Edward Waterson (? – 7 January 1594 (NS)) was an English Catholic priest and martyr. He served the hidden Catholics in England during the reign of Elizabeth I. Edward was arrested in 1593 and executed at Newcastle upon Tyne. He was beatified in 1929.
Life
Born in London, Waterson was brought up in the Church of England. As a young man he travelled to Turkey with some English merchants. In 1588, on his return, he stopped in Rome and was brought into the Catholic Church there by Richard Smith. The Pilgrim-book of the English College records his stay there, 29 November-11 December, 1588. Waterson proceeded to the English College at Reims, arriving there 24 January, 1589. He received the tonsure and minor orders on 18 August, 1590, subdiaconate on 21 September, 1591, diaconate on 24 February, 1592, and was ordained priest 11 March 1592.Burton, Edwin. "Ven. Edward Waterson." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 3 February 2019
In summer 1592 Waterson returned to England, where legal restrictions on Catholics were severe, in order to minister to hidden Catholics.Richard Stanton, Richard. A Menology of England and Wales, 1887. CatholicSaints.Info. 15 April 2015 Joseph Lambton, a young Catholic priest who was on the same ship, was arrested upon landing, but Waterson escaped."Ven. Joseph Lambton" Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) However, he was captured by the authorities in midsummer 1593. Lambton was executed 31 July 1592. The sheriff then took part of the quartered remains and showed them to Waterson in an effort to frighten him, but Waterson viewed them as holy relics. Waterson was held until just after Christmas (OS), when he was hanged, drawn and quartered, as a traitor. When he was tied to the hurdle to be drawn to the place of execution, the horse would not move, so he had to be brought on foot. While incarcerated in the Newgate prison, Newcastle, he had attempted to escape by burning down his cell door."Records of Newgate Prison" St Matthew's Guild History of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
See also Catholic Church in the United Kingdom Douai Martyrs
Notes
References Challoner, Richard (1742) Memoirs of missionary priests, as well secular as regular, and of other Catholics of both sexes, that have suffered death in England on religious accounts, from the year of our Lord 1577 to 1684 London, OCLC 6346793 Pollen, John Hungerford (1908) Unpublished documents relating to the English martyrs. Vol. I, 1584-1603 (vol. V of Catholic Record Society Series), Catholic Record Society, London, OCLC 14013058 Knox, Thomas Francis (1878) The first and second diaries of the English College, Douay : and an appendix of the unpublished documents David Nutt, London, OCLC 1749433 Holtby, (1877) "Account of Three Martyrs" in John Morris, (1877) Troubles of our Catholic Forefathers (series III) London, Burns & Oates, OCLC 61914439 Daw, Christian (2000) The Forty four: The martyrs of the Venerable English College Rome Saint Michael's Abbey Press, Farnborough, Hampshire,