Alexander Briant

Saint Alexander Briant (17 August 1556 - 1 December 1581) was an English Jesuit and martyr, executed at Tyburn. 
He was born in Somerset, and entered Hart Hall, Oxford (now Hertford College), at an early age. While there, he became a pupil of Father Robert Parsons, which, along with his association with Richard Holtby, led to his conversion. After leaving university, he entered the English College at Reims, and was ordained priest on 29 March 1578. Assigned to the English mission in August of the following year he labored with zeal in his own county of Somerset. 
A party of the persecution, searching for Father Parsons, placed Alexander Briant under arrest on 28 April 1581, in the hope of extorting information. After fruitless attempts to this end at Counter Prison, London, he was taken to the Tower where he was subjected to torture.
With six other priests he was arraigned on 16 November 1581, in Queen's Bench, Westminster, on the charge of high treason, and condemned to death. In his letter to the Jesuit Fathers he says that he felt no pain during the various tortures he underwent, and adds: "Whether this that I say be miraculous or no, God knoweth." He was twenty-five years old when he was executed. 
Alexander Briant was declared venerable on 8 December 1921 by Pope Pius XI and beatified one week later on 15 December.Patron Saints Index: "Saint Alexander Briant" Blessed Alexander Briant was canonized nearly forty-nine years later in 1970 by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales with a common feast day of 25 October. His feast day is celebrated on 1 December, the day of his martyrdom.
==References==
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==External links==
*Catholic Encyclopedia: Blessed Alexander Briant
*Patron Saints Index: Saint Alexander Briant
Category:1556 births
Category:1581 deaths
Category:People from Somerset
Category:Forty Martyrs of England and Wales
Category:Alumni of Hart Hall, Oxford
Category:English College, Reims alumni
Category:English Jesuits
Category:English Roman Catholic saints
Category:Tudor clergy
Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism
Category:Executed English people
Category:16th-century Christian saints
Category:16th-century Roman Catholic martyrs
Category:16th-century Roman Catholic priests
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