Saint Henri Morse
Un des quarante martyrs
d'Angleterre et du Pays de Galles (+ 1645)
Originaire du Suffolk en
Angleterre, il se convertit au catholicisme et fit ses études au séminaire
anglais de Douai en France, puis à Rome où il entra chez les jésuites. De
retour à Londres, il soigna les victimes de la peste de 1636, ce qui n'empêcha
pas son emprisonnement sous l'inculpation de trahison. Libéré, il reprit son
apostolat neuf années durant. Arrêté de nouveau, il fut livré au martyre à
Tyburn. Il fut canonisé en 1970 avec quarante
martyrs d'Angleterre et du Pays de Galles.
À Londres, en 1645, saint
Henri Morse, prêtre jésuite et martyr. Plusieurs fois arrêté, deux fois envoyé
en exil, il fut enfin, sous le roi Charles Ier, à cause de son sacerdoce,
enfermé en prison et, après y avoir célébré la messe, pendu à Tyburn.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/5521/Saint-Henri-Morse.html
Saint Henri Morse, prêtre
et martyr
Originaire du Suffolk en
Angleterre, il se convertit au catholicisme et fit ses études au séminaire
anglais de Douai en France, puis à Rome où il entra chez les jésuites. De
retour à Londres, il soigna les victimes de la peste de 1636, ce qui n'empêcha
pas son emprisonnement sous l'inculpation de trahison. Libéré, il reprit son
apostolat neuf années durant. Arrêté de nouveau, parce que prêtre catholique,
il fut livré au martyr à Tyburn en 1645 sous Charles Ier.
aint Henry Morse
Le P. Henry Morse
(1595-1645) a été arrêté 5 fois comme catholique, et 4 fois il a été relâché ou
s’est échappé. Sa capacité à sortir de prison fit qu’il a eu une carrière
d’activités sacerdotales beaucoup plus longue que la plupart des jésuites en
Angleterre.
Il commença à étudier à
Cambridge, après quoi il alla étudier le droit à Londres à l’Auberge de
Barnard. Pendant ce temps il devint de moins en moins satisfait de la religion
officielle, et de plus en plus convaincu de la vérité de la foi catholique. Il
fut reçu dans l’église catholique au Collège Anglais de Douai en Flandre, et
retourna ensuite en Angleterre pour se préparer à entrer au séminaire à
l’automne. Les autorités portuaires exigèrent qu’il prononce le serment de
fidélité à la suprématie du roi en matières religieuses. Le nouveau converti
refusa et fut arrêté pour la première fois. Il resta en prison pendant 4 ans et
fut libéré en 1618 lorsque le roi accorda l’amnistie à des centaines de
dissidents religieux et les bannit en France. Morse se rendit d’abord à Douai,
mais là, le Collège Anglais était complet, et on le dirigea vers Rome, où il
étudia la théologie et a été ordonné en 1623.
Avant de quitter Rome, il
rencontra le Supérieur Général des jésuites et demanda d’être admis dans la
Compagnie; le P. Général lui dit qu’il serait accepté dès son retour en Angleterre.
Il est entré chez les jésuites probablement en 1624, et passa sa période de
noviciat à faire du travail pastoral à Newcastle dans le nord de l’Angleterre.
Après avoir passé 18 mois à voyager d’une résidence à une autre, il devait
suivre les Exercices Spirituels de un mois pour compléter son noviciat. Il
devait faire cette retraite à Watten en Flandre, mais le navire qui devait l’y
conduire fut arrêté dans l’embouchure du fleuve Tyne, afin de permettre aux
soldats de rechercher des prêtres, probablement déguisés en commerçants
étrangers. Ils découvrirent le P. Morse, bien qu’il n’ait qu’un chapelet. Il a
été arrêté pour la 2ème fois et envoyé à la prison de Newcastle. Peu après un
jésuite y fut emprisonné, le P. John Robinson, un compagnon de classe de Rome,
qui allait prendre la place du P. Morse. Les deux furent envoyés à York Castle,
où le P. Robinson donna au P. Morse les exercices spirituels qui complèterait
son noviciat. Le P. Morse passa 3 ans en prison avant d’être libéré et expulsé
du pays. Il retourna en Flandre et devint aumônier des soldats anglais qui
servaient dans l’armée espagnole, alors cantonnée en Flandre. Il dut renoncer à
ce travail à cause de sa santé. Il devint alors Socius (companion) du P. maître
des novices.
En 1633 il a de nouveau
été envoyé en Angleterre pour travailler à la paroisse de St Giles dans un
district pauvre près de Londres. Pendant son séjour la ville fut ravagée par
une épidémie de peste. Plusieurs cas isolés ont été découverts en 1635, mais à
la mi-avril et la ville, et les faubourgs étaient atteints par la terrible
épidémie. Le P. Morse se donna corps et âme au service des malades, dans le
style typiquement jésuite. Il trouvait des médicaments pour les malades,
administrait le viatique aux mourants et préparait les morts pour
l’enterrement. Sa récompense pour ce travail désintéressé fut d’être arrêté
pour la troisième fois, quand un chasseur de prêtre le reconnut et le fit
emprisonner à la prison de Newgate. Son procès eut lieu le 22 avril et il se
défendit brillamment, mais, de toute façon, on le trouva coupable, même si la
sentence ne fut jamais prononcée.. Il a été relâché le 17 juin grâce à
l’intervention de la reine Henriette Marie, en reconnaissance pour les services
rendus aux victimes de l’épidémie. Il reprit brièvement du service pastoral,
mais il ne pouvait plus circuler en sécurité et retourna sur le continent et
redevint aumônier des soldats anglais.
En 1643 il fut de nouveau envoyé en Angleterre, mais, cette fois, au
Cumberland, où il était moins connu. Cette stratégie marcha pendant 18 mois
jusqu’au jour où il tomba tard dans la nuit sur un groupe de soldats. Ils le
suspectèrent d’être prêtre parce qu’il voyageait seul, et l’arrêtèrent et
l’enfermèrent pour la nuit dans la maison d’un responsable local.. Heureusement
l’épouse de ce responsable était catholique et aida le jésuite à s’échapper. Il
jouit de sa liberté pendant 6 semaines, mais alors il eut la grande malchance
de frapper à une porte pour demander le chemin, parce qu’il s’était perdu. Le hasard
voulut que l’homme qui lui ouvrit était un des soldats qui l’avaient arrêté
récemment et se souvenait bien de lui.
Il n’y aurait pas de
cinquième fuite. En janvier 1645 il a été transféré de la prison locale à la
prison de Newgate à Londres et jugé à l’Old Bailey. Sa seule présence en
Angleterre prouvait sa culpabilité d’avoir enfreint la loi en revenant en
Angleterre après avoir été banni. Il fut rapidement trouvé coupable de haute
trahison et condamné à mort. Tôt le matin de son dernier jour, il célébra la
messe et fut ensuite traîné à Tyburn pour y être exécuté. Il se trouvait sur la
charrette sous le gibet, on la retira et il fut pendu. Après sa mort on ouvrit
son corps, on enleva son cœur et ses entrailles qui furent brûlées. On exposa
sa tête sur le London Bridge et, après l’avoir écartelé, les 4 parties de son
corps furent exposés aux 4 portes de la ville.
Initialement regroupé et
édité par: Tom Rochford, SJ
Traducteur: Guy Verhaegen
SOURCE : https://www.jesuits.global/fr/saint-blessed/saint-henry-morse/
Also
known as
Henry Mowse
25 October as
one of the Forty
Martyrs of England and Wales
29 October as
one of the Martyrs
of Douai
1 December as
one of the Martyrs
of the Venerable English College
Profile
Convert. Studied for
the priesthood in Rome, Italy.
Joined the Jesuits in 1626.
Worked as a covert priest in London, England.
Worked with plague victims
in 1636,
catching the plague himself
– and recovering from it. Betrayed to the authorities by an informer, he was briefly imprisoned in 1638.
He ministered to people around the countryside of southern England for
years. Arrested and
convicted of the crime of Catholicism in 1647.
One of the Forty
Martyrs of England and Wales.
Born
1549 at
Brome, Suffolk, England
hanged,
drawn, and quartered on 1 February 1645 at
Tyburn, London, England
8 December 1929 by Pope Pius XI (decree
of martyrdom)
15 December 1929 by Pope Pius XI
25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI
Additional
Information
Mementoes
of the English Martyrs and Confessors, by Father Henry
Sebastian Bowden
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
books
A
Calendar of the English Martyrs of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
Jesuits
Prayer Ministry of Singapore
audio
video
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
Dicastero delle Cause dei Santi
Martirologio Romano, 2005 edition
nettsteder
i norsk
spletne
strani v slovenšcini
MLA
Citation
“Saint Henry
Morse“. CatholicSaints.Info. 7 December 2025. Web. 5 March 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-henry-morse/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-henry-morse/
Henry Morse, Priest, SJ M
(RM)
Born in Broome, Suffolk, England, in 1595; died at Tyburn, England, February 1,
1645; beatified in 1929; canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty
Martyrs of England and Wales.
Saint Henry, like so many
saints of his period in the British Isles, was a convert to Catholicism. He was
a member of the country gentry, who studied at Cambridge then finished his
study of law at Barnard's Inn, London. In 1614, he professed the Catholic faith
at Douai. When he returned to England to settle an inheritance, he was arrested
for his faith and spent the next four years in New Prison in Southwark. He was
released in 1618 when a general amnesty was proclaimed by King James.
Henry then returned to
Douai to study for the priesthood, and finished his studies at the Venerabile
in Rome, where he was ordained in 1623. He was sent on the English mission the
following year and was almost immediately arrested after his landing in
Newcastle, and imprisoned at York with the Jesuit Father John Robinson. Before
leaving Rome he had obtained the agreement of the father general of the Society
of Jesus that he should be admitted to the Jesuits in England. His time in
prison with Robinson served as his novitiate; thus, he became a Jesuit in 1625.
After three years in prison was exiled to Flanders, where he served as chaplain
to English soldiers in the army of King Philip IV of Spain.
He returned to England in
1633, where he worked in London under the pseudonym of Cuthbert Claxton. Father
Morse made many converts by his heroic labors in the plague of 1636-37. He had
a list of 400 infected families--Protestant and Catholic--whom he visited
regularly to bring physical and spiritual aid. He devoted service made such an
impression that in one year nearly 100 families were reconciled to the Church.
He himself caught the disease three times, but each time recovered. At the same
time his brothers in faith were urging him to moderate his zeal, the
authorities deemed it suitable to arrested Father Morse for his priesthood.
They charged him with perverting 560 of his Majesty's loyal subjects 'in and
about the parish of St. Giles in the Fields.'
Released on bail through the
intercession of Queen Henrietta Maria, he again left England in 1641 when a
royal decree ordered all Catholic priests from the country, but returned again
from Ghent in 1643. He was arrested in Cumberland eighteen months later while
making a sick-call. He escaped with the help of the Catholic wife of one of his
captors, but was recaptured and brought to trial. He was convicted of being a
Catholic priest at the Old Bailey. On the day of his execution, Father Morse
celebrated a votive Mass of the Most Holy Trinity. He was summarily hanged,
drawn, and quartered at Tyburn. His hanging was attended by the French,
Spanish, and Portuguese ambassadors in protest (Attwater2, Benedictines,
Delaney, Walsh).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0201.shtml
St
Henry Morse SJ: ‘A saviour of life unto life’
Of
the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales canonised on 25 October 1970, ten were
Jesuits. Among them were saints such as Edmund Campion, Nicholas Owen and
Robert Southwell, whose stories are well known. Yet on the fiftieth anniversary
of the martyrs’ canonisation, occurring as it does amid a pandemic, Michael
Holman SJ invites us to study the life of a lesser known Jesuit martyr, St
Henry Morse, ‘priest of the plague’.
On
25 October 2020, the Church in England and Wales will celebrate a significant
anniversary. On that day fifty years ago, in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Pope
Paul VI canonised forty men and women all of whom were martyred in England and
Wales during the Reformation and the years that followed, between 1535 and
1679.
In
his homily, the pope, while praising the martyrs’ ‘fearless faith and
marvellous constancy’, noted that in so many other respects they were so
different: ‘In age and sex, in culture and education, in social status and
occupation, in character and temperament, in qualities natural and supernatural
and in the external circumstances of their lives’. What united them all was an
‘interior quality of unshakeable loyalty to the vocation given them by God and
the sacrifice of their lives as a loving response to that call’.
In
1970, I was a pupil in the Jesuit college in Wimbledon. Devotion to these
martyrs was a prominent feature of school life: we were encouraged to think of
them as our heroes. Stories of their lives and especially their bloody, violent
deaths, were often told in assemblies and during religious education lessons.
Their portraits hung on the walls of the corridors and classrooms. There was
one painting which featured all forty of them, standing in their lay or
religious dress around an altar underneath a gallows with the Tower of London,
where many were imprisoned, looming in the background. Two of the four houses
to which we belonged were named after two of these martyrs, Edmund Campion and Robert
Southwell, and the others after St Thomas More
and St John Fisher, martyrs who had been canonised 35 years previously.
Even
as a schoolboy, I was conscious of being part of a minority Catholic community,
separate from and to some extent feeling threatened by the dominant Protestant
culture of the country in which we lived, and which even then regarded us as
somehow foreign. I remember discussing with one much admired history teacher
the number of high offices of state from which we Catholics were excluded and I
was fascinated by how Catholic historians would interpret the history of the
Reformation period differently from most of those who wrote our textbooks.
Every Friday afternoon the whole school would attend benediction in the nearby
Sacred Heart church at which we would recite a prayer for the conversion of
England.
Some
of these divisions were reflected in my family life. My mother was born
Catholic and my father a life-long member of the Church of England. I remember
the upset I felt when I was told that, as theirs was a ‘mixed marriage’, they
were not allowed singing, only organ music, at their wedding and that it took
place not inside but outside the sanctuary of the church. At Easter and
Christmas when I was a small boy my father would take himself off to Christ
Church, the nearby Anglican church, and to this day it saddens me that he always
went there alone.
When
martyrs are canonised, we are encouraged not only to honour what they did and
how they died but to take them as models for our own
lives as well. We can also ask them to intercede for us, that their
virtues might be ours too. We live in happily more ecumenical times and
Catholics, by and large, find themselves accepted in public life, so do these
martyrs have anything to say to the way we live our discipleship of Jesus
today?
This
question has surfaced for me a good deal in recent months as the anniversary
approached. Ten of the forty martyrs were brother Jesuits which has made the
question still more poignant. What, if anything, do they have to say to my
living the Jesuit vocation in a very different world? Furthermore, we have
recently reorganised our seven Jesuit houses in London into one community in
seven locations, a structure curiously similar to that which existed in the
seventeenth century. Might our new community’s patron be found among these ten?
One
of these martyrs has particularly caught my attention. Less well-known than St
Edmund Campion, who left behind a stellar career at Oxford to become a Jesuit
and priest, or the poet St Robert Southwell, or the builder of priest-holes St
Nicholas Owen, St Henry Morse ministered in London and became known as the
‘priest of the plague’. As our one London community was established during a
pandemic, with a number of our men engaged in work not unlike his, he appeared
to be one suitable candidate for our patron.
Henry
Morse was born in 1595 in Broome, a small Suffolk village less than a mile from
the Norfolk border where he was baptised into the Church of England. He was
executed before a crowd of thousands on 1 February 1645 at Tyburn in London. Fr
Philip Caraman SJ’s biography of Morse is more than 60 years old and aspects of
it have no doubt been superseded by more recent scholarship, but his account of
Morse’s life is well worth reading: it is vividly told and packed full of
detail drawn for the most part from primary sources. Caraman paints a picture
of an unfailingly generous man who in the most adverse of circumstances served
the poorest with little or no regard for his own safety and with great
kindness.
Many
aspects of Morse’s life raise questions. By the age of nineteen, after a year
in Cambridge and another at the Inns of Court, he had taken himself off to the
English College founded by Cardinal William Allen at Douai in northern France
where he became a Catholic. He returned to England to settle his family affairs
prior to beginning his studies for the priesthood. He was arrested, probably at
Dover, and thrown into a prison for four years where he ministered to the sick.
He was eventually released when improved relations with Spain led to an amnesty
for imprisoned Catholics. Seemingly undeterred, he returned to Douai before
being sent to the English College in Rome where he was taught by Jesuits and
where he was ordained priest in 1624. It was here he conceived the idea of
joining the Society of Jesus. He served his novitiate while ministering in the
Newcastle area and while serving another period of imprisonment in York, where
again he engaged in charitable work among his fellow prisoners, Catholic and
non-Catholic alike. On release in 1628, he was banished from England and then
acted as a chaplain to English and Irish troops attached to the Spanish army in
the Low Countries before being sent back to England in 1633.
What
was it that enabled him to defy convention and choose a way of life that was
not only unconventional but which put his life at risk? What was it that
enabled him again and again while in prison to turn his attention from himself
to the needs of others? How was it that, despite years of imprisonment, he
longed to return to England even though he knew of the dangers that awaited him
there?
His
freedom was remarkable. Where did it come from? Certainly, he had a strong
conviction that the Catholic Church was the one true Church. Certainly too, he
had an equally strong desire to be of service to his brothers and sisters whose
eternal salvation, as he understood it, was at risk so long as they were
separated from this Church. But especially significant, it seems to me, is what
one contemporary of his in Rome, Ambrose Corby, wrote in a memoir of Morse: he
was a ‘lover of the cross of Christ’. Was this love the source of his freedom?
A love that led him to desire to be as closely associated with Jesus as he
could be; to share Jesus’s sufferings and to be with Jesus as he shared the
suffering of others?
It’s
this desire to be with Jesus, wherever that love may take us, which Fr Gerald
O’Mahony wrote about in the context of the third week of the Spiritual
Exercises when the retreatant prays for ‘sorrow with Christ in sorrow,
anguish with Christ in anguish, tears and deep grief because of the great
affliction Christ endures for me’ (Spiritual Exercises §203):
I
would rather
be
here with you
than
anywhere else
without
you
I
would rather
have
nothing
and
be with you
than
have everything else
without
you
I
would rather
be
mocked and ridiculed
with
you than be living comfortably
and
well thought of
without
you
Morse’s
freedom was much in evidence when he was sent by the Jesuit superior in London,
Fr Matthew Wilson, to work in the area of the parish of St Giles in the Fields,
near present day Tottenham Court Road station and to the south of Bloomsbury,
then a poor and densely populated area of London. His ministry amongst the
plague victims was undertaken together with the secular priest John Southworth,
also one of the canonised martyrs whose body now lies in the Chapel of St
George and the English Martyrs in Westminster Cathedral. He began with some
days of prayer in a Jesuit rest-house near the village of Cheam in Surrey, an
hour’s ride from London.
Morse
arrived in St Giles in the spring of 1635. It was with the coming of warmer
weather in April that the extent of the outbreak of plague was recognised as
more than a minor occurrence. Reading Caraman’s account, one is struck by the
at least superficial similarities of conditions then with those that mark
today’s pandemic. The best scientific advice was followed, as then supplied by
the Royal College of Physicians. Plague victims and their families were placed
in strict social isolation; others avoided eating and socialising with them
lest they caught the plague. With visiting forbidden, loneliness became a
problem. Business collapsed and unemployment increased with consequent
lawlessness. Some refused to report their illness and failed to isolate, and
consequently the plague spread and the number of victims increased. Theories
about the cause of the plague abounded. Some ‘conversed with the infected’ to
find out ‘the nature, origin and way of curing the plague’, while others saw it
as the judgment of God with puritan preachers blaming it on papist idolatry.
Morse
and Southworth set about bringing relief both to Catholic families, who were
denied support from the Anglican parishes, and others as well. Funds needed to
be raised for food, medicines and clothing. This required considerable
organisational skill and a special committee was established for the purpose.
The first to be asked to contribute were wealthy Catholics in London.
Collections were then extended to Catholic congregations throughout the
country. The principal donor was the Catholic Queen Henrietta Maria. Elizabeth
Godwin gave testimony to Morse’s work at his trial: ‘I being a poor labouring
woman never did or was able to keep a servant, and being shut up seven weeks,
buried three of my little children, which Mr Morse relieved with Her Majesty’s
and divers Catholics’ alms’.
It
was the personal nature of Morse’s ministry which, it seems, made the deepest
impression. Each week, a list of the sick was presented to the parish from
which Morse made his own. When visiting their houses, he wore a mark on his
clothing and carried a white stick so that others could avoid him. ‘All the
while he was in close contact with the plague-stricken’, wrote Fr Alegambe, one
his first biographers, in 1657, ‘entering rooms infected with foul and
pestilential air, sitting down on a bed in the midst of squalor of the most
repulsive and contagious nature’.
Surprisingly,
perhaps, Fr Southworth complained of the ‘unworthy timidity of his companion’.
Morse did not at first touch the victims he visited, administering confession
and communion but not extreme unction. Morse accepted the rebuke and thereafter
gave all three sacraments to the dying.
Morse’s
care for the sick and dying is all the more remarkable as he himself caught the
disease. He was cared for by a Catholic, Doctor Turner, who massaged the boils
on the priest’s body and then lanced them. When Morse complained of the risk
Turner ran by treating him in this way, Turner replied that it was his duty to
serve personally a priest who had devoted himself to saving the lives of the
poor.
His
care extended to the dead as well, at a time when they were denied the rituals
of the Church, and bodies were removed by night on carts and tipped into common
graves. He would sit with the dying, close their eyes after death, wash and
layout their bodies and bless them before burial. It was said of him that it
was his kindness that prompted men and women to seek repentance, and kindness
that won many converts.
It
was on the charges of being a priest and of winning converts, thereby
withdrawing them from their faith and allegiance to the king, that Morse was
arrested in August 1636. When he was found guilty of the first charge, he
thanked the judge ‘from the bottom of my heart’. Of the second he was found not
guilty. On 23 April 1637 he made his solemn profession in prison before Fr
Edward Lusher who was so inspired by Morse’s example that he himself cared
for the victims of the Great Plague in London nearly 30 years later and died
from the infection.
Morse
was released from prison never having been sentenced on the first charge
following the intervention of the king. He left the country, served as a
chaplain to an English regiment in the service of Spain and returned to England
for the last time in 1643. Another period of imprisonment in Newcastle and
Durham followed, and once again Morse ministered to his fellow prisoners. In
January 1645, he was arraigned before a court and sentenced to death on the
first charge of which he had been found guilty nine years before.
