Blessed John Rugg was a martyr, priest and former fellow of the two Saint Mary Winton colleges during the reign of Henry the Eighth. He was the first holder of the Wykehamical prebend “Bursalis” at the Chichester Cathedral. Obtaining a dispensation from residence, John was living as a Benedictine monk at Reading, Berkshire in 1532.
Blessed John hid the hand of Saint Anastasius, a relic housed in the cathedral, when the king’s men seized the relics in the Reading abbey, and which was rediscovered during renovations in 1786. Rugg was arrested with Abbot Hugh and another priest, Blessed John Eynon, and all three were condemned for treason—that is, for refusing to accept the royal supremacy and for upholding the Catholic faith and the Holy See.
He was dragged through the streets, then hanged, drawn, and quartered on 15 November 1539 at the main abbey gateway in Reading, Berkshire. His body was left to rot in his chains as a warning for others. It was removed by locals and buried at Bere Court before his relics were re-interred in the 16th century.
He was beatified in 13 May 1895 by Pope Leo XIII.
But that lofty glory of so great a man must not be passed over without announcement, that now, when the world was swelling, and of its trust in its princes breathing out hatred of the Name, he was instructing God’s servants, as opportunity was given, in the exhortations of the Lord, and was animating them to tread under foot the sufferings of this present time by the contemplation of a glory to come hereafter.
Life and Passion of St Cyprian
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