CatholicSaints.Info

Saint Anne Line

detail of a statue of Saint Anne Line, date and artist unknown; Saint Anne Line Junior School, Basildon, Essex, England; photographed on 13 March 2014 by Caedwalla; swiped from Wikimedia Commons Also known as

Anne Higham
Anne Lyne

Memorial

27 February
25 October as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales

Profile

Born the daughter of a wealthy and ardent Calvinist. When she and her brother converted to Catholicism, they were disowned and disinherited. Anne married another convert, Roger Line, who was soon arrested for attending Mass, then exiled to Flanders, Belgium where he died in 1594.

When Father John Gerard established a house of refuge for priests in London, England, Anne was put in charge. Father Gerard was sent to the Tower of London, and then escaped in 1597. The authorities suspected Anne of hiding him, and she moved to another house, which became a rallying point for Catholics. On Candlemas, 1601, Father Francis Page was about to celebrate Mass there, when priest-catchers broke in. Father Page quickly unvested and mingled with the others, but the altar was all the evidence needed to arrest Anne. She was tried, convicted and hanged for harbouring priests. Martyred with Blessed Mark Barkworth, and her friend Blessed Roger Filcock. One of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.