15 April 1597 A.D. TOWER OF LONDON: Jesuit-Covert Operative John Gerard Faces Elizabethan Justice
15 April 1597 A.D. TOWER OF LONDON: Jesuit-Covert Operative John Gerard Faces Elizabethan Justice Editors. “`Clearly Unworthy’ Thought Gerard.” Christianity.com. Apr 2007. http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1501-1600/clearly-unworthy-thought-gerard-11630044.html . Accessed 14 Apr 2015. "I have only one life," said John Gerard. "But if I had several I would sacrifice them to the same cause." He was very weak. All the day before, he had hung by his arms, stretched in a position which caused excruciating pain, passing out repeatedly, only to be revived and forced to endure more agony. Now, on this day, April 15th, 1597, he was hoisted into the torturous position again. ". . .if I had any spirit left in me it was given by God and given to me, although most unworthy, because I shared the fellowship of the Society." Gerard's crime was to be a Jesuit in an England which had embraced the Reformation. As such he was suspecte...