Cuthbert Mayne
Cuthbert Mayne (c. 1543–29 November 1577) was an English Roman Catholic priest executed under the laws of Elizabeth I. He was the first of the seminary priests, trained on the Continent, to be martyred. Mayne was beatified in 1886 and canonised as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales in 1970. Early life Mayne was born at Youlston, near Barnstaple, Devon, the son of William Mayne. He was baptised at the Church of St Peter, Shirwell on 20 March 1543/4, the feast day of St Cuthbert. An uncle who was a Church of England priest paid for him to attend Barnstaple Grammar School. Mayne was instituted rector of the parish of Huntshaw in December 1561. He attended Oxford University, first at St Alban Hall, then at St John's College, and was awarded a B.A. on 6 April 1566 and M.A. on 8 April 1570. On 27 April 1570, the papal bull Regnans in Excelsis excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I and those who obeyed her laws and commands, releasing her subjects from their allegiance to her. Catholic conversion At Oxford, Mayne met Edmund Campion and other Catholics, such as Gregory Martin, Humphrey Ely, Henry Shaw, Thomas Bramston, Henry Holland, Jonas