"L'albero
di Tyburn", il patibolo usato a Londra per alcune delle esecuzioni
capitali.
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."
Alexandre Bryant,
David Lewis,
Jean Lloyd,
Luc Kirby
Philippe Evans,
Philippe Howard,
Polydore Plasden,
Swithun Wells (Catholic Parish of St Swithun Wells - site en anglais.)
The
Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs, Cambridge's only Catholic church,
viewed from the door of the Oak Bistro across the street to the north, using a
6-shot pano and manual approximate perspective correction.
chiesa Santa Maria Assunta Santi quaranta martiri di Inghilterra e Galles, Cambridge
English Martyrs Church in Cambridge
chiesa Santa Maria Assunta Santi quaranta martiri di Inghilterra e Galles, Cambridge
Our
Lady and the English Martyrs Church in Cambridge
Cambridge
- Hills Road - View WNW on Church of Our Lady & the English Martyrs 1890
Dunn and Hansom
chiesa Santa Maria Assunta Santi quaranta martiri di Inghilterra e Galles, Cambridge
English Martyrs Church in Cambridge
chiesa Santa Maria Assunta Santi quaranta martiri di Inghilterra e Galles, Cambridge
Paul VI Homélies 28050
L'ÉGLISE
ET LE MONDE D'AUJOURD'HUI ONT SURTOUT BESOIN DE SAINTS
La canonisation solennelle des Quarante martyrs de l'Angleterre et du Pays de Galles que nous venons d'accomplir nous offre l'heureuse occasion de vous parler, bien que brièvement, du sens de leur existence et de l'importance que leur vie et leur mort ont eus et continuent d'avoir non seulement pour l'Eglise d'Angleterre et du Pays de Galles, mais aussi pour l'Eglise Universelle et pour tout homme de bonne volonté.
Notre temps a besoin de
saints et, d'une manière spéciale, de l'exemple de ceux qui ont donné le
suprême témoignage de leur amour pour le Christ et pour l'Eglise : « Personne
n'a un amour plus grand que celui qui donne sa vie pour ses amis » (Jn
15,13). Ces paroles du divin Maître, qui se rapportent en premier lieu au
sacrifice que Lui-même accomplit sur la croix en s'offrant pour le salut de
toute l'humanité valent aussi pour la grande foule choisie des martyrs de tous
les temps, depuis les premières persécutions jusqu'à celles de nos jours,
peut-être plus cachées mais pas moins cruelles. L'Eglise du Christ est née du
sacrifice du Christ sur la croix et elle continue à croître et à se développer
en vertu de l'amour héroïque de ses fils les plus authentiques. « Semen est
sanguis christianorum » (tertullianus, Apologeticus, 50 ; PL 1,
534). De même que l'effusion du sang du Christ, l'oblation que les martyrs font
de leur vie devient, en vertu de leur union avec le sacrifice du Christ, une
source de vie et de fécondité spirituelle pour l'Eglise et pour le monde tout
entier. « C'est pourquoi, nous rappelle la Constitution Lumen gentium, 42,
le martyre dans lequel le disciple est assimilé au Maître acceptant librement
la mort pour le salut du monde et dans lequel il devient semblable à Lui dans
l'effusion de son sang, est considéré par l'Eglise comme une grâce éminente et
la preuve suprême de la charité ».
Beaucoup de choses ont
été dites et écrites sur cet être mystérieux qu'est l'homme : sur les
ressources de son esprit, capable de pénétrer dans les secrets de l'univers et
de soumettre les choses matérielles en les utilisant pour arriver à leurs buts
; sur la grandeur de l'esprit humain qui se manifeste dans les oeuvres
admirables de la science et de l'art ; sur sa noblesse et sur sa faiblesse, sur
ses triomphes et sur ses misères. Mais ce qui caractérise l'homme, ce qu'il y a
de plus intime dans son être et dans sa personnalité, c'est la capacité
d'aimer, d'aimer jusqu'au fond, de se donner avec cet amour qui est plus fort
que la mort et qui se prolonge dans l'éternité.
