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.
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
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.
Quarante martyrs
d'Angleterre et du Pays de Galles
Catholiques martyrisés en
Angleterre et au Pays de Galles entre 1535 et 1679
Groupe de quarante martyrs canonisés le 25 octobre 1970 par le pape Paul VI pour représenter les catholiques martyrisés en Angleterre et au Pays de Galles entre 1535 et 1679.
Anglais et gallois, qui entre 1535 et 1679, ont été martyrs de leur fidélité à l'Église catholique romaine. Ils sont fêtés le jour de leur canonisation commune, parce que l'unité de leur foi les a réunis malgré des dates éloignées... Durant ces années de persécutions, parce qu'ils refusaient l'adhésion au schisme du roi d'Angleterre, chacun à sa manière a souscrit à cette parole de saint John Plessington: "Que Dieu bénisse le roi et sa famille et daigne accorder à sa Majesté un règne prospère en cette vie et une couronne de gloire en l'autre. Que Dieu accorde la paix à ses sujets en leur donnant de vivre dans la vraie foi, dans l'espérance et dans la charité."
Alban
Roe, Alexandre Bryant, Ambroise
Barlow, Anne Line, Augustin
Webster, Cuthbert Mayne,
David Lewis, Edmond Arrowsmith, Edmond
Campion, Edmond Jennings, Eustache White, Henry
Morse, Henry Walpole, Jean Almond, Jean Boste, Jean Houghton, Jean
Jones, Jean
Kemble, Jean Lloyd, Jean
Paine, Jean
Plessington, Jean Rigby, Jean Roberts, Jean
Southworth, Jean Stone, Jean Wall, Luc
Kirby, Margaret
Clitherow, Margaret Ward, Nicholas
Owen, Philippe Evans, Philippe Howard, Polydore Plasden, Ralph
Sherwin, Richard Gwyn, Richard
Reynolds, Robert Lawrence, Robert
Southwell, Swithun Wells(*), Thomas Garnet.
(*) Catholic
Parish of St Swithun Wells - site en anglais.
- à lire (en anglais), Memoirs of Missionary Priests and Other Catholics... Prêtres missionnaires et autres catholiques ayant été martyrisés en Angleterre à cause de leur religion entre 1577 et 1684.
Extraits de l'homélie de Paul VI:
Les martyrs ont offert à Dieu le sacrifice de leur vie, poussés par le plus haut et le plus grand amour.
L'Église continue à croître et à grandir par l'amour héroïque qui anime les
martyrs... Notre siècle a besoin de saints! Il a surtout besoin de l'exemple de
ceux qui ont donné le témoignage suprême de leur amour pour le Christ et pour
son Église: «Il n'y a pas de plus grand amour que de donner sa vie pour ceux
qu'on aime.»
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/10122/Quarante-martyrs-d-Angleterre-et-du-Pays-de-Galles.html
While
incarcerated in the Salt Tower, Jesuit priest Henry Walpole carved his name in
the plaster along with those of saints Peter, Paul, Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine,
and Gregory the Great
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
Educated at
Norwich, Cambridge and Gray’s Inn, London, England.
Adult convert to Catholicism. Studied for
the priesthood at Rheims, France
in 1582,
and English College, Rome, Italy in 1583.
Joined the Jesuits in 1584. Ordained on 15 December 1588 at Paris, France. Chaplain to
the English soldiers stationed
in Brussels, Belgium.
Vice-governor of the College of Saint Alban at Valladolid, Spain in
early 1593.
Returned to England on 4 December 1593 to
minister to covert Catholics around York.
He was arrested the
next day for the crime of priesthood,
serving time in York and
the Tower of London,
and being repeatedly tortured before
his martyrdom.
One of the Forty
Martyrs of England and Wales.
