Born into a Puritan family in the sixteenth century, she became Catholic and was disinherited. The local priest set up a haven for Catholic priests on the run from the Elizabethan persecution, and she became quite involved with this, eventually taking it over after he was arrested, eventually transitioning into other ways to help the persecuted. On the Feast of the Purification in 1601, however, she was hosting a clandestine Mass, and too many people showed up for it; neighbors, noticing the crowd, reported them to the police, and she was arrested, sentenced to death, and died by hanging on a snowy February 27.
