22
May 1560 A.D. Queen Elizabeth
1 Imprisons John Feckenham for 24 Years
Mr. Graves connects some dots for us.
Graves, Dan. “Feckenham Began 24 Prison Years.” Christianity Today. Apr 2007. http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1501-1600/feckenham-began-24-prison-years-11630001.html. Accessed Apr 23, 2014.
Never heard of John Feckenham?
Kings and Queens of the sixteenth century knew him well. He was the last abbot
of Westminster but far more influential than his position suggests. A firm
Roman Catholic, his religious views remained unalterable despite the changes
that made England a Protestant land. And so his fortunes rode a roller coaster.
Henry VIII pensioned Feckenham.
When the king died, Feckenham preached strong sermons against the new religious
practices creeping into England. He considered them heretical. This led to his
arrest and imprisonment under the Protestant king, Edward VI. But when the
Roman Catholic queen, Mary Tudor, came to the throne, Feckenham was released
from prison and took a leading role in disputing against the Protestants. He
also revived the Benedictine order. He tried to save the life of Lady Jane Grey
and to convert her to Roman Catholicism and was present at her execution.
Lady Jane appreciated his
kindness to her, and hoped he would be shown mercy because of it, but said,
"The faith of the church must be tried by God's word, and not God's word
by the church; and the same goes for my faith."
Compared to many leading
churchmen of the day, Feckenham was indeed merciful. After Wyatt's rebellion,
some of Mary's counselor's argued for Elizabeth's death. It was thanks to
Feckenham's pleas that she and others were spared. One day his appeals saved
the lives of 28 "heretics." During Mary's reign, Feckenham helped
established St. John's College and Trinity College Oxford. He preached Mary's
funeral sermon, taking his text from Ecclesiastes, saying the dead are happier
than either the living or those as yet unborn.
As a member of the House of
Lords, he voted against the Act of Supremacy which made Queen Elizabeth I head
of the English church. He also preached against the Act of Uniformity which
would have standardized religious practices.
Elizabeth was willing to allow
Feckenham to stay on--but only on her terms. He must take the oath of supremacy
and conform to Church of England practices. Feckenham could not accept these
conditions. He held different beliefs. For example, as David Knowles, his
sympathetic biographer, points out, Feckenham rejected the "new"
doctrine of justification by faith. On this day, May 22, 1560, he was arrested and taken to the Tower of London. Of
his remaining years, twenty-four would be spent in imprisonment of one sort of
another. Usually this was mild. Often he was merely sent to live with some
bishop or another. He controlled his own finances (giving most of his income
and inheritances to charity), was allowed to write whatever he wished, and was
even permitted to go to the waters at Bath when his health demanded it.
He died in prison, however, at
dismal Wisbech Castle, surrounded by other Catholic prisoners, who prepared him
for death.
Bibliography:
1. Camm, Bede. "Feckenham, John
De." The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
2. "Feckenham, John De."
Britannica, 1967.
3. "Feckenham, John De."
Dictionary of National Biography. Edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee.
London: Oxford University Press, 1921 - 1996.
4. Knowles, David. Saints and
Scholars: twenty-five medieval portraits. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press,
1988, c1962.
5. Various internet articles such as
http://john-feckenham.biography.ms/
Last updated May, 2007.
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