Dirk Willems

This action, plus his continued devotion to his new faith and the baptism of several other people in his home, led to his condemnation by the Catholic Church in the Netherlands and subsequent arrest in Asperen in 1569.

Willems was able to traverse the thin ice of a frozen pond, the Hondegat, because of his lighter weight after subsisting on prison rations.

Willems was executed in Asperen, and with a strong eastward wind blowing that day, the fire was driven away from the condemned's upper body, thus prolonging his torturous death.

It was reported that the wind carried his screams all the way to nearby Leerdam, where he was heard to have exclaimed things such as "O Lord; my God", etc., over seventy times.

Though it is not known if the executioner obeyed this request, it is known that Willems eventually died there, "with great steadfastness", and "having commended his soul into the hands of God".