Celebrating the Martyrs of the English Reformation: St Nicholas Owen

The Feast of the English Martyrs falls on May 4th and this year, I thought I’d write a little series looking into into some of their stories. All 284 of these canonised or beatified men and women showed incredible courage and bravery during a time when adhering to the Catholic faith was illegal and punishable by death. Maybe you’re familiar with some of their stories? English Martyrs, pray for us!

Part one of the series is all about a guy called St Nicholas Owen, SJ. St Nicholas was responsible for helping to save many souls, both directly and indirectly, but his role was a somewhat hidden one. Owen was a designer and builder of priest holes and lived in the midst of the time of the penal laws, when Catholicism was illegal in England.

Born in 1606 (we’re not quite sure of his exact date of birth), he was brought up in a devoutly Catholic family in Oxford. Two of his brothers became priests and the other worked as a printer making illegal Catholic books and pamphlets. His father was a carpenter and Nicholas followed in his footsteps, becoming an apprentice in carpentry and joinery. However, he never finished his apprenticeship because he became a servant of St Edmund Campion (and later Fr Henry Garnet), which was when he started to discover and develop his gift of building priest holes. He also became a lay Jesuit brother. He worked in this field for about 18 years, travelling around the country building priest holes in the homes of Catholic families. Working under the alias of ‘Little John’ (and others, including ‘Draper’ and ‘Andrewes’) and posing as a travelling carpenter during the day, Nicholas would toil for hours at night under the cover of darkness. The work was backbreaking and often involved smashing through thick layers of stone. He got little sleep due to having to maintain his carpentry cover. This would be impressive for anyone, but is even more so considering that Nicholas was physically disabled from a poorly set bone in his leg (from a riding accident) and an intestinal hernia. He was also of incredibly short stature according to historical records.

As mentioned, Nicholas Owen’s hiding places were meticulously planned and built. His favoured locations for priest holes seemed to be under stairs or behind panels. He would sometimes create decoy rooms or hides to trick the priest hunters into thinking that they’d found the hiding place.

Nicholas was eventually found and captured alongside some of his companions while in hiding at Hindlip Hall in Worcestershire. Around 100 armed men surrounded the hall and tore it apart. Nicholas was reported to have let himself be captured in order to protect Fr Garnet. At the time, the authorities didn’t realise who they’d caught but it quickly became apparent that this was one of the most wanted men of the time. They tortured him (despite laws against the torture of people with disabilities) but he only revealed common knowledge to them, taking his secrets with him to death.

So, what are my favourite things about this amazing saint? I love the fact that his work was so hidden and understated, yet so intricate and clever; he only asked for basic life necessities as payment. His work saved many lives and impacted many souls, both directly by providing safe places for Catholic priests to shelter but also indirectly via the sacraments being performed by the priests. Many people were able to receive the sacraments thanks to him.

St Nicholas Owen, please pray for us!