Saint Henri Walpole, jésuite, martyr
Natif de Docking (1558), dans
le Norfolk anglais, il fut élevé à Norwich, à Cambridge et à Gray's Inn.
Converti au catholicisme, il fit ses études canoniques au collège anglais de
Rome où il entra dans la Compagnie de Jésus en 1584. Ordonné prêtre en 1588, il
travailla à York et y subit le martyre. Il fut canonisé en 1970 dans le groupe
des « Quarante martyrs d'Angleterre et du pays de Galles », un des
groupes de victimes de la persécution anglicane auquel n'appartient pas le
Bienheureux précédent.
SOURCE : http://www.paroisse-saint-aygulf.fr/index.php/prieres-et-liturgie/saints-par-mois/icalrepeat.detail/2015/04/07/5985/-/saint-henri-walpole-jesuite-martyr
Saint Henri Walpole
Prêtre et
martyr (✝ 1595)
À York en Angleterre, l’an 1595, saint Henri Walpole, de la Compagnie de Jésus, et le bienheureux Alexandre Rawlings, prêtres et martyrs. Sous la reine Élisabeth Ière, en raison de leur sacerdoce, ils furent jetés dans les chaînes, subirent des tortures, et enfin conduits au gibet, où ils achevèrent leur martyre par la corde et le fer.
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/10801/Saint-Henri-Walpole.html
Saint Henri Walpole
Prêtre et
martyr (✝ 1595)
et le bienheureux
Alexandre Rawlings.
Henri était originaire du Norfolk anglais; il fit ses études à Cambridge. Converti au catholicisme, il étudia ensuite au collège anglais de Rome et entra dans la compagnie de Jésus en 1584. Ordonné prêtre, il revint à York. Sous la reine Élisabeth Ière, en raison de leur sacerdoce, le bienheureux Alexandre Rawlings et lui, furent arrrêtés, subirent des tortures, et enfin conduits au gibet où ils achevèrent leur martyre par la corde et le fer. Béatifié en 1929, il fut canonisé en 1970 avec les quarante martyrs d'Angleterre et du Pays de Galles.
Henri était originaire du Norfolk anglais; il fit ses études à Cambridge. Converti au catholicisme, il étudia ensuite au collège anglais de Rome et entra dans la compagnie de Jésus en 1584. Ordonné prêtre, il revint à York. Sous la reine Élisabeth Ière, en raison de leur sacerdoce, le bienheureux Alexandre Rawlings et lui, furent arrrêtés, subirent des tortures, et enfin conduits au gibet où ils achevèrent leur martyre par la corde et le fer. Béatifié en 1929, il fut canonisé en 1970 avec les quarante martyrs d'Angleterre et du Pays de Galles.
À York en Angleterre, l’an 1595, saint Henri Walpole, de la Compagnie de Jésus, et le bienheureux Alexandre Rawlings, prêtres et martyrs. Sous la reine Élisabeth Ière, en raison de leur sacerdoce, ils furent jetés dans les chaînes, subirent des tortures, et enfin conduits au gibet, où ils achevèrent leur martyre par la corde et le fer.
Martyrologe
romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/10801/Saint-Henri-Walpole.html
Ven. Henry Walpole
English Jesuit martyr, born at Docking, Norfolk, 1558; martyred at York, 7 April, 1595. He was the eldest son of Christopher
Walpole, by Margery, heiress of
Richard Beckham of Narford, and
was educated at Norwich School, Peterhouse,
Cambridge, and Gray's Inn. Converted by the death of Blessed Edmund Campion, he went by way of Rouen and Paris, to Reims, where he arrived, 7 July, 1582. On 28 April,
1583, he was admitted into the English College, Rome, and in October received minor orders. On 2 February, 1584, he became a probationer
of the Society, and soon after went to France, where he continued his studies, chiefly at
Pont-à-Mousson. He was ordained subdeacon and deacon at Metz, and priest at Paris, 17 Dec., 1588. After acting
as chaplain to the Spanish
forces in the Netherlands, suffering imprisonment by the English
at Flushing in 1589, and being
moved about to Brussels, Tournai, Bruges, and Spain, he was at last sent on the mission in 1590.