In
the early morning of 1 February, Morse celebrated his final Mass in Newgate
prison and bade farewell to his fellow prisoners. He was then dragged on a
hurdle through the streets of London and, with the noose round his neck, he
struck his breast three times as a sign to a priest in the crowd to give him final
absolution. ‘In the presence of an almost infinite multitude looking on in
silence and in deep emotion’, wrote Ambrose Corby, ‘died Fr Henry Morse, a
saviour of life unto life … upright sincere and constant. May my end be like
his’.
I
found myself physically moved by Caraman’s account of Morse’s last morning and
death. It was as though I had lost a friend. A friend, maybe; but a model, a
patron?
A
younger Jesuit said to me recently that for him there were two qualities at the
heart of a Jesuit vocation. These were ‘obedience’ and a commitment to
the magis: doing willingly whatever our superiors ask us to do and always
giving it our best. Morse is certainly an outstanding example of both, as he
surely is of that quality often identified in him, kindness. Morse shows us all
what kindness is: going to the help of those who are poorest, bringing that
help with tenderness and compassion, paying attention to the organisational
matters without which that help is not possible, focussing more on their needs
than on our own safety while all the time seeking to bring about in those whom
we help a reconciliation, a closer relationship with Jesus. Without this our
kindness is not complete and Morse shows us that it is this very kindness which
the Lord uses to bring reconciliation about. As my younger Jesuit friend also
reminded me, love always begets love.
What
accounts for the quality of this man’s life? We can point to his love for Jesus
on the cross: his desire to be with Jesus, to become like Jesus, to go with
Jesus wherever Jesus went. But I wonder if his gratitude is not more
fundamental still. We get a glimpse of this gratitude of his in a prayer he
wrote shortly after Fr Lusher had received his solemn profession in prison:
May
God grant that while I live I may never cease to act in a manner worthy of this
high honour which I acknowledge I have done nothing to deserve from his hand
and providence; and may I bear always in my heart the testimony of my
gratitude, and, as long as I live never cease to give thanks for it, if not by
the increase of good works, at least by the desire to accomplish them.
Today
we are all walking through very strange times when we need the example of men
and women who can help us find meaning in what is happening. St Henry Morse,
priest of the plague, is one such outstanding example. He encourages us to
respond to events happening around us in the spirit of Jesus by making the most
of the opportunities we are given to serve those who have least with
generosity, with compassion and with his hallmark kindness, knowing that
thereby we may bring them closer to God. His inspiration reaches across the
centuries.
St
Henry Morse, pray for us!
Michael
Holman SJ is a former Provincial of the Jesuits in Britain and is Acting
Superior of the London Jesuit Community.
SOURCE :
https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/st-henry-morse-sj-%E2%80%98-saviour-life-unto-life%E2%80%99
Saint Henry Morse, SJ
Born : 1595
Died : February 1, 1645
Beatified : December 15, 1929
Canonized : October 25, 1997
Henry Morse was born of
Protestant parents in Suffolk, England. He began his studies at Corpus Christie
College, Cambridge but left at the age of seventeen to study law at Barnard’s
Inn, London. During this time he became increasingly dissatisfied with the
established religion and more convinced of the truth of the Catholic faith. In
1614, he went to the English College at Douai, Flanders and was received into
the Catholic Church. His older brother, William had become a Catholic the year
before and was at that time a seminarian at Douai.
Shortly after his
conversion, Henry returned to England to prepare to enter the seminary that
autumn. Upon arrival, he was asked by the English port authorities to take the
oath of allegiance acknowledging the king’s supremacy in religious matters. The
recent convert resolutely refused and was arrested and imprisoned for four
years and was released in 1618 when the king decided to get rid of hundreds of
religious dissenters by banishing them to France. Henry made his way to Douai
again but was sent to Rome as the English College there had too many students.
He was ordained in 1623.
Fr Morse returned to
England but before leaving Rome he visited the Jesuit General and requested to
be admitted into the Society of Jesus. The General agreed and told him that he
would be admitted after his return to England and wrote to the Jesuit superior
in England to accept Fr Morse upon his arrival. Fr Morse probably entered the
Society in 1624 and spent his novitiate period doing pastoral work in the
Newcastle area in northern England. After 18 months of traveling from station
to station, he was due to conclude his novitiate by making the 30-day retreat
in Flanders, but the ship he was sailing in was unexpectedly halted at the
mouth of the Tyne River by soldiers searching for a priest disguised as a
foreign merchant. They discovered Fr Morse instead. Thus Fr Morse was arrested
and imprisoned a second time and sent to Newcastle prison. Shortly, another
Jesuit was also imprisoned. He was Fr John Robinson, a classmate from Rome, who
was on his way to take Fr Morse’s place. Both ended up at York castle where Fr
Robinson directed Fr Morse in the retreat which completed his novitiate.
Fr Morse was banned from England after serving 3 years in prison and returned to Flanders where he served as chaplain to the English soldiers serving in the Spanish army then in Flanders. Later he served as assistant to the novice master until 1633 when his health broke. He returned to England to replace Fr Andrew White, who had accompanied the first Catholic settlers to southern Maryland.
Fr Morse was assigned to
work at the parish of St Giles in a poor district outside London. While he was
there, the city and suburbs were ravaged by a plague. Fr Morse threw himself
into caring for the plague-stricken; hearing confessions, securing medicine for
the sick, took viaticum to the dying and prepared the dead for burial. His
reward for his selfless service was to be arrested a third time and imprisoned
at Newgate prison. He ably defended himself at the trial, but was convicted
nevertheless although sentence was never passed. He was released two months
later because of Queen Henrietta Marie’s intervention in recognition of his
service to plague victims. After his release, Fr Morse returned to the continent
and again became chaplain to the soldiers as he could no longer move about
safely in England.
In 1643, he was again
assigned to England and was sent to Cumberland where he was less well-known. He
worked for 18 months until he accidentally walked into a group of soldiers late
one night who suspected he was a priest. He was arrested and held overnight in
the home of a local official. Fortunately, the official’s wife was a Catholic
and helped him escape. He enjoyed freedom for 6 weeks but one day he and his
guide lost their way in the countryside and innocently knocked on the door of a
house to ask for directions. The man who answered was one of the soldiers who
had recently apprehended him and remembered him well and there would be no
fifth escape.
Fr Morse was moved from
local jails to London’s Newgate in January 1645 and tried at Old Bailey; his
very presence in England proved him guilty of violating the law by coming back
after he had been banished. He was found guilty of high treason and condemned to
death. During the 4 days between sentencing and execution, many visitors came
to his cell seeking his prayers or asking for a keepsake. Among them were
ambassadors from the Catholic countries who wished to show their solidarity
with the Catholics in England.
At 4 am on February 1, Fr
Morse celebrated his last Mass. At 9 am Fr Morse was dragged to Tyburn, the
place of execution outside London. He mounted the cart beneath the gallows.
When they placed the noose round his neck, he addressed the people: “I am come
hither to die for my religion……I have a secret which highly concerns His
Majesty and Parliament to know. The kingdom of England will never be truly
blessed until it returns to the Catholic faith and its subjects are all united
in one belief under the Bishop of Rome.” He ended by saying: “I pray that my
death may be some kind of atonement for the sins of this kingdom.” Then he said
his prayers an asked that the cap be pulled over his eyes; beat his breast 3
times, giving the signal to a priest in the crowd to impart absolution. He then
said: “Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.” After he was dead his
body was torn open, his heart removed, his entrails burned and body quartered.
In accordance with the custom that followed executions, his head was exposed on
London Bridge and his quartered body was mounted on the city’s four gates.
Fr Morse was 50 years old
at the time of his martyrdom and had been a Jesuit for 20 years.
SOURCE : https://www.jesuit.org.sg/feb-1st-henry-morse-sj/
Ven. Henry Morse
Martyr; b. in 1595 in
Norfolk; d. at Tyburn, 1 Feb., 1644. He was received into the church at Douai, 5 June, 1614,
after various journeys was ordained at Rome, and left for the
mission, 19 June, 1624. He was admitted to the Society of Jesus at
Heaton; there he was arrested and imprisoned for
three years in York Castle, where he made his novitiate under his
fellow prisoner,
Father John Robinson, S.J., and took simple vows. Afterwards he was
a missionary to the English regiments in the Low Countries. Returning to England at the end
of 1633 he laboured in London, and in 1636 is reported
to have received about ninety Protestant families into
the Church. He
himself contracted the plague but recovered. Arrested 27 February, 1636, he
was imprisoned in
Newgate. On 22 April he was brought to the bar charged with being a priest and having
withdrawn the king's subjects from their faith and
allegiance. He was found guilty on the first count, not guilty on the second,
and sentence was deferred. On 23 April he made his solemn profession of
the three vows to
Father Edward Lusher. He was released on bail for 10,000 florins, 20 June,
1637, at the insistence of Queen Henriette Maria. In order to free his sureties
he voluntarily went
into exile when the royal proclamation was issued ordering all priests to leave
the country before 7 April, 1641, and became chaplain to Gage's
English regiment in the service of Spain. In 1643 he
returned to England;
arrested after about a year and a half he was imprisoned at Durham and
Newcastle, and sent by sea to London. On 30 January he was again brought to the
bar and condemned on his previous conviction. On the day of his execution his
hurdle was drawn by four horses and the French ambassador attended with all his
suite, as also did the Count of Egmont and
the Portuguese ambassador. The martyr was allowed
to hang until he was dead. At the quartering the footmen of the French
Ambassador and of the Count of Egmont dipped their handkerchiefs into the martyr's blood. In
1647 many persons possessed by evil spirits were
relieved through the application of his relics.
Sources
FOLEY, Records of the
English Province S.J. (London, 1877-1883), I, 566-611; IV, 288-9; VII, 528,
658, 1198, 1200; CAHLLONER, Memoirs of Missionary Priests, II (Manchester,
1803), 151-1; TANNER, Societas Jesu (Prague, 1675), 126-131; HAMILTON, Calendar
State Papers Domestic 1640-1 (London, 1882), 292.
Wainewright,
John. "Ven. Henry Morse." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol.
10. New York: Robert Appleton
Company, 1911. <https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10578a.htm>.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2023 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10578a.htm
Mementoes
of the English Martyrs and Confessors – Venerable Henry Morse, S.J., 1645
Article
Born of a gentleman’s
family in Suffolk, he was converted, as a law student in London at the age of
twenty-three, and went abroad to Douay. Returning to England as priest in 1624,
he was apprehended on landing at New castle, and cast into prison at York.
Being already in ill-health, he suffered much from want and the filth of the
place for three years. He found means, however, during this time to be admitted
to the Society of Jesus, and laboured with great fruit among the felons and
male factors. Banished in 1627, he nearly died from a malignant fever which he
caught as camp missioner among the English soldiers on the Continent. In 1636
he returned to minister to the plague-stricken in London. He visited the
infected under incredible difficulties. Harassed by the pursuivants, suspected
even by good Catholics, he spent his time day and night, as occasion called, in
squalid and foetid garrets, and in close contact with every form of the disease.
