mercredi 25 mars 2015

Bienheureux JAMES BIRD, martyr

La cathédrale de Winchester


Bienheureux Jacques Bird, martyr

Né à Winchester et élevé dans la foi protestante, il rejoint l'Église catholique à l'âge de 19 ans. Il va au collège de Douai mais rentre en Angleterre où il refuse de participer à la liturgie anglicane et de reconnaître la suprématie spirituelle royale. Il est condamné à mort et pendu en 1592.

SOURCE : http://www.paroisse-saint-aygulf.fr/index.php/prieres-et-liturgie/saints-par-mois/icalrepeat.detail/2015/03/25/14231/-/bienheureux-jacques-bird-martyr

Bienheureux Jacques Bird

Martyr en Angleterre (+ 1592)

Né à Winchester et élevé dans la foi protestante, il rejoint l'Église catholique à l'âge de 19 ans. Il va au collège de Douai mais rentre en Angleterre où il refuse de prononcer le serment de suprématie et est martyrisé dans sa ville natale. Il a été béatifié en 1929.

À Winchester, en Angleterre, l’an 1592, le bienheureux Jacques Bird, martyr. Sous la reine Élisabeth Ière, jeune homme de dix-neuf ans récemment devenu catholique, il refusa de participer à la liturgie anglicane et fut condamné aux supplices du gibet.

Martyrologe romain


Bl. James Bird

English martyr. Born in Winchester and raised as a Protestant, he embraced the Catholic Church at the age of nineteen. James visited Douai College in Reims, but he returned to England. There he refused to take the Oath of Supremacy and was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Winchester in his native city. He was beatified in 1929.

Blessed James Bird

Also known as
  • James Byrd
  • James Beard
Profile

Lay man in the apostolic vicariate of England, raised as a Protestant and converting to Catholicism at age 19. Considered entering the Douai seminary in Rheims, France, but decided against it and returned to England. He refused to take the Oath of Sumpremacy and was executed for his loyalty to the Church.

Born

A Winchester Martyr on Lady Day

Blessed James Bird or Byrd or Beard was hung, drawn, and quartered for the crime of converting to Catholicism and denying the ecclesial supremacy of Elizabeth I on March 25 in 1593--when he was about 19 years old. He was born and he died in Winchester. 

He had traveled to Reims in France after his conversion in his 19th year to attend the seminary but had decided that he didn't have a vocation to the priesthood after all. Returning to England, the authorities suspected what he'd been up to and presented him with the Oath of Supremacy (which by statute requiring certain officials to take the oath, he would normally not have been ask to do). When he refused to take the Oath or even attend an Anglican service--even after his father begged him to--he was condemed to death.

This blog tells a rather charming--or horrible--story of his father seeing his head still on the pole upon the gates of Winchester:

BORN at Winchester of a gentleman's family and brought up a Protestant, he became a Catholic and went to study at Rheims. On his return he was apprehended and charged with being reconciled to the Roman Church, and maintaining the Pope under Christ to be the Head of the Church. Brought to the bar he acknowledged the indictment and received sentence of death as for high treason, though both life and liberty were offered him if he would but once go to the Protestant Church. When his father solicited him to save his life by complying, he modestly answered that, as he had always been obedient to him, so he would obey him now could he do so without offending God-After a long imprisonment he was hanged and quartered at Winchester, March 25, 1593. He suffered with wonderful constancy and cheerfulness, being but nineteen years old. His head was set upon a pole upon one of the gates of the city. His father one day passing by thought that the head bowing down made him a reverence, and cried out: "Oh, Jemmy my son, ever obedient in life, even when dead thou payest reverence to thy father. How far from thy heart was all treason or other wickedness."

He was beatified in 1929 by Pope Pius XI.


Blessed James Bird M (AC)

Born in Winchester, England; died 1593; beatified in 1929. James Bird was just 19, when he was hanged, drawn, and quartered in his native city for having been reconciled to the Church (Attwater2, Benedictines).

Mementoes of the English Martyrs and Confessors – Venerable James Bird, Layman, 1593

Article

Born at Winchester of a gentleman’s family and brought up a Protestant, he became a Catholic and went to study at Rheims. On his return he was apprehended and charged with being reconciled to the Roman Church, and maintaining the Pope under Christ to be the Head of the Church. Brought to the bar he acknowledged the indictment and received sentence of death as for high treason, though both life and liberty were offered him if he would but once go to the Protestant Church. When his father solicited him to save his life by complying, he modestly answered that, as he had always been obedient to him, so he would obey him now could he do so without offending God. After a long imprisonment he was hanged and quartered at Winchester, 25 March 1593. He suffered with wonderful constancy and cheerfulness, being but nineteen years old. His head was set upon a pole upon one of the gates of the city. His father one day passing by thought that the head bowing down made him a reverence, and cried out: “Oh, Jemmy my son, ever obedient in life, even when dead thou payest reverence to thy father. How far from thy heart was all treason or other wickedness.”

