RALPH
636
RAM
the Kennebec. The colonists of New England re-
(jarded with suspicion and hatred the arrival of a
Frenchman in the midst of savages who were for the
most part hostile to the English. The latter pre-
sumed that the missionarv would do his best to keep
aUve this hostilitv. Hence the Indian outrages per-
petrated on the eastern frontier of New England
during Rale's long residence among the Abenakis
were for the most part attributed, either directly
or indirectlv, to him. Rale made his head-
quarters at Norridgewock, where in 1698 he bmlt
a church. During Queen .\nne's war, frequent at-
tacks were made bv the English upon Norridgewock,
and in 1705 the church was burned. Rale and his
converts escaped capture by flight.
The Treatv of Utrecht, 1713, estabhshed relatively peaceful conditions for a short time. A conference w'ls held by the English and the Indians at Ports- mouth, of "which we have two conflicting reports. \ccording to Penhallow (Indian Wars) the Indians acknowledged themselves subjects of Great Britain, who in return, promised them free possession of their land's about the Kennebec. Rale denies, however, that the Indianspromisedsubjectionto England. Hissource of information was the verbal report, of the Abenakis, who if they had made anv promises, carefully con- cealed them from the missionary. It is most likely, however, that the savages had no idea of what a promise of subjection to England meant. Ihis is Parkman's opinion (Half-Century of Conflict, 1, •'12-13). Ere long English encroachments upon Indian lands again stirred up the Abenakis. As a result, hostilities broke out m Sept., 1/21. In the following January an Enghsh expedition started for Norridgewock with the purpose of apprehending I'r. Rale The missionary' escaped, however, and soon returned to his mission. In August, 1724, another English expedition set out to capture him. The at- tacking party came upon Norridgewock unexpect- edly; the Indians were routed, and fled, lea\nng be- hind'them manv wounded and dead, among the latter their beloved "missionary. Rale's long residence with his flock, over a quarter of a centur>-, gave him an intimate knowledge of their tongue. As e\adence of this he prepared a dictionary of the Abenaki language, the MS. copy of which is preserved in the library of Harvard College. Some Indian prayers and a catechism, still in use among the Penobscots and Passamaquoddies, are attnbuted to him. In "The Jesuit Relations", LXVII, are two lengthy letters written by him from Norridgewock
Records of the Am. Calh. Hisl. Soc. XVIII (Philadelphia 17901 art A Typical Missionary: The JesuM Relaltons (171fr-1727') ; PaRKMAN, A Hal/-CerUury of Conflxct (Boston 1902); Co^•^•EES, Life of Rev. S.ba.'iar. R"'^ ■° .^'^7:;^ "^ American Biography. 2nd ser.. VII (Boston, 18;^^>- B-^xter The Pioneers of New France in New England (.Albany. isy4), CHABLEVot^ Hist 7f New France. II, tr. Shea (New York. 1866- T^fpENH-fiLiw (ed. DODOE). Hist, of the Wars of New Engand wUh the Eastern Indians ^Cincinr^^U. ISM)- CoUea^ons of the Mrui Hist Soc . vassim. especia y 2nd ser., Vlll; Jrd ser.. vi, 4T"ser V 5th seVTv, VI, VII; 6th ser., I. II; Coll. of the Maxne Hist Soc. 1st and 2nd series: Coll. of the N. H. Hist. Soc I, II; PLrMER MSS Biographies of Persons connected w\lh the H\s:. orNtlHampMre.n (S. H. HUt. Soc); Colle<:timidemrn^crMs rilatifs A la Nou.elle France. 11, III (Quebec 1883-85) , Roche- MONTEix, Lts Jesuites et la Nouvelle France, III (Pans, 189o).