His self-sacrifice was rewarded by numerous conversions. He was himself
stricken with the disease, but on recovery he immediately returned to his
labours, to be again infected, and when almost dead was brought back to life by
receipt of a letter ordering him to rest for awhile.
Soon after his second
recovery from the plague, he was committed to Newgate for being a priest and
seducing his Majesty’s subjects from the religion by law established, and a
certificate was read in court showing that he had perverted 560 Protestants in
and about the Parish of Saint Giles in the Fields. For being a priest he was
banished in 1641, and again he devoted himself to the English soldiers
quartered in Flanders, till in 1643 he returned to the North of England, and there
resumed his missionary labours. Apprehended, he was lodged for the night in a
constable’s house whose wife was a Catholic and enabled him to escape. About
six weeks after, however, God’s will that he should suffer for His Name plainly
appeared, for he was recognised, arrested, and shipped from Newcastle for
London. At sea he endured much from the barbarous usage of the crew, and was
nearly lost with the ship in a violent storm. The martyr’s crown was, however,
to be his. Arrived in London, he was committed to Newgate, and, notwithstanding
that his brother, a Protestant, left no stone unturned to save his life, he was
sentenced to death for high treason on his previous conviction of being a
priest. He suffered 1 February 1644.
On 1 February 1645, the
day of his execution, he celebrated, early in the morning, a votive Mass of the
Blessed Trinity in thanksgiving for the great favour God was pleased to do him
in calling him to the crown of martyrdom, having first, according to custom,
recited the Litanies of our Blessed Lady and of all the Saints, for the
conversion of England. After which he made an exhortation to the Catholics who
were present, and, having rested for an hour, said the Canonical Hours, and
then visited his fellow-prisoners, and took leave of them with a cheerfulness
that was extraordinary. The little space that remained he employed in prayer
with a religious of his order, till, being admonished that his time was come,
he cast himself on his knees, and, with hands and eyes lifted up to Heaven,
gave hearty thanks to Almighty God for His infinite mercy towards him, and
offered himself without reserve as a sacrifice to His Divine Majesty. “Come, my
sweetest Jesus,” said he, “that I may now be inseparably united to Thee in time
and eternity: welcome ropes, hurdles, gibbets, knives, and butchery, welcome
for the love of Jesus my Saviour.” At nine he was drawn on a sledge by four
horses to Tyburn.
“I am come hither to die
for my religion, for that religion which is professed by the Catholic Roman
Church, founded by Christ, established by the Apostles, propagated through all
ages by a hierarchy always visible to this day, grounded on the testimonies of
Holy Scriptures, upheld by the authority of Fathers and Councils, out of which,
in fine, there can be no hopes of salvation. Time was when I was a Protestant,
being then a student of the law in the Inns of Court in town, till, being
suspicious of the truth of my religion, I went abroad into Flanders, and upon
full conviction renounced my former errors, and was reconciled to the Church of
Rome, the mistress of all Churches. Upon my return to England I was committed
to prison for refusing to take the oath of supremacy, and banished. After seven
years I returned to England as a priest, and devoted myself to the poor and the
plague-stricken.”
“No self-glorification,”
here interrupted the Sheriff.
“I will glory only in
God,” continued the martyr, “who has pleased to allow me to seal the Catholic
faith with my blood, and I pray that my death may atone for the sins of this
nation, for which end and in testimony of the one true Catholic faith confirmed
by miracles now as ever, I willing die.” Tyburn, 1 February 1645.
MLA
Citation
Father Henry Sebastian
Bowden. “Venerable Henry Morse, S.J., 1645”. Mementoes
of the English Martyrs and Confessors, 1910. CatholicSaints.Info.
21 April 2019. Web. 5 March 2026. <https://catholicsaints.info/mementoes-of-the-english-martyrs-and-confessors-venerable-henry-morse-s-j-1645/>
Saint Henry Morse
Feb 01, 2015 / Written
by: America
Needs Fatima
Feast February 1
Henry Morse was born to
protestant parents in Suffolk, England, in 1595, and left his home to study law
in London where he learned of the Catholic Faith and converted at the age of
23. Henry traveled to Rome where he was ordained a priest.
He made his way back home
to England, where he was immediately arrested and imprisoned at York with a
fellow priest, a Jesuit.
The three years of his
imprisonment became for the young ordained priest an intense novitiate, and by
the time he was released, he had made his final vows as a Jesuit.
Upon his release from
prison, Henry was banished from England, but returned in 1633 under a false
name. During the plague of 1636, Henry would travel to the homes of Catholics
and Protestants alike, caring for the sick. He caught the plague from his
patients three times, but miraculously recovered each time.
The people of England were
so touched by Henry’s zeal and goodness, over 100 people converted to
Catholicism in less than a year.
He was then betrayed by a
friend, arrested by the authorities and again banished from England. Instead,
he traveled to Southern England and ministered to the people there. Then, in
1645, Henry was arrested for the last time and sent to London for execution.
After celebrating a final
Mass, Fr. Henry Morse proclaimed his faith to the crowd, prayed aloud for
himself and for his executioners and was executed. “I am come hither to die for
my religion.” He said to the crowd: “…I pray that my death may be some kind of
atonement for the sins of this kingdom.”
Then, striking his breast
three times, he gave a signal to a priest hidden in the crowd to give him absolution
and said: “Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.”
Henry Morse was canonized
as a martyr in 1970.
SOURCE : https://americaneedsfatima.org/articles/saint-henry-morse
The
One Hundred and Five Martyrs of Tyburn – 1 February 1645
Venerable Henry
Morse, Jesuits priest
Born in Suffolk in the
year 1595,
he was reconciled to the Church at the age of twenty-three, and received Holy
Orders at Douai. Being sent on the English Mission, he was at once captured,
and imprisoned for three years among felons and malefactors. This prison was at
the same time his place of novitiate. He there prepared himself to become a
Jesuit, and a priest of the Society who was also in prison assisted him as a
novice master. Venerable Henry Morse was twice banished from the kingdom, but
found means to return and devote himself to the service of poor Catholics in
the time of the Plague. He was charged with “perverting” 560 Protestants in one
Parish alone.
On the morning of his
martyrdom he celebrated the votive Mass of the Blessed Trinity in thanksgiving
for the great favour God was pleased to grant him a favour he had besought for
thirty years having first, according to his custom, recited the Litanies of Our
Lady and the Saints for the conversion of England. When he was admonished that
his time was come, he knelt down and offered himself without reserve as a
sacrifice to the Divine Majesty and in reparation for the sins of his nation.
He welcomed death, saying: “Come, my sweetest Jesus, that I may now be
inseparably united to Thee in time and in eternity. Welcome ropes, hurdles,
gibbets, knives and butchery! welcome for the love of Jesus my Saviour!”
– from The One Hundred and Five Martyrs of Tyburn, by
The Nuns of the Convent of Tyburn, 1917
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/the-one-hundred-and-five-martyrs-of-tyburn-1-february-1645/
St. Henry Morse,
SJ--February 1, 1645
Philip Caraman, SJ wrote
a life of today's English Catholic Martyr titled Henry Morse: Priest of
the Plague. The Jesuit Curia in Rome provides this biography:
Henry Morse (1595-1645)
was five times arrested for being Catholic and four times was released or
escaped. His ability to get out of prison meant that he had a much longer
ministry career than most Jesuits in England.
He began his studies at
Cambridge then took up the study of law at Barnard's Inn, London; at the same
time he became increasingly dissatisfied with the established religion and more
convinced of the truth of the Catholic faith. He was received into the Catholic
church at the English College at Douai, Flanders, and then returned to England
to prepare to enter the seminary that autumn. Port authorities in England asked
him to take the oath of allegiance acknowledging the king's supremacy in
religious matters. The recent convert refused to do so and was arrested the
first time. He was imprisoned four years before being set free in 1618 when the
king released hundreds of religious dissenters and exiled them to France. Morse
first went to Douai but the English College had too many students, so he was
sent to Rome, where studied theology and was ordained in 1623.
Before Morse left Rome,
he met the Jesuit superior general and asked to be admitted into the Society;
the general said Morse would be admitted as soon as he returned to England. He
probably entered the Jesuits in 1624, and spent his novitiate period doing
pastoral work in the Newcastle area in northern England. After 18 months of
traveling from station to station, he was due to make the month-long Spiritual
Exercises to complete his novitiate. He was supposed to do so at Watten,
Flanders; but the ship he boarded to take him there was halted in the mouth of
the Tyne River so soldiers could search for a priest, possibly disguised as a
foreign merchant. They discovered Father Morse instead, although he carried
only a rosary. He was arrested the second time and sent to Newcastle's prison.
Soon another Jesuit was imprisoned, Father John Robinson, a classmate from
Rome, who was on his way to take Morse's place. Both ended up at York Castle,
where Robinson directed Morse in the retreat which completed his novitiate.
Morse spent three years in prison before he was released and banned from the
land. The young Jesuit returned to Flanders and served as chaplain to the
English soldiers serving in the Spanish army then in Flanders. He had to give
up this work when his health broke; then he became assistant to the novice
master.
In 1633 he was again
assigned to England to work at the parish of St. Giles in a poor district
outside London. While he was there, the city was ravaged by a plague. Several
isolated cases were discovered in late 1635, but by mid-April both city and
suburbs were afflicted by the dread disease. Morse threw himself into caring
for the sick, in the classic Jesuit fashion. He found medicine for the sick,
took viaticum to the dying and prepared the dead for burial. His reward for
this selfless service was to be arrested a third time when a priest-hunter
recognized him and incarcerated him in Newgate Prison. On April 22 he came to
trial and ably defended himself, but was convicted anyway although sentence was
never passed. He was released on June 17 because of the intervention of Queen
Henrietta Maria in recognition of his service to plague victims. He briefly
returned to pastoral work, but could no longer move about safely so he returned
to the continent and again became chaplain to the soldiers.
He was again assigned to
England in 1643, but sent to Cumberland where he was less well-known. This
strategy worked for 18 months until he accidentally walked into a group of
soldiers late one night. They suspected he was a priest because he was
travelling alone, so they arrested him and held him overnight in the home of a
local official. Fortunately, the official's wife was Catholic and she helped
the Jesuit escape. For six weeks he enjoyed freedom, but then had the extreme
bad fortune to knock on a door seeking directions when he was lost. The man who
opened the door happened to be one of the soldiers who had recently apprehended
him and remembered him well.
There would be no fifth
escape. He was moved from local jails to London's Newgate Prison in January
1645 and tried in Old Bailey; his very presence in England proved him guilty of
violating the law by coming back after he had been banished. He was quickly
found guilty of high treason and condemned to death. Early in the morning of
his last day, he celebrated Mass and then was dragged to Tyburn to be executed.
He stood on a cart under the gallows and was left hanging when the cart moved
away. After he was dead, his body was torn open, his heart removed and his
entrails burned. His head was exposed on London bridge and the four sections of
his quartered body were mounted on the city's four gates.
His life and death--or
the life and death of some of the other English Catholic martyrs, like St.
Edmund Campion, especially--should be the subject of a great adventure movie.
