58 • BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY [GRI.
1558, and was buried in the church of St. Magnus, near
London Bridge.
Bliss, Wood's Athena Oxon., vol. ii. ; Brady, Epis. Succession,
vol. i. pp. 55, 69.
Griffith, Michael, Father S.J., alias Alford, born in
London in 1587, entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus
at Louvain, Feb. 29, 1607. He studied philosophy in the
college of the English Jesuits at Seville, and theology at
Louvain. As soon as he was ordained priest he was sent to
Naples to attend the English who frequented that city. Thence
he proceeded to Rome, and from 161 5 to 1620 he was English
penitentiary at St. Peter's. In 1620, he was appointed socius
to the master of novices at Liege, and about August in the
following year he became rector of the house of tertians at
Ghent. In 1629, Fr. Griffith was sent to the English mission.
On landing at Dover he was arrested on suspicion of his being
Dr. Richard Smith, Bishop of Chalcedon, for whose apprehen-
sion the government had offered a reward of ,£200, by the
proclamations of Dec. 11, 1628, and March 24, 1629. What
raised the suspicion of his being a priest was the discovery on
his person of a copy of the " Imitation of Christ." A Protestant
minister was called in for his opinion, who gravely pronounced
that the title-page of the book was more objectionable than the
text, for the author, Thomas a Kempis, was a regular canon,
and canonists were proscribed by English statute, and that,,
therefore, the prisoner ought not to be hastily discharged. Fr.
Griffith was consequently conveyed to London, for his captors
now believed him to be Bishop Smith, but as his person in no
respect corresponded with the bishop's description, he was
restored to liberty, through the mediation of Queen Henrietta
Maria.
Leicestershire was the chief scene of Fr. Griffith's missionary
labours, and Dr. Oliver presumes that Holt was his residence.
Bro. Foley says there is a tradition that he compiled some part
of his works at Home-Lacey, the seat of the Scudamore family,
which he thinks may be a mistake for Combe, in Herefordshire,
where the Society had a residence. He assumes from the
extent of the library at Combe, seized by Bishop Croft in 1679,.
which now forms a portion of the Hereford Cathedral library,
that Fr. Griffith may have been there. In order to put the
GRI.] OF THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 59
finishing stroke to his " Annales Ecclesiastici," he obtained leave
to retire to the college at St. Omer in the spring of 1652, and
a few months after his arrival he was attacked by a fever, from
which he died.. Aug. 1 1 of the same year, aged 65.
The learned Benedictine, Dom Serenus Cressy, in his preface
to his " Church History," printed in 1 668, says that the venerable
writer of the " Annales Ecclesiastici " certainly possessed in an
eminent degree the two endowments which constitute an excel-
lent historian — learning and fidelity ; but his chief care was to
adorn his soul with piety and virtue.
Oliver, Collectanea S.J. ; Cressy, Ch. Hist, of Brittany ; South-
well, Ribadeneira 's Bibl. Script. S.J., p. 6 1 o ; Foley, Records S.J.,
vols. ii. iv. p. 469, and vii. ; Dc Backer, Bib. des Ecriv. S.J. ;
Dodd, Ch. Hist., vol. iii.
1. The Admirable Life of St. Wenefride, 1635, nmo., with a fron-
tispiece, translated from the abstract of the life compiled in 1140 by Robert,
prior of Shrewsbury, in the " Legenda Nova Anglian," commonly called Cap-
grave's "Lives of the Saints," Lond., Win. de Worde, 15 16, fob, copied by
Capgrave from the abstract in John of Tynmouth. Fr. John Falkner, S.J.,
also published a life in this year. Alban Butler, in his life of S. Wenefride,
Nov. 3, "Lives of the Saints," ed. 1815, vol. xi. p. 68 scq., says that Fr.
Griffith seems to have seen no other life than that in Capgrave. Both his
and Fr. Falkner's translation have " frequent abridgments and some few
additions from other authors, but not without some mistakes." Fr. Metcalf,
S.J., published his Life of St. Wenefride, with some alterations and additional
late miracles, Lond. 17 12, Svo., in which year Bishop Fleetwood wrote his
dissertation or remarks against the life.
