JOHN
451
JOHN
say, "I shall never become one." That is why he dis-
played such wisdom in conforming his will to that of
liissuperiors and to the rules. He would have pre-
ferred death to the violation of the least of the rules of
his order. "My penance ", he would say, "is to hve
the common life ... I will pay the greatest atten-
tion to the least inspiration of God." He observed
this fidelity in the performance of all his duties tUl the
last day of his life, as is attested by Fathers Banters,
Cepari, Ceccoti, Massucci, and Piccolomini, his spirit-
ual directors. When he died, a large multitude
crowded for several days to see him and to invoke his
intercession. The same year, Philip, Duke of Aers-
chot, had a petition presented to Pope Gregory XV for
the taking of information with a view to his beatifica-
tion. John Berchmans was declared Blessed in 1865,
and was canonized in 1888. His statues represent
liim with hands clasped, holding his cmcifLx, his book
of rules, and his rosary.
Cepari, ViM di Giovanni Berchmans, Fiammingo, religioso detla Compagnia di Gesii (Rome, 1627); Frizon, La vie de Jean Berchmans de la Compagnie de Jesus (Nancy, 1706): Ada beatificationis venerabilis servi Dei, Joannis Berchmans (Rome, 1745^—); Cros. Un enfant de Marie ou le venerable Jean Berch- mans (Paris, 1890); Detnoodt, Le bienheureux J. Berchmans (Brussels, 1865); Vanderspeeten, Vie du B. Jean Berchmans (Louvain, 1865): Goldie, The Life of John Berchmans (Lou- don, 1873).
H. Dem.uv.
John Buckley, VENER.\iLE (alias John Jones; alias John Griffith; in religion, GodiheyM.^urice), priest and martyr, born at CljTiog Fawr, Carnarvon- shire, Wales, date of birth unknown; died at South- wark, England, 12 July, 1598. There is much con- fusion between the above and Robert (or Herbert; in religion, Sigebert) Buckley, the monk of Westminster who was the sole connecting link between the pre- and post-Reformation English Benedictines. This ac- counts for any apparent discrepancy in John's history. Thus it is saitl that he was a native of Shropshire, also tliat he was imprisoned in the Marshalsea, 1582—1, both of which statements are incorrect. He was of a good Welsh family, which had remained faithful to the Church. As a youth, he entered the Fran- ciscan convent at Greenwich; at its dissolution in 1559 he went to the Continent, and was professed at Pontoise, France. After many years he jour- neyed to Rome, where he stayed at the Ara Coeli convent of the Obser\'antines. Although he was a Conventual, he joined the Roman province of the Re- formati in 1.591, as he had become imbued with the ideals of the Strict Oljservance. He then begged to be allowed to go upon the English mission, which his superiors pennitted, and he also received a special blessing and commendation from Clement VIII. He reached London about the end of 1592, and stayed temporarily at the house which Father John (jer- ard had provided for missionary priests; he then laboured in different parts of the countrj', and his brother Franciscans in England elected him their provincial.
In 1596 the priest -catcher Topcliffe was informed by a spy that Buckley had visited two Catholics and had said Mass m their house, but it was afterwards shown that these people were in prison when the alleged offence took place. However, Father Buckley was promptly arrested and severely tortured. He was also cruelly scourged, and Top- cliffe took him to his own house and practised un- speakable barbarities upon him, all of which he endured with a surprising fortitude. He was then im- prisoned for nearly two years, and on 3 July, 1598, was tried on the cliarge of "going over the seas in the first year of Her Majesty's reign [1558] and there being made a priest by authority from Rome and then re- turning to England contrarj^ to statute" (27 Eliz. c. 2). He was convicted of high treason and sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered.
As b}^ this time the people had grown tired of these
butcheries, the execution was arranged for an early
hour in the morning. The place was St. Thomas's
Watering, in wliat is now the Old Kent Road, at the
site of the junction of the old Roman road to London
with the main line of Watling Street. Such ancient
landmarks had been immemorially used as places of
execution, Tyburn itself being merely the point where
Watling Street crossed the Roman road to Silchester.
In spite of the earliness of the hour, a large crowd had
gathered. On the gallows he declared that he was
dying for his Faith, and that he was innocent of any
political offence, in which declaration the people clearly
showed their belief and sjTnpathy. The usual atroci-
ties were carried out; his dismembered remains were
fixed on poles on the roads to Newington and Lambeth
(now represented by Tabard Street and Lambeth
Road respectively); they were removed by some
young Catholic gentlemen, one of whom suffered a
long imprisonment for this offence alone. One of the
relies eventually reached Pontoise, where the martyr
had been professed. He was declared Venerable by
Leo XIII.
GiLLow, Bibl. Diet. Eng. Calk., s. v. Jones, John; Thomas in Diet. Xat. Biog., s. v. Jones, John; Challoner, Memoirs of Mis- sionary Priests, I (2 vols.. Edinburgh, 1878). 238; Morris, The Troubles of Our Catholic Forefathers (2nd series, London, 1875), 120; Idem, Condition of Catholics under James 1 (London. 1871), preface; Oliver, Collections itlust. the Cath. Religion in Corn- wall, etc. (London, 1857), 541, 561; Mason, Certamen Seraphi-
. 13.
C. F. Wemtss Brown.
John Cantius, Saint, b. at Kenty, near Oswiecim,
Diocese of Krakow, Poland, 1412 (or 1403); d. at
Krakow, 1473, and was buried there under the church
of St. Anne; his feast is on 20 October. He was the
son of Stanislaus and Anne who were pious country
people; he received his primary education at his
native town, and then being sent by his parents to the
Academy of Krakow, he soon impressed his professors
and colleagues with his pleasant and amiable disposi-
tion; always happy, but serious, humble, and godly,
he won the hearts of all who came in contact with him.
Having made excellent progress in the study of philo-
sophical and theological sciences, he was graduated
first as bachelor, then as master and doctor, was or-
dained priest and then appointed professor of the-
ology at the Academy of Krakow, from where he was
sent, after a short time, by his superiors to Olkusi,
Diocese of Krakow, to be parish priest. Being
afraid of the great responsibihty of parish work, he
very soon left the parish, and was again appointed
professor of Sacred Scripture at the Academy of
Krakow, which position he held without interruption
until his death. As testified by Michael Jliechowita,
the medieval PoUsh historian and the saint's first
biographer, extreme humility and cliarity were con-
spicuous in his life; he took as his motto :
Conturbare cave: non est placare suave, Infamare cave: nam revocare grave. He distributed to the poor all the money and clothes he had, retaining only what was absolutely necessary to support himself. He slept but Kttle, and on the floor, ate verj' sparingly, and was a total abstainer from meat after he became a doctor. He made one pil- grimage to Jerusalem with the desire of becoming a martyr among the Turks, and four pilgrimages to Rome on foot. During his life he performed various miracles, which were multiplied after his death at his tomb. He was canonized by Clement XIII in 1767. The Roman Bre^'iary distinguishes him with three hymns, he is the only confessor not a bishop who is thus honoured,
Skarga. Zyu^oty Sunetych, Starego iKowego Zakonu (Krakow, 1723), new English' ed.. Ill (Chicago, 1893); American Ecclesi- astical Review, X (Philadelphia, 1894), 393; XIX (1896), 370-72.
J. GODRTCZ.
