Thanks to Foxe, we learn of the martyr, but little appears elsewhere.
At Magdalen College, Oxford, he received his B.A. in 1550. He was fluent and facile in Greek and Latin. He taught logic at Magdalen. But, he was a committed Recusant or English Roman Catholic (to be distinguished from True Catholics). He was not popular. He spoke aggressively against the leaders at the school. Before the death of Edward VI, anti-Protestant, anti-Reformed and anti-Reformational signs were posted on doors and walls of the school. Palmer was the "suspect" or “person of interest.” He was removed from the faculty. He became a tutor to a wealthy family. Meanwhile, our favourite Queen and the nation’s supreme agent of Christ’s love, mercy and truth (tongue in cheek), Mrs. (Mary) Tudor, ordered Protestant Professors removed at the two Universities (OXBRIDGE). Palmer was re-instated to his previous position. He never thought that Protestant and Reformed Churchmen would brave the flames for their faith. He went and witnessed the burning stakes of Ridley and Latimer. As a result of their courage, commitment and resistance unto death, Palmer returned to his study and began to study the Scriptures and review his previous positions. He changed. God changed him; the Scriptures changed him. As a result, he could no longer teach at Oxford. He left and became a schoolmaster of a grammar school at Reading, but he soon was suspected of heresy. Recusant authorities searched his quarters and found writings against the Rome. He was quietly allowed to depart Reading. He returned home, asking his mother to give him his share in the paternal estate. Reportedly, his mother told him, “Thy father bequeathed nought for heretics.” He was arrested and condemned on 15 JUL 1556, some 457 years ago. On 16 JUL 1556, the following day at 5:00 PM, he and 2 other martyrs were burned at the Sand-pits in Newbury, Berkshire. As they died, they exclaimed together from Psalm 31: “Be strong and take courage, all you who put your hope in the LORD.”
Tertullian: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”
Lest we forget.
Perhaps Mr. (bp.) Sutton raised the issue with Mr. (pope) Ratzinger last Nov 2012? We still await any official acknowledgment from Rome.
Indeed, the "blood of the martyrs is the seed of the true Church where the Word is rightly preached, the sacraments rightly administered, and the place where doctrinal discipline, confessions and cross-generational catechesis rightly exists."
As Robert Frost said, "Fences make for good neighbours."
Lest we forget.
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