John Kemble (martyr)

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John Kemble (b. 1599, Herefordshire - d. 22 August 1679, Widemarsh Common, Hereford) was an English Roman Catholic martyr.

He was one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

1 Early years and ordination
2 Pastoral work
3 Titus Oates' plot
4 Arrest and execution
5 Sainthood
6 Relatives
7 Asides
8 Dates
9 Notes
10 External links
11 Sources

[edit] Early years and ordination

John Kemble was born at Rhydicar Farm, St. Weonard's, Herefordshire, in 1599. He was the son of John and Anne Kemble, the daughter of John Morgan, of the Waen, Skenfrith, Monmouthshire.

They were a prominent local recusant Catholic family. There were four other priests in the family.

Kemble was ordained a priest at Douai College, on 23 February 1625. He returned to England on 4 June 1625 as a missioner in Monmouthshire and Herefordshire.

[edit] Pastoral work

Little is known of his work caring for the sustenance of his flock for the next fifty three years. The condition of Catholics had eased somewhat from the ferocious persecution of the Elizabethan period, but priests still needed to perform their ministry discreetly.

[edit] Titus Oates' plot

The uneasy tolerance within which Father Kemble had operated was shattered by Titus Oates' plot in 1678.

The events leading up to the arrest of Father Kemble need to be seen against the backdrop of the plot. Titus Oates was a perjurer who concocted a plot in which the Anglican^[1] King Charles the Second would be assassinated and his Catholic brother (later, King James the Second) installed as king in his place.

In the febrile religious atmosphere of the country the plot was credulously believed. However, when the Oates' story was examined in detail the whole fraud was exposed, but by then the damage had been done. Among the many Catholics caught up in the frenzy was Father John Kemble.

[edit] Arrest and execution

Father Kemble was staying at his brother's home, Pembridge Castle, near Welsh Newton, when he was arrested. He was warned about the impending arrest but declined to leave his flock, saying, "According to the course of nature, I have but a few years to live. It will be an advantage to suffer for my religion and, therefore, I will not abscond."

He was arrested by a Captain John Scudamore of Kentchurch. It is a comment on the tortuous values of the age that Scudamore's own wife and children were parishioners of Father Kemble.

Father Kemble, now 80, was taken on the arduous journey to London to be interviewed about the plot. He was found to have had no connection with the concoction. Nonetheless, he was found guilty of the treasonous crime of being a priest. He was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered.

He was returned to Hereford for the sentence to be carried out. Before he was led out to his execution Father Kemble insisted on saying his prayers and finishing his drink, and the assembled party joined the elderly priest in a final smoke and a drink. To this day the sayings, "Kemble pipe", and "Kemble cup", meaning a parting pipe or cup, are used in Herefordshire.

Before his death Father Kemble addressed the assembled crowd, pointing out that no association with the "plot" had been charged to him. The old priest went on to say, "…the failure of the authorities in London to connect me to the plot makes it evident that I die only for profession the Roman Catholic religion, which was the religion that first made this Kingdom Christian."

Grave of John Kemble (photo by Philip Halling)

Kemble was allowed to die on the gallows before being drawn and quartered, thus he was spared the agony suffered by many of other Catholic martyrs of England, Scotland and Wales.

One of Kemble's hands is still preserved at St. Francis Xavier, Hereford. His body rests in the (Church of England) churchyard of St Mary's, Welsh Newton, and local Roman Catholics make an annual pilgrimage to his grave.

[edit] Sainthood

Miracles were soon attributed to the saintly priest. Scudamore's daughter was cured of throat cancer, and Scudamore's wife recovered her hearing whilst praying at the Kemble's grave.

John Kemble was beatified in 1929 by Pope Pius XI and canonized on 25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI. His feast day is 22 August.

[edit] Relatives

Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse by Sir Joshua Reynolds (The Huntington, San Marino, California)

The famous Kemble family are relatives of John Kemble. The family became almost a 'Royal Family' of the English stage in the nineteenth century. The most famous was Sarah Siddons, née Kemble. It has been said that she was the finest English tragic actress ever. She was a great-great grandniece of the Saint.

Other noteworthy members of the family, though not Catholics, were: Roger Kemble, John Philip Kemble who spent some time at the Roman Catholic College in Douai, Stephen Kemble, Charles Kemble, John Mitchell Kemble, Frances Anne Kemble who after spending time in the United States held strong anti slavery opinions, Adelaide Kemble and Henry Kemble.

[edit] Asides

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His uncle, George Kemble, of Pembridge Castle, Welsh Newton, was the father of Captain Richard Kemble, who saved Charles II (the reigning King at the time of John Kemble's death) at the battle of Worcester.