Walpole, Saint Henry

(1558-1595)

   One of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, he was born at Docking, Norfolk, educated at St. Peter's College, Cambridge, and while a student lawyer at Gray's Inn, London, he witnessed the execution of his Jesuit friend Edmund Campion in 1581. Some of Campion's blood splashed on Walpole, which he took as a sign to carry on Campion's mission. His anonymous poem in praise of Campion caused the printer to have his ears cut off, but he did not betray Walpole. He went to the English College at Rome, was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1588, and returned to England on 4 December 1593 to minister to covert Catholics around York. He was immediately arrested for the crime of priesthood and imprisoned in York and in the Tower of London, being repeatedly racked before being hanged, drawn and quartered at York. He was beatified in 1929 by Pope Pius XI and canonized 25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI. Some of his poems: "An Epistle from Florence," "Epilogue to Tamerlane," "Martyrdom of Father Campion," "The Beauties," "The Song of Mary the Mother of Christ."

   Sources: An Anthology of Catholic Poets. Shane Leslie, ed. Macmillan, 1952. The Catholic Encyclopedia. (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/16049b.htm). Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Forty Martyrs (http://www.geocities.com/francischinchoy/fortymartyrs.html). I Sing of a Maiden: The Mary Book of Verse. Sister M. Therese, ed. Macmillan, 1947. Patron Saints Index (http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/sainth97.htm). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Golden Book of Catholic Poetry. Alfred Noyes, ed. J.B. Lippincott, 1946. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia).