Nicholas Mileham, Priest and Martyr

In 1534, the Augustinian priory at Walsingham was one of the first religious houses to sign the Oath of Supremacy recognising Henry VIII's union with Anne Boleyn, in spite of the Pope's refusal to grant him an annulment of his previous marriage,and accepting Henry as head of the Church in England. This schism from the See of Peter marks the beginning of the English Reformation, subsequently leading to the abolition of the Religious life and numerous changes to aspects of the Church of England's teaching, sacramental and liturgical life.

A number of English Catholics would not consent to the threat to the Church's unity posed by defiance of the Church's just spiritual authority in matters of faith and moral life. Few desired there to be a breach with the Holy See and expected it be repaired soon. Some, like Sir Thomas More and Bishop John Fisher of Rochester, saw that the Oath, vesting the Church's headship in the king rather than in Christ in whose name the Pope governed the Church as a mystical, universal and not merely local body, constituted a formal repudiation of Catholic faith and unity. Far from being a temporary ploy, it was a permanent division, designed to facilitate reforms at variance with the faith of the universal Church.

Among those thus unable in conscience to assent to the Oath of Supremacy, were key leaders in various monasteries facing Dissolution. Despite the decision of the Prior and Convent at Walsingham to go along with the King for the time being, the Sub-Prior, Father Nicholas Mileham, refused. He was tried, deposed, imprisoned in a cellar opposite the Priory with a layman who was also vocal in his opposition to the king's Oath. Both were executed in the Martyrs' Field at Walsingham in 1537. Nor was the monastery spared. The community signed the Deed of Surrender to King Henry's Commissioners on August 4th in 1538. The Shrine was closed, the Holy House burned down, and the statue taken to Chelsea in London to be burned with other images associated with now abolished pilgrimages. The Shrine and the Priory church were destroyed.

In 2004, the Cellar which served as Nicholas Mileham's and George Guisborough's cell was restored. It is beneath the Sue Ryder House in the High Street. In it can be seen the entrance to the former tunnel linking it to the Priory opposite, and the rings for the chains in which the martyrs were bound. The Catholic League commissioned an altar to be constructed in memory of Geoffrey Wright, an outstanding Secretary of the League for many years who laboured intensively for the recovery of Unity between Anglicans and the Roman Catholic Church. The altar now stands in honour of Nicholas Mileham and his companion in martyrdom, George Guisborough, as an act of reparation for the sins and past suffering caused by the separations among Christians and in furtherance of the objects of Unitas, especially the visible Unity of all Christians with the See of Peter in the Catholic Faith. The Blessing of the Nicholas Mileham Altar and the opening of the Martyrs' Cellar as an Ecumenical Chapel and a place of prayer for reparation and reconciliation took place on 17 April 2004. It was conducted by Fr Robert Farmer, Director of the Catholic League, assisted in the Rite of Blessing by Fr Norman Banks, Anglican Vicar of Walsingham, and Fr Michael Rear, representing the Roman Catholic parish of Walsingham.

See the Ecumenical Reparation Chapel page for further details.

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