Maurus
Scott, Catholic martyr, and his biographer, Johannes Rubeus.
I am still gathering information on the Blessed Maurus (vere William) Scott and his biographer, Johannes Rubeus, also known as John Wilfrid Selby. Died at Tyburn, England, in 1612; beatified in 1929. Scott was born in Essex and studied law at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He was converted to the truths of Catholicism by reading Catholic literature, and received into the Catholic Church by Saint John Roberts (also a convert to Catholicism), who sent him to the Benedictine Abbey of Sahagun, Spain. He was received into the Benedictine order in 1604, and returned to England as a missionary in 1610, having also spent time at St. Gregory's in Douai. John Roberts was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn that same year, an event which Scott apparently witnessed. Two years later, on May 30th, 1612, he too was martyred for his priesthood at Tyburn, along with Richard Smith (vere Newport), ordinated in Rome in 1597. He was beatified in 1629.
Scott is commemorated in the coat of arms of Ealing Abbey, which includes a cinquefoil from the arms of Abbot de Cavarel, with ermine spots representing the five members of St Gregory's who were martyred at Tyburn - George Gervase, Maurus Scott, Philip Powell and Thomas Pickering (all "Blessed"), and John Roberts, who was sainted.
About Iohannes Rubeus I know only that he became Abbot of the Benedictine community of Lamspring, in Westphalia, in succession to Dom Clement Reyner, to whom the following book is dedicated.
Narratio Mortis in Odium Fidei Londini in Anglia illatae R.A.P. Mauro Scotto, Ordinis S. Benedicti Monacho Anglo, Monasterij S. Benedicti de Sahagun in Hispania, &c. Descripta a P. Ioanne Rubeo, Congregationis Angliae eiusdem Ordinis Monacho. Ad Illustmum. et Revermum.: D. Raynuntium Scottum. (Romae, Typis Iacobi Dragondelli, MXCLVII. Superiorum Permissu.) A very good copy of a scarce work. I have not deciphered the writing or identified the plate pasted on the title page; the front pastedown says the book is the "Harmsworth copy", which I assume to be a reference to Sir Leicester Harmsworth, the 19th century book-collector.
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