Harrington, William, Bl.
HARRINGTON, WILLIAM, BL.
Priest, martyr; b. Mount St. John, Felixkirk, North Riding, Yorkshire, England, 1566; d. hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn (London), Feb. 18, 1594. Inspired by St. Edmund campion, whom his father had entertained in their home in 1581, William Harrington pursued seminary studies at Rheims, even though his family had conformed to Anglicanism. He continued his studies with the Jesuits at Tournai (1582–84) until he contracted a serious illness that kept him home-bound for years. He returned to Rheims in February 1591, where he was ordained before entering the English mission in midsummer 1592. His ministry was interrupted by his arrest in May 1593. After his death he was calumniated by a woman named Friswood or Fid Williams, who falsely claimed he had fathered her child before he became a priest and made many other preposterous accusations against him and other Catholics. Harrington was beatified by Pius XI on Dec. 15, 1929.
Feast of the English Martyrs: May 4 (England).
See Also: england, scotland, and wales, martyrs of.
Bibliography: r. challoner, Memoirs of Missionary Priests, ed. j. h. pollen (rev. ed. London 1924; repr. Farnborough 1969). j. morris, ed., The Troubles of Our Catholic Forefathers Related by Themselves (London 1875), 104–107. j. h. pollen, Acts of English Martyrs (London 1891).
[k. i. rabenstein]