Cuthbert Mayne
| St. Cuthbert Mayne | |
|---|---|
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| Forty Martyrs of England and Wales | |
| Born | c. 1544 Youlston, near Barnstaple in Devon |
| Died | 29 November 1577 Launceston, Cornwall |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 29 December 1886 by Pope Leo XIII |
| Canonized | 25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI |
| Feast | 25 October |
Saint Cuthbert Mayne (1544–1577) was the first English Roman Catholic "seminary priest" to be martyred under the laws of Elizabeth I.
Mayne was born at Youlston, near Barnstaple in Devon, the son of William Mayne, and baptized on 20 March 1543/4, St Cuthbert's day. His uncle was a priest who conformed to the Church of England, and the family expected the good natured, shallow Mayne would inherit his uncle's rich church. This uncle paid his way to Barnstaple Grammar School. He was ordained a minister at the age of seventeen, and became Anglican rector of the village of Huntshaw. After ordination, Mayne attended university, first at St Alban Hall, then at St John's College, in Oxford, where he became chaplain. He was awarded a B.A. on 6 April 1566 and M.A. on 8 April 1570.
At Oxford, Mayne met Edmund Campion and other Catholics, such as Gregory Martin, Humphrey Ely, Henry Shaw, Thomas Bramston, Henry Holland, Jonas Meredith, and Roland Russell. At some point Mayne, too, became a Catholic. Late in 1570, a letter addressed to him from Gregory Martin, urging him to come to Douai, fell into the hands of the Bishop of London, and he sent a pursuivant to arrest Mayne and others mentioned in the letter. Being warned off by Thomas Ford, Mayne evaded arrest by going to Cornwall and then, in 1573, to the English College at Douai.
Mayne was ordained a priest at Douai in 1575 and on 7 February in the following year he obtained the degree of Bachelor of Theology of Douai University. Shortly afterwards, on 24 April 1576, he left for the English mission in the company of another priest, John Payne. He soon took up his abode in the parish of Probus, Cornwall. where he posed as the steward of local landowner with Francis Tregian, related to the Arundells, and one of the richest landowners in Cornwall.
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