Margaret Clitherow (1556-1586 ) English saint and martyr

,Margaret Clitherow , known as ‘the Pearl of York’ , was pressed to death for refusing to enter a plea to the charge of harbouring Catholic priests.

To be ’ pressed to death’ meant having a door being put over the top of the accused and the door loaded with an immense weight of rocks and stones. This was the standard inducement to force a plea.

Margaret converted to Roman Catholicism in 1574.
Her husband paid her fines for not attending the Established church. In 1577 she was imprisoned for not attending church. 2 further incarcerations followed at York Castle. Their son William was born in prison.

The Act of 1584, by the Jesuits, made it a capital offence to harbour and maintain priests. Margaret had 2 chambers-one next to their house and a second in rented house some distance away.
Local tradition holds she also housed some priests in the Black Swan where the Queen’s agents lodged!

These 3 chambers became important hiding place for fugitive Roman Catholic priests in the north of England. There Mass was celebrated through the thick of the persecution.

In 10 th March 1586 the house was searched. A frightened boy revealed the location of the priest hole. She was arrested and called before the York assizes. She refused to plea. She was sentenced to death. She died on 25th March 1586

She was beatified in 1929 by Pope Pius X1 and canonised by Pope Paul V1 on 25th October 1970 among the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales…

Saint Margaret’s shrine is as 35/6, The Shambles, in York.

Source
Wikipedia