He was put to death on 7 August 1679 on the Knavesmire in York, following false accusations and amid heightened tensions of the period. Postgate is recognized as one of the 85 English Catholic Martyrs of England and Wales beatified by Pope John Paul II in November 1987.
Nicholas Postgate was born at Kirkdale House, Egton, Yorkshire, England. He entered Douay College in France on 11 July 1621. He took the college oath on 12 March 1623, received minor orders on 23 December 1624, the subdiaconate on 18 December 1627, the diaconate on 18 March 1628, and was ordained a priest two days later.
Postgate was sent on his mission to England on 29 June 1630, where he worked for the Catholic faith. In the 1660s, he settled in Ugthorpe, near his birthplace. His parish, known by the extinct name of Blackamoor, extended between Guisborough, Pickering, and Scarborough.
Thomas Ward, who later wrote about him, knew Postgate well. He was exceptionally conscientious in performing his pastoral duties. Historian J. P. Kenyon remarked that "for nearly half a century he tramped the high moors of North Yorkshire and the plains of the Holderness, ministering to a scattered flock".
Although anti-Catholic sentiment in England had decreased by the late 1670s, it resurged due to the fabricated Popish Plot of 1678. Titus Oates falsely claimed there was a conspiracy to install a Catholic king, inciting renewed and fierce persecution of English Catholics. This period marked the last time Catholics were executed in England for their faith, with Nicholas Postgate being among the final victims.
During the panic incited by Oates, prominent Protestant magistrate Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey was murdered, and Oates blamed the Catholics. In response, Sir Edmund's manservant, John Reeves, sought revenge and decided to act in the Whitby area, possibly because he knew priests arrived there from France.
Nicholas Postgate was apprehended by exciseman Reeves while performing a baptism at the house of Matthew Lyth in Little Beck, near Whitby. Reeves, accompanied by his colleague William Cockerill, raided the house during the ceremony and arrested Postgate, who was 82 years old at the time. Lyth had inadvertently alerted the authorities by speaking publicly about the ceremony.
Postgate was condemned under the Jesuits, etc. Act 1584 (27 Elizabeth, c. 2) for being a priest on English soil. He was executed by hanging, disembowelment, and quartering at the Knavesmire in York. His remains were given to his friends and interred, with one of his hands sent to Douay College. On the scaffold, he stated that he was too old and frail to make long speeches and would simply die for the Catholic faith to which he had devoted his life.
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Nicholas Postgate
Nicholas Postgate (1596 or 1597 – 7 August 1679) was an English Catholic priest who was executed for treason during the anti-Catholic persecution in England. He was put to death on 7 August 1679 on the Knavesmire in York, following false accusations and amid heightened tensions of the period. Postgate is recognized as one of the 85 English Catholic Martyrs of England and Wales beatified by Pope John Paul II in November 1987.
Nicholas Postgate was born at Kirkdale House, Egton, Yorkshire, England. He entered Douay College in France on 11 July 1621. He took the college oath on 12 March 1623, received minor orders on 23 December 1624, the subdiaconate on 18 December 1627, the diaconate on 18 March 1628, and was ordained a priest two days later.
Postgate was sent on his mission to England on 29 June 1630, where he worked for the Catholic faith. In the 1660s, he settled in Ugthorpe, near his birthplace. His parish, known by the extinct name of Blackamoor, extended between Guisborough, Pickering, and Scarborough.
Thomas Ward, who later wrote about him, knew Postgate well. He was exceptionally conscientious in performing his pastoral duties. Historian J. P. Kenyon remarked that "for nearly half a century he tramped the high moors of North Yorkshire and the plains of the Holderness, ministering to a scattered flock".
Although anti-Catholic sentiment in England had decreased by the late 1670s, it resurged due to the fabricated Popish Plot of 1678. Titus Oates falsely claimed there was a conspiracy to install a Catholic king, inciting renewed and fierce persecution of English Catholics. This period marked the last time Catholics were executed in England for their faith, with Nicholas Postgate being among the final victims.
During the panic incited by Oates, prominent Protestant magistrate Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey was murdered, and Oates blamed the Catholics. In response, Sir Edmund's manservant, John Reeves, sought revenge and decided to act in the Whitby area, possibly because he knew priests arrived there from France.
Nicholas Postgate was apprehended by exciseman Reeves while performing a baptism at the house of Matthew Lyth in Little Beck, near Whitby. Reeves, accompanied by his colleague William Cockerill, raided the house during the ceremony and arrested Postgate, who was 82 years old at the time. Lyth had inadvertently alerted the authorities by speaking publicly about the ceremony.
Postgate was condemned under the Jesuits, etc. Act 1584 (27 Elizabeth, c. 2) for being a priest on English soil. He was executed by hanging, disembowelment, and quartering at the Knavesmire in York. His remains were given to his friends and interred, with one of his hands sent to Douay College. On the scaffold, he stated that he was too old and frail to make long speeches and would simply die for the Catholic faith to which he had devoted his life.