Nicholas Pieck
{{Short description|16th-century Dutch Friar Minor and martyr declared a saint by the Catholic Church}}
{{Infobox saint
|name=Saint
Nicholas Pieck
O.F.M.
|birth_date=29 August 1534
|death_date={{death date and age|df=y|1572|07|09|1534|08|29}}
|feast_day=9 July
|venerated_in=Roman Catholic Church
(Order of Friars Minor)
|image=Nicolaas Pieck (1534-1572).jpg
|imagesize=260px
|caption=
|birth_place=Gorkum, County of Holland, Holy Roman Empire
|death_place=Brielle, County of Holland
|titles=Religious, priest and martyr
|beatified_date=24 November 1675
|beatified_place=Rome, Papal States
|beatified_by=Pope Clement X
|canonized_date=29 June 1867
|canonized_place=Rome, Papal States
|canonized_by= Pope Pius IX
|attributes=Franciscan habit
|patronage=
|major_shrine=Brielle, South Holland, Netherlands
|suppressed_date=
|issues=
}}
Nicholas Pieck, O.F.M., "Nicolaas" or "Claes Pieck" in Dutch, was a Franciscan friar who was one of a group of Catholic clergy and lay brothers, the Martyrs of Gorkum, who were executed for refusal to renounce their faith in 1572.
Life
He was born in the town of Gorkum (now Gorinchem), the son of Jan Pieck and Henriea Clavia, devout Catholics. He was sent to college at 's-Hertogenbosch, and as soon as he had completed his classical studies he received the habit of the Friars Minor at the friary in that town. Nicholas was ordained a priest in 1558, devoting himself to the apostolic ministry. He was appointed Guardian of the friary in Gorkum, his native town.[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11065b.htm Heckmann, Ferdinand. "St. Nicholas Pieck." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 29 May 2013]
Pieck preached against Calvinism. In particular, he preached the dogma of the Real Presence. In June 1572, the citadel of Gorkum was taken by the Watergeuzen, who retained 19 of the clergy as prisoners although they had promised to let the inhabitants depart from the town without being molested.[http://franciscan-sfo.org/sts/S0709nich.htm Habig O.F.M., Marion. The Franciscan Book of Saints, Franciscan Herald Press, 1959] For reprisals, because of the city's determined defense, they gathered all the members of the clergy in Gorkum into one prison and took out their grievances against the Spanish crown on the priests and religious.[http://www.franciscan-ofs.net/cant/canticle0307.htm Schaeffer, Fred. Holiness in Holland, 2001] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130703054355/http://www.franciscan-ofs.net/cant/canticle0307.htm |date=2013-07-03 }}
Pieck and eight other Franciscan friars were confined in a dark and foul dungeon where they were tortured. Taking the cord which Pieck wore around his waist and putting it around his neck, they first suspended him from a beam and then let him fall heavily to the ground. This torture was continued until the cord broke, and Father Nicholas fell to the ground unconscious.[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11065b.htm Heckmann, Ferdinand. "St. Nicholas Pieck." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 1 April 2016] Pieck's two brothers tried to obtain his release, but the guardian would not leave the others. Other priests were captured, bringing the total to 19.
On 6 July they were thrown half-naked into the hold of a ship and removed to Brielle. Stopping at Dordrecht they were exhibited for money to the curious. At Brielle the commander of the Watergeuzen, William II de la Marck, promised them freedom if they would renounce the authority of the pope and belief in the Real Presence. None did. Despite instructions from Prince William the Silent to spare them, and protests from the magistrates of Gorkum, the members of the group were hanged on 9 July 1572 in an old barn at the deserted Ruggen Monastery on the outskirts of Briel. The execution was clumsily handled; it took two hours for some of them to strangle.[http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1439 Foley O.F.M., Leonard. Saint of the Day: Lives, Lessons, and Feast, (revised by Pat McCloskey O.F.M.), Franciscan Media] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130706213325/http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1439 |date=2013-07-06 }} {{ISBN|978-0-86716-887-7}} They became known as the Martyrs of Gorkum.
Veneration
File:Martelaren van Gorcumkerk (Amsterdam) Interieur Glas-in-lood 1.jpg
Nicholas and his companions were beatified by Clement X, 24 November 1675, and canonized by Pius IX, 29 June 1867. For many years the place of their martyrdom in Brielle has been the scene of numerous pilgrimages and processions.[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06651c.htm Albers, Petrus Henricus. "The Martyrs of Gorkum." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 29 May 2013]
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References
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{{Subject bar |portal1=Saints |portal2= Biography |portal3= Catholicism |portal4= Netherlands}}
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Category:People from Gorinchem
Category:16th-century Dutch Roman Catholic priests
Category:People executed by the Netherlands by hanging
Category:Burials in South Holland
Category:Executed Dutch people
Category:Martyred Roman Catholic priests
Category:Dutch Roman Catholic saints
Category:16th-century Christian saints