Henry
Forrest – Martyr, St Andrews 1532.

Henry
Forrest was a native of Linlithgow, possibly the son of
Thomas Forrest,  and a young monk  in the
Benedictine monastery there. He had seen and heard Patrick
Hamilton preaching and was secretly taken up with what he
heard. In his opinion the execution was a step too far and
he spoke out against it. Inevitably it came to the
attention of the Archbishop who had him arrested  and
imprisoned in the sea tower at St Andrews. It was bad
enough that by condemning  Hamilton`s heresy that he
was therefore calling Beaton a persecutor, but even more
heinous was the discovery that he had been reading the New
Testament. This was probably a copy of Tyndale`s
translation which was slowly becoming available in the
Lowlands and it was enough to have it in his possession to
be committed to the stake.

As one of
their own, however, they determined to make an example of
him and sought by devious means to gather further
evidence. Forrest was visited by another friar, Walter
Laing, who wormed his way into his confidence and learnt
the young man`s views on the doctrine of Patrick 
Hamilton.  Despite the sacred oath of the
confessional (on which Forrest had relied) the favourable
opinion was relayed to the archbishop. When brought before
the court and he saw the assembled throng he realised what
had happened – betrayal had ensured his death. Indignantly
he cried “Fie on falsehood, fie on false friars revealers
of confession.” to no avail. Having what they wanted he
was condemned, but first they went through the procedures
of degrading him from his priesthood. This consisted in
first dressing him up in the full paranaphalia of the
Order of St Benedictine and then ceremoniously divesting
them from him. Forrest then made a final defiant gesture
by  telling them to take back also their baptism of
him – meaning the Catholic ceremony, the salt the spittle
and exorcisms. His open contempt for the rites of the
Church infuriated the throng, and Beaton directed that
Forrest be burnt on the highest point of the city. 
This was a prominence near the north end of the Abbey
Church from where the fire could be seen across the Tay
and visible in Forfarshire and Angus.