Saint of the Day – 24 January – Blessed William Ireland SJ (1636-1679) Priest Martyr. Born in 1636 in Lincolnshire, England and died by hanging on 24 January 1679 at Tyburn, London, England. Also known as – William Ironmonger, William Iremonger. He was Beatified on 15 December 1929 by Pope Pius XI.
William was the eldest son of William Ireland of Crofton Hall, Yorkshire, by his wife, Barbara, a daughter of Ralph Eure, 3rd Baron Eure of Washingborough, Lincolnshire. He had several sisters, to whom he remained close, and who worked tirelessly to prove his innocence After he was falsely accused of conspiring to murder King Charles II during the Popish Plot conspiracy and hysteria,
He was educated at the English College at St Omer in France and was admitted to the Society of Jesus at the age 19 at Watten, Belgium. He studied Theology in Liege and in 1667, aged 31, was Ordained a Priest. For 10 years William was the Confessor to the Poor Clares at Gravelines in Northern France, waiting to return to England.
In 1677, when he finally succeeded, entering his country as William Ironmonger, (William Iremonger) he had only been working as Procurator of his Order (responsible for finances) for a year, when he already became the first victim of the nefarious conspiracy hatched by Titus Oates.
The apostate and perverted Titus Oates, was an Anglican Minister, who hated all Catholics and most particularly, he harboured a deeply vicious hatred towards the Society of Jesus. Together with another Minister, Israel Tonge, he invented the plot which the English Jesuits had supposedly planned wherein the assassination of King Charles II, the fall of the Government and its official religion and the re-establishment of Catholicism. This fictional tale caused an uproar and a new furious persecution against Catholics.
Among the first victims was Fr William, who was arrested together with Fr John Fenwick and William’s assistant, Mr John Grove. They were locked up in Newgate Prison and secured with heavy shackles which embedded itself into the bare flesh of their legs. On 17 December 1678, after three months in the horrors of the most notorious Prison in England, they were finally tried, along with Fr Thomas Whitbread and Thomas Pickering, a Benedictine Brother.
At the trial, Titus Oates claimed to have witnessed a meeting of the Jesuits in April of that year and heard the Jesuits plotting to kill the King. He claimed that William, Fr Fenwick and John Grove were at the meeting and the Frs Whitbread and Pickering were to carry out the plan. They allegedly tried to carry out the murder but Fr Pickering’s gun allegedly failed three times. Another witness largely confirmed these statements.
Fr William, however, proved that at the time when he was supposed to be walking around the Royal Palace, he was in fact in the Midlands and in the north of Wales. As evidence to the contrary, Oates bribed a maid who claimed to have seen him in London at the time. On these trumped-up charges and blatant lies, William, John Grove and Fr Pickering were found guilty of high treason and sentenced to be hanged,drawn and quartered.
The execution was postponed by Royal Order for one month because the King, Charles II, himself did not believe that the Jesuits were involved in a conspiracy against him. Oates, however, procured and bribed, several more so-called witnesses of dubious repute, after which the King, fearing the wrath of the people, allowed the execution of the sentence.
William and John Grove were taken to Tyburn on 24 January 1679. The mob pelted them with stones and verbal abuse as they were led to the gallows. The King, who had already stated privately that they were innocent, as a special act of clemency, ordered that they be allowed to hang until they were dead, thus sparing them the usual horrors of drawing and quartering whilst still alive. They were hanged,and when they died, they were taken down so that they could be drawn and dismembered.
AnaStpaul 