(From O’Daly’s Relatio, p.364)F. MALPHÆUS, O.P., in his Palma Fidel OP., gives a detailed account of him. When he was returning to his native country from Lisbon (where he had lived for some time in the college of our Lady of the Rosary), he landed in England. He was soon after accused in London of having said in Spain that it was lawful for any one to kill the King of England. He was found guilty, hanged, and his heart and entrails cut out. But on closer examination, when the matter had been brought under the notice of the Queen, though too late, he was declared, in a placard fixed up in the streets, to have been falsely accused and condemned to death though innocent; and it was proved that he had not said what was laid to his charge, but only asserted when disputing with a heretic, who denied man’s free will, that nothing would be criminal or unlawful in human acts, not even the killing of a king, if liberty did not exist. The aforesaid F. Malphus relates two or three wonderful things that happened at his death. The first is that when the rope was cut and he was let down from the gallows and his heart and entrails were cut out, he was still alive and breathing; and whilst the executioner was shewing his heart to the crowd and exclaiming : ‘This is the heart of a traitor,’ it has been proved by the testimony of the bystanders that he turned his eyes towards the executioner, and spat at him; secondly, when the executioner was throwing his entrails into the fire prepared for the purpose, a certain young man who stood by, seeing the liver of the martyr outside the fire, thrust it in with a stick which he had in his hand, and went away cursing the man himself and his religion.But he did not escape the avenging hand of God, for his sacrilegious hand immediately trembled, and he was struck down with such internal pains that he was obliged to throw himself down on the nearest mound of earth. Some women who were on their way to the place of execution, perceived a very sweet odour while they were at some distance off, such as they never perceived before, and the nearer they came to the spot, the more fragrant it was. One of these, though a heretic, yet honestly confessed the truth of this fact. Moreover, a German, a dealer in spices by trade, passing by perceived the same sweet smell, and asserted that he never met with any so sweet in his workshop. In fine, Falkland, the Viceroy of Ireland, who was one of his judges, declared that he had suffered in consequence, and that his leg was broken in an unusual and truly wonderful way.We have several accounts of his trial and death written at the time. ‘On Wednesday, the 27th November, Arthur Gohagan was drawn on a hurdle from the King’s Bench to the City of London and so to Tiburne, from whence he was lifted off into a cart, where undismayed and with a fearless countenance he spake these words : - “In manus tuas commendo spiritum meum qula redemisti me, 0 Deus veritatis meæ,” which he often repeated. Then desiring all good Christians to pray for him, he earnestly commended his soul to God, and said “0 thou glorious Virgin Mother of our Lord and Saviour, pray to thy Son Jesus Christ to receive my soul. I would fain have received the Holy Sacrament, according to the injunction of our Order, but I could get not priest to give it me.”Then being stript to his shirt, holding up his hands to heaven with great earnestness, repeating : “In manus tuas, et.,” the cart was drawn away, when he hanged a little time; then the rope was cut with a bill, the hangman holding him fast in his arms that he should not fall to the ground, at which time the cord being slack, he made a great noise in his throat. Then they laid him on the earth, drew him along (being alive) near the fire, threw there his bowels and heart, laid him afterwards upon his face, cut off his head by the neck, divided his body by the waist, and then cut it asunder in four parts, which were not dispersed on the gates, but some of his friends obtained the disposing of them, and sent them over sea to be interred as he requested.Two days after his execution Nicolaldi, the Spanish Ambassador, wrote : ‘They hanged an Irish Dominican Friar here two days ago. He can enter into the number of the Martyrs. I cannot send the account of the case now, but will do so another day, and they will see in Rome, whatever the French may say to the contrary about the trivial nature of the persecution here on account of religion, that this Friar suffered for religion. His persecutors maliciously invented a pretext, and all I could do with the King and his ministers was of no avail.’The General Chapter of the Order held in Rome in 1644, thus speaks of him : ‘The Venerable F.B. Arthur Geoghegan, having completed his studies in Spain, and transacted with great prudence certain business entrusted to him, when returning to his province was seized by the English heretics and cast into prison in London. He endured many calumnies from the heretics through hatred of the faith, and was brought to trial on a charge of high treason, as their custom is, and was condemned to death. At the place of execution he made open profession that he was a Catholic and a Dominican. He was hanged, and while half-alive he was cut down, his limbs cut asunder, and his entrails burnt. And so he ended his life gloriously in the year 1633.