He was arrested landing at Flamborough, and imprisoned at York.
The following February he was sent to the Tower, where he was frequently and
severely racked. He remained there until, in the spring of 1595, he was sent
back to York for trial. With him
suffered Alexander Rawlins,
of the Diocese of Gloucester.
After being twice imprisoned at Newgate for religion
in 1586, Rawlins arrived at Reims, 23 Dec., 1589; he was ordained subdeacon at Laon,
23 September, 1589, deacon and priest at Soissons, 17 and 18 March, 1590, was sent on the
mission the following 9 April, and landed at Whitby.
Sources
See, for Walpole: JESSOPP, One
Generation of a Norfolk House (Norwich, 1878); IDEM, Dict. Nat. Biog., s.v.; POLLEN, English Martyrs 1584-1603 in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. (London, 1908).
For Rawlins: CHALLONER, Missionary
Priests, I, nn. 90 and 108; KNOX,
Doway Diaries (London, 1878); Cath.
Rec. Soc. Publ., II, 261, 264, 267.
Wainewright, John. "Ven. Henry Walpole." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 6 Apr. 2015
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15540a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for
New Advent by Michael T. Barrett. Dedicated to the memory of the martyrs of England.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of
New York.
Henry Walpole, SJ M (RM)
Born in Docking, Norfolk, England, in 1558; died April 7, 1595; beatified in
1929; canonized as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales in 1970 by
Pope Paul VI.
Saint Henry studied at
Norwich, Cambridge (Peterhouse), and law at Gray's Inn. He was reconciled to
the Church when he witnessed the execution of Saint Edmund Campion. He
immediately quit studying law in order to study theology at Rheims. Henry
entered the Society of Jesus in Rome, 1584, and was ordained there four years
later after completing his studies at the English College.
He was sent on the missions
to Lorraine, and in 1589, while acting as chaplain to the Spanish troops in the
Netherlands, he was imprisoned by the Calvinists at Flushing for a year. When
released he taught at Seville and Valladolid, Spain. Thereafter, Henry engaged
in missionary activities in Flanders and, in 1593, was sent to the English
mission.
Arrested almost on landing,
he was imprisoned for a year in York and then in the Tower of London, subjected
to numerous tortures, and then convicted of treason for his priesthood at York,
where he was hanged, drawn, and quartered with Blessed Alexander Rawlins
(Benedictines, Delaney).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0407.shtml
St. Henry Walpole, April 7, 1595
Why do I use my paper, ink and pen,
And call my wits to counsel what to say?
Such memories were made for mortal men;
I speak of Saints whose names cannot decay.
An Angel’s trump were fitter for to sound.
Their glorious death if such on earth were found.
That store of such were once on earth pursued,
The histories of ancient times record,
Whose constancy great tyrants’ rage subdued.
Through patient death, professing Christ the Lord:
As his Apostles perfect witness bare,
With many more that blessed Martyrs were.
Whose patience rare and most courageous mind,
With fame renowned perpetual shall endure,
By whose examples we may rightly find,
Of holy life and death a pattern pure.
That we therefore their virtues may embrace
Pray we to Christ to guide us with his grace.
According to this blog, after studying for the priesthood on the Continent, becoming a Jesuit, and enduring imprisonment while serving English Catholics in the Spanish Netherlands, Walpole returned to England on December 4, 1593 and was betrayed and captured almost immediately.
One night of freedom in England was followed by 16 months of imprisonment. Walpole admitted during his first interrogation that he was a Jesuit and had come to England to convert people. He was transferred to York Castle for three months, and was permitted to leave the prison to discuss theology with Protestant visitors. Then he was transferred to the Tower of London at the end of February, 1594, so that the notorious priest-torturer Richard Topcliffe could wrest information from him.
Walpole was tortured brutally on the rack and was suspended by his wrists for hours, but Topcliffe stretched the tortures out over the course of a year to prevent an accidental death. Walpole endured torture 14 different times before being returned in 1595 to York to stand trial under the law that made it high treason for an Englishman simply to return home after receiving Holy Orders abroad. The man who had once aspired to be a lawyer defended himself ably, pointing out that the law only applied to priests who had not given themselves up to officials within three days of arrival. He himself had been arrested less than a day after landing in England, so he had not violated that law. The judges responded by demanding that he take the Oath of Supremacy, acknowledging the queen's complete authority in religion. He refused to do so and was convicted of high treason.
