Born 1585: Barlow Hall, Manchester.
Ambrose Barlow was the fourth son of Mary, daughter of Sir Uryan
Brereton; and Sir Alexander Barlow, Knight of Barlow Hall, near
Manchester. Ambrose was educated at the Benedictine monastery of
St. Gregory, Douai and entered the English College at Valladolid on
20th September, 1610. His elder brother William Rudesind was a monk
at Douai and Ambrose joined him there, where he was ordained in
1617 after becoming a monk himself in 1616. His mission in England brought him to Leigh, where he was based at Morley Hall; he served also at Ormskirk, Warrington and
Winwick in Lancashire.
In 1628, Ambrose ministered to Edmund Arrowsmith, who was imprisoned in Lancaster gaol. The night after Father Arrowsmith was executed, Ambrose had a vision where Arrowsmith foretold Ambrose’ own martyrdom. At the time, Ambrose did not know that Father Arrowsmith had been executed and dismissed the experience as an illusion. When he discovered that Father Arrowsmith had in fact been martyred on the day of the apparition, he became convinced that he would suffer the same fate.
He was arrested by the Vicar of Eccles on Easter Sunday, the 25th April 1641. Nearly 400 armed men accompanied the vicar and Ambrose calmly let himself be taken, believing the event the will of God.
After four months' imprisonment in Lancaster gaol, he was brought to trial and sentenced the next day, having confessed that he was a priest. On Friday, 10th September, he was hanged, drawn and quartered; his dismembered body-parts displayed on the Collegiate Church at Manchester and on the walls of
Lancaster Castle.