Born
1558 at
Docking, Norfolk, England
hanged,
drawn, and quartered on 7 April 1595 at York, 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
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
The Royal
English College of St Alban
images
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
Dicastero delle Cause dei Santi
Martirologio Romano, 2005 edition
nettsteder
i norsk
MLA
Citation
‘Saint Henry
Walpole‘. CatholicSaints.Info. 6 December 2025. Web. 26 March 2026. <https://catholicsaints.info/saint-henry-walpole/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-henry-walpole/
St. Henry Walpole
Feastday: April 7
Birth: 1558
Death: 1595
Jesuit and one of
the Forty
Martyrs of England and Wales. He was born in Docking, Norfolk,
England, and was educated at Cambridge and Day’s Inn. Converted to Catholicism,
he went to Rome where
he entered the Jesuits in 1584. Ordained in 1588, Henry was sent to York,
England, where he was arrested and martyred. He was beatified in 1929 and canonized
in 1970.
SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=3723
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
The strange case of St.
Henry Walpole
Joseph Pearce - published
on 04/07/25
Twelve years to the day
after he had witnessed the martyrdom of Edmund Campion, Father Walpole was on a
ship heading for England. His feast day is April 7.
Picture the scene. It’s
the first day of December in 1581. A crowd has gathered at Tyburn, the place in
London where criminals are executed, to witness the martyrdom of Edmund
Campion. His crime was being a Jesuit priest. This made him an enemy of the
state, guilty of “treason,” for which the punishment was slow, torturous death
by hanging, drawing and quartering.
One of the faces in the
crowd watching this grisly scene was that of Henry Walpole, a young lawyer.
Somewhat sympathetic to Catholicism but lukewarm in matters of faith, he
watched horror-struck as the executioner prepared to cut open Campion’s body,
while the victim was still alive, in order to remove the internal organs. As
the knife cut into the writhing body, some of the blood splattered on Walpole’s
clothes. The moment was lifechanging. Having been baptized in the blood of a
lamb who had laid down his life for Christ, he abandoned the practice of law
intent on giving his own life to the Christ for whom Campion had died.
He wrote a slim book of
poetry in honour of Edmund Campion which was published by a secret Catholic
press. The publisher was arrested and tortured in an effort to get him to
confess the name of the poet whose verse he had published. Although his ears
were cut off during the torture, the publisher did not betray Walpole’s
identity.
Coming under increasing
suspicion, Walpole went into exile. In 1583 he entered the English College in
Rome to study for the priesthood and in the following year entered the Jesuit
order intent on following in Edmund Campion’s footsteps. In 1588 he was
ordained to the priesthood. In the same year, at considerable personal risk,
the great court composer William Byrd published his own musical setting of
three verses of Walpole’s poem, “Why Do I
Use My Paper, Ink and Pen”. This is the first verse:
Betrayed
Twelve years to the day
after he had witnessed the martyrdom of Edmund Campion, Father Walpole was on a
ship heading for England. Tragically, he was arrested shortly after he had
landed in Yorkshire, having been betrayed by a member of Queen Elizabeth’s spy
network. He would spend the next 16 months in prison, first in York and then in
the Tower of London, where he was tortured repeatedly by Elizabeth’s chief
priest-hunter and torturer, Richard Topcliffe.
Father Walpole was
tortured on the rack and suspended for hours by his wrists on no fewer than 14
occasions, each session being spread apart to avoid the risk of death under
interrogation. In between these sessions, while incarcerated in the Salt Tower,
he carved his name in the wall. The cell containing this godly graffiti is now
a place of prayer for those who visit the Tower of London as pilgrims, not
merely as tourists.
The charge was simply
being a Catholic priest, which was enough in itself to be hanged, drawn and
quartered for “treason” in Queen Elizabeth’s England.
In the spring of 1595,
Father Walpole was sent back to York to be tried along with another Catholic
priest, Alexander Rawlins. The charge was simply being a Catholic priest, which
was enough in itself to be hanged, drawn and quartered for “treason” in Queen
Elizabeth’s England. The judges demanded that the two priests take the Oath of
Supremacy, acknowledging the queen's complete authority in religion. After
refusing to comply, their fate was sealed.
Picture the scene. It’s
April 7, 1595. A crowd has gathered at the Knavesmire, the place in York where
criminals are executed, to witness the martyrdom of Henry Walpole. His crime
was being a Jesuit priest, a “crime” he committed willingly in order to follow
in the footsteps of Edmund Campion, whose blood had led to his conversion. He
had followed his saintly predecessor all the way to the gallows and all the way
to heaven. Both men were canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970 as two of the Forty
Martyrs of England and Wales.