On April 7, Walpole was dragged out of York to be executed along with another priest who was killed first. Then the Jesuit climbed the ladder to the gallows and asked the onlookers to pray with him. After he finished the Our Father but before he could say the Hail Mary, the executioner pushed him away from the ladder; then he was taken down and dismembered. The Jesuits in England lost a promising young priest whom they had hoped would take the place of Father Southwell; they received another example of fidelity and courage.
The priest who died with St. Henry Walpole was Alexander Rawlins:
Alexander was born in Worcestershire, England, where he was jailed twice for his fervent Catholicism. In 1589 he went to the English seminary in Reims and was ordained there in 1590. Returning to England the following year (with another future martyr and saint, Father Edmund Gennings), Alexander was arrested. He was condemned to death and on April 7, 1595, and along with Henry Walpole was hanged, drawn, and quartered in York, England. He was beatified in 1929.
Saint Henry Walpole and Blessed Alexander Rawlins, pray for us.
St. Henry Walpole, April 7, 1595
Another of the great Jesuit martyrs of the Elizabethan
era, Henry Walpole was on his way to a legal career, which would have meant
conformity and uniformity with the established Church of England. But he
happened to attend the executions of St. Edmund Campion and his companions on
December 1, 1581--and drops of the saint's blood fell on him. He abandoned the
path to worldly success and left England. A poem, lamenting the death of one of
the diamonds of England, is attributed to Walpole:
Why do I use my paper, ink and pen?
Why do I use my paper, ink and pen?
Why do I use my paper, ink and pen,
And call my wits to counsel what to say?
Such memories were made for mortal men;
I speak of Saints whose names cannot decay.
An Angel’s trump were fitter for to sound.
Their glorious death if such on earth were found.
That store of such were once on earth pursued,
The histories of ancient times record,
Whose constancy great tyrants’ rage subdued.
Through patient death, professing Christ the Lord:
As his Apostles perfect witness bare,
With many more that blessed Martyrs were.
Whose patience rare and most courageous mind,
With fame renowned perpetual shall endure,
By whose examples we may rightly find,
Of holy life and death a pattern pure.
That we therefore their virtues may embrace
Pray we to Christ to guide us with his grace.
According to this blog, after studying for the priesthood on the Continent, becoming a Jesuit, and enduring imprisonment while serving English Catholics in the Spanish Netherlands, Walpole returned to England on December 4, 1593 and was betrayed and captured almost immediately.
One night of freedom in England was followed by 16 months of imprisonment. Walpole admitted during his first interrogation that he was a Jesuit and had come to England to convert people. He was transferred to York Castle for three months, and was permitted to leave the prison to discuss theology with Protestant visitors. Then he was transferred to the Tower of London at the end of February, 1594, so that the notorious priest-torturer Richard Topcliffe could wrest information from him.
Walpole was tortured brutally on the rack and was suspended by his wrists for hours, but Topcliffe stretched the tortures out over the course of a year to prevent an accidental death. Walpole endured torture 14 different times before being returned in 1595 to York to stand trial under the law that made it high treason for an Englishman simply to return home after receiving Holy Orders abroad. The man who had once aspired to be a lawyer defended himself ably, pointing out that the law only applied to priests who had not given themselves up to officials within three days of arrival. He himself had been arrested less than a day after landing in England, so he had not violated that law. The judges responded by demanding that he take the Oath of Supremacy, acknowledging the queen's complete authority in religion. He refused to do so and was convicted of high treason.
On April 7, Walpole was dragged out of York to be executed along with another priest who was killed first. Then the Jesuit climbed the ladder to the gallows and asked the onlookers to pray with him. After he finished the Our Father but before he could say the Hail Mary, the executioner pushed him away from the ladder; then he was taken down and dismembered. The Jesuits in England lost a promising young priest whom they had hoped would take the place of Father Southwell; they received another example of fidelity and courage.
