Rose Allin
On the evening of March 7, 1557, Rose Allin was asked by her mother to fetch some water from a nearby well. Rose set out, carrying an iron pot for the water in one hand and a candle in the other. The local constable, Edmund Tyrell, was watching her house because Rose along with her mother and father were known to believe that salvation comes by grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ.
Tyrell stopped Rose as she walked to the well. He told her that she should advise her father and mother to abandon their heretical doctrines and become good Catholics. She replied that what he called heresy she regarded as God’s truth.
“Then I perceive you will burn, gossip, for company’s sake,” said Tyrell.
“No sir,” said Rose, “not for company’s sake, but for my Christ’s sake.”
Forcefully, Tyrell seized the candle that Rose was carrying and held her hand to the flame. He held it along the backside of her hand for so long that the ligaments snapped and her flesh was burned away to the bone.
But she didn’t cry out. Her silence and courage only infuriated Tyrell.
“Why, whore, wilt thou not cry? Thou young whore!”
Rose said she thought he had more reason to weep than she had. At last, he released her hand.
“The Lord mend you,” said Rose, “and give you repentance if it be his will. And now, if you think it good, begin at the feet and burn to the head also, for he that set you at work shall pay you your wages one day, I warrant you.”
Though Rose would escape with her life that evening, only a few months later she would be arrested with her family. When the authorities examined her, she was defiant.
They asked her what she thought of the teachings of the Catholic Church. Rose said that they stank in the face of God, and that she would have nothing to do with them. She said that she was not a member of their "church", for they were members of Antichrist and would receive the reward of Antichrist apart from true repentance.
Rose was burned at the stake beside her mother and father on the afternoon of August 2, 1557.