H. C. Schuyler.
Ralph Crockett, Venerable, English martyr, b at Barton, near Farndon, Cheshire; executed at Chichester, 1 October, 1588. Educated at Cam- bridge, and ordained at Reims in 1585, he was cap- tured on board ship at Littlehampton, Sussex, 19 April 1586, with three other priests, Thomas Brams- ton, George Potter, and his fellow-martyr, Edward James (b. at Brea.ston, Derbyshire, about 1.557,) ed- ucated at Derbv Grammar School, St. John's College, Oxford, and the" English colleges at Reims and Rome; ordained by Bishop Goldwell of St. Asaph in October 1583; all were sent up to London and committed
to prison 27 April, 1586. After the failure of the
Armada the Government determined to revenge itself
on some of the priests in its custody. Crockett and
James with two others, John Oven and Francis Ed-
wardes, were selected for trial, which took place at
Chichester on 30 September, 1588. All were con-
demned to death, under 27 Eliz. c. 2, for being pnests
and coming into the realm ; but Oven on taking the
oath of supremacy was respited. The other three
were drawn on one hurdle to Broyle Heath, near Chi-
chester, where Edwardes recanted, but the other two
suffered with great constancy after absolving each
GlLl^w, Bill. Did. Eng. Calh.. a. v. James. Edward: Challoneb, Missionary Priests, I, nos. 64 and 65; Catholic Record Society s Publications, II, V; Salzmann in Victoria History of Sussex, II (London, 1905), 28. ^,
John B. \\ ainewright.
RaJph Sherwin, Blessed, Enghsh martyr, b. 1550 at Rodcslcv, near Longford, Derbyshire; d. at Tyburn, 1 December, 1581. In 156S Sir William Petre nominated him to one of the eight fellowships which he had founded at Exeter College, Oxford, probablv acting under the influence of the martyr s uncle, John Woodward, who from 1556 to Irtbd had been rector of Ingatestone, Essex, where Sir ^^ illiam lived. There Blessed Ralph took the degree of M A., 2 July, 1574, and was accounted "an acute philosopher," and an excellent Grecian and Hebri- cian" In 1575 he fled abroad and went to the Eng- lish College at Douai, where 23 March, 1577, he was ordained priest bv the Bishop of Cambrai. On 2 \ua 1577, he left for Rome, where he stayed at the Engiish College nearly three years, becoming leader of the movement which placed it under the super- vision of the Jesuits. On 18 April, 1.580, he set out for England, a member of a party of fourteen; at Milan they were the guests of St. Charles for eight days and" Blessed Ralph preached before him. On 9 November., 1580, he was imprisoned in the Mar- shalsea where he converted many fellow-pnsonera, and on 4 Dec. was transferred to the Tower, where he was severely racked, 15 Dec, and afterwards laid out in the snow. The next day he was racked again after which second torture he "lay for five days and nights without any food or speaking to anybody. All which time he lay, as he thought in a sleep before our Saviour on the Cross. After which time he came to himself, not finding any distemper in his joints by the extremity of the torture". After over a years imprisonment he was brought to trial, on an absurd charge of treasonable conspiracy, in \\estminster Hall 20 Nov., 1581, and being found gmhy was taken back to the Tower, whence he was drawn to Tyburn on a hurdle shared by Blessed Alexander Briant. He suffered ver>' bravely, his last words being, Jesu, Jesu, Jesu, esto mihi Jesm!
Camm, Lives of the English Martyrs. II (London, 19(^5) ; Allen, Briefe Histoire. ed. Pollen (1908). For particulars of John Wood- ward: The Tablet (London), 11 March, 1911.
John B. Wainewbight.
Ram, Pierre Francois Xavierdb, b. at Louyain '> Sept 1804; d. there 14 May, 1865; Belgian histo- rian and rector of the Catholic University of Louvain. He belonged to an ancient family, originally trom the Province of Zealand. De Ram entered the seminary at Mechlin, where he was ordained in 1827. During the trying period when King William I of the Nether- lands" was carr^^ng on his campaign against the Catholic faith "and traditions of the Belgians, and whilst de Ram was still young, he took an active part in the struggle maintained by the Belgian clergy against the government of the Netherlands, republish- ing eighteenth-century works, in which, in a series of historical studies refuting the doctrines of Joseph II, he combated the latter^s disciple. King ^\llllam 1. He was next appointed keeper of the diocesan records
