During the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I, it was high treason—and therefore punishable by death—to be a Catholic priest in England. In this dangerous era, hiding places were essential whenever pursuivants arrived in search of clergy. Among the master craftsmen responsible for constructing these ingenious “priest-holes,” one name stands above the rest: St. Nicholas Owen.
A small and later crippled man, Owen built the majority of England’s priest-holes, saving the lives of countless priests and fugitives. Trained as a joiner in Oxford, he used his knowledge of construction to design nearly invisible hiding spaces, concealed entrances, and tunnels throughout recusant households. Though often mentioned in studies of the Gunpowder Plot, this volume is the first full biography dedicated to his extraordinary life.
Born in Oxford to a carpenter, Nicholas Owen came from a strongly Catholic family. Two of his brothers became priests on the continent; a third assisted the English Mission through the clandestine printing of Catholic books. Nicholas himself apprenticed as a joiner in 1577 and later served Fr. Henry Garnet, S.J., for nearly twenty years. Throughout these decades he narrowly escaped capture multiple times, aided the dramatic escape of Fr. John Gerard from the Tower of London, and endured torture in 1594. His final arrest came when he was discovered in one of his own priest-holes in the aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot. He died under torture in the Tower in 1606, giving his life for the English Catholic underground.
Evidence of Owen’s craftsmanship still survives in manor houses across England, and recent research continues to reveal new details of his daring mission. This biography presents the remarkable story of a hidden hero whose courage and ingenuity sustained the persecuted Church in one of its darkest chapters.
