Robert Ferrar
(4) The fourth leading Reformer who suffered in Mary's reign was
Robert Ferrar, Bishop of St David's, in Wales. He was burned at
Carmarthen on Saturday, the 30th March, 1555. Little is known of this
good man beyond the fact that he was born at Halifax, and was the
last Prior of Nostell, in Yorkshire, an office which he surrendered in
1540. He was also Chaplain to Archbishop Cranmer and to the Protector
Somerset, and to this influence he owed his elevation to the Episcopal
bench. He was first imprisoned for various trivial and ridiculous
charges on temporal matters, in the latter days of Edward the Sixth,
after the fall of the Protector Somerset, and afterwards was brought
before Gardiner, with Hooper, Rogers, and Bradford, on the far more
serious matter of his doctrine. The articles exhibited against him
clearly show that in all questions of faith he was of one mind with
his fellow-martyrs. Like Hooper and Taylor, he was condemned to be
burned in the place where he was best known, and was sent down from
London to Carmarthen. What happened there at his execution is related
very briefly by Foxe, partly, no doubt, because of the great distance
of Carmarthen from London in those pre-railway days; partly, perhaps,
because most of those who saw Ferrar burned could speak nothing but
Welsh. One single fact is recorded which shows the good Bishop's
courage and constancy in a striking light. He had told a friend
before the day of execution that if he saw him once stir in the fire
from the pain of his burning, he need not believe the doctrines he had
taught. When the awful time came, he did not forget his promise, and,
by God's grace, he kept it well. He stood in the flames holding out
his hands till they were burned to stumps, until a bystander in mercy
struck him on the head, and put an end to his sufferings. And so the
Welsh Bishop passed away.
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Last modified: Fri Dec 10 23:57:40 1999