2. Britannia Illustrata ; sive Lucii, Helena?, Constantini, primo-
rum Regum et Augustorum Christianorum Patria et Fides. Cum
appendice de tribus hodie controversis de Paschate Britannorum,
de Clerieorum nuptiis, et num olim Britannia coluerit Romanum
Ecclesiam. Antverpias, Chris. Jeghers, 1641, 4to., engraved title 1 f., dedica-
tion to Charles, Prince of Wales, 4 pp., index 4 pp., synopsis 14 pp., pp. 424.
This extremely rare work contains much curious matter connected with British
history.
3. Fides Regia Britanniea ; sive Annales Eeclesise Britannicse
(sseculor. xii. primorum ad annum 1189), ubi potissimum Brit-
annorum Catholiea, Romana, et Orthodoxa fides, per quinque
prima ssecula : e Regum et Augustorum faetis, et aliorum sanc-
torum rebus e virtute gestis, asseritur. Auctore R. P. Miehaele
Alfordo, alias Griffith, Anglo Soc. Jesu theologo. Leodii, Jo.
Mathia? Hovii, 1663, fob 4 vols. The title varies in each of the volumes;
I. pp. 642; II. pp.693. Fides Regia Anglo- Saxonicaab anno 500 ad 800, at the
end of which is an address to the reader, written when the author lay con-
cealed during the civil wars, and accounting for the unfinished state of the
60 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY [GUI.
work, the two last lines of which furnish the chronogram 1645 ; III. pp. 580
and 156 pp. chronological index, Fides Regia Anglicana ab an. 800 ad 1066 ;
IV., in two pts., pp. 328 and 336, Fides Regia Anglicana ab an. 1066 ad 11 89.
Cressy, in his " Church History," enlarges on his many obligations to this
work. Bishop Fleetwood pronounces it to be a very valuable treasury of
English ecclesiastical history, and Dibdin says it is u a work of no very
ordinary occurrence, and, at the same time, of very considerable utility, as
treating fully of the Church history of this country from the earliest period to
the reign of Hen. II." The author of the " Florus Anglo-Bavaricus " observes
regarding this great work, that with the exception of Baronius and a few-
others, nothing of the sort was then extant.
4. Cressy states that Fr. Griffith had a tender devotion to his patron, St.
Michael the archangel, and some years before his death devised a picture of
the saint, which he got engraved at Antwerp, with a devout prayer of his own
composition.
Fr. Hen. More, S.J., " Hist. Prov. Angl.," p. 393, has preserved a distich
of Fr. Griffith's poem on the sacred wounds of our Lord.
Griffith, "William, schoolmaster, confessor of the faith, is
stated by Fr. Christopher Grene, S.J. (" Collectanea F., Oscott
College "), to have been a prisoner for recusancy at the time of
the uproar which followed the execution of Mary Queen of
Scots, in 1587, when his keeper consigned him to a dungeon.
After he had suffered great misery for a fortnight, he was
brought out of the cell, but expired as soon as he came into
the fresh air.
Morris, Troubles, Third Series.
Griffiths, Humphrey, martyr, in some catalogues called
Humphrey ap Richard, or Prichard (as in Challoner), was a
Welshman, a plain, honest, and well-meaning soul, and, as all
authors agree, a great servant of God. For twelve years he
had devoted his services to the afflicted Catholics of those evil
days. He was the faithful servant of a pious Catholic widow,
who kept the St. Catherine's Wheel in Oxford, at whose house
priests found a shelter and were enabled to be seen with the
least risk on account of the house being a public inn. At
length the officers of the university broke into the house at
midnight and apprehended two priests, named George Nicols
and Richard Yaxley, Thomas Belson, a Catholic gentleman,
who had come to visit Mr. Nicols, and Humphrey Griffiths.
