JOHN
464
JOHN
1533, an attempt at reconciliation was made between
him and Henry; but a couple of months later he left
the neighbourhood of London, where he was no longer
safe. He was probably already in Newgate prison in
1534, when Father Peto preached his famous sermon before the king at Greenwich. In his confinement Father Forest corresponded with the queen and Blessed Thomas Abel, and wTOte a book or treatise against Henry, which began with the te.xt: "Neither doth any man take the honour to liimself, but he that is called by God, as Aaron was".
On S April, 1538, the holy friar was taken to Lam- beth, where, before Cranmer, he was required to make an act of abjuration. This, however, he firmly refused to do; and it was then decided that the sen- tence of death should be carried out. On 22 May fol- lowing he was taken to Smithfield to be burned. The statue of Darvell Gatheren " which had been brought from the church of Llanderfel in Wales, was thrown on the pile of firewood; and thus, according to popular belief, was fulfilled an old prophecy, that this holy image would set a forest on fire. The holy man's martyrdom lasted two hours, at the end of which the executioners threw him, together with the giljbet on which he hung, into the fire. Father Forest, together with fifty-three other English martyrs, was declared "Blessed" by Pope Leo XIII, on 9 December, 1886, and his feast is kept by the Friars Minor on 22 May. Some years ago rumour was current that the relics of the martyr had been taken to Spain, and were pre- served at a residence of the Friars Minor somewhere in the north of that covuitry. In 190-t the writer of this article made inquiries, to which the Provincial of Can- tabria replied that the fathers there were not aware of the existence of the holy relics in any part of Spain, and that they thought the rumour was unfounded. It seems therefore most probable that the mortal re- mains of Father Forest still lie hidden at Smithfield, near the corner of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, oppo- site the gate of the ancient priory.
Garzia's MS. at Stonyhurst; Calendar of State Papers; Grey Friars Chron.; Wriothesley's Chron.; Spanish Chron.; Wood, AthencB Oxon. (London, 1691): Modern British Martyrology (London, 1836); Thaddeus. Life of Bl. John Forest (London, 1888); BouHCHIEH, De Martyrio Fratrum Min. (Ingolstadt. 1583); YivsEn, Menologium. Franc. (Munich, 169S).
Father Thaddeus.
John Francis Regis, Saint, b. 31 January, 1597, in the village of Fonteouverte (department of Aude) ; d. at la Louvesc, 30 Dec, 1640. His father Jean, a rich merchant, had been recently ennobled in recognition of the prominent part he had taken in the Wars of the League; his mother, MargueritedeCugunhan, belonged by birth to the landed nobility of that part of Langue- doc. They watched with Christian solicitude over the early education of their .son, whose sole fear was lest he should displease his parents or his tutors. The slightest harsh word rendered him inconsolable, and quite paralyzed his youthful faculties. When he reached the age of fourteen, he was sent to continue his studies in the Jesuit college at B^ziers. His con- duct was exemplary and he was much given to prac- tices of devotion, while his good humour, frankness, and eagerness to oblige everybody soon won for him the good-will of his comrades. But Francis did not love the world, and even during the vacations lived in retirement, occupied in study and prayer. On one occasion only he allowed himself the diversions of the chase. At the end of his five years' study of the hu- manities, grace and his ascetic inclinations led him to embrace the religious life under the standard of St. Ig- natius Loyola. He entered the Jesuit novitiate of Toulouse on 8 December, 1616, the Feast of the Im- maculate Conception of Mary. Here he was distin- guished for an extreme fervour, which never after- wards flagged, neither at Cahors, where he studied rhetoric for a year (Oct., 1618-Oct., 1619), nor during
the si.x years in which he taught grammar at the col-
leges of Billom (1619-22), of Puy-en-Velay (1625-27),
and of Auch (1627-28), nor during the three years in
which he studied philosophy in the scholasticate at
Tournon (Oct., 1622-Oct., 1625). During this time,
although he was filling the laborious office of regent,
he made his first attempts as a preacher. On feast-
days he loved to visit the towns and villages of the
neighbourhood, and there give an informal instruction,
which never failed — as attested by those who heard
him — to produce a profound impression on those
present.
As he burned with the desire to devote himself en- tirely to the salvation of his neighbour, he aspired with all his heart to the priesthood. In this spirit he began in October, 1628, his theological studies. The four years he was supposed to devote to them seemed to him so very long that he finally begged his supe- riors to shorten the term. This request was granted, and in consequence Francis said his first Mass on Trinity Sunday, 15 June, 1631 ; but on the other hand, in conformity with the statutes of his order, which re- quire the full course of study, he was not admitted to the solemn jirofession of the four vows. The plague was at that time raging in Toulouse. The new priest hastened to lavish on the unfortunate victims the firsts fruits of his apostolate. In the beginning of 1632, after having reconciled family differences at Fonteouverte, his birthplace, and having resumed for some weeks a class in grammar at Pamiers, he was definitively set to work by his superiors at the hanl labour of the mis- sions. This became the work of the last ten years of his life. It is impossible to enumerate the cities and localities which were the scene of his zeal. On this subject the reader must consult his modern biogra- pher. Father de Curley, who has succeeded best in reconstructing the itinerary of the holy man. We need only mention that from May, 1632, to Sept., 1634, his head-quarters were at the Jesuit college of Montpellier, and here he laboured for the conversion of the Hugue- nots, visiting the hospitals, assisting the needy, with- drawing from vice wayward girls and women, and preaching Catholic doctrine with tireless zeal to chil- dren and the poor. Later (1633-40) he evangelized more than fifty districts in le Vivarais, le Forez, and le Velay. He displayed everywhere the same spirit, the same intrepidity, which were rewarded by the most striking conversions. "Everybody", wrote the rector of Montpellier to the general of the Jesuits, "agrees that Father Regis has a marvellous talent for the Missions" (Daubenton, "La vie du B. Jean-Fran- cois R^gis", ed. 1716, p. 73). But not everyone appreciated the transports of his zeal. He was re- proached in certain quarters with beuig impetuous and meddlesome, with troubling the peace of families by an indiscreet charity, with preaching not evangelical ser- mons, but satires and invectives which converted no one. Some priests, who felt their own manner of life rebuked, determined to ruin him, and therefore de- nounced him to the Bishop of Viviers. They had laid their plot with such perfidy and cunning that the bishop permitted himself to be prejudiced for a time. But it was only a passing cloud. The influence of the best people on the one hand, and on the other the pa- tience and humility of the saint, soon succeeded in con- founding the calumny and caused the discreet and en- lightened ardour of Regis to shine forth with renewed splendour (Daubenton, loc. cit., 67-73).
Less moderate indeed was his love of mortification, which he practised with extreme rigour on all occa- sions, without ruffling in the least his evenness of tem- per. As he returned to the house one evening after a hard day's toil, one of his eoiifivirs laughingly asked: "Well, Father Regis, speaking e:iiididly, are you not very tired?" "No", he replied, " I am as fresh as a rose." He then took only a. bowl of milk and a httle fruit, which usually constituted both his dinner and