It would be good to balance out the anti-Catholic offenses of the Cate
Blanchett Elizabeth movies, with the murderous Jesuit. Depicting
early modern Cambridge, Douai, Rome, St. Giles, and London would be a great
challenge, of course! But can't you see the scene of Father Morse knocking at
the door and the soldier who'd arrested him opening the door? Imagine him
standing in the cart at Tyburn, rope around his neck, saying these words:
"I am come hither to
die for my religion. . . . I have a secret which highly concerns His Majesty
and Parliament to know. The kingdom of England will never be truly blessed
until it returns to the Catholic faith and its subjects are all united in one
belief under the Bishop of Rome. . . . I pray my death may be some kind of
atonement for the sins of this kingdom."
SOURCE : http://supremacyandsurvival.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/st-henry-morse-sj-february-1-1645.html
MORSE, HENRY (1595–1645)
MORSE, HENRY (1595–1645),
Jesuit, known also as Claxton (his mother's name) and Warde, was
born in Norfolk in 1595, and studied law in one of the inns of court in London.
Harbouring doubts concerning the protestant religion, he retired to the
continent, and was reconciled to the Roman church at Douay. Afterwards he
became an alumnus of the English College there. He entered the English College
at Rome 27 Dec. 1618, and having completed his theological studies, and
received holy orders, he was sent from Douay to the English mission 19 June
1624. He entered the Society of Jesus in the London novitiate in 1625, and was
soon afterwards removed to the Durham district. Being apprehended, he was
committed to York Castle, where he remained in confinement for three years. In
1632 he was at Watten, acting as prefect of health and consultor of the
college. In 1633 he was minister and consultor at Liege College, and in the
same year he became a missioner in the London district. He was again
apprehended, committed to Newgate, tried and condemned to death in 1637, but
the sentence was commuted to banishment at the intercession of Queen Henrietta
Maria. In 1641-2 he was camp missioner to the English mission at Ghent. Two
years later he had returned to England, and again appears as a missioner in the
Durham district. He was arrested, carried in chains to London, tried, and,
being condemned to death as a traitor on account of his sacerdotal character,
was executed at Tyburn on 1 Feb. (N.S.) 1644-5.
In Father Ambrose
Corbie's 'Certamen Triplex,' Antwerp, 1645, is an engraved portrait, which is
photographed in Foley's 'Records' [see Corbie, Ambrose]; two other
portraits are mentioned by Granger (Biog. Hist. ii.207).
A copy of Morse's diary,
entitled 'Papers relating to the English Jesuits,' is preserved in the British
Museum (Addit. MS. 21203).
His elder brother, William
Morse (d. 1649), born in Norfolk in 1591, was likewise a convert to the
catholic faith, became a Jesuit, and laboured on the English mission until his
death on 1 Jan. 1648-9.
[An account of Morse's
execution, entitled Narratio Gloriosæ Mortis quam pro Religione Catholica P.
Henricvs Mors è Societate Iesv Sacerdos fortiter oppetijt Londini in Anglia. Anno
Salutis, 1645. 1 Februarij stylo nouo Quem hic stylum deinceps sequemur, Ghent,
1645, 4to, pp. 21; a memoir appears in Ambrose Corbie's Certamen Triplex,
Antwerp, 1645, 4to, pp. 95–144. See also Challoner's Missionary Priests, ii.
180; Dodd's Church Hist. iii. 120; Florus Anglo-Bavaricus, p. 82; Foley's
Records, i. 566–610, vi. 288, vii. 527; Oliver's Jesuit Collections, p. 146;
Tanner's Societas Jesu usque ad sanguinis et vitæ profusionem militans.]
SOURCE : http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Morse,_Henry_(DNB00)
Sant' Enrico Morse
(Mowse) Sacerdote gesuita, martire
Festa: 1 febbraio
>>> Visualizza la
Scheda del Gruppo cui appartiene
Brome, Suffolk,
Inghilterra, 1595 - Tyburn, Londra, Inghilterra, 1 febbraio 1645
Figlio di un protestante,
si convertì al cattolicesimo durante gli studi a Londra. Nel 1614, dopo aver
iniziato gli studi ecclesiastici, fu costretto a fuggire in esilio a causa
delle persecuzioni anti-cattoliche. Rientrato in patria nel 1619, fu nuovamente
arrestato e imprigionato a Newcastle. Nel 1620 fu ordinato diacono e, un anno
dopo, sacerdote. Nel 1622 fu nuovamente arrestato e imprigionato a York, dove
rimase per quattro anni. Nel 1626 fu trasferito a Londra, dove continuò la sua
attività pastorale in clandestinità. Nel 1641 fu arrestato per l'ennesima volta
e condannato a morte per aver celebrato la Messa. Il 1° febbraio 1645 fu
impiccato a Tyburn, a Londra.
Martirologio
Romano: A Londra in Inghilterra, sant’Enrico Morse, sacerdote della
Compagnia di Gesù e martire: catturato a più riprese e scacciato per due volte
in esilio, sotto il re Carlo I fu infine gettato in carcere a causa del suo
sacerdozio e, dopo avervi celebrato la Messa, fu impiccato a Tyburn e rese lo
spirito a Dio.
Henry Morse, la cui vicenda terrene e soprattutto il suo tragico epilogo è assai simile a quella di parecchi altri sacerdoti gesuiti martirizzati in Inghilterra nel medesimo contesto storico, era nato a Brome nel Suffolk nel 1595, sesto dei nove figli di Roberth, proprietario terriero protestante proveniente da Tivetshall St Mary nel Norfolk, e di Margaret Collinson. Rimase orfano di padre nel 1612, che però gli lasciò una rendita annuale. Henry giunse alla decisione di convertirsi al cattolicesimo presumibilmente durante i suoi studi al collegio Bernard di Londra, anche se ad onor del vero non esistono prove scritte della sua ammissione ad alcun collegio di avvocati.
Dal giugno 1614 Henry intraprese gli studi ecclesiastici, ma dovette interromperli per tornare in patria, poichè infatti quando si scatenarono violente persecuzioni nei confronti di coloro che non accettarono di riconoscere ufficialmente il sovrano quale legittimo capo della Chiesa inglese il Morse si trovava imprigionato a Newgate in attesa dell’esilio. Era l’anno 1618. L’agosto successivo fece ritorno a Douai ed in dicembre entrò nel collegio inglese di Roma. Nel 1620 ricevette l’ordinazione diaconale, ma non vi è traccia della sua ascesa al sacerdozio.
A settembre di tale anno da Douai fu inviato in una missione inglese, ma venne arrestato non appena giunto a Newcastle. Imprigionato nel castello di York, fu compagno di prigionia del gesuita John Robinson. Siccome già a Roma aveva espresso il desiderio di entrare a far parte della Compagnia di Gesù, d’accordo con i suoi superiori dedicò i tre anni trascorsi in prigione a compiere il noviziato gesuita, al termine del quale poté emettere i voti semplici. Una volta rilasciato ed esiliato nelle Fiandre, ove esercitò il suo ministero quale cappellano dei mercenari cattolici inglesi intenti a combattere al fianco della Spagna. Nel maggio 1624 era sicuramente già sacerdote.
Sul finire del 1633 il Morse fece ritorno in Inghilterra sotto le spoglie di Cutberto Claxton, portando avanti la sua missione a Londra. Tra il 1636 ed il 1637 un’epidemia di peste colpì la città ed Henry, pur fra gravi rischi per la sua salute, non mancò mai di portare aiuto e conforto ai più bisognosi. Nel 1641 un decreto regio ordinò l’espulsione di tutti i preti cattolici ed il santo obbedì, per amore di coloro che avevano raccolto la cauzione per liberarlo. Tornò così a servire i soldati nelle Fiandre, finchè due anni dopo fu inviato nuovamente in Inghilterra e per diciotto mesi operò nel nord del paese.
Arrestato ai confini del Cumberland, fu però liberato da una donna cattolica, la moglie di colui che l’aveva catturato. Dopo circa sei settimane fu però nuovamente e per l’ultima volta arrestato, condotto nella prigione di Durham e poi trasferito a Londra per ricevere la condanna a morte in quanto dichiaratosi sacerdote. Henry Morse fu infine giustiziato il 1° febbraio 1645 presso Tyburn.
La Chiesa Cattolica non ha però dimenticato la fedeltà di questo suo insigne figlio: nel 1929 fu infatti dichiarato “beato”, insieme a numerosi altri martiri della medesima persecuzione, ed infine canonizzato da Papa Paolo VI il 25 ottobre 1970 con i Quaranta Martiri di Inghilterra e Galles.
Autore: Fabio Arduino
SOURCE : https://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/39320
CANONIZZAZIONE DI
QUARANTA MARTIRI DELL’INGHILTERRA E DEL GALLES
OMELIA DEL SANTO PADRE
PAOLO VI
Domenica, 25 ottobre l970
We extend Our greeting first of all to Our venerable brother Cardinal John Carmel Heenan, Archbishop of Westminster, who is present here today. Together with him We greet Our brother bishops of England and Wales and of all the other countries, those who have come here for this great ceremony. We extend Our greeting also to the English priests, religious, students and faithful. We are filled with joy and happiness to have them near Us today; for us-they represent all English Catholics scattered throughout the world. Thanks to them we are celebrating Christ’s glory made manifest in the holy Martyrs, whom We have just canonized, with such keen and brotherly feelings that We are able to experience in a very special spiritual way the mystery of the oneness and love of .the Church. We offer you our greetings, brothers, sons and daughters; We thank you and We bless you.
While We are particularly pleased to note the presence of the official
representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Reverend Doctor Harry
Smythe, We also extend Our respectful and affectionate greeting to all the
members of the Anglican Church who have likewise come to take part in this
ceremony. We indeed feel very close to them. We would like them to read in Our
heart the humility, the gratitude and the hope with which We welcome them. We
wish also to greet the authorities and those personages who have come here to
represent Great Britain, and together with them all the other representatives
of other countries and other religions. With all Our heart We welcome them, as
we celebrate the freedom and the fortitude of men who had, at the same time,
spiritual faith and loyal respect for the sovereignty of civil society.
STORICO EVENTO PER LA
CHIESA UNIVERSALE
La solenne canonizzazione dei 40 Martiri dell’Inghilterra e del Galles da Noi or ora compiuta, ci offre la gradita opportunità di parlarvi, seppur brevemente, sul significato della loro esistenza e sulla importanza the la loro vita e la loro morte hanno avuto e continuano ad avere non solo per la Chiesa in Inghilterra e nel Galles, ma anche per la Chiesa Universale, per ciascuno di noi, e per ogni uomo di buona volontà.
Il nostro tempo ha bisogno di Santi, e in special modo dell’esempio di coloro che hanno dato il supremo testimonio del loro amore per Cristo e la sua Chiesa: «nessuno ha un amore più grande di colui che dà la vita per i propri amici» (Io. l5, l3). Queste parole del Divino Maestro, che si riferiscono in prima istanza al sacrificio che Egli stesso compì sulla croce offrendosi per la salvezza di tutta l’umanità, valgono pure per la grande ed eletta schiera dei martiri di tutti i tempi, dalle prime persecuzioni della Chiesa nascente fino a quelle – forse più nascoste ma non meno crudeli - dei nostri giorni. La Chiesa di Cristo è nata dal sacrificio di Cristo sulla Croce ed essa continua a crescere e svilupparsi in virtù dell’amore eroico dei suoi figli più autentici. «Semen est sanguis christianorum» (TERTULL., Apologet., 50; PL l, 534). Come l’effusione del sangue di Cristo, così l’oblazione che i martiri fanno della loro vita diventa in virtù della loro unione col Sacrificio di Cristo una sorgente di vita e di fertilità spirituale per la Chiesa e per il mondo intero. «Perciò - ci ricorda la Costituzione Lumen gentium (Lumen gentium, 42) – il martirio, col quale il discepolo è reso simile al Maestro che liberamente accetta la morte per la salute del mondo, e a Lui si conforma nell’effusione del sangue, è stimato dalla Chiesa dono insigne e suprema prova di carità».
