In 1594, Saint Nicholas Owen was captured and imprisoned along with his friend, Father John Gerard. They tortured him, but he did not hand over any information about the location of the shelters. In the end, his greedy captors released him after handing over a sum of money collected by a group of Catholics who knew of the importance of his work. Later, he would end up in the Tower of London, accused of treason to the king – and the saintly carpenter would return “to his old ways”, building more “burrows” -. Owen took advantage of his release to plan and carry out Father Gerard’s daring escape.
In January 1606, Nicholas Owen was hiding with two priests, Fathers Garnet and Oldcorne. Suddenly they realized that they were surrounded. Nicholas knew that they were looking for him, so he came out of hiding and surrendered with the intention that the authorities would abandon the search and not find the clerics, whom he considered more important for the salvation of England. And so it happened.
The Tower of London would become his final resting place. Even when he was subjected to terrible torture he did not betray anyone. For several days his executioners tied him up and left him suspended in the air for hours. Finally, his body couldn’t take it anymore – he had a hernia that burst – and he died on March 2, 1606.
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