MLA Citation

Father Henry Sebastian Bowden. “Venerable James Bird, Layman, 1593”. Mementoes of the English Martyrs and Confessors, 1910. CatholicSaints.Info. 22 April 2019. Web. 6 April 2021. <https://catholicsaints.info/mementoes-of-the-english-martyrs-and-confessors-venerable-james-bird-layman-1593/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/mementoes-of-the-english-martyrs-and-confessors-venerable-james-bird-layman-1593/

Blessed JAMES BIRD Layman, 1593

FILIAL REVERENCE

BORN at Winchester of a gentleman's family and brought up a Protestant, he became a Catholic and went to study at Rheims. On his return he was apprehended and charged with being reconciled to the Roman Church, and maintaining the Pope under Christ to be the Head of the Church. Brought to the bar he acknowledged the indictment and received sentence of death as for high treason, though both life and liberty were offered him if he would but once go to the Protestant Church. When his father solicited him to save his life by complying, he modestly answered that, as he had always been obedient to him, so he would obey him now could he do so without offending God-After a long imprisonment he was hanged and quartered at Winchester, March 25, 1593. He suffered with wonderful constancy and cheerfulness, being but nineteen years old. His head was set upon a pole upon one of the gates of the city. His father one day passing by thought that the head bowing down made him a reverence, and cried out: "Oh, Jemmy my son, ever obedient in life, even when dead thou payest reverence to thy father. How far from thy heart was all treason or other wickedness."

Honour thy father in work and word, and all patience, that a blessing may come upon thee from him. ECCLES. iii.9, 10.

SOURCE : http://englishmartyrs.blogspot.com/2006/03/venerable-james-bird-layman-1593.html


Beato Giacomo Bird Martire



Winchester, Inghilterra, 1574 – 25 marzo 1593

A quindici anni, abbracciò la Fede cattolica e praticò la religione in segreto. A 19 anni, sospettato di essere sacerdote, fu condannato e ucciso a Winchester, in Inghilterra. Beatificato nel 1929 da Papa Pio XI.

Martirologio Romano: A Winchester sempre in Inghilterra, beato Giacomo Bird, martire: sotto la stessa regina a diciannove anni, fattosi da poco cattolico, si rifiutò di partecipare a una liturgia che sentiva come estranea e meritò così di pervenire alla celebrazione della liturgia celeste. 

Giacomo Bird nacque a Winchester nel 1574, in Inghilterra, da famiglia aristocratica, il cui padre era stato magistrato della città. Il piccolo fu educato nel Protestantesimo, che, all’età di 15 anni abbandonò per entrare nella Chiesa Cattolica. Durante la perquisizione nella casa di un certo Hathe, dove si era recato per cercare il sacerdote Norton, venne arrestato come persona sospetta e condotto davanti al giudice. Venne interrogato e gli fu chiesto da quanto tempo fosse cattolico, egli rispose che lo era da quattro anni e per tale ragione venne condannato a morte come traditore. Tuttavia gli fu data un’opportunità: se rinunciava alla Chiesa cattolica sarebbe stato graziato; ma il giovane rifiutò categoricamente, così come si rifiutò di partecipare ad una liturgia anglicana, meritando così di «pervenire alla celebrazione della liturgia celeste», come recita il martirologio romano. 

Il santo Padre Benedetto XVI il 18 settembre 2010, nell’omelia tenuta in Westminster, ha spiegato l’importanza della Santa Messa come Santo Sacrificio e per la quale molti hanno scelto di morire, piuttosto che di vederla profanata e oltraggiata: «La realtà del sacrificio Eucaristico è sempre stata al cuore della fede cattolica; messa in discussione nel sedicesimo secolo, essa venne solennemente riaffermata al Concilio di Trento, nel contesto della nostra giustificazione in Cristo. Qui in Inghilterra, come sappiamo, molti difesero strenuamente la Messa, sovente a caro prezzo, dando vita a quella devozione alla Santissima Eucaristia che è stata una caratteristica del cattolicesimo in queste terre.

Il sacrificio Eucaristico del Corpo e Sangue di Cristo comprende a sua volta il mistero della passione di nostro Signore che continua nei membri del suo Corpo mistico, la Chiesa in ogni epoca. Il grande crocifisso che qui ci sovrasta, ci ricorda che Cristo, nostro eterno sommo sacerdote, unisce quotidianamente i nostri sacrifici, le nostre sofferenze, i nostri bisogni, speranze e aspirazioni agli infiniti meriti del suo sacrificio».

Suo padre insistette, ma egli rispose: «Ti ho sempre ubbidito volentieri e ubbidirei volentieri anche adesso se potessi farlo senza offendere Dio». Si trovava sul patibolo e Giacomo volle sapere la ragione vera della sua condanna, gli fu detto: «Prometti piuttosto di frequentare la chiesa [anglicana] e allora avrai la grazia della regina». Il diciannovenne rispose: «Vi sono riconoscente: se posso salvarmi la vita entrando in una chiesa protestante, è segno che sono ucciso unicamente per la causa della religione e della fede».  

Il martire venne così impiccato e squartato il 25 marzo 1593, 58 anni dopo il martirio di san Tommaso Moro, e fu beatificato da Pio XI il 15 dicembre 1929.

Autore: Cristina Siccardi

SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/47090

Voir aussi ; http://newsaints.faithweb.com/martyrs/England03.htm

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