Ven. Robert Sutton

Priest, martyr, b. at Burton-on-Trent; quartered at Stafford, 27 July, 1587. He is not to be confused with the Venerable Robert Sutton, who was a companion of the Venerable William Hartley (q.v.). He took the degree of M. A. from Christ Church, Oxford, 9 July, 1567, and became Rector of Lutterworth, Leicestershire, in 1571, but was converted by his younger brother William, afterwards S.J. With his younger brother Abraham, who matriculated from Hart Hall in 1576, aged 25, he arrived at Douai, 23 March, 1575 (1576). They were both ordained subdeacons at Cambrai in September, deacons in December, and priests in the following February; having said their first Masses, 7 March, they left for England, 19 March, 1577 (1578). Robert was arrested at Stafford, and condemned merely for being a priest. He was cut down alive. After the lapse of a year Catholics managed to secure one of his quarters, when the thumb and index-finger were found to be intact. Abraham Sutton gave Father John Gerard the thumb, which is now at Stonyhurst College.

Pollen, Acts of the English Martyrs (London, 1891), 323-6; Idem, English Martyrs 1584-1603 (London, 1908), 288, 291; Challoner, Missionary Priests, I (Edinburgh, 1877), no. 44; Knox, Douay Diaries (London, 1878); Foster, Alumni Oxonienses, early series (Oxford, 1892).

John B. Wainewright.