Thomas Sprott
Blessed Thomas Sprott (died 1600), also spelled Thomas Spratt, was an English martyr, as was his colleague, Thomas Hunt, who is also known as Thomas Benstead.
Biography
He was born in about 1571 at Skelsmergh, near Kendal in Westmorland; suffered at Lincoln with Thomas Hunt on 11 July 1600. Sprott was ordained priest at Douai College in northern France, in 1596. He was sent on the English mission that same year, and signed the letter to the pope, dated 8 November 1598, in favour of the institution in England of the archpriest.
Hunt, born in Norfolk in approximately 1573, studied for the priesthood at the Royal English College in Valladolid and subsequently the English College of Seville, being ordained in 1599. His service in England was brief, being initially imprisoned at Wisbech, where he then escaped with five others. Some months later, they were arrested at the Saracen's Head, Lincoln, upon the discovery of the holy oils and two Breviaries in their mails. When brought to trial, though their being priests was neither proved nor confessed, nor was any evidence produced, the judge, Sir John Glanville, directed the jury to find them guilty, which was done. The judge died sixteen days afterwards under unusual circumstances, as Dr. Worthington (quoted by Bishop Challoner) records.
Thomas Sprott and Thomas Hunt were among the eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales beatified by Pope John Paul II on 22 November 1987.
See also
References
Sources
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Ven. Thomas Sprott". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
