'As a sinner I am truly conscious of having often offended my Creator and I beg him to forgive me, but as a Queen and Sovereign, I am aware of no fault or offence for which I have to render account to anyone here below.'
Mary, Queen of Scots -a Catholic-to her jailer, Sir Amyas Paulet; October 1586
[In 1559 at age 15 after marrying the French Dauphin Francis in Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, Mary became also Queen of France]
She is considered a Catholic Martyr following the religious power struggle after Henry VIII's schism. The following is an account of her death:
"Mary did not retire until two in the morning on the last day of her life. She spent her final hours making a will and generously providing to those who had served her faithfully. Early on the morning of 8 February 1587, dressed in black satin and velvet, she entered the Great Hall of Fotheringhay Castle. She commanded her servant, Melville, to go to her son and tell him that she had never done anything to compromise their kingdom of Scotland. Mary was calm and composed before the several hundred spectators present; she listened while the execution warrant was read and then prayed aloud in English for the Church and her son. She also mentioned Queen Elizabeth and prayed for her to continue to serve God in the years to come.
Mary comforted her weeping servants, her friends and supporters to the last. They helped her undress; beneath her all-black gown, she wore a red petticoat and bodice. Her women helped her attach the long red sleeves. Mary thus died wearing the liturgical color of Catholic martyrdom. She gave them her golden rosary and Agnus Dei, asking them to remember her in their prayers. Her eyes were covered with a white cloth. While her servants wept and called out prayers in a medley of languages, she laid her neck upon the block, commended herself to God and received the death-stroke. But the executioner was unsteady and the first blow cut the back of her head; Mary whispered, 'Sweet Jesus', and the second blow descended."