The next morning they were all carried before the vice-chan-
cellor, with whom were several doctors of the university. The
following day the prisoners were again brought in irons before
the same authority and his council and examined. They were
GUI.] OF THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 6 1
next, by order of the Privy Council, placed on rossinantes, or
jades, and conveyed to London, with their hands tied behind
them, the two priests, for greater disgrace, having their legs tied
under their horses' bellies. After examination by Secretary
Walsingham, and very cruel treatment in prison, they were led
back to Oxford to be tried at the assizes, under the same strong
guard and in the same manner as they had come. In order that
none of them should escape death, Sir Francis Knollys, one of the
Privy Council, was appointed to be present at the trial to overawe
the jury. The good widow, the hostess, was first brought in
under the law of premunire, her goods forfeited, and herself
condemned to perpetual imprisonment for harbouring the
priests. The two priests were condemned to death, as in cases
of high treason, and lastly Mr. Belson, with Griffiths, the servant,
were convicted of having aided and assisted the priests, and
on that account were sentenced to die as in cases of felony.
They all received their sentences with holy resignation and
cheerfulness, giving thanks to God for being permitted to die
for His cause.
On the appointed day the four martyrs were drawn to the
place of execution at Oxford. Griffiths was the last to suffer.
He came to the gallows with a cheerful and smiling counte-
nance, and as soon as he had mounted the ladder turned to the
people, and in a short speech declared himself a Catholic, and
that it was for the confession of the Catholic faith that he was
condemned to die, which he said he did willingly. A Protes-
tant minister, standing by, told him he was a poor ignorant
fellow, and did not know what it was to be a Catholic. Griffiths
replied that he very well knew what it was to be a Catholic,
though he could not, perhaps, explain it in theological terms ;
that he knew what he was to believe, and what he came there
to die for ; and that he willingly died for so good a cause.
With that he was thrown off the ladder, and was ushered into
a better world, July 5, 1 5 89.
Challoner, Memoirs, ed. 174 1, vol. i. p. 241 scq. ; Foley,
Records S.J., vol. iii. ; Wilson, English Martyrologe, 1608.
Griffiths, Thomas, Bishop, was born in London, June 2,
1 79 1. Under the influence of his father, who was a Protestant,
he was in early youth educated in the doctrines of the estab-
lished religion, but the prayers and good example of his vir-
62 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY [G-RI.
tuous mother, a fervent Catholic, soon gained him to the
Church. His conversion greatly displeased his father, who
threw many impediments in his way to prevent him from
exercising his religion. The boy was in constant attendance
at the altar in the chapel of St. George's-in-the-Fields, now
the cathedral of Southwark, and it was he who served the
first Mass that was celebrated there by his predecessor in the
London vicariate, Bishop Bramston. It is said that his father
would sometimes deprive him in the morning of his shoes and
stockings in order to prevent him from going to serve Mass.
But the young neophyte thought it but little pain or shame to
go through the streets barefooted in such a cause.
His piety and amiable disposition soon attracted the attention
of his spiritual director, who procured his admission, in Jan.
1805, into St. Edmund's College, Old Hall Green, near Ware.
By dint of unwearied application he became a sound classical
scholar, a good mathematician, and, what was more to the
point, a profound theologian. In July, 18 14, he was ordained
priest, and for the next four years he was employed partly in
the care of the congregation at and around Old Hall Green,
and partly in the presidency of the small ecclesiastical seminary
in the " Old Hall," an ancient tenement in the rear of St. Ed-
mund's College. On Aug. I, 1 8 1 8, he removed with the
students from the Old Hall to the new college, and was
appointed President in succession to Dr. Bew.
For more than fifteen years he governed St. Edmund's with
remarkable prudence and vigilance. On the death of Bishop
Gradwell he was appointed, in July, 1833, coadjutor, with the
right of succession, to Bishop Bramston, V.A. of the London
District. His brief was to the coadjutorship and See of Olena
in partibus, and he was consecrated at St. Edmund's College
by Bishop Bramston, assisted by Bishops Penswick and Walsh,
Oct. 28, 1833, the feast of SS. Simon and Jude. Bishop
Briggs was also present, and Bishop Baines preached the
sermon.