Le martyre des chrétiens est l'expression et le signe le plus sublime de cet amour, non seulement parce que le martyr reste fidèle à son amour jusqu'à l'effusion de son propre sang, mais aussi parce que ce sacrifice est accompli pour l'amour le plus haut et le plus noble qui puisse exister, à savoir pour l'amour de Celui qui nous a créés et rachetés, qui nous a aimés comme Lui seul sait aimer, et qui attend de nous une réponse de don total et sans conditions, c'est-à-dire un amour digne de notre Dieu.
Signe d'amour
Dans sa longue et glorieuse histoire, la Grande Bretagne, île des saints, a
donné au monde beaucoup d'hommes et de femmes qui ont aimé Dieu de cet amour
pur et loyal : c'est pour cela que nous sommes heureux d'avoir pu aujourd'hui
compter quarante autres fils de cette noble terre parmi ceux que l'Eglise
reconnaît publiquement comme saints, les proposant ainsi à la vénération de ses
fidèles, et parce que ces saints représentent par leurs existences un exemple
vivant.
A celui, qui, ému et saisi d'admiration, lit les actes de leur martyre, il est
clair, nous voudrions dire évident, qu'ils sont les dignes émules des plus
grands martyrs des temps passés, en raison de la grande humilité, de
l'intrépidité, de la simplicité et de la sérénité avec lesquelles ils ont
accepté leur sentence et leur mort et même plus encore avec une joie
spirituelle et une charité admirable et radieuse.
C'est justement cette attitude profonde et spirituelle qui groupe et unit ces
hommes et ces femmes qui, par ailleurs, étaient très différents entre eux par
tout ce qui peut différencier un ensemble nombreux de personnes, à savoir l'âge
et le sexe, la culture et l'éducation, l'état de vie et la condition sociale, le
caractère et le tempérament, les dispositions naturelles et surnaturelles, les
circonstances extérieures de leur existence. Nous avons en effet, parmi les
quarante saints martyrs, des prêtres séculiers et réguliers, nous avons des
religieuses de divers ordres et de rangs divers, nous avons des laïcs, des
hommes de très noble descendance et aussi de condition modeste, nous avons des
femmes qui étaient mariées et mères de famille : ce qui les unissait tous,
c'est cette attitude intérieure de fidélité inébranlable à l'appel de Dieu qui
leur demanda, comme réponse d'amour, le sacrifice même de leur vie.
Et la réponse des martyrs fut unanime : « Je ne peux pas m'empêcher de vous
répéter que je meurs pour Dieu et à cause de ma religion — c'est ce que disait
saint Philip Evans — et je me sens si heureux que si jamais je pouvais avoir
beaucoup d'autres vies, je serais très disposé à les sacrifier toutes pour une
cause aussi noble ».
Loyauté et fidélité
Et, comme par ailleurs de nombreux autres, saint Philip Howard, comte
d'Arundel, affirmait aussi : « Je regrette de n'avoir qu'une vie à offrir pour
cette noble cause ». Et sainte Margaret Clitherow exprimait synthétiquement,
avec une simplicité émouvante, le sens de sa vie et de sa mort : « Je meurs
pour l'amour de mon Seigneur Jésus ». « Quelle petite chose, en comparaison de
la mort bien plus cruelle que le Christ a soufferte pour moi », s'écriait saint
Alban Roe.
