Nicholas Horner was an English Roman Catholic
layman, hanged, drawn and quartered

Hanged, drawn and quartered

To be hanged, drawn and quartered was from 1351 a penalty in England for men convicted of high treason, although the ritual was first recorded during the reigns of King Henry III and his successor, Edward I...

 because he had relieved and assisted Christopher Bales

Christopher Bales

The Venerable Christopher Bales, also spelled Christopher Bayles, alias Christopher Evers , was an English Catholic priest and martyr.-Biography:Christopher was born at Coniscliffe near Darlington, County Durham, England, about 1564...

, a seminary priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.

Life

He appears to have been following the calling of a tailor in London, when he was arrested on the charge of harbouring Catholic priests. He was kept for a long time in a cell, contracted blood poisoning in one leg, had it amputated.

He was afterwards set free, but when he was again found to be harbouring priests he was convicted of felony

Felony

A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...

, and as he refused to conform to the public worship of the Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

, was condemned. On the eve of his execution, he had a vision of a crown of glory hanging over his head; the story of this vision was told by him to a friend, who in turn transmitted it by letter to Father Robert Southwell.