On July 11, 1836, Bishop Bramston died, and Dr. Griffiths
succeeded to the London vicariate. In the following year he
reported that the Catholics in London numbered 146,068, and
in the rural parts of his District 1 1,246, making a total of
157,314 Catholics for the entire vicariate. The population of
London at this time was 1,500,000. In 1840 Gregory XVI.
GRX.] OF THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 6$
increased the number of vicariates in England, Bishop Griffiths
being appointed by letters apostolic, dated July 3, to the new-
London District.
The harassing work of his extensive charge at length under-
mined his constitution. He lost the sight of one eye twelve
months before his death, and the vision of the other was fading
daily. He died at his residence, 35, Golden Square, London,
Aug. 12, 1847, aged 56, and was buried in the clergy vault at
Moorfields.
Dr. Griffiths was a most assiduous, earnest, and conscientious
worker. His whole soul and almost every minute of his
time were given to the fulfilment of the duties laid upon
him.
Rev. Eckv. Price, Dolman's Mag., vol. vi. p. 199 ; CatJi. Direc-
tory^ 1847 } Brady, Episc. Succession, vol. iii. ; Tablet, vol. viii.
pp. 513 and 533.
1. The Funeral Discourse pronounced at St. Mary's Chapel,
Moorfields, March 27, 1833, on the late R.R. Robert Gradwell,
D.D., Bishop of Lidda, and coadjutor in the London District.
Lond. 1833, i2mo.
2. Instructions and Regulations for the Fast of Lent in the
year 1837. (Lond.) 1837, fol.
His Lenten pastorals were similarly published during the term of his
vicariate ; many of them will be found in the Orthodox Journal, vi. p. 138 ;
vii. p. 32 ; viii. pp. 92, III ; x. p. 141 ; xi. p. 137, &c.
3. Portrait. ' : The R.R. Thomas Griffiths, D.D., Bishop of Olena, and
Vicar-Apostolic of the London District," engr. by G. A. Peria from an
original painting, Catholic Directory, 1848, 8vo.
Grimes, Matthew, S.J., vide Bazier.
Grimston, Ralph, martyr, a gentleman of ancient family,
seated at Nidd Hall, in Yorkshire, was a great sufferer on
account of his religion. On Nov. 18, 1593, he was twice
examined by the president of the north, and on April 2, 1594,
he was removed from the custody of Outlaw, the pursuivant at
York, to the Castle. At the York Lent Assizes in that year
he was indicted, with other Catholic gentlemen, by the Lord
President, for harbouring and receiving seminaries. The jury
had no other evidence than that of the President's own testi-
mony, who, to satisfy their consciences, said that Hardesty, the
apostate, had confessed he had been at some of the prisoners'
houses, and he, the Lord President, would take it upon his
64 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY [GEO.
honour that it was true. Some say he brought Hardesty before
them to avouch the same.
Subsequently he seems to have obtained his release, but was
again seized in company with Peter Snow, a priest from
Rheims, on their journey to York about the feast of St. Philip
and St. James, May I, 1598. They were both shortly after-
wards arraigned and condemned — Mr. Snow of treason, as a
seminary priest, and Mr. Grimston of felony, as aiding and
assisting him," and, as it was asserted, for lifting up his weapon
to defend him at the time of his apprehension. They both
suffered at York, June 15, 1598.
Challoncr, Memoirs, ed. 1741, p. 360; Morris, Troubles, Third
Series ; Foley, Records S.J., vol. iii.
Grove, John, martyr, was one of the victims of the infamous
plots of Oates, Bedloe, Dugdale, and Prance. He was the
nominal occupier of the Jesuits' apartments in Wilde House,
situated in what is now called Wilde Street, the Spanish am-
bassador residing under the same roof. Bro. Foley is very
probably correct in his conjecture that he was a lay-brother of
the Society. He was apprehended by Oates, accompanied by
a king's messenger and a company of soldiers, on Sept. 29,
1678, with Fr. Wm. Ireland, Fr. John Caldwell, alias Fenwick,
Thomas Pickering, lay-brother, O.S.B., and Dr. Fogarthy, a
physician.