Comme beaucoup de leurs compatriotes qui moururent dans des circonstances
analogues, ces quarante hommes et femmes de l'Angleterre et du Pays de Galles
voulaient être et le furent à fond, loyaux, envers leur patrie qu'ils aimaient
de tout leur coeur. Ils voulaient être et ils furent en fait de fidèles sujets
du pouvoir royal que tous, sans aucune exception, reconnurent jusqu'à leur mort
comme légitime en tout ce qui appartenait à l'ordre civil et politique. Mais ce
fut là justement le drame de l'existence de ces martyrs, à savoir que leur
honnête et sincère loyauté envers l'autorité civile se trouva en désaccord avec
la fidélité envers Dieu et qu'ainsi, suivant les préceptes de leur conscience
éclairée par la foi catholique, ils surent conserver les vérités révélées,
spécialement sur la sainte Eucharistie et sur les prérogatives inaliénables du
successeur de Pierre qui, par la volonté de Dieu, est le pasteur universel de
l'Eglise du Christ. Placés devant le choix de rester fermes dans leur foi et
donc de mourir pour elle ou d'avoir la vie sauve en reniant la foi, sans une
minute d'hésitation et avec une force vraiment surnaturelle, ils se rangèrent
du côté de Dieu et affrontèrent le martyre avec joie. Mais leur esprit était si
grand, si nobles étaient leurs sentiments, si chrétienne était l'inspiration de
leur existence que beaucoup d'entre eux moururent en priant pour leur patrie
tant aimée, pour le roi et pour la reine et même pour ceux qui avaient été les
responsables directs de leur arrestation, de leurs tortures et des
circonstances ignominieuses de leur mort atroce.
Les dernières paroles et la dernière prière de saint John Plessington furent
précisément celles-ci : « 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 et
de mourir dans la vraie foi, dans l'espérance et dans la charité ».
Activité et sacrifice
Voici comment pria saint Alban Roe peu de temps avant d'être pendu : «
Pardonnez-moi, ô mon Dieu, mes innombrables offenses comme je pardonne à mes
persécuteurs » et, comme lui, saint Thomas Garnet qui, après avoir nommé
particulièrement ceux qui l'avaient livré, arrêté et condamné, supplia Dieu en
disant : « Puissent-ils tous obtenir le salut et avec moi atteindre le ciel ».
En lisant les actes de leur martyre et en méditant la riche matière qui a été
recueillie avec tant de soin sur les circonstances historiques de leurs vies et
de leur martyre, nous restons frappés surtout par ce qui brille sans équivoque
dans leur existence. Cela, par sa nature même, peut traverser les siècles et
par conséquent rester toujours pleinement actuel et, spécialement de nos jours,
d'une importance capitale. Nous nous rapportons au fait que ces héros, fils et
filles de l'Angleterre et du Pays de Galles, ont pris leur foi vraiment au
sérieux : cela veut dire qu'ils l'acceptèrent comme l'unique règle de leur vie
et de toute leur conduite, en retirant une grande sérénité et une profonde joie
spirituelle. Avec une fraîcheur et une spontanéité non séparées de ce don précieux
de l'humour, typiquement particulier à leur peuple, avec un attachement à leur
devoir fuyant toute ostentation et avec la pureté typique de ceux qui vivent
avec des convictions profondes et bien enracinées, ces saints martyrs sont un
exemple rayonnant du chrétien qui vit vraiment sa consécration baptismale,
croît en cette vie qui lui a été donnée par le sacrement de l'initiation et que
celui de la confirmation a renforcée de telle manière que la religion n'est pas
pour lui un facteur marginal mais bien l'essence même de tout son être et de
son action, faisant en sorte que la charité divine devient la force
inspiratrice, active et agissante d'une existence toute tendue vers l'union
d'amour avec Dieu et avec tous les hommes de bonne volonté, qui trouvera sa plénitude
dans l'éternité.
L'Eglise et le monde d'aujourd'hui ont extrêmement besoin de tels hommes et de
telles femmes, de toutes conditions et de tous états de vie, prêtres, religieux
et laïcs, parce que seules les personnes de cette stature et de cette sainteté
seront capables de changer notre monde tourmenté et de lui rendre, en même
temps que la paix, cette orientation spirituelle et vraiment chrétienne à
laquelle tout homme aspire intimement — même parfois sans s'en rendre compte —
et dont nous avons tous tant besoin.
