William Way

---

title: "William Way" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1588-deaths", "16th-century-english-roman-catholic-priests", "martyred-roman-catholic-priests", "people-executed-under-elizabeth-i-by-hanging,-drawing-and-quartering", "english-venerated-catholics", "executed-english-people", "16th-century-roman-catholic-martyrs", "16th-century-venerated-christians", "year-of-birth-unknown", "one-hundred-and-seven-martyrs-of-england-and-wales"] description: "English Catholic priest and martyr" topic_path: "people/1580s" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Way" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary English Catholic priest and martyr ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox saint"]

Field	Value
name	William Way
image	William_Way_-_St_Agathas_Kingston.jpg
alt	Shrine to William Way in St Agatha's Church, Kingston upon Thames.
caption	Shrine to William Way
birth_date
birth_place	Cornwall or Devon
death_date	23 September 1588
death_place	Kingston upon Thames
major_shrine	St. Agatha's Catholic Church, Kingston upon Thames{{cite web
url	http://www.stagathaschurch.org.uk/history.php
feast_day	23 September
::

| name = William Way | image = William_Way_-_St_Agathas_Kingston.jpg | imagesize = | alt = Shrine to William Way in St Agatha's Church, Kingston upon Thames. | caption = Shrine to William Way | titles = | birth_date = | birth_place = Cornwall or Devon | death_date = 23 September 1588 | death_place = Kingston upon Thames | venerated_in = | beatified_date = | beatified_place = | beatified_by = | canonized_date = | canonized_place = | canonized_by = | major_shrine = St. Agatha's Catholic Church, Kingston upon Thames{{cite web |url=http://www.stagathaschurch.org.uk/history.php |title=History Page |publisher=St. Agatha's Catholic Church |accessdate=4 January 2013}} | feast_day = 23 September | attributes = | patronage = | issues = | suppressed_date = | suppressed_by = | influences = | influenced = | tradition = | major_works =

William Way (alias May, alias Flower) (died 1588) was an English Catholic priest and martyr executed under Elizabeth I after the Protestant Reformation. He is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church.

Early life and education

William Way was born in the Diocese of Exeter about c. 1560. Bishop Richard Challoner said he was born in Cornwall, and earlier authorities say in Devonshire.

Since the Protestant Reformation had closed Catholic seminaries in England, Way went to France to study. On 31 March 1584, he received his first tonsure in the Cathedral of Reims from the Cardinal of Guise. On 22 March he was ordained subdeacon, on 5 April deacon, and priest on 18 September 1586, at Laon, probably by Bishop Valentine Douglas (Valentine Duglas), O.S.B.

Career

Way departed for England on 9 December 1586, and by June 1587, was imprisoned. He was indicted at Newgate in September 1588, for being a Roman Catholic priest. He declined to be tried by a secular judge, whereupon the Bishop of London was sent for. Way, refusing to acknowledge him as a bishop or Elizabeth I as head of the church, was immediately condemned as a traitor and to death.

He was austere. When called to trial at the Sessions in August, "he had so much joy that he seemed past himself". Way was "hung, drawn and quartered" at Kingston upon Thames. The date is variously given as either 23 September or 1 October 1588.

References

References

1. {{Catholic
2. [https://archive.org/details/livesofenglishma01burtuoft/page/444/mode/2up Burton, Edwin H., "Venerable William Way", ''Lives of the English Martyrs'', vol.1, (Edwin Burton and J.H. Pollen, eds.), Longmans, Green and Co., 1914, p. 445]{{PD-notice

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