Maurus Scott (c. 1579 – 30 May 1612), born William Scott, was an English lawyer who became a Benedictine monk and priest, serving as a missionary in England during the period of recusancy. He was executed at Tyburn, and is a Catholic martyr. Early life and conversion Scott was born in Chigwell, Essex around 1579, and was baptised in the Church of England. He was sent to school in London, and entered the University of Cambridge during Lent term 1593-94. At first he joined Trinity College, however, after a year he decided to migrate to Trinity Hall, which at the time was particularly noted for its excellence in the field of civil law, which Scott described as "a branch of study which was more comformable with my disposition and interested me more". He received the degree of LL.B. in 1600, and proceeded to London and the Inner Temple to train as a barrister. It was at this time that he began to seriously consider his religious faith. He had been firmly of the position that Catholicism and its claims were both false and treasonable, however, while visiting a Catholic friend, he began casually flicking through a book of theology and was struck by the force of an argument he read there. This caused him to enter into a period of intensive study and prayer, and it was only after two years of intellectual and spiritual struggle that he finally decided to be received into the Catholic Church. Entry into Benedictine life A notable catalyst in the process of Scott's conversion was the Benedictine prior John Roberts, who had come to London as a missionary. It was Roberts who received Scott into the Catholic Church, and also Roberts who accepted him as a Benedictine postulant. Scott was to be taken to Valladolid, Spain for his monastic formation in the Lent of 1604, but on attempting to leave England, he was arrested along with Roberts and a group of other postulants on suspicion of being Catholic. However, this arrest proved only a temporary delay, as immediately after his release he was taken to Valladolid by Augustine Bradshaw, where it was agreed that he should serve his novitiate at the Abbey of San Facundo, Sahagún. As a Benedictine monk he took the name Maurus, and, in 1610, was ordained priest. He begged to be sent on the mission to England, and his request