Saints This Month - 2 March St Nicholas Owen

Nicholas Owen was a man of very short stature, possibly suffering from what we would diagnose as skeletal dysplasia or dwarfism. He was known as little John or little Michael. He was however a giant with regards to his faith. During the Elizabethan persecution of Catholics he constructed a vast number of “priest-holes” for priests to hide in. The number of hiding places he created is unknown but his skill and genius in concealing his work mean it is possible that some have still to be discovered. He entered the Jesuit Order as a lay-brother and was in the service of the Jesuit priest Henry Garnet (who would be executed for his involvement in the gunpowder plot) for many years. It is though that for over thirty-years he wandered from house to house offering his services in return from just the necessities of life. He worked at night to avoid detection.

He was first arrested for publically defending St. Edmund Campion in 1582 but was later released. He was arrested again in 1594 and tortured, yet revealed nothing of the Catholic mission in England. The authorities however assumed he was the insignificant friend of some priests and he was released after a Wealthy Catholic family paid the fine. He went straight back to work and it is believed that he engineered the escape of the Jesuit John Gerald from the Tower of London.

Nicholas was arrested for the final time in 1606. He gave himself up voluntarily to distract the authorities form some Priests hiding in the area. He was sent to the Tower and subjected to the Topcliffe rack. He was dangled from a wall with both wrists held fast in iron gauntlets and his body hanging. When this proved insufficient to make him talk, heavy weights were added to his feet. He died as a result of his torture.

St. Nicholas Owen has been adopted as the patron Saint of illusionists because of his great skill in using the Trompe-l'œil in his work but his courage and faith are a serious example to all Christians. As Henry Gerard S.J. said:

"I verily think no man can be said to have done more good of all those who laboured in the English vineyard. He was the immediate occasion of saving the lives of many hundreds of persons, both ecclesiastical and secular."