Palmken Palmen, in the Year 1550

Palmken Palmen was a resident of Borren, near the bailiwick of Millen, and he was very zealous to live in the truth of the holy Gospel, and to follow Christ his Lord in obedience, whom he had put on when he was baptized upon his faith. But since the light is hated by darkness, and there was at this time a severe persecution in the country by certain bloodthirsty authorities, stirred up by the priests there, this good man was often in great distress, and was finally imprisoned. In this imprisonment he suffered much reproach and many assaults; and since he kept his faith unmoved in every fear and distress, he was finally sentenced to be burned to ashes. This sentence, as it appeared, he received with gladness; for when he was taken away from the house at Borren, he joyfully kept singing a hymn until the last moment, that is, as long as he had breath, while he stood at the stake at which he was burned to ashes. This took place between Sittert and Limmerich, in the open field, where a gravestone still marks the place where he is said to have died.