Owen built many priest holes in the buildings of English Catholics from 1588 until his final arrest in 1606, when he was tortured to death by prison authorities in the Tower of London. Owen is honoured as a martyr by the Catholic Church and was canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970.

6 天之前 · Owen, Fathers Henry Garnet and Edward Oldcorne, and lay brother Ralph Ashley had finally emerged from their hiding places, commonly called “priest holes” that Owen had constructed — in Hindlip Hall in Worcestershire, northwest of London on Jan. 26 that year.

Nicholas Owen was a most skilled and prolific builder of priest holes. He was instrumental in creating a network of safe-houses for priests during the early 1590s and for engineering the escape of the Jesuit Father John Gerard from the Tower of London in 1597.

2019年7月13日 · The most successful priest holes were built by Nicholas Owen – not that he built the hole at Oxborough. Owen, an Oxfordshire man, was born in 1562. He had three siblings one was a Catholic priest and another printed illegal Catholic books.

2022年2月18日 · It too boasts several priest holes built by Nicholas Owen. One hiding place, just 3’ 9” high (114cm), is in the roof space above a closet off a bedroom. Another is in the corner of the kitchen where visitors to the house today can see through to the medieval drain where Father Garnet was hidden.

Nicholas Owen (birthday uncertain, 1606) was a Jesuit brother whose talents as a mason and carpenter provided priests with concealed hiding places in the homes of Catholics and enabled the priests to avoid capture despite the most thorough of searches.

2021年3月22日 · These were the famous “priest holes,” built in the homes of Catholic families to hide the clandestine priest who would periodically visit to offer the Holy Mass and administer the sacraments....

2025年1月3日 · Nicholas Owen was the master craftsman of priest holes. Agents would search the house, convinced that a priest was present, seeking to arrest him so that he could be tried and executed for exercising his priestly ministry.

In 1606, Brother John was finally discovered in one of his own hiding holes. He came out voluntarily, meaning to imply to the police that he was a priest, so that the real priests hidden still deeper in the hole might escape. Nicholas/John was eventually taken to the Tower of London.

2017年12月5日 · Nicholas Owen—one of the most skilled builders of priest holes—devoted the greater part of his life to helping persecuted Catholics. He could accommodate up to 10 people in one hiding place, and none of his priest holes was the same.