Mary Clitherow

author

Mary Clitherow

A 16th-century English Catholic laywoman and martyr, she became one of the most famous figures of recusant England after refusing to abandon her faith under Elizabeth I.

1 Audiobook

Glimpses of King William IV. and Queen Adelaide In Letters of the Late Miss Clitherow, of Boston House, Middlesex. With a Brief Account of Boston House and the Clitherow Family

Glimpses of King William IV. and Queen Adelaide In Letters of the Late Miss Clitherow, of Boston House, Middlesex. With a Brief Account of Boston House and the Clitherow Family

by Mary Clitherow

About the author

Born Margaret Middleton in York around 1556, she married butcher John Clitherow and was raised Protestant before converting to Roman Catholicism in 1574. After her conversion, she sheltered priests and reportedly arranged secret Masses in her home, at a time when Catholic practice was dangerous and heavily punished in England.

She was arrested more than once for recusancy. In 1586, when charged with harboring Catholic priests, she refused to enter a plea, apparently to avoid a trial that might force her children and servants to testify. She was executed in York on March 25, 1586, by pressing, a particularly brutal punishment.

Her story endured through accounts written soon after her death, and she was later recognized by the Catholic Church as a martyr. She was canonized in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, and she remains closely associated with York, where her house and shrine continue to be remembered.