The priest who died with St. Henry Walpole was Alexander Rawlins:
Alexander was born in Worcestershire, England, where he was jailed twice for his fervent Catholicism. In 1589 he went to the English seminary in Reims and was ordained there in 1590. Returning to England the following year (with another future martyr and saint, Father Edmund Gennings), Alexander was arrested. He was condemned to death and on April 7, 1595, and along with Henry Walpole was hanged, drawn, and quartered in York, England. He was beatified in 1929.
Saint Henry Walpole and Blessed Alexander Rawlins, pray for us.
ST. Henry WALPOLE SJ
ST. Henry WALPOLE SJ was born in Docking in the county of Norfolk, in
the year 1558.
After having studied in the University of Cambridge, and also in Grays Inn, London, spurred on by the martyrdom of St. Edmund Campion SJ, he left England to study at Rheims. Arriving there on 7th July 1582, he remained some months, until moving to the English College in Rome, where he was admitted as a pupil on the 28th April 1583. The following year he left and entered the Society of Jesus.
On the 15th December 1588 he was ordained a priest in Paris, and immediately was sent to Brussels as Chaplain to the English soldiers under Sir William Stanley. During this period he was stopped and incarcerated for five months, until his rescue.
Around the end of December of 1592 he was ordered to Seville, and after two months in that city was appointed Minister or rather Vice - Governor of the College of St. Alban at VALLADOLID.
In June of the following year, Father Persons SJ, his superior decided to order him to England, and after an expedition to Madrid to request alms to establish another college in St. Omer (in the Low Countries), he left for England, where he arrived on the 4th of December 1593.
With two companions he disembarked in Bridlington, but the following day they were stopped and incarcerated in the Castle at York. From there, he was moved to the Tower of London and left in the custody of Topcliffe, the notorious persecutor of priests. Between February 1594 and his death he was tortured in the keep fourteen times.
In the spring of 1595, he was returned to York to be processed, and on the 7th of April 1595, in that City, he was stripped, hung, drawn and quartered.
He was solemnly canonised by Pope Paul VI on the 25th of October 1970
After having studied in the University of Cambridge, and also in Grays Inn, London, spurred on by the martyrdom of St. Edmund Campion SJ, he left England to study at Rheims. Arriving there on 7th July 1582, he remained some months, until moving to the English College in Rome, where he was admitted as a pupil on the 28th April 1583. The following year he left and entered the Society of Jesus.
On the 15th December 1588 he was ordained a priest in Paris, and immediately was sent to Brussels as Chaplain to the English soldiers under Sir William Stanley. During this period he was stopped and incarcerated for five months, until his rescue.
Around the end of December of 1592 he was ordered to Seville, and after two months in that city was appointed Minister or rather Vice - Governor of the College of St. Alban at VALLADOLID.
In June of the following year, Father Persons SJ, his superior decided to order him to England, and after an expedition to Madrid to request alms to establish another college in St. Omer (in the Low Countries), he left for England, where he arrived on the 4th of December 1593.
With two companions he disembarked in Bridlington, but the following day they were stopped and incarcerated in the Castle at York. From there, he was moved to the Tower of London and left in the custody of Topcliffe, the notorious persecutor of priests. Between February 1594 and his death he was tortured in the keep fourteen times.
In the spring of 1595, he was returned to York to be processed, and on the 7th of April 1595, in that City, he was stripped, hung, drawn and quartered.
He was solemnly canonised by Pope Paul VI on the 25th of October 1970
SOURCE : http://www.sanalbano.org/home/college-saints-and-martyrs/st-henry-walpole-sj/
Dal 1582 Henry si trasferì all’estero per intraprendere gli studi ecclesiastici, in un primo temp oa Reims in Francia, poi a Roma ove due anni dopo entrò nella Compagnia di Gesù. Terminati gli studi presso il Collegio Scozzese di Pont-à-Mousson, a Parigi nel 1588 ricevette l’ordinazione presbiterale e per qualche tempo esercitò il suo ministero in Italia, per poi divenire cappellano dei soldati cattolici inglesi nelle Fiandre, militanti nell’armata spagnola. Per quattro o cinque mesi fu imprigionato da alcuni ribelli antispagnoli ed una volta rilasciato si trasferì in Francia per completare il suo tirocinio. Tornò poi a Bruxelles come bibliotecario e, contrariamente al suo desiderio di andare missionario in patria, fu spedito in Spagna a lavorare nei collegidi Siviglia e Valladolid, prima di ritornare nuovamente nelle Fiandre per aprire con l’autorizzazione regia un nuovo colegio inglese presso Saint-Omer.
