Anne
was the daughter of William Heigham of Dunmow, Essex, a gentleman of
means and an ardent Calvinist. When Anne and her brother converted to
Catholicism, they were disowned and disinherited by their family. In
1583, Anne married Roger Line, a convert like herself. But shortly after
their marriage Roger was arrested for attending Mass and exiled to
Flanders in Belgium, where he died in 1594.
Anne remained in
London, where, despite her poor health, she was put in charge of two
houses of refuge for priests in the city. But soon, the English
authorities began to suspect the widow's activities and she removed
herself to another location. Then, on Candlemas Day in 1601, just as a
Jesuit priest was about to celebrate Mass in Anne’s apartments,
priest-catchers, men paid handsomely to root out Catholic clergy forced
to celebrate Mass in secret, broke into the rooms. On this day, February
2, a blessing of candles traditionally takes place before Mass and a
large number of people had gathered for the feast day. Quickly
unvesting, Father Francis Page mingled with those in attendance as a
form of concealment, but the altar prepared for the ceremony was all the
evidence needed for Anne’s arrest. She was imprisoned in Newgate Prison
and later brought to trial at Sessions House. Anne was so weak from
fever that she had to be carried in a chair to her trial on February 26.
She was indicted under Elizabeth I's 1585 Act Against Jesuits and Seminarists
(Elizabeth 27, Cap. 2) for providing haven to a Catholic Jesuit priest,
and sentenced to be hanged at Tyburn. The next day she was led to the
gallows, bravely proclaiming her faith to the crowd before her sentence
was carried out. Anne had finally achieved the martyrdom for which she
had prayed and is known as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and
Wales.
Saturday, February 27, 2021
St. Anne Line
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