Today is St. Henry
Walpole’s feast day. On this, the 430th anniversary of his martyrdom, we should
honor his name and ask for his prayers.
Read also :40 English martyrs you may not know
SOURCE : https://aleteia.org/2025/04/07/the-strange-case-of-st-henry-walpole/
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.
Copyright © 2023 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15540a.htm
Article
The Venerable Alexander
Rawlins was the son of a gentleman resident on the borders of Gloucestershire
and Worcestershire, and was sent to Oxford for his education. After some time
spent in that University, he went abroad, and became a student of the English
College at Rheims. Having received Holy Orders, Rawlins was sent on the Mission
in 1590, in company with the illustrious Martyr Edward Genings. In England he
was able to labour for some time, without falling into the hands of the
persecutors, until the moment came when his services were to be rewarded with
the crown of martyrdom. He was arrested at some place in Yorkshire, and it was
resolved that he should suffer together with Father Henry Walpole, the Jesuit.
At the bar Rawlins refused to be tried by the jury, not wishing to bring the
guilt of his blood on the heads of twelve ignorant men, and asserting that the
judges themselves were more competent to decide in a case like his. The
obstacle, however, was overcome by the judges, who proceeded to his
condemnation on account of his priesthood. The interval between this and his
execution was spent by the Martyr in fervent preparation for his death. He was
dragged on the same hurdle with Father Walpole; but, after the first cordial
embrace, no communication was allowed to pass between them. Rawlins was the
first to suffer, and, mounting the ladder, reverently kissed the instruments of
his passion. He was not permitted to speak to the people, but died with the
adorable name of Jesus on his lips. Father Walpole was commanded to watch the
fearful butchery which followed. The Venerable Henry Walpole belonged to a very
ancient family in Norfolk. His parents were pious Catholics, and had many sons,
of whom Henry was the eldest. He was sent to study both at Oxford and
Cambridge, and then went to London to apply himself to the law. He had read
many books on religious controversy, and was so well versed in the subject that
he was the means of bringing not a few into the Church, and so incurred the
displeasure of the Queen’s government. Walpole thereupon gave up his legal
studies, and went to the College of Rheims, and after about a year proceeded to
Rome.
In the year 1584 he
joined the Society of Jesus, an example eventually followed by three of his own
brothers. After his novitiate, he was employed by his superiors in various
important charges on the Continent, before he was allowed to satisfy his desire
of entering on the English Mission. At length, in December, 1593, he landed on
the coast of Yorkshire, but had not been four-and-twenty hours on shore when he
and his companions were seized, and brought before Lord Huntingdon, President
of the North. The Martyr freely owned himself to be what he was, where- upon he
was sent for to London by the Privy Council, and confined in the Tower. In that
prison he had many hardships to endure for the space of a year, in the course
of which he was cruelly tortured no less than fourteen times. As nothing could
induce him to renounce his Faith, he was remitted to York for trial. He
received the sentence of death with joy and thanksgiving, and all who saw him
were astonished to witness the comfort with which he looked for the happy hour.
He suffered on the same day with Alexander Rawlins, and immediately after him.
He begged the prayers of all Catholics, and began to recite his own devotions,
which were cut short by the impatience of the executioners. His blessed example
did much to promote the propagation of the Faith in that part of the country.
MLA
Citation
Father Richard Stanton.
“Venerable Alexander Rawlins and Venerable Henry Walpoole, S.J., Martyrs,
1595”. Menology of England and Wales, 1887. CatholicSaints.Info.