After suffering much in prison, he was brought to trial at the
Old Bailey, Dec. 17, 1678, on a charge of contriving and con-
spiring to murder the king. As in all the trials during the
" Popish Plot " ferment, there was hardly an appearance of
justice. The three prisoners were condemned to death, and,
after two reprieves, Grove was drawn from Newgate to Tyburn,
with Fr. Ireland, and there executed, Jan. 24, 1679.
Miles Prance in his "Discovery," printed in May, 1679, en-
deavoured to implicate a nephew of Mr. Grove, a Catholic of
the same surname, who kept a school in Princes Street, Covent
Garden.
CJialloncr, Memoirs, ed. 1742, vol. ii. p. 376 ; Foley, Records
S.J., vol. v.; Prance, True Narrative and Discovery, p. 8; Tryal ;
Dodd, Ch. Hist., vol. iii. p. 276.
1. "The Tryals of William Ireland, Thomas Pickering, and John Grove ;
for Conspiring to Murder the King : Who upon Full Evidence were found
GUM.] OF THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 65
Guilty of High Treason at the Sessions-House in the Old-Baily, Dec. the
17th, 167S. And received Sentence accordingly." Lond. 1678, fol. pp. 84,
printed by order of Scroggs, the Lord Chief Justice.
" A True Narrative and Discovery," by Miles Prance ; see under Robert
Green.
"An Account of the Behaviour, &c," by Sam. Smith, Ordinary of New-
gate (see under R. Green) ; in which an account is given of the Ordinary's visit
to him.
"The Information of William Lewis, Gent. Delivered at the Bar of The
House of Commons. The 18th of Nov. 1680. Together with His further
Narrative relating thereto, In all which is contained A Confirmation of the
Popish Plot, and the Justice of the Executions done upon Grove, Pickering,
and the Jesuites for the Design of Killing His Most Sacred Majesty. And
discovering further the Design of the Papists to set the Navy Royal on Fire
in Harbour; and to throw the guilt of the whole upon the Presbyterians.
With their Contrivances to take away the Life of the Right Hon. Anthony
Earl of Shaftsbury." Lond. 1680, fol. pp. 31.
"A Narrative and Impartial Discovery of the Horrid Popish Plot, carried
on for the Burning and Destroying the Cities of London and Westminster,
with their suburbs, &c. Setting forth the several Consults, Orders, and
Resolutions of the Jesuites, &c, concerning the same. And divers
Depositions and Informations, relating thereunto. Never before Printed.
By Capt. William Bedloe, lately engaged in that Horrid Design, and one of
the Popish Committee for carrying on such Fires." Lond. 1679, fol.
" The Further Information of Mr. Stephen Dugdale, Given to the Honour-
able House of Commons, Pursuant to an Order of the said House, on the
30th of Oct. 1680." Lond. 1680, fol. pp. 22.
"The Confession and Execution, &c." Lond. 1678-9, 4to., for which see
under W. Ireland.
Amongst the many publications in which Mr. Grove's name appears may
be mentioned "The Trvall of Richard Langhorn, Esq." Lond. 1679, fol.,
see under R. Langhorn.
Gumbleton, or Gomeldon, Richard, was the son of
Thomas Gomeldon, of Summerfield Court, parish of Selling, in
the county of Kent, Esq. His father is said to have been a
jeweller in London ; he was afterwards sheriff of Kent, and died
in 1703, leaving by Phalaties, his wife, two sons, William and
Richard, and a daughter, Meliora. William married Elizabeth,
daughter of John Crossley, and died without issue in 1709.
Richard then succeeded to the estate, which he registered in
1 7 1 7, as a Catholic, under the act of 1 George I., declaring that it
was freehold, and of the annual value of ^693 10s. i\d., subject to
a rental of ^600 to his sister-in-law, Mrs. Elizabeth Gomeldon.
