Luke Kirby

Who was Luke Kirby?

Saint Luke Kirby was an English Catholic priest and martyr from the North of England, executed during the reign of Elizabeth I.

Kirby is said to have received his M.A. in England, probably at Cambridge, before converting to Catholicism at Louvain and entering Douai College in 1576. He was ordained a priest at Cambrai in September 1577 and left Rheims for England on 3 May 1578; however, he returned on 15 July and went to Rome. There he took the college oath at the English College, Rome, 23 April 1579. During his stay at the College he practised charity towards his countrymen in Rome who needed help, Catholic and non-catholic. He helped them from his slender purse, and once went forty miles out of Rome to see some safe on the way. He was chosen to accompany Campion and Bl.Ralph Sherwin on their way to England, and the three set out from Rome on 14 April 1580, arriving in Rheims on the last day of May. On 16 June he left Rheims with Ven. William Hartley. They made the journey to the coast by Douay and Dunkirk on foot.

In June 1580, he was arrested on landing at Dover, and committed to the Gatehouse, Westminster.