17 March 2019. Web. 26 March 2026. <https://catholicsaints.info/menology-of-england-and-wales-venerable-alexander-rawlins-and-venerable-henry-walpole-s-j-martyrs-1595/>
Mementoes
of the English Martyrs and Confessors – Venerable Henry Walpole, S.J., 1595
Articles
Strength in Union
“I am much astonished that so vile a creature as I am should be so near, as they tell me, to the crown of martyrdom: but this I know for certain, that the Blood of my most blessed Saviour and Redeemer and His most sweet love is able to make me worthy of it, ‘omnia possum in eo qui me comfortat.’ Your Reverence, most loving father, is engaged in the midst of the battle. I sit here an idle spectator of the field; yet King David has appointed an equal portion for us both, and love, charity, and union, which unites us together in Jesus Christ our Lord, makes us mutually partakers of another’s merits, and what can be more closely united than we two, who, as your Reverence sees, ‘simul segregati sumus in hoc ministerium’. About Mid-Lent I hope my lot will be decided, as then the assizes will be held. Meanwhile I have leisure to prepare myself, and I beg your Reverence to join your holy prayers with my poor ones, and I trust that our Lord may grant me, not regarding my many imperfections, but the fervent labours, prayers, and holy sacrifices of so many fathers, and my brothers His servants, to glorify Him in life or death.” – Saint Henry Walpole
The Song of the Spirit
In the Tower he was in great and extraordinary want, without bed, without clothes, without any thing to cover him, and that at a season when the cold was most sharp and piercing, so that the Lieutenant, though an enemy, out of pure compassion had given him a little straw to sleep on. He was fourteen times under the torture. This consists of being hung up six or seven hours by the hands in iron clasps, which cut the flesh and cause much blood to flow, and at times terminates fatally. From the Tower he was sent to York, and upon all that journey he never lay down upon a bed, but his sleep was on the bare ground. In the York prison he had nothing but one poor mat three feet long, on which he made his prayer upon his knees for a great part of the night. Besides this long prayer he spent not a little time in making English verses, for which he had a particular talent and grace; for before he left the kingdom he had made a poem on the martyrdom of Father Campion, for which the publisher was condemned to lose his ears and to pass the remainder of his days in prison, and there, after nine years, he made a pious end.
Under the Shadow of the
Most High
Born of an ancient
Catholic family in Norfolk, he studied both at Oxford and Cambridge and then
followed the law in Gray’s Inn, London. His zeal for the faith brought him into
trouble with the Government, and he went abroad, and in 1584 entered the
Society of Jesus at Rome, three of his brothers following his example. He was
employed in Italy, Flanders, and Spain before he obtained his heart’s desire,
and was sent on the English Mission in December 1593. He was arrested after
landing at Bamborough Head, Yorkshire, imprisoned at York and sent up to
London. Committed to the Tower, he was examined and tortured fourteen times,
and then sent back to York, where he was sentenced to die. Before his sentence
he wrote: “I know not yet what will become of me; but whatever shall happen, by
the grace of God it shall be welcome. For in every place north, south, east or
west He is at hand and the wings of His protection are stretched forth to every
place where they are who truly serve and worship Him. I trust that He will be
glorified in me whether in life or death: ‘qui coepit perficiet: mihi vivere
Christus est et mori lucrum.'” Father Walpole was executed at York, together
with Father Rawlins, a secular priest, 7 April 1595.
MLA
Citation
Father Henry Sebastian
Bowden. “Venerable Henry Walpole, S.J., 1595”. Mementoes
of the English Martyrs and Confessors, 1910. CatholicSaints.Info.
28 November 2020. Web. 26 March 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/mementoes-of-the-english-martyrs-and-confessors-venerable-henry-walpole-s-j-1595/>
Henry Walpole SJ
By the gallows
where St
Edmund Campion was put to death stood a young student of law, Henry
Walpole who, inspired by the example of Campion, resolved to become a Catholic.
Born in 1558 at Docking, near Sandringham in Norfolk, the eldest son of a
Norfolk squire, he spent seven years (1567-1574) at the Norwich Grammar School,
and three at Peterhouse, Cambridge. He left the University without taking a
degree (most likely because he was unwilling to take the oath of supremacy
imposed on every graduate), and entered Gray’s Inn to study law in 1578.
Soon after Campion’s
martyrdom in 1581, which called him from his lukewarm Catholicism, he wrote a
small book of poetry on the martyr which was secretly printed and circulated in
London. The authorities were enraged and Walpole fled London for his home in Norfolk,
and from there he escaped to France. After his capture, Walpole gave the
following account of his entrance into the Society of Jesus:
“After I had made a short
stay at Rouen and Paris, I went to Rheims where I spent one year in the study
of moral theology and afterwards as much at Rome (1584-5), until I entered the
Society of Jesus, and devoted myself to spiritual exercises and the practice of
humility under the direction of a master of the spiritual life.