Que notre gratitude monte vers Dieu qui a voulu dans sa prévoyante bonté
susciter ces saints martyrs dont l'action et le sacrifice ont contribué à la
conservation de la foi catholique en Angleterre et dans le Pays de Galles.
Que le Seigneur continue à susciter dans l'Eglise, des laïcs, des religieux et
des prêtres qui soient de dignes émules de ces hérauts de la foi.
Dieu veuille dans son amour que fleurissent et se développent même aujourd'hui
des centres d'étude, de formation et de prière, aptes à préparer, dans les
conditions modernes, de saints prêtres et des saints missionnaires tels que
furent en ces temps les vénérables collèges de Rome et de Valladolid et les
glorieux séminaires de Saint-Omer et de Douai, des rangs desquels sortirent
justement beaucoup des quarante martyrs. Ainsi, comme le disait l'un d'entre
eux, saint Edmond Campion, une grande personnalité : « Cette Eglise ne
s'affaiblira jamais tant qu'il y aura des prêtres et des pasteurs à veiller sur
leur troupeau ». Que le Seigneur veuille nous accorder la grâce qu'en ces temps
d'indifférentisme religieux et de matérialisme théorique et pratique qui sévit
toujours davantage, l'exemple et l'intercession des saints quarante martyrs
nous réconfortent dans la foi et raffermissent notre amour authentique pour
Dieu, pour son Eglise et pour tous les hommes.
SOURCE : http://www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/fr/itx.htm
Forty Martyrs of
England and Wales
formerly 4
May
Profile
Following the dispute
between the Pope and King Henry
VIII in the 16th
century, faith questions in the British Isles became entangled with
political questions, with both often being settled by torture and murder of
loyal Catholics.
In 1970,
the Vatican selected 40 martyrs,
men and women, lay and religious,
to represent the full group of perhaps 300 known to have died for
their faith and
allegiance to the Church between 1535 and 1679.
They each have their own day of memorial,
but are remembered as a group on 25
October. They are
25
October 1970 by Pope Paul
VI
Additional
Information
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
video
fonti
in italiano
Dicastero delle Cause dei Santi
MLA
Citation
“Forty Martyrs of England
and Wales“. CatholicSaints.Info. 17 September 2023. Web. 10 December 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/forty-martyrs-of-england-and-wales/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/forty-martyrs-of-england-and-wales/
Forty Martyrs of England
and Wales (RM)
Died 16th and 17th
centuries; canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970. Each of the individual saints has
his own feast day in addition to the corporate one today. The dates vary in the
diocesan calendars of England and Wales. The forty are only a small portion of
the many martyrs of the period whose causes have been promoted. All suffered
for continuing to profess the Catholic faith following King Henry VIII's
promulgation of the Act of Supremacy, which declared that the king of England was
the head of the Church of England.
Most of them were hanged,
drawn, and quartered--a barbaric execution, which meant that the individual was
hanged upon a gallows, but cut down before losing consciousness. While still
alive--and conscious, they were then ripped up, eviscerated, and the hangman
groped about among the entrails until he found the heart--which he tore out and
showed to the people before throwing it on a fire (Undset).
The list below gives very
basic details. More information is given on the individual feast day listed.
Alban Bartholomew Roe--Benedictine
priest (born in Suffolk; died at Tyburn, 1642) (f.d. January 21).
Alexander Briant--priest
(born in Somerset, England; died at Tyburn, 1851) (f.d. December 1).
Ambrose Edward Barlow--Benedictine
priest (born in Manchester, England, 1585; died at Lancaster, 1641) (f.d.
September 10).
Anne Higham Line--widow,
for harboring priests (born at Dunmow, Essex, England; died at Tyburn, 1601)
(f.d. February 27).
Augustine Webster--Carthusian
priest (died at Tyburn, 1535) (f.d. May 4).
