Alexander Briant

Who was Alexander Briant?

Saint Alexander Briant was an English Jesuit and martyr, executed at Tyburn.

He was born in Somerset, and entered Hart Hall, Oxford, at an early age. While there, he became a pupil of Father Robert Parsons and he completed his studies with him at Balliol College, which, along with his association with Richard Holtby, led to his conversion. After leaving university, he entered the English College at Reims then went to the English College, Douai, and was ordained priest on 29 March 1578. Assigned to the English mission in August of the following year he labored with zeal in his own county of Somerset.

A party of the persecution, searching for Father Parsons, placed Alexander Briant under arrest on 28 April 1581, in the hope of extorting information. After fruitless attempts to this end at Counter Prison, London, he was taken to the Tower where he was subjected to torture. With six other priests he was arraigned on 16 November 1581, in Queen's Bench, Westminster, on the charge of high treason, and condemned to death. In his letter to the Jesuit Fathers he says that he felt no pain during the various tortures he underwent, and adds: "Whether this that I say be miraculous or no, God knoweth." He was twenty-five years old when he was executed.