Saint Philip Howard, 20th Earl of Arundel

Philip Howard, 13th Earl of Arundel (28 June 1557 – 19 October 1595) was an English nobleman. He was canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1970, as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. Howard lived mainly during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I; he was charged with being a Roman Catholic, quitting England without leave, and sharing in Jesuit plots. For this, he was sent to the Tower of London in 1585. Howard spent ten years in the Tower, until his death from dysentery. Philip was born at Arundel House, in the Strand, London in 1557, during the upheaval of the English Reformation. He was the only son of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk by his first wife Lady Mary FitzAlan, youngest daughter of Henry FitzAlan, 12th Earl of Arundel and his first wife, Lady Katherine Grey. He was baptised by the Lord Chancellor and Archbishop of York Nicholas Heath at Whitehall Palace with the royal family in attendance, and was named after his co-godfather, King Philip II of Spain, husband of the ruling monarch, Mary I. The baby's other godfather was his grandfather, the 12th Earl of Arundel. His godmother was his great-grandmother, Elizabeth Stafford, widow of the 3rd Duke, who held the child over a gold baptismal font which was kept in the Treasury and normally used only for the baptism of royal children. Shortly after his birth, his mother became seriously ill, possibly from puerperal infection and died at Arundel House in August of that year. The illness that caused his mother's death was common due to poor hygiene around childbirth. His home from the age of seven was a former Carthusian monastery. Being the eldest son and heir to the Duke of Norfolk, Philip was destined to become the future 5th Duke. From the moment of his birth, he bore the courtesy title of Earl of Surrey, a subsidiary title of the dukes of Norfolk.