canonized_place canonized_by beatified_place death_date death_place canonized_date birth_place feast_day imagesize venerated_in birth_date titles image article_title name beatified_date beatified_by
rome pope paul vi rome 1 december 1581 tyburn , london , england 1970 somerset , england 1 december 200px roman catholic church 17 august 1556 priest and martyr alexander briant.jpg alexander briant
 saint alexander briant 15 december 1921 pope pius xi
alexander briant

saint alexander briant -lrb- 17 august 1556 -- 1 december 1581 -rrb- was an english jesuit and martyr , executed at tyburn .
he was born in somerset , and entered hart hall , oxford -lrb- now hertford college -rrb- , at an early age .
while there , he became a pupil of father robert parsons and he completed his studies with him at balliol college , which , along with his association with richard holtby , led to his conversion .
after leaving university , he entered the english college at reims then went to the english college , douai , 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 by being hanged , drawn and quartered on 1 december 1581 ; edmund campion and ralph sherwin were also executed with him .
alexander briant was declared venerable on 8 december 1921 by pope pius xi and beatified one week later on 15 december .
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 .
