Alexander Briant (1556-1581)

Alexander Briant was born in Somerset but further details of his family, early life and even his years at Oxford remain a mystery. What is certain is this: he became a member of Hart Hall, where he matriculated in 1574. He quite soon came under the influence of Robert Persons who, with Saint Edmund Campion, later joined the Society of Jesus. Persons, like Briant, hailed from Somerset and both became Roman Catholics while still at the University. Briant later moved from Hart Hall and joined Persons at Balliol College.

On leaving Oxford in August 1577, Briant also left England and headed to the English College at Douai. This College had been recently founded to train recusant priests after the excommunication of Queen Elizabeth I by Pope Pius V in 1570 and the promulgation of heavy penal laws against the practice of Roman Catholicism in England. The College at Douai was mainly staffed by Oxford graduates.

Briant was ordained at Cambrai in March 1578 and returned to England on 3 August 1579. For a time he ministered in his own part of the country, where he reconciled the father of his Oxford friend, Fr. Persons, S.J., to the Roman Catholic Church. Later Briant moved to London and lived in the house of Fr. Persons near Saint Bride’s Church in the Strand.

During these years, Fr. Persons was probably the recusant priest most ‘wanted’ by the Government. His capacity, his energy and his enthusiasm had set him at the heart of a series of schemes for bettering the lot of Roman Catholics in England. These schemes also involved him with interested parties in Rome, France, Spain and the Low Countries.

When, early in March 1581, the Government’s pursuivants raided Fr. Person’s house their bird had already flown. They did, however, capture Fr. Briant and put him in a gaol called ‘The Counter’. He was clearly a man whose information would be vital concerning the activities of Fr. Persons. Within a fortnight, Fr. Briant was accorded the honour of transfer to the Tower of London, where he was tortured for the first time on 27 March. On 6 April he was consigned to ‘The Pit’, a deep subterranean dungeon, where he was in complete darkness for eight days.

The importance of Briant to the Government is emphasised by a letter from the Council to the Lieutenant of the Tower dated 3rd May 1581, more than a month after he was first tortured. Part of this letter runs as follows:

Whereas there hath been of late apprehended amongst others a certain secular Priest or Jesuit naming himself Briant about whom there was taken divers books and writings carrying matters of high treason and is (as may by good likelihood be conjectured) able to discover matters of good moment for H.M.’s service. It is therefore thought necessary that he be to that purpose substantially examined upon such interrogatories as may be framed and gathered of the said books and writing which we send you herewith. For the doing whereof especial choice is made of you three and hereby authority is given unto you to draw the interrogatories and examine the said Briant accordingly. And if he shall refuse by persuasion to confess such things as you shall find him able to reveal unto you, then shall you offer unto him the torture of the Tower, and in case upon the sight thereof he shall obstinately refuse to confess the truth, then shall you put him unto the torture and by the pain and terror of the same, wring from him the knowledge of things as shall appertain

Fr. Briant was clearly a special case. Perhaps ‘wring’ is the operative word in this context.

The Elizabethan style and tone of this letter – even if a little pompous – could not be bettered, but for its object the result was of course inevitable. Fr. Briant was stretched on the rack on two successive days, and Norton the rackmaster boasted that he would make Fr. Briant a foot longer than God had made him, unless he would give the required information about Fr. Persons. Fr. Briant replied: “Is this all that you can do? If the rack is no more than this, let me have a hundred more for this cause.” During his torture he promised God he would ask to be made a member of the Society of Jesus: this he did by a letter written in prison before the execution. Hence he is now ranked as a member of the Society.

He was tried with Saint Edmund Campion, S.J., during which Fr. Briant carried in his hand a small cross of wood. This cross found its way later, so it is said, to the Venerable English College in Rome.

Fr. Briant of Hart Hall and Balliol was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn on 1 December 1581 in good company, namely, with Fr. Edmund Campion of St John’s College and Fr. Ralph Sherwin of Exeter College. When the moment came for the noose to be looped round his neck, Fr. Briant made a brief act of faith as a Roman Catholic and declared he was innocent of any offence against the Queen, not only in deed but even in thought.

Fr. Robert Persons, S.J., had many narrow escapes but was never apprehended, while the friend who shielded him is now a duly canonised Saint.