Friday 4 January 2013

Titus Oates

Titus Oates directly caused 16 innocent men to be executed, and in the persecution of Catholics that followed, a furthereight men. He did this by inventing what he called the Popish Plot (after he had twice been expelled from seminaries), which was supposed to be a plot against the life of the king. The men were:  in 1678 Edward Coleman (Dec. 3); in 1679, John Grove,William Ireland, S.J. (Jan. 24), Robert Green, Lawrence Hill (Feb. 21), Henry Berry (Feb. 28), Thomas Pickering, O.S.B. (May 14), Richard Langhorn (June 14), John Gavan, S.J., William Harcourt, S.J.,Anthony Turner, S.J., Thomas Whitebread, S.J., John Fenwick, S.J. (June 20); in 1680, Thomas Thwing (Oct. 23), William Howard, Viscount Stafford (Dec. 29); in 1681, Oliver PlunkettArchbishop ofArmagh (July 1). Those executed as priests were: in 1679, William Plessington (July 19), Philip Evans,John Lloyd (July 22), Nicholas Postgate (Aug. 7), Charles Mahony (Aug. 12), John Wall (Francis Johnson), O.S.F.John Kemble (Aug. 22), Charles Baker (David Lewis) S.J.* (Aug. 27).
Titus Oates's House is opposite All Saints Church, where his father was rector.