Solo nel 1593 ad Henry Walpole fu dato di poter realizzare il suo grande sogno: giunto in Inghilterra a Bridlington il 6 dicembre, il giorno seguente venne già arrestato e condotto a York quale sacerdote sospetto. Egli non ebbe paura ad ammettere la colpa, se colpa può essere considerata il non aver voluto aderire alla nascente confessione anglicana non in comunione con la Santa Sede, e quindi venne internato nella Torre di Londra. Dalla prigione scrisse ad un confratello gesuita: “Sono fiducioso che Dio sarà glorificato in me, con la vita o con la morte [...]. Alcune persone vengono per interrogarmi, ma portano più parole chiassose che e vuote che argomenti solidi”. Le sue confessioni scritte sono assai più ricche rispetto a quelle di altri martiri inglesi. Era una persona affettuosa, espansiva, con buona oratoria, debole di costituzione. Le torture subite lo lasciarono con le mani storpiate e pieno di dolori, ma nonostante la debolezza umana possa indubbiamente averlo segnato, mai pensò di abbandonare il sacerdozio ed il cattolicesimo.
Il suo processo fu infine rinviato a York, ove il santo dinnanzi alla giuria riunita disse: “Confesso molto volentieri di essere un sacerdote, di appartenere alla Compagnia di Gesù, di essere venuto per convertire il mio paese alla fede cattolica e per invitare i peccatori al pentimento. Non negherò mai tutto ciò; questo è il dovere che la mia chiamata impone. Se trovate qualsiasi cosa in me che non sia d’accordo con la mia professione, non mostratevi favorevoli. Nel frattempo, agite secondo le vostre coscienze ricordando che dovrete darne conto a Dio”. Fu duqnue giudicato colpevole secondo la legge del 1585, secondo la quale era reato trovarsi in Inghilterra se ordinati preti all’estero. Salito al patibolo, tra le sue ultime parole vi fu l’esplicita negazione dell’autorità della regina in ambito religioso. Il 7 aprile 1595, fuori della città, Henry Walpole fu impiccato, sventrato e squartato insieme al sacerdote Alexander Rawlins.
Entrambi furono beatificati nel 1929, ma solamente il Walpole fu anche canonizzato da Papa Paolo VI il 25 ottobre 1970, unitamente al gruppo dei Quaranta Martiri d’Inghilterra e Galles.
Autore: Fabio Arduino
Sant’ Enrico Walpole Sacerdote
gesuita, martire
Docking,
Inghilterra, 1558 – York, Inghilterra, 7 aprile 1595
Nato nel 1558 a Docking nel Norfolk
(Inghilterra), cominciò gli studi di giurisprudenza a Londra nel 1578. Decise
di diventare sacerdote dopo il martirio di P. Edmund Campion; entrò il Collegio
Inglese a Rheims nel Luglio del 1582 e si trasferì Collegio Inglese di Roma
(aprile 1583) dove finalmente decise di entrare nella Compagnia di Gesù, nel
1584. Terminò gli studi al Collegio Scozzese di Pont-à-Mousson, e fu ordinato
sacerdote a Parigi. Dopo un periodo di apostolato sul continente, riuscì ad
entrare di nascosto in Inghilterra nel 1593, ma fu tradito da un compagno di
viaggio e subito imprigionato. Dopo più di un anno di prigionia e torture, fu
condannato per aver ricevuto l'ordinazione sacerdotale all'estero (un reato
considerato come alto tradimento) e martirizzato il 7 aprile del 1595. Fu
dichiarato santo da Paolo VI nel 1970.
Martirologio Romano: A York in
Inghilterra, sant’Enrico Walpole, della Compagnia di Gesù, e beato Alessandro
Rawlins, sacerdoti e martiri, che durante il regno di Elisabetta I furono messi
in prigione e crudelmente torturati per il loro sacerdozio e, infine, condotti
al patibolo, ottennero impiccati e poi sventrati la corona eterna.
