John Ogilvie

Ogilvie, John (1580–1615), Jesuit priest and martyr. Born at Drum-na-Keith (Banffshire), he was brought up as a Calvinist. Sent to be educated in France, he decided to join the R.C. Church, into which he was received at Louvain in 1596. He then studied at Regensburg and joined the Society of Jesus at Brno in 1599. For ten years he worked in Austria, mainly at Graz and Vienna. He was then assigned to the French province and was ordained at Paris in 1610. From this time he desired to return to Scotland, but was allowed to do so only in 1613.

Owing to the penal laws he travelled as a horse-dealer or as a soldier. He found that most of the Scottish Catholic noblemen had conformed, at least in appearance, and were unwilling to help a proscribed priest. Unable to make much impression, he went to London to contact one of the king's ministers and then to Paris for consultation. He was told sharply to return to Scotland, which he did.

In Edinburgh he stayed at the house of William Sinclair, an advocate. He became his son's tutor and ministered to a congregation besides visiting Catholics in prison. He also ministered in Glasgow and Renfrewshire, reconciling, counselling, and preaching. He was arrested in Glasgow, was interrogated by the archbishop, but refused to incriminate himself. He explicitly recognized James as king of Scotland and detested the attempt to kill him in the Gunpowder Plot. He was then tortured by deprivation of food and sleep, by having his hair torn out, and by being repeatedly thrown on to the floor. The purpose of these tortures, repeated until the doctors said their continuation would be fatal, was to obtain the names of his co-religionists.

He was tried in Edinburgh for high treason and a questionnaire was drawn up for him, supposedly by James I himself. To these five questions on Church and State he answered according to his conscience, but even so, every effort was made to induce him to conform. Meanwhile, he had managed to write an account of his arrest and treatment in prison, which was smuggled out by visitors.

At his trial he declared his readiness to shed his blood in defence of the king's temporal power, but could not obey in matters of spiritual jurisdiction unjustly seized. He was condemned for high treason, but was offered both his freedom and a rich benefice if he would abjure his religion. This he refused and was hanged for defending the spiritual supremacy of the pope. He was canonized in 1976. Feast: 10 March.

Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.

• N.C.E., s.v.; B.L.S., iii. 92–8; W. E. Brown, John Ogilvie (1925). T. Collins, Martyr in Scotland (1955); Bibl. SS., ix. 1132–5