Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/671

 WHITAKER

609

WHITBY

(if the (lofi-nco of Washinnfon on tho Xirginia siilr. Aftrr great gallantry at Antiotani and KrediTicksburg, with his division in (lonoral Sicklrs's corps, he was much exposed at Chancellorsville. In a skirmish at thecloseof the battle he was severely wounded in the neck by a sharpshooter, and received the last rites of the Church on the battle-field. Taken to Washington he was breveted brigadier-general on 4 May, major- general of volunteers on 6 May, and major-general by brevet on 7 May, only a few hours before his death.

Lamb, Encyclopedia of American Biography: Cullum. Biographical Register of (,'. S. A, Milil. Academy (Boston and New York, 1891).

Regina Randolph Jenkins.

Whitaker, Thomas, Vener.^le, b. at Burnlej',

Lancashu-e, 1614; martjTed at Lancaster, 7 August, 1646. Son of Thomas Whitaker, schoolmaster, and Helen, liis wife, he was educated first at his father's school. By the influence of the Towneley family he was then sent to Valladolid, where he studied for the priesthood. After ordination (1638) he returned to England, and for five years laboured in Lancashire. On one occasion he was arrested, but escaped while being conducted to Lancaster Castle. He was again seized at Place Hall in Goosenargh, and committed to Lancaster Castle, 7 August, 1643, being treated with unusual severity and undergoing sohtary confine- ment for six weeks. For three years he remained in prison, remarkable for his spirit of continual prayer and charity to hLs fellow-captives. Before his trial he made a month's retreat in preparation for death. Though naturally timorous, and suffering much from the anticipation of his execution, he steadfastly declinetl all attempts made to induce him to conform to Anglicanism by the offer of his life. He suffered with Yen. Edward Bamber and Yen. John Woodcock O.S.F., saying to the sheriff: "Use your pleasure willi me, a reprieve or even a pardon upon your condition.s I utterly refu.se".

Chali.on*er, Memoirs of Missionary Priests (London, 1741-2), following KxARESBOROUGH who had before him a contemporary of the three martjTs. EdwIN BurTON.

Whitbread, Thomas, Venerable, alias Har- couRT, b. in Essex, 1618; martyred at Tyburn, 30 June, 1679. He was educated at St. Omer's, and entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus on 7 Sept., 1635. Coming upon the English mission in 1647, he laboured for more than thirty years, mostly in the eastern counties. On 8 Dec, 16.52, he was profes,sed of the four vows. Twice he was superior of the Suf- folk District, once of the Lincolnshire District, and finally in 1678 he was declared provincial. In this capacity he refused to admit Titus Oates as a member of the Society, and shortly afterwards the celebrated plot was fabricated. Father Whitbread was arrested in London on Michaelmas Day, 1678, but was so ill that he could not be moved to Newgate till three months later. He was first indicted at the Old Bailey, 17 Dec, 1678, but, the evidence against him and his companions breaking down, he was remanded and kept in pri.son till 13 June, 1679; later, he was again indictefi, and with four other fathers was found guilty on the perjured evidence of Oates, Bedloe, and Dugdale (see Barrow, William, Venerable; the others were Fathers Fenwick, Gavin, and Turner). After the execution the remains of the martyrs were buried in St. Giles's in the Fields. Father Whit- bread wTote "Devout Elevation of the Soul to God" and two short poems, "To Death" and "To his Soul", which are printed in "The Remonstrance of Piety and Innocence".

The Remonstrance of Piety and Innocence (London, 16S3) ; Tanner, Brfrisrfia/io/eiicisaoonis (Prague, 1683) ; F(<»ri« Anglo- Bnvaricus (Li^^e, 16S.5); Tryals and condemnation of Thomas While alias WhUbread (London, 1879); Smith in Cobbett. .S(a(e TriaU, VII; FoLET. Colt. Eng. Prov. S.J.. V. VII (London, 1879-1883). ii, and all works dealing with the Oates Plot; Cooper in Did. Nat. Biog.. s. v. Harcourl, Thomas.

Edwin Burton. XV.— 39

Whitby (fnriiii'rly calleil Streoneshalh), Abbey OF, a Benedict ine niiinasterv in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England, was founded about 6.57, as a double mona.stery, by (Jswy, King of Northumberland. The first abbess was St. Hilda, under whom the com- munity seems to have reached a considerable size, the conventual buildings being large enough to ac- commodate the Council, held in 664, to determine the controversy respecting the observance of Ea.ster. On St. Hilda's death, about 680, Aelfleda, daughter of King Oswy, succeeded as abbess, and the monastery continued to flourish until about 867, when it was en- tirely destroyed by the Danes. The community was dispersed, the abbot, Titus, fleeing to Glastonbury and taking with him the relics of St. Hilda. No at- tempt was made to restore the monastery until after the Norman conquest, when this district of Yorkshire

was granted to Hugh Lupus, first Earl of Chester, who assigned Whitby to William de Percy, ancestor of the earls of Northumberland, by whom the monastery was refounded towards the end of the Conqueror's reign. Keinfrid, a monk of Evesham, was appointed prior of the restored foundation, which was richly en- dowed by the founder. William the Conqueror him- self also granted fo the monastery a charter of priv- ileges. These were confirmed and extended by Henry I, in who.se reign the priory was raised to the rank of an abbey, but the abbot, though regarded as one of the spiritual barons of England, did not sit in Parliament. The story of the house during the Middle Ages does not call for any special comment, the only ex- ceptional circum.stances in its history being occasional damage by pirates, to which its position on the coast laid it open. When the lesser religious houses had all been .suppres.sed bj' Henry VIII and it became clear that the same fate awaited the greater ones, the Abbot of Whitby obtained permission to resign his office so that he might not be called upon to hand over the house to the king. The surrender was therefore made by the prior under date 14 December, 1.540, the net income at the time being returned as £437 28. 9d.; the site and ruins being granted .some years later f o John, Earl of Warwick. Among the monks of Whitby the most famous is the Saxon poet, Caidmon.

The Mon.'ustery of St. Hilda was so completely destroyed by the Danes that nothing even of its foundations is known to remain. Of de Percy's build- ing the greater part w.as pulled down and the mon- a.stery rebuilt on a larger scale in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. At the dis.solution the roofs were removed, but most of the walls remained stand- ing until 1763, when the entire western side of the monastery was blown down. Since that date the destrtiction has been rapid owing to the very exposed position of the ruins. In 18.30 the remains of the cen- tral tower collapsed, and nine years later a large part