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The Falls of Two Catholics, and What the Lord Worked Through Them

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Book 3, chapter 2 The Falls of Two Catholics, and What the Lord Worked through Them Given how horrific are the torments to which the heretics subject the Catho- lics, how outlandish the tricks they use to corrupt them, God sometimes per- mits the fall of those who presume upon him and think themselves strong, to the end that such persons’ misfortunes should teach us the knowledge of our weakness and edify us, while their victories more clearly manifest the good- ness of the Lord and inspire and encourage us. In this persecution, God al- lowed two to yield to their fear and dread of the torments (just as we read of others in past persecutions), but in such a way that their falls lifted many of the fallen and became a wonderful blessing to them and to all Catholics. One of these was a priest named Anthony Tyrrell,1 who, at first through fear, and 1 Anthony Tyrrell (1552–1615), the scion of a prominent Essex family, was—even by the stan- dards of early modern England—erratic in confessional allegiance. Ordained a priest at Rome and dispatched to England in 1580, he was arrested and imprisoned in London in 1581. By the end of the year, he had escaped, and spent several years traveling in England and on the Continent. Tyrrell returned to England by 1585, and was again arrested in July 1586. Threatened with death, Tyrrell renounced his Catholicism, offered the Elizabethan authori- ties a fulsome (and not always credible) account of his doings, and informed on other Catho- lic prisoners. Briefly released, Tyrrell was again imprisoned in 1587: he agreed to preach a sermon at St Paul’s Cross describing his recantation, but reversed course and preached in favor of Catholicism. The next year, the Protestant sermon was, in fact, preached, and Tyr- rell received a pardon and a rectory in Essex. His Anglican career was not without further incident, including yet another spell in prison, and he eventually abandoned England and ended his days in Naples as a Catholic. Peter Holmes, “Tyrrell, Anthony (1552–1615),” in odnb, 55:800–01. Tyrrell’s story is related in a somewhat briefer form in a letter printed in Robert Persons’s Relacion: “One of those who turned back out of weakness was a priest called Anthony Tyrrell. Being a young man, and pressed by the heretics with fears of torture and various offers of re- wards, in the end he promised to do all they asked, and began to give some proof of this. And for the greater solemnity and the greater dishonor to the Catholics, they had him prepare to mount the pulpit of St Paul’s, the foremost church in London and the most frequented in the kingdom, on a feast-day, so that he might abjure the Catholic faith in the sight of all. But the Lord touched his heart and gave him a spirit totally different from what they imagined. For Anthony Tyrrell went to St Paul’s on the agreed-upon day and time, the heretics having gath- ered the entire populace for so solemn an auto, and he mounted the pulpit, as the ministers © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi �0.��63/97890043�3964_�0� <UN> 564 Book 3, chapter 2 then deceived by his ambitions and the promises and hopes they offered him, became a heretic and, at the urging of the queen’s ministers, falsely accused many prominent English knights, Doctor William Allen, the fathers of the So- ciety of Jesus, and other priests. He claimed that they had conspired in Rome with Pope Gregory xiii of happy memory to kill the queen and to incite the kingdom; this is the camouflage and cloak with which those in power seek to disguise their impious tyranny.2 After this wretched priest had fallen into so profound an abyss of wickedness, the Lord in his infinite mercy took pity on him and extended his hand to touch his heart, so that he came to his senses, repented his sins, and returned to the Catholic faith.3 And thus Tyrrell resolved to flee England and hide himself away to weep and do penance for his sins with some measure of peace and safety. But before leaving he wrote a pam- phlet abjuring his errors and declaring the falseness and perjury with which he had accused so many noble, innocent Catholics.4 He left England and lived as a Catholic abroad for some time, but then, whether tempted by the devil or of hell awaited his abjuration with contentment and joy, so that thereby they might deceive others. He began to reveal to the people the lies and tricks of the heretics and to exhort them all not believe or follow them, since all they said and did was artifice and deceit, and that there was no other true religion, in which one might be saved, save the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman. Hearing this, the heretics threw him from the pulpit with extreme rage and fury, but he strove to tell the people as much as he could, and what he could not with his mouth, he made up for with his pen, for at his breast he carried many copies of a text he had secretly written in prison, in which he recanted his heresy and professed the true Roman Catholic faith, and with deep emotion asked pardon of God our Lord, and of all Catholics, for his fall and his weakness.” Persons, Relacion, 14r–15r. Ribadeneyra has expanded this version with details from the Concertatio, which includes a lengthy account of Tyrrell’s pro-Catholic sermon. Concertatio, n.p. 2 “Likewise I confess and wish that all, those now living and those to live hereafter, should know that I falsely accused that most sacred pontiff, Gregory xiii of holy memory, when I affirmed that he had colluded in the murder of our most serene lady, Queen Elizabeth; like- wise, Mr. [John] Ballard, when I said that he put a similar question of the queen’s murder to Doctor [Owen] Lewis at Milan, and the fathers of the Society of Jesus at Rome, and to him who was then Doctor, but is now Cardinal Allen, and to other persons from the seminaries. In truth, I never knew or heard the subject raised in this fashion, or any other plot or conspiracy against Her Majesty’s person. And likewise Mr. Edward Windsor and Mr. Charles Tylney were by me unjustly implicated in crimes, and other men, as illustrious as noble, most falsely ac- cused.” Ibid., n.p. 3 1 Kings 10:26. 4 “I wrote private letters to the queen’s majesty concerning all of these things, and then, guided by the spirit of God, I clearly refuted and disproved what I had written in a previous book on the aforementioned matters.” Concertatio, n.p. <UN>.
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