“Then, having ailments of
both chest and stomach I was sent into France for change of air. At our college
of Pont á Mousson my health continued to decline, and so I was sent first to a
farm outside the town and then to Verdun. Our novitiate being in this town, I
was granted the favour of passing another year among the novices. Here I
completely recovered, and then went back to Pont á Mousson, and spent two or
three years in the study of Scholastic Theology. I was ordained priest at Paris
(1588) and went soon afterwards to Brussels, where I heard confessions on
Italian, French, Latin English, and occasionally in Spanish also.”
After staying in Brussels
for a year, he became military chaplain to the English and Irish Catholics of
Sir William Stanley’s regiment in the Spanish forces. He was captured and taken
to the English fort at Flushing where he was tortured and ransomed by his
brother Michael and his Jesuit superiors. He then went to Tournai for his third
year of probation, after which he was then sent to help with the founding of
the new English seminaries at Seville and Valladolid. In 1593 he travelled to
Philip II of Spain to obtain permission to found St Omers (now Stonyhurt)
College.
He then travelled to
England, landing with his youngest brother Thomas near Bridlington on the night
of the 6th and 7th December 1593. They reached ten miles inland
towards Kelham before they were arrested by the authorities who took them to
York Castle. The infamous priest hunter Richard Topcliffe asked for permission
to transfer him to London, which was duly granted, and he was transferred to
the Tower of London in February 1594.
He languished in the
tower for months after an initial interrogation and torture which came close to
breaking his resolve. In the spring of 1595 he was at last sent back to York
for trial, where he was joined by his fellow-martyr Blessed Alexander Rawlins
who was also awaiting trial. Both were eventually tried on the 3rd April
on the charge of being Catholic priests. Both were found guilty and condemned.
Up to the end the
authorities tried to win him over, even on the very morning of his martyrdom,
Monday 7 April, while Alexander Rawlins was tied to the hurdle that they’d be
dragged to execution on, the authorities tried to convince him to save himself.
Richard Holtby SJ, who would go on to become Provincial of the English Mission,
described their martyrdoms:
“Fr Alexander was first
put to death, who being taken up went first to Fr Walpole to ask his
benediction… When he was dead they showed him to Fr Walpole, still using
persuasions. When he [Walpole] was up the ladder they still cried upon him to
yield in the least point, but to say he would conform, and he should be saved…
At length some asked him what he thought of the Queen’s supremacy. He answered,
‘She doth challenge it, but may not grant it.’ His last prayer was the Pater
noster, and he was beginning the Ave Maria when they turned him over the
ladder. They let him hang until he was dead.”
Walpole was beatified in
1929 and canonised in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
SOURCE : https://web.archive.org/web/20180821230813/http://www.jesuit.org.uk/profile/henry-walpole-sj
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,
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.
William Byrd set this poem to music, and you may hear a performance of it here.
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.
SOURCE : http://supremacyandsurvival.blogspot.ca/2013/04/st-henry-walpole-april-7-1595.html
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
SOURCE : http://www.sanalbano.org/home/college-saints-and-martyrs/st-henry-walpole-sj/
Saint of the Day – 7
April – Saint Henry Walpole SJ (1558–1595) Martyr
Posted on April
7, 2022
Saint of the Day – 7
April – Saint Henry Walpole SJ (1558–1595) Priest of the Society of Jesus,
Martyr, Confessor, Poet, Lawyer. Born at Docking, Norfolk, in 1558 and died on
7 April 1595, aged 37, at York for refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, by being
hung, drawn and quatered.
Twenty-three-year-old
Henry Walpole had attended the debates which St Edmund Campion held with the
Anglican hierarchy and was among the bystanders at the execution of Fr Edmund
Campion, when drops of the latter’s blood sprinkled his clothes. This moved
Henry so deeply, his heart and soul were rent in suffering with St Edmund and
he felt convinced that God was calling him to follow in St Edmund’s footsteps.