Henry Walpole nacque nel 1558 a Docking nel Norfolk. Educato prima al
liceo di Norwich e poi alla Peterhouse di Cambridge, entro infine al Gray’s Inn
londinese per studiare legge. Si ritiene che i
suoi genitori fossero cattolici, ache se una tradizione vuole che Henry si sia
convertito solo dopo aver assistito il 1° dicembre 1581 all’esecuzione capitale
di Sant’Edmondo Campion. Su questo tragico evento egli scrisse infatti un lungo
poema, probabilmente poiché tale visione risvegliò la sua fede cattolica da un
lungo letargo.
Dal 1582 Henry si trasferì all’estero per intraprendere gli studi ecclesiastici, in un primo temp oa Reims in Francia, poi a Roma ove due anni dopo entrò nella Compagnia di Gesù. Terminati gli studi presso il Collegio Scozzese di Pont-à-Mousson, a Parigi nel 1588 ricevette l’ordinazione presbiterale e per qualche tempo esercitò il suo ministero in Italia, per poi divenire cappellano dei soldati cattolici inglesi nelle Fiandre, militanti nell’armata spagnola. Per quattro o cinque mesi fu imprigionato da alcuni ribelli antispagnoli ed una volta rilasciato si trasferì in Francia per completare il suo tirocinio. Tornò poi a Bruxelles come bibliotecario e, contrariamente al suo desiderio di andare missionario in patria, fu spedito in Spagna a lavorare nei collegidi Siviglia e Valladolid, prima di ritornare nuovamente nelle Fiandre per aprire con l’autorizzazione regia un nuovo colegio inglese presso Saint-Omer.
Solo nel 1593 ad Henry Walpole fu dato di poter realizzare il suo grande sogno: giunto in Inghilterra a Bridlington il 6 dicembre, il giorno seguente venne già arrestato e condotto a York quale sacerdote sospetto. Egli non ebbe paura ad ammettere la colpa, se colpa può essere considerata il non aver voluto aderire alla nascente confessione anglicana non in comunione con la Santa Sede, e quindi venne internato nella Torre di Londra. Dalla prigione scrisse ad un confratello gesuita: “Sono fiducioso che Dio sarà glorificato in me, con la vita o con la morte [...]. Alcune persone vengono per interrogarmi, ma portano più parole chiassose che e vuote che argomenti solidi”. Le sue confessioni scritte sono assai più ricche rispetto a quelle di altri martiri inglesi. Era una persona affettuosa, espansiva, con buona oratoria, debole di costituzione. Le torture subite lo lasciarono con le mani storpiate e pieno di dolori, ma nonostante la debolezza umana possa indubbiamente averlo segnato, mai pensò di abbandonare il sacerdozio ed il cattolicesimo.
Il suo processo fu infine rinviato a York, ove il santo dinnanzi alla giuria riunita disse: “Confesso molto volentieri di essere un sacerdote, di appartenere alla Compagnia di Gesù, di essere venuto per convertire il mio paese alla fede cattolica e per invitare i peccatori al pentimento. Non negherò mai tutto ciò; questo è il dovere che la mia chiamata impone. Se trovate qualsiasi cosa in me che non sia d’accordo con la mia professione, non mostratevi favorevoli. Nel frattempo, agite secondo le vostre coscienze ricordando che dovrete darne conto a Dio”. Fu duqnue giudicato colpevole secondo la legge del 1585, secondo la quale era reato trovarsi in Inghilterra se ordinati preti all’estero. Salito al patibolo, tra le sue ultime parole vi fu l’esplicita negazione dell’autorità della regina in ambito religioso. Il 7 aprile 1595, fuori della città, Henry Walpole fu impiccato, sventrato e squartato insieme al sacerdote Alexander Rawlins.
Entrambi furono beatificati nel 1929, ma solamente il Walpole fu anche canonizzato da Papa Paolo VI il 25 ottobre 1970, unitamente al gruppo dei Quaranta Martiri d’Inghilterra e Galles.
Autore: Fabio Arduino
