William Way
{{Short description|English Catholic priest and martyr}}
{{more citations needed|date=January 2013}}
{{Infobox saint
| name = William Way
| image = William_Way_-_St_Agathas_Kingston.jpg
| imagesize =
| alt = Shrine to William Way in St Agatha's Church, Kingston upon Thames.
| caption = Shrine to William Way
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| birth_date = {{circa|1560}}
| birth_place = Cornwall or Devon
| death_date = 23 September 1588
| death_place = Kingston upon Thames
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| major_shrine = St. Agatha's Catholic Church, Kingston upon Thames{{cite web
|url=http://www.stagathaschurch.org.uk/history.php |title=History Page |publisher=St. Agatha's Catholic Church |accessdate=4 January 2013}}
| feast_day = 23 September
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}}
William Way (alias May, alias Flower) (died 1588) was an English Catholic priest and martyr executed under Elizabeth I after the Protestant Reformation. He is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church.
Early life and education
William Way was born in the Diocese of Exeter about c. 1560. Bishop Richard Challoner said he was born in Cornwall, and earlier authorities say in Devonshire.{{Catholic|inline=1|wstitle=Ven. William Way}}
Since the Protestant Reformation had closed Catholic seminaries in England, Way went to France to study. On 31 March 1584, he received his first tonsure in the Cathedral of Reims from the Cardinal of Guise. On 22 March he was ordained subdeacon, on 5 April deacon, and priest on 18 September 1586, at Laon, probably by Bishop Valentine Douglas (Valentine Duglas), O.S.B.
Career
Way departed for England on 9 December 1586, and by June 1587, was imprisoned. He was indicted at Newgate in September 1588, for being a Roman Catholic priest. He declined to be tried by a secular judge, whereupon the Bishop of London was sent for. Way, refusing to acknowledge him as a bishop or Elizabeth I as head of the church, was immediately condemned as a traitor and to death.
He was austere. When called to trial at the Sessions in August, "he had so much joy that he seemed past himself".[https://archive.org/details/livesofenglishma01burtuoft/page/444/mode/2up Burton, Edwin H., "Venerable William Way", Lives of the English Martyrs, vol.1, (Edwin Burton and J.H. Pollen, eds.), Longmans, Green and Co., 1914, p. 445]{{PD-notice}} Way was "hung, drawn and quartered" at Kingston upon Thames. The date is variously given as either 23 September or 1 October 1588.
See also
References
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Category:16th-century English Roman Catholic priests
Category:Martyred Roman Catholic priests
Category:People executed under Elizabeth I by hanging, drawing and quartering
Category:English venerated Catholics
Category:Executed English people
Category:16th-century Roman Catholic martyrs
Category:16th-century venerated Christians