Venerable Ralph Milner Feastday: July 7 Layman and martyr, born at Flacsted, Hants, England, early in the sixteenth century; suffered at Winchester, 7 July, 1591. The greater part of his life was probably passed in his native village, where, being practically illiterate, he supported his wife and eight children by manual labour. he was brought up an Anglican, but, struck by the contrast between the lives of Catholics and Protestants of his acquaintance, he determined to embrace the old religion, and, after the usual course of instruction, was received into the Church. On the very day of his first Communion, however, he was arrested for changing his religion and committed to Winchester jail. Here his good behaviour during the years of his imprisonment won him the jailer's confidence to such a degree that he was frequently allowed out on parole, and was even trusted with the keys of the prison. This leniency enabled him to render valuable service to the other Catholic prisoners and ...
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