Cuthbert Mayne--Priest
(born in Youlston, Devonshire, England, 1544; died at Launceston, 1577) (f.d.
November 30).
David Lewis--Jesuit
priest, (born at Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales, in 1616; died at Usk 1679)
(f.d. August 27).
(Brian) Edmund Arrowsmith--Jesuit
priest (born Haydock, England, 1584; died at Lancaster in 1628) (f.d. August
28).
Edmund Campion--Jesuit
priest (born in London, England, c. 1540; died at Tyburn, 1581) (f.d. December
1).
Edmund Jennings (Genings,
Gennings)-- priest (born at Lichfield, England, in 1567; died at Tyburn 1591)
(f.d. December 10).
Eustace White--priest
(born at Louth, Lincolnshire, England; died at Tyburn, 1591) (f.d. December
10).
Henry Morse--Jesuit
priest (born at Broome, Suffolk, England, in 1595; died at Tyburn, 1645) (f.d.
February 1).
Henry Walpole--Jesuit
priest (born at Docking, Norfolk, England, 1558; died at York in 1595) (f.d.
April 7).
John Almond--priest (born
at Allerton, near Liverpool, England, 1577; died at Tyburn, 1612) (f.d.
December 5).
John Boste--priest (born
in Dufton, Westmorland, England, c. 1544; died at Dryburn near Durham, 1594)
(f.d. July 24).
John Houghton--Carthusian
priest (born in Essex, England, in 1487; died at Tyburn, 1535) (f.d. May 4).
John Jones (alias
Buckley)--Friar Observant (born in Clynog Fawr, Carnavonshire, Wales; died at
Southwark, London, in 1598) (f.d. July 12).
John Kemble--priest (born
at Saint Weonard's, Herefordshire, England, in 1599; died at Hereford in 1679)
(f.d. August 22).
John Lloyd--priest,
Welshman (born in Brecknockshire, Wales; died in Cardiff, Wales, in 1679) (f.d.
July 22).
John Paine (Payne)--priest
(born at Peterborough, England; died at Chelmsford, 1582) (f.d. April 2).
John Plessington (a.k.a.
William Pleasington)--priest (born at Dimples Hall, Lancashire, England; died
at Barrowshill, Boughton outside Chester, England, 1679) (f.d. July 19).
John Rigby--household
retainer of the Huddleston family (born near Wigan, Lancashire, England, c.
1570; died at Southwark in 1601) (f.d. June 21).
John Roberts--Benedictine
priest, Welshman (born near Trawsfynydd Merionethshire, Wales, in 1577; died at
Tyburn, 1610) (f.d. December 10).
John Southworth--priest
(born in Lancashire, England, in 1592; died at Tyburn 1654) (f.d. June 28).
John Stone--Augustinian
friar (born in Canterbury, England; died at Canterbury, c. 1539) (f.d. December
27).
John Wall--Franciscan
priest (born in Lancashire, England, 1620; died at Redhill, Worcester, in 1679)
(f.d. August 22).
Luke Kirby--priest (born
at Bedale, Yorkshire, England; died at Tyburn, 1582) (f.d. May 30).
Margaret Middleton
Clitherow--wife, mother, and school mistress (born in York, England, c. 1555;
died at York in 1586) (f.d. March 25).
Margaret Ward--gentlewoman
who engineered a priest's escape from jail (born in Congleton, Cheshire,
England; died at Tyburn in 1588) (f.d. August 30).
Nicholas Owen--Jesuit
laybrother (born at Oxford, England; died in the Tower of London in 1606) (f.d.
March 2).
Philip Evans--Jesuit
priest, (born in Monmouthshire, Wales, in 1645; died in Cardiff, Wales, in
1679) (f.d. July 22).
Philip Howard--Earl of
Arundel and Surrey (born in 1557; died in the Tower of London, believed to have
been poisoned, 1595) (f.d. October 19).
Polydore Plasden--priest
(born in London, England; died at Tyburn, in 1591) (f.d. December 10).
