Cuthbert Mayne

Saint Cuthbert Mayne (1544–1577) was an English Roman Catholic priest and martyr of the Reformation and counter-reformation.

Early life

Mayne was born at Yorkston, near Barnstaple in Devon, the son of William Mayne, and baptized on 20 March 1543/4, St Cuthbert's day. His uncle was a priest who conformed to the Church of England, and the family expected the good natured, shallow Mayne would inherit his uncle's rich church. This uncle paid his way to Barnstaple Grammar School, and he was ordained a Protestant minister at the age of eighteen or nineteen and instituted rector of Huntshaw, near his birthplace. After ordination, Mayne attended university, first at St Alban Hall, then at St John's College, in Oxford, where he was made chaplain. He became B.A. on 6 April 1566 and M.A. on 8 April 1570.

Catholic conversion

At Oxford, Mayne met Edmund Campion and other Catholics, such as Gregory Martin, Humphrey Ely, Henry Shaw, Thomas Bramston, Henry Holland, Jonas Meredith, Roland Russell, and William Wiggs. At some point Mayne, too, became a Catholic. Late in 1570, a letter addressed to him from Gregory Martin fell into the hands of the Bishop of London, and officers arrested him and the others mentioned in the letter. Being warned off by Thomas Ford, Mayne evaded arrest by going to Cornwall and then, in 1573, to the English College at Douai.

Mayne was ordained a priest at Douai in 1575 and on 7 February in the following year he obtained the degree of Bachelor of Theology...
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