# Nicholas Horner

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**Nicholas Horner** (died 3 March 1590) was an English [Roman Catholic](/source/Roman_Catholic) layman, [hanged, drawn and quartered](/source/Hanged,_drawn_and_quartered) because he had "relieved and assisted" [Christopher Bales](/source/Christopher_Bales), a seminary priest. A tailor by trade, he was charged with making a [jerkin](/source/Jerkin) for a priest. Horner maintained that the customer was a stranger and he didn't know who he was.[1] Horner is recognized as a Catholic martyr, [beatified](/source/Beatified) in 1987.

## Life

Horner was born at Grantley in Yorkshire. A tailor by trade, he had gone to London to be cured of a wound in his leg. He was arrested on the charge of harbouring Catholic priests and committed to [Newgate Prison](/source/Newgate_Prison), where he was kept for a long time close confined in a cell. Due to the heavy fetter on his leg and the deprivation of all medical aid, he contracted [blood poisoning](/source/Blood_poisoning) in the injured leg which rendered an amputation necessary.[2] During the procedure, he was assisted by [John Hewitt](/source/John_Hewitt_(priest,_died_1588)), a priest and fellow prisoner, also originally from York.[3]

After a year, he was set free through the efforts of some friends, and worked at his trade at some lodgings at Smithfield. At some point he made the priest Bales a [jerkin](/source/Jerkin). When he was again found to be harbouring priests he was cast into [Bridewell](/source/Bridewell_Palace) for harbouring priests and hung up by the wrists till he nearly died.[4]

Horner was convicted of a [felony](/source/Felony) for making a jerkin for a priest, and as he refused to conform to the public worship of the [Church of England](/source/Church_of_England), was condemned. On the eve of his execution at [Smithfield](/source/Smithfield,_London), he had a vision of a crown of glory hanging over his head; the story of this vision was told by him to a friend, who in turn transmitted it by letter to [Robert Southwell](/source/Robert_Southwell_(jesuit)).[2] He was hanged in front of his lodging in Smithfield, 3 March 1590.[4]

## References

1. [Pollen SJ, J.H., *Acts of English Martyrs Hitherto Unpublished*, London. Burns and Oates, 1891, p. 227](https://books.google.com/books?id=tHEMAAAAIAAJ&q=Bl.+John+Duckett)

1. [Brown, C.F. Wemyss. "Nicholas Horner." The Catholic Encyclopedia](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07471a.htm) Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 16 April 2020

1. [Dunn, Henry E., "Venerable John Hewitt", *Lives of the English Martyrs*](https://archive.org/details/livesofenglishma01burtuoft/page/508/mode/2up), (Edwin Hubert Burton and John Hungerford Pollen, eds.) Longmans, Green and Co., 1914, 508.

1. [Bowden, Henry Sebastian. "Venerable Nicholas Horner, Layman, 1590". *Mementoes of the English Martyrs and Confessors*, 1910. CatholicSaints.Info. 22 April 2019](https://catholicsaints.info/mementoes-of-the-english-martyrs-and-confessors-venerable-nicholas-horner-layman-1590/)

**Attribution**

- The entry cites: - [Joseph Gillow](/source/Joseph_Gillow), Bibl. Dict. Eng.. Cath., s. v. - [Richard Challoner](/source/Richard_Challoner), Memoirs, (Edinburgh, 1878), I, 166, 169, 218

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