Henry was born at
Docking, near Sandringham, Norfolk, the eldest son of Christopher Walpole, by
Margery, heiress of Richard Beckham of Narford. He studied at the Norwich
grammar school and later at Peterhouse, Cambridge, before moving to study law
at Gray’s Inn, London.
But he was so inspired by
Fr Campion’s Martyrdom, that he decided to give up law to become a Priest. At
this time, Henry wrote a little book of poetry, honouring St Edmund Campion
which was secretly printed and circulated in London. The authorities sought to
discover the parties involved. The Printer, Henry’s friend, named Valenger, was
fined and suffered the loss of his ears but did not betray Walpole, who was,
nonetheless, under suspicion. Walpole fled London for his father’s home in
Norfolk and from there, escaped to France.
He entered the English
College at Rheims, in France in July, 1582 before going to the English College
in Rome and entered the Society of Jesus on 4 February 1584. He completed his
studies at Scots College at Pont-a-Mousson, France and was Ordained in Paris on
17 December 1588. He took up his first assignment as Chaplain to the English
Catholic refugees serving in the Spanish army in the Low Countries.
Henry was imprisoned for
a year in 1589 after he was captured by the Calvinists and then worked at the
English Seminary in Valladolid, Spain. In 1593, he travelled to see King Philip
II of Spain to obtain permission to found St Omers, now Stonyhurst College in
Lancashire, England and thus leave his duties in Spain.
As England’s southern
ports were closed because of plague, Fr Walpole, together with his youngest
brother, Thomas and an English soldier secured passage on a French vessel going
to Scotland and then travelled to Yorkshire where the group separated. While
resting at an inn that night, Fr Walpole was unexpectedly arrested on suspicion
of being a Priest, being betrayed by a Scottish prisoner who who was paid for
denouncing Henry. Fr Walpole’s capture was sorely felt by the Jesuits in
England for they had hoped he could continue St Robert Southwell’s work
after the latter had been imprisoned.
During his first
interrogation Henry only admitted that he was a Jesuit Priest and that he had
come to convert the English. He was transferred to York Castle and for three
months, he was permitted to leave prison to discuss theology with Protestant
visitors before he was transferred to the Salt Tower in the infamous Tower of
London into the hands of the notorious Priest-Torturer Richard Topcliffe , who
was hoping to extract information from him. regarding hiding Priests and
Recusant Catholics.
Fr Walpole remained
faithful and did not reveal anything despite being tortured brutally on the
rack and was suspended by his wrists for hours over a period of one year to
prevent premature death.
In the spring of 1595 he
was sent back to York for trial, where he was joined by Blessed Alexander Rawlins,
who was also awaiting trial. Both were tried on 3 April on the charge of being
Catholic Priests. Henry, as a former lawyer, argued 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, therefore, he argued that he had not violated the law. The judges
demanded that he take the Oath of Supremacy, acknowledging the Queen
Elizabeth’s complete authority in religion. He refused to do so and was
convicted of high treason. Both he and bL Rawlins were found guilty and
condemned and on 7 April 1595 they were hanged, drawn and quartered. bL Rawlins
died first; Walpole was allowed to hang until he was dead.
Henry was Beatified on 15
December 1929 by Pope Pius XI and Canonised in 1970, as one of the Forty
Martyrs of England and Wales, who are celebrated collectively on 4 May.
Today, the gruesome Tower
of London, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a tourist destination. However,
its name for most, especially for Catholics, denotes imprisonment, horrific
torture and the most crueldeaths. That was not its initial purpose. It was built
to show the wealth and power of William the Conquerer. In actuality, few met
their deaths within its walls but it did serve as a prison and a very dark
torture chamber for many. Among those imprisoned and tortured in the Tower was
our Saint today, St Henry Walpole.
On the second floor of
the Salt Tower’s walls, are many carvings done by these Martyred men. In fact,
St Henry carved his name in the wall as seen above. But another carving by one
of our Martyrs, is extremely moving. This carving is an outline of a foot with
a wound — a Foot of Jesus Christ pierced by iron nails to suspend Him on the
Cross for our salvation. This image was common among these Priests. It was a
source of courage and consolation as they awaited their own deaths in imitation
of their Lord, their Saviour and their God. This image is regarded as a type of
relic and those who visit sense its sorrowful holiness and pray before it in
veneration.