Richard Gomeldon became a Catholic, and his sister also,
but when, or under what circumstances, is not stated. It is
said that he became a discalced Carmelite, but this is extremely
VOL. III. F
66 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY [GUM.
doubtful. His life, certainly, seems to have been a disgrace to
his profession, whatever that was, whether a religious or a lay-
man. Yet he seems to have had an outward zeal for religion,
and was one of the loudest of those who raised their voices
against Jansenism, when that charge was brought against the
bishops and clergy of England in the beginning of the eighteenth
century. In 1 7 i o he is described as having spent his patri-
mony, and hardly daring to show himself for fear of arrest for
debt. Judging from the account given of him by the Rev.
Andrew Giffard, he must have brought upon himself a derange-
ment of intellect. He died in 1 7 1 8.
His sister, Meliora, married Thomas Poole, son of Sir James
Poole, of Poole Hall, co. Chester, Bart, and after his death
became the wife of Thomas Stanley, of Great Eccleston Hall
and Garrett Hall, co. Lancaster, Esq. Her second husband
was attainted and convicted of high treason for taking part in
the rising of 17 15, and his estates of Great Eccleston, Garrett
and New Hall, in the parish of Leigh, and his residence in
Preston, were forfeited and sold. Mrs. Stanley's Kentish estates
which she brought to her husband were also forfeited to the
Crown and vested in the commissioners of forfeited estates.
Mr. Stanley afterwards inherited Culcheth Hall, co. Lancaster,
where he died in July, 1749, and his wife, Meliora, in the pre-
ceding month. Their daughter and eventual heiress, Meliora,
married William Dicconson, Esq., son of Edward Dicconson, of
Wrightington, co. Lancaster, Esq., by Mary, daughter of George
Blount, Esq., and sister to Sir Edward Blount, Bart. The mar-
riage of Meliora to William Dicconson is the more noticeable,
as it was to his great-uncle, Bishop Edward Dicconson, alias
Eaton, that Andrew Giffard gave her uncle, Richard Gomeldon,
such a poor character in 17 10.
Eyre Collection, MSS., vol. i. pp. 307-8 and 340 ; Gilloiv,
Lane. Recusants, MS.; Kirk, Biog. Collect., MS., No. 21 ; Payne,
Eng. CatJi. Non-jurors; Foley, Records S.J., vol. vi., CulcJieth
pedigree.
1. When the charge of Jansenism was brought against the bishops and
clergy of England, according to Andrew Giffard, "in his letter dated April 3,
1710, to Edw. Dicconson, alias Eaton, a professor at Douay, and afterwards
V.A. of the Northern District, Richard Gomeldon, is a chief man employed
to bring accusations against us, is a young debauchee, who has spent his
patrimony vivendo luxuriose cum meretricibus, and now dares not shew his
head for fear of arrests. He is a visionaire, who, according to his own words
GUN.] OF THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 67
often sees Heaven open, but oftener converses with hell, for he saies the
devil sits by his bedside many nights, and they talk and converse familiarly
for several hours." It was he who drew up a paper of accusations against Mr.
Christopher Pigott, " a most laborious priest who helps ye poore people in and
about Suthwarck, and seldom returns home from his labors untill ten or eleven
a clock at night."
He also wrote a paper entitled "Several of Dr. Short's Tenets," consisting
of about twenty propositions, " affirming that he heard ye Doctor speak them
all." In this he seems to have been guided more by his prejudices and
ignorance than by the love of truth, for " he made no difficulty to declare
that the Doctor's memory was in execration to him before he knew him," and
did not dare, when solemnly called upon, to swear to the truth. Dr. Short
went to the venerable Father James Maurus Corker, O.S.B., " and desired to
communicate at his hands, and after communion upon ye sacrament which
he had received, took oath that not one off all ye propositions was his." Mr.
Giffard concludes, in his letter to Dr. Dicconson, dated June 30, 1710, " I
have given you some part of Gomeldon's character before. I can add much
now, and particularly he is reported to have a very notorious faculty in be-
ing, as being so very familiar with ye father of lies."
Gomeldon's papers were not printed, but were distributed in manuscript,
both in town and country. An intercepted letter written to him by Fr.
Charles Kennett, S.J., dated Jan. 6, 17 10, is given by Mr. Giffard.