20. A Man of the Cloth’s Daring Words in the Face of Death
Of all the cruel means of execution invented by cruel minds, few can be more cruel – not to mention excruciatingly painful – than getting burned alive at the stake. Faced with the prospect of such a fiery death, few among us would be capable of doing more than shriek, wail, or gibber while soiling our underpants in terror.
Yet in the face of such a horrific end, one man of the cloth, Hugh Latimer (circa 1487 – 1555), was daring enough to swallow his fear. He went beyond that and had the presence of mind to come up with a turn of phrase that turned his manner of execution, as a human torch, into memorable words that have gone down the centuries. As he told a colleague at the stake when the flames were lit: “… we shall this day light such a candle in England, as I hope, by God’s grace, shall never be put out.”
