Victims of the executioners

The story of the Chideock martyrs, part II: Sr Filomena Weld, VHM, examines a legacy of courage
ONE OF the Chideock martyrs was Ven Thomas Pilchard (or Pilcher) born at Battle, Sussex, in 1566. He entered Oxford and became a Fellow of Balliol, a University that was still a strong centre of disaffection, giving stout resistance to the Oath of Supremacy.
About 1580 Pilchard, determined to embrace the priestly life, crossed the seas to Rheims where, in due course, he was ordained, returning to the English Mission in 1583. His holiness and zeal made him a magnet of souls, but also gained for him the attention of the pursuivants: he was cast into prison and sentenced to banishment.
Undaunted, he returned to England in 1586 and it is during this period that he became, for a short period, chaplain at Chideock Castle. On a visit to London, he was easily recognised by a decided cast in his eyes, and was sent to Dorchester for interrogation.
He owned at once to having been ordained Priest beyond the 'seas and of having exercised his priestly functions in England. He was sentenced to suffer the death of a traitor in Dorchester in 1587.
The most eminent of the Chideock martyrs was BI John Cornelius. Born in 1554 of a good family, but in poor circumstances, the boy showed great intelligence and remarkable aptitude for study in the local school.
Sir John Arundell was struck by his gentle and retiring attitude and took him into his own household where he could preserve his faith intact. In due time, his patron sent him to Oxford and maintained him at Exeter College, where he was elected Fellow of the same College in 1575. A brilliant worldly career could have been his, but he preferred his Catholic religion which meant so much to him, and for which he was expelled from the College.
Fired by the zeal of Cuthbert Mayne, who had already made the Supreme Sacrifice, he proceeded to the English College at Rheims where he was ordained for the English Mission.
He returned to Chideock in 1583, going straight to his old patron, Sir John Arundell. Persecution was raging and Sir John's spirit was near breaking point through ruinous fines and imprisonment. Cornelius greatly exhorted him to constancy and determination to die, if necessary for the faith of his forefathers, no matter what the cost.
Fr Cornelius was indefatigable in his zeal for the salvation of souls, the magistrates sending many pursuivants to hunt and seize him. He stayed mostly with the Arundells in Chideock or in London and assisted at the deathbed of Sir John in 1591, who recommended to him his widow and family.
For the next three years, Cornelius remained at Chideock as Chaplain to Lady Arundel', making the Castle his centre, while he laboured with indefatigable zeal for miles around.
On April 14, 1594, the Father said Mass in the Castle at his usual hour of five o'clock and was making his thanksgiving when a great brawl was heard. Soldiers scaled the walls and entered the Castle with drawn swords, while the Priest slipped quietly into the hiding hole. A traitor among the servants pointed to the hiding hole.
Thus, Fr Cornelius was finally caught and apprehended and, together with him, Thomas Bosgrave, nephew of Lady Arundell and two faithful retainers, John Carey and Patrick Salmon. All four were sent to Dorchester gaol. After two months, Fr Cornelius was indicted for treason because of his priesthood, the other three being charged with the crime of assisting and concealing a priest.
Fr Cornelius was dragged from the prison to the gallows on a hurdle, the two retainers running beside him, faithful to the end. The execution of all four took place at Dorchester in July, 1594.
The last of the Chideock Martyrs was BI Hugh Green. Born in London in 1584, he was educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he took the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In 1609 he left the country and was ordained priest at the English College, Douai in 1612.
He returned to Chideock and became Chaplain to Lady Arundell at Chideock Castle. In 1642 Charles I ordered all priests to leave the country: Fr Green was a few days' late after the date fixed in the proclamation, so he was arrested at Lymne Regis, 10 miles or so distance from Chideock and, after five months' imprisonment, he was sentenced to death on the sole charge of being a priest and was executed at Dorchester in circumstances of perculiar ferocity in August, 1642.
During the Civil War of 1640, Chideock Castle became a very important Royalist stronghold. It was taken a number of times by the Parliamentarians and retaken by the Royalists, back and forth until 1645 when it was reduced to ruins. Lady Arundel! and her family, having lost their dwelling-place, left Chideock while still retaining the Lordship of the Manor.
The fate of the martyrs did not deter other priests from ministering to the Catholics of Chideock. After the destruction of the Castle, they took refuge mostly in the woods.
In secluded North Chideock there stodd a farm house with a barn attached to it. In an upper room of the "Barn Cottage" Mass continued to be offered secretly for almost 170 years.
In 1815, Humphrey Weld, the then owner of Chideock, built the present Manor House with a Chapel attached, the latter being on the exact site of the old barn cottage. In 1852 his artist son, Charles, decided to rebuild a bijou Romanesque Church, incorporating the old barn cottage. The old staircase leading to the upper room is now in the Priest's sacristy.
Thanks to the martyrs, Chideock still has its Catholic congregation. What has been said of the Poles could equally be said of our martyrs: "To be defeated and not to surrender that is victory."