MILNER, RALPH, BL.

Lay martyr; b. Slackstead (Flacsted), Hants, England; d. hanged at Winchester, July 7, 1591. Milner was a simple, illiterate man who married and supported his eight children through his labor. For most of a century he belonged to the Anglican church, but the lives of the Catholics he knew caused him to reconsider his beliefs.

He decided to seek instruction in the faith and was received into the Church. On the day of his first Communion, however, he was arrested and committed to Winchester jail for changing his religion. Here his good behavior during years of imprisonment eventually won the confidence of the jailer who entrusted Milner with the prison keys and frequently allowed him to leave. This enabled him to help his fellow Catholic prisoners by bringing in priests to administer the Sacraments or render other services. His liberty also allowed him to serve as escort to several priests, including Fr. Thomas Stanney, then Bl. Roger dickenson, with whom he was arrested. Dickenson and Milner were confined to Winchester jail. Attempts were made to persuade the ancient Milner to attend a Protestant service in exchange for his life. He refused "to embrace a counsel so disagreeable to the maxims of the Gospel." Other effort was made en route to the gallows: His children were sent to plead with him to renounce his faith. Instead, Milner blessed his children and said that "he could wish them no greater happiness than to die for the like cause". He 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. h. pollen, Acts of English Martyrs (London 1891).

[k. i. rabenstein]