Agnes Prest

Who was Agnes Prest?

Agnes Prest was an English Protestant martyr from the reign of the Catholic Queen Mary. She was burned at the stake at Southernhay in Exeter in 1557. According to Foxe's Book of Martyrs, she lived near Launceston, Cornwall, and was married to a Catholic husband. She left her husband over his Catholicism, but, when forcibly returned to him, was accused by her neighbours and brought before the Bishop of Exeter. When questioned, she denied the Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiation, and for this and her continued attacks on Catholicism, she was sentenced to death.

While temporarily at liberty after the questioning, she is said to have met a Dutch stonemason in Exeter Cathedral who was repairing the statues of the saints beloved of the Catholics. According to Foxe, she said to him "What a madman art thou, to make them new noses, which within a few days shall all lose their heads", at which point she was forcefully returned to custody, and, when she continued unrepentant, was eventually burned to death.