{{Short description|English Roman Catholic priest and martyr (died 1646)}}
{{Saint|name=Edward Bamber|image=Blessed-edward-bamber.png|imagesize=270 px|titles=Priest and Martyr|birth_date=c. 1600|birth_place=at the Moor, [[Poulton-le-Fylde]]|death_date=7 August 1646 (aged 45 - 46)|death_place=[[Lancaster Castle]], [[Lancaster, Lancashire|Lancaster]]|feast_day=7 August, 22 November|beatified_date=22 November 1987<br>by [[Pope John Paul II]]|attributes=Martyr's palm, small bag of money|honorific-prefix=Blessed}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}} {{EngvarB|date=November 2019}} '''Edward Bamber''' (alias '''Reading''') (b. c. 1600, at the Moor, [[Poulton-le-Fylde]], Lancashire; executed at [[Lancaster, Lancashire|Lancaster]] 7 August 1646) was an English [[Roman Catholic]] priest. He was [[beatified]] in 1987.
==Life== Bamber was born the son of Richard Bamber, at [[Carleton, Lancashire|Carleton]], [[Poulton-le-Fylde]], Lancashire.<ref>[https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/001258063805600104?icid=int.sj-abstract.similar-articles.6 Bamber, J.E., "The Venerable Edward Bamber", ''The Downside Review'', 1938]</ref> He entered the [[Colleges of St Omer, Bruges and Liège|College of St. Omer]] and later attended the [[English College of St Gregory]] in Seville. He was ordained in 1626 and sent to England.<ref name=bebcmat>[https://bebcmat.co.uk/our-trust/the-history-of-edward-bamber "The History of Edward Bamber", Blessed Edward Bamber Catholic Multi Academy Trust]</ref> On landing at [[Dover]], he knelt down to thank God. Seen doing this by the Governor of [[Dover Castle]], he was arrested and banished.<ref name=Camm>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02242b.htm Camm, Bede. "Ven. Edward Bamber." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907 {{PD-notice}}</ref>
He returned again, and was soon afterwards apprehended near [[Standish, Greater Manchester|Standish]], Lancashire; he had probably been chaplain at [[Standish Hall]]. On his way to [[Lancaster Castle]] he was lodged at the Old-Green-Man Inn near [[Claughton-on-Brock]], and managed to escape through a window, his keepers being drunk. He was found wandering in the fields by a Mr. Singleton of [[Broughton, Lancashire|Broughton Tower]] and was sheltered by him.<ref name=Camm/> Bamber spent the next sixteen years on the English Mission, serving primarily in Lancashire under various aliases.
Arrested the third time, he was committed to Lancaster Castle, where he remained in close confinement for three years, once escaping, but recaptured. At his trial with two other priests, [[Thomas Whittaker (martyr)|Thomas Whitaker]] and [[John Woodcock (martyr)|John Woodcock]], two apostates witnessed against him that he had administered the sacraments, and he was condemned to die.<ref name=Camm/> The execution took place at Lancaster Castle. At his execution he threw a handful of money into the crowd,<ref>[https://www.lancastercastle.com/history-heritage/further-articles/lancasters-catholic-martyrs/ "Lancaster's Catholic Martyrs", Lancaster Castle]</ref> saying, "God loveth a cheerful giver."<ref>[https://books.google.ru/books?id=eojza_v9LzMC&pg=RA3-PA603&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false Fleury, Cross. ''T̀ime-honoured Lancaster'', Eaton & Bulfield, printers, 1891, p. 184]</ref>
Edward Bamber was beatified by Pope John Paul II in November 1987.<ref name=bebcmat/>
A stained glass window in the church of St.Marie's in Standish depicts Bamber being pushed off a ladder, which served as a gallows for his execution, by two soldiers.
An ode composed on his death is still extant.
==See also== * [[Catholic Church in the United Kingdom]] * [[Douai Martyrs]] * [[Eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales]]
==References== {{reflist}}
;Attribution *{{Catholic|wstitle=Ven. Edward Bamber}} The entry cites: **[[Richard Challoner]], ''Memoirs'' (1750) **William Watson, ''Decacordon of ten Quodlibet Questions'' (1602) **[[Joseph Gillow]], ''Bibl. Dict. Eng. Cath.'' (London, 1885)
<!-- Navboxes go here --> {{Canonization}} {{Subject bar |portal1= Saints |portal2= Biography |portal3= Catholicism |portal4= England}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Bamber, Edward}} [[Category:1646 deaths]] [[Category:16th-century English Roman Catholic priests]] [[Category:English beatified people]] [[Category:17th-century venerated Christians]] [[Category:English College, Valladolid alumni]] [[Category:Year of birth unknown]] [[Category:Eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales]] [[Category:17th-century English Roman Catholic priests]] [[Category:17th-century Roman Catholic martyrs]] [[Category:People from Poulton-le-Fylde]] [[Category:Executed Roman Catholic priests]]