ST EDMUND CAMPION HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2016/12/01/saint-of-the-day-1-december/
ST ROBERT SOUTHWELL HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2018/02/21/saint-of-the-day-21-february-st-robert-southwell-s-j-1561-1595-martyr/
Author: AnaStpaul
Passionate Catholic.
Being a Catholic is a way of life - a love affair "Religion must be like
the air we breathe..."- St John Bosco Prayer is what the world needs combined
with the example of our lives which testify to the Light of Christ. This site,
which is now using the Traditional Calendar, will mainly concentrate on Daily
Prayers, Novenas and the Memorials and Feast Days of our friends in Heaven, the
Saints who went before us and the great blessings the Church provides in our
Catholic Monthly Devotions. This Site is placed under the Patronage of my many
favourite Saints and especially, St Paul. "For the Saints are sent to us
by God as so many sermons. We do not use them, it is they who move us and lead
us, to where we had not expected to go.” Charles Cardinal Journet (1891-1975)
This site adheres to the pre-Vatican II Catholic Church and all her teachings.
. PLEASE ADVISE ME OF ANY GLARING TYPOS etc - In June 2021 I lost 100% sight in
my left eye and sometimes miss errors. Thank you and I pray all those who visit
here will be abundantly blessed. Pax et bonum!
SOURCE : https://anastpaul.com/2022/04/07/saint-of-the-day-7-april-saint-henry-walpole-sj-1558-1595-martyr/
Saint Henry
Walpole Church (Burnham Market), Burnham Market, King's Lynn and West
Norfolk, Norfolk, East of England, England
Inside
St Henry's RC Church, Burnham Market, King's Lynn and West
Norfolk, Norfolk, East of England, England
Sant’ Enrico Walpole Sacerdote
gesuita, martire
>>>
Visualizza la Scheda del Gruppo cui appartiene
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
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/93226
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
Den hellige Henry Walpole
(1558-1595)
Minnedag:
25. oktober
En av Førti martyrer fra
England og Wales
Den hellige Henry Walpole
ble født i 1558 i Docking i Norfolk i England. Han ble utdannet i Norwich, i
Peterhouse i Cambridge og i Gray's Inn. Han er sagt å ha sluttet seg til Den
katolske kirke som en konsekvens av den hellige Edmund Campions
martyrium, og han skrev et langt fortellende dikt til hans ære og fikk det
trykt i hemmelighet.
Han begynte på Det
engelske Kollegiet i Roma i 1583, men sluttet seg til Jesu Selskap i 1584. Til
tross for dårlig helse ble han ordinert til prest i 1588, tjente som kapellan
for den spanske hæren i Nederland og underviste deretter på de engelske
kollegiene i Sevilla og Valladolid. Fra kong Filip II av Spania fikk han et
charter som autoriserte etableringen av Det engelske Kollegiet i Saint-Omer.
I 1593 vendte han tilbake
til England og gikk i land i Bridlington den 6. desember. Men han ble arrestert
allerede dagen etter i Kelham, mistenkt for å være prest. Han ble avhørt i York
og overført til Tower of London, hvor han ble torturert 14 timer på to måneder,
Som et resultat mistet han førligheten i fingrene. I York ble han stilt for
retten anklaget etter loven som gjorde det til høyforræderi for en engelskmann
å bli ordinert utenlands for å gjøre prestetjeneste i England, og han ble dømt
til døden. Han ble henrettet i York den 7. april 1595 ved å bli hengt,
buksprettet og partert, «hanged, drawn and quartered».
Han ble saligkåret av
pave Benedikt XV i 1919 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 7. april.
Kilder: Farmer,
Attwater/Cumming - Kompilasjon og oversettelse: p. Per Einar Odden -
Sist oppdatert: 1998-05-03 22:02
SOURCE : https://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/hwalpole
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
~ Martyrs of England and
Wales († 1535-1680) ~ (I) : http://newsaints.faithweb.com/martyrs/England01.htm#Walpole
Stephanie A. Mann, The Blood of One Martyr Inspires Another : https://www.ncregister.com/blog/the-blood-of-one-martyr-inspires-another