Ralph Sherwin--priest
(born at Rodsley, Derbyshire, England; died at Tyburn, 1851) (f.d. December 1).
Richard Gwyn--poet and schoolmaster;
protomartyr of Wales (born at Llanidloes, Montgomeryshire, Wales, in 1537; died
at Wrexham, Wales, in 1584) (f.d. October 17).
Richard Reynolds--Brigittine
priest (born in Devon, England, c. 1490; died Tyburn in 1535) (f.d. May 4).
Robert Lawrence--Carthusian
priest (died at Tyburn in 1535) (f.d. May 4).
Robert Southwell--Jesuit
priest (born at Horsham Saint, Norfolk, England, c. 1561; died at Tyburn in
1595) (f.d. February 21).
Swithun Wells--schoolmaster
(born at Bambridge, Hampshire, England, in 1536; died at Gray's Inn Fields,
London, 1591) (f.d. December 10). Mrs. Wells was also condemned to death, but
was reprieved and died in prison, 1600).
Thomas Garnet--Jesuit
priest (born at Southwark, England; died at Tyburn, in 1608) (f.d. June
23).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1025.shtm
John Houghton, O Cart. M (RM)
Born in Essex, England, in 1487; died at Tyburn on May 4, 1535; beatified in 1886; canonized by Pius VI in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. Saint John served as a parish priest for four years after his graduation from Cambridge. Then he joined the Carthusians, where he was named prior of Beauvale Charterhouse in Northampton and, just a few months later, prior of London Charterhouse.
In 1534, he and his
procurator, Blessed Humphrey Middlemore, were arrested for refusing to accept
the Act of Succession, which proclaimed the legitimacy of Anne Boleyn's
children by Henry VIII. They were soon released when the accepted the act with
the proviso "as far as the law of God allows."
The following year Father
Houghton was again arrested when he, Saint Robert Lawrence, and Saint Augustine
Webster went to Thomas Cromwell to seek an exemption from taking the oath
required in the Act of Supremacy. He, as the first of hundreds to refuse to
apostatize in favor of the crowned heads of England, gave a magnificent example
to his monks and the whole of Britain of fidelity to the Catholic faith.
As the sentence of
drawing and quartering was read to Father Houghton, he said, "And what
wilt thou do with my heart, O Christ?" The three were dragged through the
streets of London, treated savagely, and then hanged, drawn, and quartered at
Tyburn. After his death, John Houghton's body was chopped into pieces and hung
in various parts of London (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney).
John Houghton is depicted
as a Carthusian with a rope around his neck, holding up his heart (Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0504.shtml
Richard Reynolds, Priest
M (RM)
Born in Devon, England, c. 1490; died at Tyburn on May 4, 1535; beatified in
1886; canonized by Pius VI in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England
and Wales.
Richard studied at
Cambridge, was elected a fellow of Corpus Christi College in 1510, and took the
degree of B.D. and was appointed university preachers in 1513. That same year,
he professed himself as a Bridgettine monk at Syon Abbey, Isleworth, and became
known for his sanctity and erudition. He was imprisoned when he refused to
subscribe to the Act of Supremacy issued by Henry VIII and was one of the first
martyrs hanged at Tyburn, after being forced to witness the butchering of four
other martyrs (Benedictines, Delaney).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0504.shtml
Robert Lawrence, Priest M (RM)
Died at Tyburn on May 4, 1535; beatified in 1886; canonized by Pius VI in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. Saint Robert was prior of the charterhouse of Beauvale, Nottinghamshire, England. He was on a visit to the London charterhouse, as was Saint Augustine Webster, when they accompanied its prior, Saint John Houghton, to see Thomas Cromwell, who had them seized and imprisoned in the Tower of London. When they refused to sign the Act of Supremacy, which placed Henry VIII as head of the Church of England, they were savagely treated and hanged (Benedictines, Delaney).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0504.shtml
Augustine Webster, O. Cart. M (RM)
Saint
Augustine Webster
Августин
Вебстер (ум. около 1531) - святой Римско-Католической Церкви
Died May 4, 1535; canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. After studying at Cambridge, Father Augustine became a Carthusian and then in 1531 prior of the charterhouse at Axholme, England. While on a visit to the London charterhouse, he accompanied Saint John Houghton and Saint Robert Lawrence to a meeting with Thomas Cromwell, who had the three arrested and imprisoned in the Tower. When they refused to accept the Act of Supremacy of Henry VIII, they were dragged through the streets of London, savagely treated, and executed at Tyburn outside London (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0504.shtml
Richard Gwyn M (RM)
Born at Llanidloes, Montgomeryshire, Wales, in 1537; died at Wrexham, Wales, on
October 15, 1584; canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs
of England and Wales.