Molto si è detto e si è scritto su quell’essere misterioso che è l’uomo : sulle
risorse del suo ingegno, capace di penetrare nei segreti dell’universo e di
assoggettare le cose materiali utilizzandole ai suoi scopi; sulla grandezza
dello spirito umano che si manifesta nelle ammirevoli opere della scienza e
dell’arte; sulla sua nobiltà e la sua debolezza; sui suoi trionfi e le sue
miserie. Ma ciò che caratterizza l’uomo, ciò che vi è di più intimo nel suo
essere e nella sua personalità, è la capacità di amare, di amare fino in fondo,
di donarsi con quell’amore che è più forte della morte e che si prolunga
nell’eternità.
IL SACRIFICIO NELL’AMORE
PIÙ ALTO
Il martirio dei cristiani è l’espressione ed il segno più sublime di questo amore, non solo perché il martire rimane fedele al suo amore fino all’effusione del proprio sangue, ma anche perché questo sacrificio viene compiuto per l’amore più alto e nobile che possa esistere, ossia per amore di Colui che ci ha creati e redenti, che ci ama come Egli solo sa amare, e attende da noi una risposta di totale e incondizionata donazione, cioè un amore degno del nostro Dio.
Nella sua lunga e gloriosa storia, la Gran Bretagna, isola di santi, ha dato al mondo molti uomini e donne che hanno amato Dio con questo amore schietto e leale: per questo siamo lieti di aver potuto annoverare oggi 40 altri figli di questa nobile terra fra coloro che la Chiesa pubblicamente riconosce come Santi, proponendoli con ciò alla venerazione dei suoi fedeli, e perché questi ritraggano dalle loro esistenze un vivido esempio.
A chi legge commosso ed ammirato gli atti del loro martirio, risulta chiaro, vorremmo dire evidente, che essi sono i degni emuli dei più grandi martiri dei tempi passati, a motivo della grande umiltà, intrepidità, semplicità e serenità, con le quali essi accettarono la loro sentenza e la loro morte, anzi, più ancora con un gaudio spirituale e con una carità ammirevole e radiosa.
È proprio questo atteggiamento profondo e spirituale che accomuna ed unisce questi uomini e donne, i quali d’altronde erano molto diversi fra loro per tutto ciò che può differenziare un gruppo così folto di persone, ossia l’età e il sesso, la cultura e l’educazione, lo stato e condizione sociale di vita, il carattere e il temperamento, le disposizioni naturali e soprannaturali, le esterne circostanze della loro esistenza. Abbiamo infatti fra i 40 Santi Martiri dei sacerdoti secolari e regolari, abbiamo dei religiosi di vari Ordini e di rango diverso, abbiamo dei laici, uomini di nobilissima discendenza come pure di condizione modesta, abbiamo delle donne che erano sposate e madri di famiglia: ciò che li unisce tutti è quell’atteggiamento interiore di fedeltà inconcussa alla chiamata di Dio che chiese a loro, come risposta di amore, il sacrificio della vita stessa.
E la risposta dei martiri fu unanime: «Non posso fare a meno di ripetervi che
muoio per Dio e a motivo della mia religione; - così diceva il Santo Philip
Evans - e mi ritengo così felice che se mai potessi avere molte altre vite,
sarei dispostissimo a sacrificarle tutte per una causa tanto nobile».
LEALTÀ E FEDELTÀ
E, come d’altronde numerosi altri, il Santo Philip Howard conte di Arundel asseriva egli pure: «Mi rincresce di avere soltanto una vita da offrire per questa nobile causa». E la Santa Margaret Clitherow con una commovente semplicità espresse sinteticamente il senso della sua vita e della sua morte: «Muoio per amore del mio Signore Gesù». « Che piccola cosa è questa, se confrontata con la morte ben più crudele che Cristo ha sofferto per me », così esclamava il Santo Alban Roe.
Come molti loro connazionali che morirono in circostanze analoghe, questi quaranta uomini e donne dell’Inghilterra e del Galles volevano essere e furono fino in fondo leali verso la loro patria che essi amavano con tutto il cuore; essi volevano essere e furono di fatto fedeli sudditi del potere reale che tutti - senza eccezione alcuna - riconobbero, fino alla loro morte, come legittimo in tutto ciò che appartiene all’ordine civile e politico. Ma fu proprio questo il dramma dell’esistenza di questi Martiri, e cioè che la loro onesta e sincera lealtà verso l’autorità civile venne a trovarsi in contrasto con la fedeltà verso Dio e con ciò che, secondo i dettami della loro coscienza illuminata dalla fede cattolica, sapevano coinvolgere le verità rivelate, specialmente sulla S. Eucaristia e sulle inalienabili prerogative del successore di Pietro, che, per volere di Dio, è il Pastore universale della Chiesa di Cristo. Posti dinanzi alla scelta di rimanere saldi nella loro fede e quindi di morire per essa, ovvero di aver salva la vita rinnegando la prima, essi, senza un attimo di esitazione, e con una forza veramente soprannaturale, si schierarono dalla parte di Dio e gioiosamente affrontarono il martirio. Ma talmente grande era il loro spirito, talmente nobili erano i loro sentimenti, talmente cristiana era l’ispirazione della loro esistenza, che molti di essi morirono pregando per la loro patria tanto amata, per il Re o per la Regina, e persino per coloro che erano stati i diretti responsabili della loro cattura, dei loro tormenti, e delle circostanze ignominiose della loro morte atroce.
Le ultime parole e l’ultima preghiera del Santo John Plessington furono appunto
queste: «Dio benedica il Re e la sua famiglia e voglia concedere a Sua Maestà
un prospero regno in questa vita e una corona di gloria nell’altra. Dio conceda
pace ai suoi sudditi consentendo loro di vivere e di morire nella vera fede,
nella speranza e nella carità».
«POSSANO TUTTI OTTENERE LA SALVEZZA»
Così il Santo Alban Roe,
poco prima dell’impiccagione, pregò: «Perdona, o mio Dio, le mie innumerevoli
offese, come io perdono i miei persecutori», e, come lui, il Santo Thomas
Garnet che - dopo aver singolarmente nominato e perdonato coloro che lo avevano
tradito, arrestato e condannato - supplicò Dio dicendo: «Possano tutti ottenere
la salvezza e con me raggiungere il cielo».
Leggendo gli atti del loro martirio e meditando il ricco materiale raccolto con
tanta cura sulle circostanze storiche della loro vita e del loro martirio,
rimaniamo colpiti soprattutto da ciò che inequivocabilmente e luminosamente
rifulge nella loro esistenza; esso, per la sua stessa natura, è tale da
trascendere i secoli, e quindi da rimanere sempre pienamente attuale e, specie
ai nostri giorni, di importanza capitale. Ci riferiamo al fatto che questi
eroici figli e figlie dell’Inghilterra e del Galles presero la loro fede
veramente sul serio: ciò significa che essi l’accettarono come l’unica norma
della loro vita e di tutta la loro condotta, ritraendone una grande serenità ed
una profonda gioia spirituale. Con una freschezza e spontaneità non priva di
quel prezioso dono che è l’umore tipicamente proprio della loro gente, con un
attaccamento al loro dovere schivo da ogni ostentazione, e con la schiettezza
tipica di coloro che vivono con convinzioni profonde e ben radicate, questi
Santi Martiri sono un esempio raggiante del cristiano che veramente vive la sua
consacrazione battesimale, cresce in quella vita che nel sacramento
dell’iniziazione gli è stata data e che quello della confermazione ha
rinvigorito, in modo tale che la religione non è per lui un fattore marginale,
bensì l’essenza stessa di tutto il suo essere ed agire, facendo sì che la
carità divina diviene la forza ispiratrice, fattiva ed operante di una esistenza,
tutta protesa verso l’unione di amore con Dio e con tutti gli uomini di buona
volontà, che troverà la sua pienezza nell’eternità.
La Chiesa e il mondo di oggi hanno sommamente bisogno di tali uomini e donne, di ogni condizione me stato di vita, sacerdoti, religiosi e laici, perché solo persone di tale statura e di tale santità saranno capaci di cambiare il nostro mondo tormentato e di ridargli, insieme alla pace, quell’orientamento spirituale e veramente cristiano a cui ogni uomo intimamente anela - anche talvolta senza esserne conscio - e di cui tutti abbiamo tanto bisogno.
Salga a Dio la nostra gratitudine per aver voluto, nella sua provvida bontà, suscitare questi Santi Martiri, l’operosità e il sacrificio dei quali hanno contribuito alla conservazione della fede cattolica nell’Inghilterra e nel Galles.
Continui il Signore a suscitare nella Chiesa dei laici, religiosi e sacerdoti che siano degni emuli di questi araldi della fede.
Voglia Dio, nel suo amore, che anche oggi fioriscano e si sviluppino dei centri di studio, di formazione e di preghiera, atti, nelle condizioni di oggi, a preparare dei santi sacerdoti e missionari quali furono, in quei tempi, i Venerabili Collegi di Roma e Valladolid e i gloriosi Seminari di St. Omer e Douai, dalle file dei quali uscirono appunto molti dei Quaranta Martiri, perché come uno di essi, una grande personalità, il Santo Edmondo Campion, diceva: «Questa Chiesa non si indebolirà mai fino a quando vi saranno sacerdoti e pastori ad attendere al loro gregge».
Voglia il Signore concederci la grazia che in questi tempi di indifferentismo
religioso e di materialismo teorico e pratico sempre più imperversante,
l’esempio e la intercessione dei Santi Quaranta Martiri ci confortino nella
fede, rinsaldino il nostro autentico amore per Dio, per la sua Chiesa e per gli
uomini tutti.
PER L’UNITA DEI CRISTIANI
May the blood of these Martyrs be able to heal the great wound inflicted upon God’s Church by reason of the separation of the Anglican Church from the Catholic Church. Is it not one-these Martyrs say to us-the Church founded by Christ? Is not this their witness? Their devotion to their nation gives us the assurance that on the day when-God willing-the unity of the faith and of Christian life is restored, no offence will be inflicted on the honour and sovereignty of a great country such as England. There will be no seeking to lessen the legitimate prestige and the worthy patrimony of piety and usage proper to the Anglican Church when the Roman Catholic Church-this humble “Servant of the Servants of God”- is able to embrace her ever beloved Sister in the one authentic communion of the family of Christ: a communion of origin and of faith, a communion of priesthood and of rule, a communion of the Saints in the freedom and love of the Spirit of Jesus.
Perhaps We shall have to go on, waiting and watching in prayer, in order to
deserve that blessed day. But already We are strengthened in this hope by the
heavenly friendship of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales who are canonized
today. Amen.
