Martyrs of Gorkum

The Martyrs of Gorkum
by Cesare Fracassini (1838-1868), Vatican Museum
Born	16th century
Died	9 July 1572, Brielle, County of Holland, Holy Roman Empire
Martyred by	The Watergeuzen
Means of martyrdom	hanging
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church (Netherlands and the Order of Friars Minor)
Beatified	14 November 1675, Rome, Papal States, by Pope Clement X
Canonized	29 June 1867, Rome, Papal States, by Pope Pius IX
Major shrine	Church of St. Nicholas, Brussels, Belgium
Feast	9 July
Notable martyrs	Nicholas Pieck; Hieronymus of Weert; Theodorus van der Eem; Nicasius Janssen; Willehad of Denmark; Godefried of Mervel; Antonius of Weert; Antonius of Hoornaer; Franciseus de Roye of Brussels; Godefried van Duynsen of Gorkum, Joannes van Hoornaer, Jacobus Lacops of Oudenaar, Adrianus Janssen of Hilvarenbeek, Andreas Wouters of Heynoord and Joannes Lenartz of Oisterwijk

The Martyrs of Gorkum (Dutch: Martelaren van Gorcum) were a group of 19 Dutch Catholic clerics and friars who were hanged on 9 July 1572 in the town of Brielle (or Den Briel) by militant Dutch Calvinists during the 16th century religious wars in the Low Countries.

As of 1572, Lutheranism and Calvinism had spread through a great part of Europe. In the Netherlands this was followed by a struggle between the two denominations in which Calvinism was victorious. On 1 April of the next year, Calvinist forces and a rebel group called the Watergeuzen (Sea Beggars) conquered Brielle (Den Briel) and later Vlissingen (Flushing).

In June, Dordrecht and Gorkum fell, and at the latter the rebels captured nine Franciscans: Nicholas Pieck, guardian of Gorkum; Hieronymus of Weert, vicar; Theodorus van der Eem of Amersfoort; Nicasius Janssen of Heeze; Willehad of Denmark; Godefried of Mervel; Antonius of Weert; Antonius of Hoornaer, and Franciscus de Roye of Brussels. To these were added two lay brothers from the same friary, Petrus of Assche and Cornelius of Wijk bij Duurstede. At almost the same time the Calvinists arrested the parish priest of Gorkum, Leonardus Vechel of 's-Hertogenbosch, and his assistant.

Also imprisoned were Godefried van Duynsen of Gorkum, a priest in his native city, and Joannes Lenartz of Oisterwijk, a canon regular from a nearby priory and spiritual director for the monastery of Augustinian nuns in Gorkum. To these fifteen were later added four more companions: Joannes van Hoornaer (alias known as John of Cologne), a Dominican of the Cologne province and parish priest not far from Gorkum, who when apprised of the incarceration of the clergy of Gorkum hastened to the city in order to administer the sacraments to them and was seized and imprisoned with the rest; Jacobus Lacops of Oudenaar, a Norbertine, who became a curate in Monster, South Holland; Adrianus Janssen of Hilvarenbeek, a Premonstratensian canon and at one time parish priest in Monster, who was sent to Brielle with Jacobus Lacops. Last was Andreas Wouters of Heynoord.