Clitherow, Margaret, Blessed, Martyr

CLITHEROW, Margaret, Blessed, Martyr. - Called "the Pearl of York," born in York around 1552 to Thomas Middleton, a wax merchant and sheriff of York. Raised in heresy, in 1571 she married the well-to-do John C., a conformist Anglican, who had two Catholic brothers, one of them a priest. In 1574 M. C. came to know the Catholic faith and was converted. Longing for martyrdom, she led a life of heroic penances and devoted herself to sheltering persecuted priests, providing them with places and means to celebrate Mass and for the apostolate; she often went barefoot to the place where the martyrs of York had been executed from 1582 onward. Accused in 1586 of having sheltered priests and having heard Mass, C. refused to defend herself in court for fear that her relatives might become guilty of her death through extorted testimony. A Flemish boy of twelve was so frightened that he revealed the chapel in which C. organized the Eucharistic gatherings. On this invalid evidence, C. was killed by crushing on 25 March 1586. She was beatified on 15 Dec. 1929.