Copyright © Dicastero per
la Comunicazione
SOURCE : https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/it/homilies/1970/documents/hf_p-vi_hom_19701025.html
I MARTIRI
Elenco dei martiti con
relativa ricorrenza:
John Houghton, Sacerdote
certosino, 4 maggio
Robert Lawrence,
Sacerdote certosino, 4 maggio
Augustine Webster,
Sacerdote certosino, 4 maggio
Richard Reynolds,
Sacerdote brigidino, 4 maggio
John Stone, Sacerdote
agostiniano, 23 dicembre
Cuthbert Mayne,
Sacerdote, 30 novembre
Edmund Campion, Sacerdote
gesuita, 1 dicembre
Ralph Sherwin, Sacerdote,
1 dicembre
Alexander Briant,
Sacerdote gesuita, 1 dicembre
John Paine, Sacerdote, 2
aprile
Luke Kirby, Sacerdote, 30
maggio
Richard Gwyn, Laico, 17
ottobre
Margaret Clitherow,
Laica, 25 marzo
Margaret Ward, Laica, 30
agosto
Edmund Gennings,
Sacerdote, 10 dicembre
Swithun Wells, Laico, 10
dicembre
Eustace White, Sacerdote,
10 dicembre
Polydore Plasden,
Sacerdote, 10 dicembre
John Boste, Sacerdote, 24
luglio
Robert Southwell,
Sacerdote gesuita, 21 febbraio
Henry Walpole, Sacerdote
gesuita, 7 aprile
Philip Howard, Laico, 19
ottobre
John Jones, Sacerdote dei
Frati Minori, 12 luglio
John Rigby, Laico, 21
giugno
Anne Line, Laica, 27
febbraio
Nicholas Owen, Religioso
gesuita, 2 marzo
Thomas Garnet, Sacerdote
gesuita, 23 giugno
John Roberts, Sacerdote
benedettino, 10 dicembre
John Almond, Sacerdote, 5
dicembre
Edmund Arrowsmith,
Sacerdote gesuita, 28 agosto
Ambrose Edward Barlow,
Sacerdote benedettino, 10 settembre
Alban Bartholomew Roe,
Sacerdote benedettino, 21 gennaio
Henry Morse, Sacerdote
gesuita, 1 febbraio
John Southworth,
Sacerdote, 28 giugno
John Plessington,
Sacerdote, 19 luglio
Philip Evans, Sacerdote
gesuita, 22 luglio
John Lloyd, Sacerdote, 22
luglio
John Wall (Gioacchino di
Sant’Anna), Sacerdote dei Frati Minori, 22 agosto
John Kemble, Sacerdote,
22 agosto
David Lewis, Sacerdote
gesuita, 27 agosto
SOURCE : https://www.causesanti.va/it/santi-e-beati/40-martiri-di-inghilterra-e-galles.html
P.
HENRICVS MORSÆUS / vande Societeyt IESV / Voor het gheloof ghehangen en
ghevierendeelt te Londen opden 1. Februarij. 1645.
Den hellige Henry Morse
(1595-1645)
Minnedag:
25. oktober
En av Førti martyrer fra
England og Wales
Den hellige Henry Morse
ble født i 1595 i Brome i Suffolk i England og ble oppdratt i den
protestantiske tro av sine foreldre, som tilhørte lavadelen. Han studerte jus
ved Barnards Inn i London, og bestemte seg da for å bli katolikk. Han dro til
Douai i Flandern og ble opptatt i Kirken og begynte på Det engelske Kollegiet
der i 1614. Han vendte tilbake til England, men ble arrestert og satt i fengsel
i fire år i London, og deretter ble han forvist. Han begynte på Det engelske
Kollegiet i Roma («The Venerabile»), ble presteviet der og i 1624 vendte han
tilbake til England og gikk i land i Newcastle.
I 1626 ble han arrestert
igjen og satt fengslet i fire år i York Castle. Før han forlot Roma hadde han
gjort en avtale med jesuittenes general om at han skulle bli opptatt i Jesu
Selskap i England. Ettersom en av hans medfanger i York var jesuittpateren John
Robinson, og derfor ble de tre årene i fengslet akseptert som hans novisiat som
jesuitt, og han avla foreløpige løfter der. Etter hvert ble han løslatt fra fengslet
og forvist
Etter en periode som
misjonær og kapellan for de engelskmennene som deltok i de spanske troppene i
Nederland, ble han mot slutten av 1633 sendt tilbake til London under navnet
Cuthbert Claxton. Han tjenestegjorde som prest i London, og var spesielt aktiv
under pesten i 1636-37, da han viste påfallende mot og hengivenhet. Han hadde
en liste over 400 rammede familier, både protestanter og katolikker, som han
besøkte regelmessig for å gi fysisk og åndelig hjelp, og appellerte med hell om
almisser for mat og medisiner. Dette gjorde så stort inntrykk at på et år ble
nærmere hundre familier gjenforsonet med Kirken. Morse fikk selv pesten tre
ganger, men kom seg hver gang. Noen betraktet disse helbredelsene som
mirakuløse, mens hans overordnede ba ham om å moderere sin tjenesteiver.
På denne tiden ble de
strenge lovene mot katolikker ofte ignorert, men i 1638 fortalte en informant
myndighetene at Morse var en prest som var ordinert i utlandet, og han forførte
kongens undersåtter bort fra religion og troskap. Morse ble stilt for retten,
tiltalt for å være prest og for å ha «fordervet» 560 av Hans Majestets
protestantiske undersåtter «i og omkring sognet St. Giles in the Fields». Han
ble kjent skyldig i den første anklagen, men frikjent for den andre, og han ble
fengslet i Newgate. Men dronning Henrietta Maria overtalte kong Karl I til å
løslate ham mot en kausjon på 10.000 floriner. Da det kom en kongelig
forordning om at alle prester måtte forlate landet innen 7. april 1641, adlød
Morse den for ikke å involvere sine kausjonister. Deretter arbeidet han i en ny
periode som militærkapellan for Gages regiment som kjempet for spanjolene mot
nederlenderne.
Fra Gent ble han igjen
sendt tilbake til England i 1643. Han arbeidet først i Cornwall for recusantene der,
det vil si dem som nektet å gå i anglikanske gudstjenester, og deretter
arbeidet han i nord i 18 måneder. Da han gjorde et sykebesøk ved grensen til
Cumberland, ble han arrestert på mistanke. Han ble tatt med i retning Durham,
men på veien gjorde den katolske konen til en av hans fangevoktere, hvor de
tilbrakte natten, ham i stand til å flykte. Men seks uker senere ble han igjen
arrestert av parlamentstropper i Newcastle. Etter noen uker i fengsel i Durham
ble han sendt med båt til London. Han ble stilt for retten i Old Bailey og dømt
til døden i kraft av sin dom ni år tidligere.
Han ble sperret inne i
Newgate. På sin henrettelsesdag den 1. februar 1645 feiret Morse en votivmesse
for Den hellige Treenighet, før han ble trukket på en bøddelkjerre av fire
hester til Tyburn. I tillegg til den vanlige mengden skuelystne var også den
franske, spanske og portugisiske ambassadøren til stede med sine følger for å
gjøre ære på en av de mest fargerike og eventyrlige av de engelske martyrene.
Han erklærte for folket at han døde for sin religion og at han ikke visste om
noe komplott mot kongen, og han ba høyt for seg selv, sine forfølgere og for
kongeriket England, ble han henrettet ved å bli hengt, buksprettet og partert,
«hanged, drawn and quartered».
Han ble saligkåret av
pave Pius XI i 1929 og kanonisert av pave Paul VI som en av de Førti martyrer
fra England og Wales den 25. oktober 1970. De har felles minnedag den 25.
oktober. Tidligere ble han minnet på dødsdagen 1. februar.
Kilder: Farmer,
Butler, Attwater/Cumming - Kompilasjon og oversettelse: p. Per Einar Odden -
Sist oppdatert: 1998-05-03 22:01
SOURCE : https://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/hmorse
HOMILIA DO PAPA PAULO VI
Domingo, 25 de Outubro de
1970
Dirigimos a Nossa
saudação, em primeiro lugar, ao venerado Irmão, Cardeal Dom John Carmel Heenan,
Arcebispo de Westminster, aqui presente, e também aos Nossos Irmãos, Bispos da
Inglaterra, de Gales e de outros Países, que vieram a Roma para assistir a esta
grandiosa cerimónia, juntamente com muitos sacerdotes, religiosos, estudantes e
fiéis de língua inglesa. Sentimo-Nos feliz e comovido por os ter hoje à Nossa
volta. Representam, para Nós, todos os católicos ingleses, espalhados pelo
mundo e levam-Nos a celebrar a glória de Cristo nos Santos Mártires, que
acabámos de canonizar, com um sentimento tão vivo e tão fraterno que Nos
permite saborear, com singularíssima experiência espiritual, o mistério da
unidade e da caridade da Igreja. Saudamo-vos, Irmãos e Filhos, agradecemo-vos e
abençoamo-vos.
A Nossa saudação, cheia
de respeito e de afecto, também se dirige aos membros da Igreja Anglicana,
presentes a este rito. De modo particular, apraz-Nos sublinhar a presença do
representante oficial do Arcebispo de Canterbury, Reverendo Doutor Harry
Smythe. Como os sentimos perto! Gostaríamos que eles lessem no Nosso coração a
humildade, o reconhecimento e a esperança com que os acolhemos. E, agora,
saudamos as Autoridades e as Personalidades que aqui vieram representar a Grã-
Bretanha e, com elas, todos os Representantes de outros Países e de outras
Religiões. Associamo-los, de bom grado, a esta celebração da liberdade e da
fortaleza do homem, que tem fé e vive espiritualmente, ao mesmo tempo que
mantém respeitosa fidelidade à soberania da sociedade civil.
A solene canonização dos
Quarenta Mártires da Inglaterra e de Gales, que acabámos de realizar,
proporciona-Nos a agradável oportunidade de vos falar, embora brevemente, sobre
o significado da sua existência e sobre a importância que a sua vida e a sua
morte tiveram, e continuam a ter, não só para a Igreja na Inglaterra e no País
de Gales, mas também para a Igreja Universal, para cada um de nós e para todos
os homens de boa-vontade.
O nosso tempo tem
necessidade de Santos e, de modo especial, do exemplo daqueles que deram o
testemunho supremo do seu amor por Cristo e pela sua Igreja: «Ninguém tem maior
amor do que aquele que dá a sua vida pelos seus amigos » (Jo 15, 13).
Estas palavras do Divino Mestre, que se referem, em primeiro lugar, ao
sacrifício que Ele próprio realizou na cruz, oferecendo-se pela salvação de
toda a humanidade, são válidas para as grandes e eleitas fileiras dos mártires
de todos os tempos, desde as primeiras perseguições da Igreja nascente até às
dos nossos dias, talvez mais veladas, mas igualmente cruéis. A Igreja de Cristo
nasceu do sacrifício de Cristo na cruz, e continua a crescer e a desenvolver-se
em virtude do amor heróico dos seus filhos mais autênticos. Semen est
sanguis christianorum (Tertuliano, Apologeticus, 50,
em: PL 1, 534). A oblação que os mártires fazem da própria vida, em
virtude da sua união com o sacrifício de Cristo, torna-se, como a efusão do
sangue de Cristo, uma nascente de vida e de fecundidade espiritual para a
Igreja e para o mundo inteiro. Por isso, a Constituição sobre a Igreja
recorda-nos: «o martírio, pelo qual o discípulo se assemelha ao Mestre que
aceitou livremente a morte pela salvação do mundo e a Ele se conforma na efusão
do sangue, é considerado pela Igreja como doação insigne e prova suprema da
caridade » (Lumen
Gentium, n. 42)-
Tem-se falado e escrito
muito sobre este ser misterioso que é o homem: sobre os dotes do seu engenho,
capaz de penetrar nos segredos do universo e de dominar as realidades
materiais, utilizando-as para alcançar os seus objectivos; sobre a grandeza do
espírito humano, que se manifesta nas admiráveis obras da ciência e da arte;
sobre a sua nobreza e a sua fraqueza; sobre os seus triunfos e as suas
misérias. Mas o que caracteriza o homem, o que ele tem de mais íntimo no seu
ser e na sua personalidade, é a capacidade de amar, de amar profundamente, de
se dedicar com aquele amor que é mais forte do que a morte e que continua na
eternidade.
O martírio dos cristãos é
a expressão e o sinal mais sublime deste amor, não só porque o mártir se
conserva fiel ao seu amor, chegando a derramar o próprio sangue, mas também
porque este sacrifício é feito pelo amor mais nobre e elevado que pode existir,
ou seja, pelo amor d'Aquele que nos criou e remiu, que nos ama como só Ele sabe
amar, e que espera de nós uma resposta de total e incondicionada doação, isto
é, um amor digno do nosso Deus.
Na sua longa e gloriosa
história, a Grã-Bretanha, Ilha de Santos, deu ao mundo muitos homens e
mulheres, que amaram a Deus com este amor franco e leal. Por isso, sentimo-Nos
feliz por termos podido incluir hoje, no número daqueles que a Igreja reconhece
publicamente como Santos, mais quarenta filhos desta nobre terra, propondo-os,
assim, à veneração dos seus fiéis, para que estes possam haurir, na sua
existência, um vívido exemplo.
Quem lê, comovido e
admirado, as actas do seu martírio, vê claramente e, podemos dizer, com
evidência, que eles são os dignos émulos dos maiores mártires dos tempos
passados, pela grande humildade, simplicidade e serenidade, e também pelo
gáudio espiritual e pela caridade admirável e radiosa com que aceitaram a
sentença e a morte.
É precisamente esta
atitude de profunda espiritualidade que agrupa e une estes homens e mulheres,
que, aliás, eram muito diversos entre si em tudo aquilo que pode diferenciar um
grupo tão numeroso de pessoas: a idade e o sexo, a cultura e a educação, o
estado e a condição social de vida, o carácter e o temperamento, as disposições
naturais, sobrenaturais e as circunstâncias externas da sua existência.
Realmente, entre os Quarenta Mártires, temos sacerdotes seculares e regulares,
religiosos de diversas Ordens e de categoria diferente, leigos de nobilíssima
descendência e de condição modesta, mulheres casadas e mães de família. O que
os une todos é a atitude interior de fidelidade inabalável ao chamamento de
Deus, que lhes pediu, como resposta de amor, o sacrifício da própria vida.
E a resposta dos Mártires
foi unânime. São Philip Evans disse: « Não posso deixar de vos repetir que
morro por Deus e por causa da minha religião. E sinto-me tão feliz que, se
alguma vez pudesse ter mais outras vidas, estaria muito disposto a
sacrificá-las todas por uma causa tão nobre ».
E, como aliás também
muitos outros, São Philip Howard, conde de Arundel, afirmou igualmente: «Tenho
pena de ter só uma vida a oferecer por esta nobre causa». Santa Margaret
Clitherow, com simplicidade comovedora, exprimiu sintèticamente o sentido da
sua vida e da sua morte: « Morro por amor do meu Senhor Jesus ». Santo Alban
Roe exclamou: «Como isto é pouco em comparação com a morte, muito mais cruel,
que Jesus sofreu por mim ».
Como muitos outros dos
seus compatriotas, que morreram em circunstâncias análogas, estes quarenta
homens e mulheres da Inglaterra e de Gales queriam ser, e foram até ao fim,
leais para com a própria pátria que eles amavam de todo o coração. Queriam ser
e foram, realmente, fiéis súbditos do poder real, que todos, sem qualquer
excepção, reconheceram até à morte como legítimo em tudo o que pertencia à
ordem civil e política. Mas consistia exactamente nisto o drama da existência
destes mártires: sabiam que a sua honesta e sincera lealdade para com a
autoridade civil estava em contraste com a fidelidade a Deus e com tudo o que,
segundo os ditames da sua consciência, iluminada pela fé católica, compreendia
verdades reveladas sobre a Sagrada Eucaristia e sobre prerrogativas inalienáveis
do sucessor de Pedro que, por vontade de Deus, é o Pastor universal da Igreja
de Cristo. Devendo escolher entre a perseverança na fé e, portanto, a morte por
ela, e a conservação da própria vida, renegando a fé, eles, sem um momento de
hesitação e com uma energia verdadeiramente sobrenatural, puseram-se da parte
de Deus e enfrentaram alegremente o martírio. O seu espírito era tão magnânimo,
os seus sentimentos tão nobres, e a inspiração da sua existência tão cristã,
que muitos deles morreram a rezar pela sua querida pátria, pelo Rei ou pela
Rainha e, até, pelos responsáveis directos da sua prisão, dos seus tormentos e
das circunstâncias ignominiosas da sua morte atroz.
As últimas palavras e a
última oração de São John Plessington foram exactamente estas: « Que Deus
abençoe o Rei e a sua família e queira conceder a Sua Majestade um reinado
próspero nesta vida e uma coroa de glória na outra. Que Deus conceda a paz aos
seus súbditos, permitindo-lhes que vivam e morram na verdadeira fé, na
esperança e na caridade ».
Santo Alban Roe, pouco
antes de ser enforcado, implorou: « O meu Deus, perdoa as minhas inumeráveis
ofensas, como eu perdoo os meus perseguidores ». E São Thomas Garnet, depois de
ter nomeado e perdoado aqueles que o tinham traído, encarcerado e condenado,
dirigiu uma súplica a Deus, dizendo: «Que todos eles possam obter a salvação e
chegar ao céu comigo».
Ao ler as actas do
martírio deles e ao meditar sobre o abundante material, recolhido com tanto
cuidado, sobre as circunstâncias históricas da sua vida e do seu sofrimento,
ficamos impressionado, de modo particular, com o que inequívoca e luminosamente
refulge na sua existência, e que, pela sua própria natureza, transcende os
séculos, conservando, portanto, toda a sua actualidade, e evidentemente,
sobretudo nos nossos dias, uma importância capital. Referimo-Nos ao facto de
estes filhos e filhas da Inglaterra e Gales terem vivido a sua fé com
seriedade, o que significa terem-na aceitado como regra única da sua vida e do
seu comportamento, haurindo nela uma grande serenidade e uma profunda alegria
espiritual. Com a simplicidade e a espontaneidade, aliadas ao precioso dote do
humor, tipicamente próprio do seu povo, com dedicação ao cumprimento dos seus
deveres, sem qualquer ostentação e com a franqueza característica de quem vive
com convicções profundas e bem radicadas, estes Santos Mártires são um exemplo
radioso do cristão, que vive realmente a sua consagração baptismal, crescendo
na vida que lhe foi dada no sacramento da iniciação, e que o da Confirmação
robusteceu tanto, que a religião, para ele, não é um facto marginal, mas a
própria essência de todo o seu ser e das suas acções, ao ponto de fazer com que
a caridade divina se torne a força inspiradora, efectiva e operante de uma
existência, totalmente dedicada à união de amor com Deus e com todos os homens
de boa-vontade, que encontrará a sua plenitude na eternidade.
A Igreja e o mundo de
hoje têm suma necessidade destes homens e destas mulheres, de todas as
condições e estados de vida: sacerdotes, religiosos e leigos, porque só pessoas
com tanta envergadura e santidade serão capazes de transformar o nosso mundo
atormentado e de lhe dar de novo, juntamente com a paz, aquela orientação
espiritual e verdadeiramente cristã a que todos os homens intimamente aspiram,
embora algumas vezes inconscientemente, e de que todos temos tanta necessidade.
Elevamos a nossa prece de
gratidão a Deus, por ter querido, com a sua próvida bondade, suscitar estes
Santos Mártires, cuja operosidade e sacrifício muito contribuíram para
conservar a fé católica na Inglaterra e no País de Gales.
Que o Senhor continue a
suscitar, na Igreja, leigos, religiosos e sacerdotes, que sejam émulos dignos
destes arautos da fé.
Queira Deus, com o seu
amor, que também hoje floresçam e se desenvolvam centros de estudo, formação e
oração, capazes, nas actuais circunstâncias, de preparar santos sacerdotes e
missionários, como fizeram, naqueles tempos, os veneráveis Colégios de Roma e
Valladolid e os gloriosos Seminários de Saint Omer e Douai, dos quais saíram
muitos dos Quarenta Mártires, porque, como disse um deles, Santo Edmund
Campion: « Esta Igreja nunca se enfraquecerá enquanto houver sacerdotes e
pastores que se preocupem com a própria grei».
Queira o Senhor
conceder-nos a graça de fazer com que, nestes tempos de indiferentismo
religioso e de materialismo teórico e prático cada vez mais difundidos, o
exemplo e a intercessão dos Quarenta Santos Mártires nos fortifiquem na fé,
robusteçam o nosso autêntico amor a Deus, à Igreja e a todos os homens.
E que o sangue destes
Mártires possa curar a grande ferida, aberta na Igreja de Deus, pela separação
da Igreja Anglicana da Igreja Católica. Não é só uma, dizem-nos estes Mártires,
a Igreja que Jesus Cristo fundou? Não foi este o testemunho que eles deram? O
seu amor à própria pátria dá-nos a certeza que, no dia em que for
restabelecida, com a graça de Deus, a unidade da fé e da vida cristã, a honra e
a soberania deste grande País, que é a Grã-Bretanha, não sofrerão qualquer
ofensa, assim como o devido prestígio e o grande património de piedade e de
bons costumes, próprios da Igreja Anglicana, não serão diminuídos quando esta
Igreja Católica Romana e este humilde « Servo dos Servos de Deus » puderem
abraçar a sempre dilectíssima irmã, na única e autêntica comunhão da família de
Cristo: comunhão de origem, comunhão de fé, comunhão de sacerdócio, comunhão de
regime e comunhão dos Santos, na liberdade e na caridade do Espírito de Jesus.
Talvez ainda tenhamos que
esperar e velar para merecer aquele dia feliz. Mas esta esperança agora é
confortada com a amizade celeste dos Quarenta Mártires da Inglaterra e do País
de Gales, hoje canonizados.
Assim seja!
Copyright © Dicastério
para a Comunicação
SOURCE : https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/pt/homilies/1970/documents/hf_p-vi_hom_19701025.html
Catholic Insight, February 25, 2021 - Saint Henry Morse, Priest of the Plague : https://catholicinsight.com/2021/02/25/saint-henry-morse-priest-of-the-plague/