Richard Gwyn was raised a
Protestant, studied briefly at Saint John's College, Cambridge. He returned to
Wales in 1562, opened a school at Overton, Flintshire, married, and had six
children. He left Overton after becoming a Catholic, when his absence from
Anglican services was noticed, but was arrested in 1579 at Wrexham, Wales.
He escaped but was again
arrested in 1580 and imprisoned at Ruthin. He was brought up before eight
assizes, tortured, and fined in between, and four years later, in 1584, he was
convicted of treason on charges by perjuring witnesses and sentenced to death.
During his time in
prison, he wrote numerous religious poems in Welsh. He was hanged, drawn, and
quartered at Wrexham--the first Welsh martyr of Queen Elizabeth I's reign. He
is the protomartyr of Wales (Benedictines, Delaney).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1017.shtml
John Stone, OSA Priest M (RM)
Born in Canterbury, England; died there 1538-1539; canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales; feast day formerly May 12. John was an Augustinian friar of the Canterbury community. He held a doctorate in Divinity and was highly respected for his erudition. He served as a professor and prior at Droitwich for a time but was back at Canterbury when Henry VIII began his divorce proceedings. John denounced the claims of Henry to ecclesiastical supremacy from the pulpit, was arrested in December 1538, imprisoned at Westgate, and when he reiterated his condemnation of the Act of Supremacy, was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Canterbury before December 1539 (Benedictines, Delaney).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1227.shtml
Margaret Ward M (RM)
Born at Congleton, Cheshire, England; died August 30, 1588; beatified in 1929;
canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and
Wales. The gentlewoman Margaret was serving as a companion in the home of the
Whittle family in London when she was arrested together with her servant,
Blessed John Roche, for helping Father Richard (William?) Watson to escape from
Bridewell Prison. She had smuggled a rope into the priest's cell so that he
might climb down from the roof. He was injured, but did escape with the help of
John Roche. The rope was traced back to Margaret, who was severely tortured.
They were tried at the Old Bailey on August 29, and offered their freedom if
they would reveal the whereabouts of Watson and convert to the Protestant
faith. Upon refusing, they were hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn,
together with a priest and three other laymen (Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer,
Kalberer).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0830.shtml
Philip Howard M (RM)
Born in 1557; died October 19, 1595; beatified in 1929; canonized by Pope Paul
VI in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
Philip was the eldest son
of Thomas Howard, fourth duke of Norfolk, who had been beheaded under Queen
Elizabeth I in 1572. Philip's godfather was Philip II of Spain. On his mother's
side, Philip was earl of Arundel and Surrey. His life's story is not so
surprising given this heritage of high-birth and martyrdom.
Although Philip was baptized
as a Catholic, he was raised as a Protestant. For years he was an indifferent
Christian, neglectful of his faith. At the tender age of 12 or 14, he was
married to Anne Dacre, his foster sister. He studied at Cambridge for two
years. Although Queen Elizabeth had executed his father, she made Philip one of
her favorites. The son was dazzingly handsome, witty, and a good dancer. Philip
became a wastrel at Elizabeth's court, involved in many love affairs, refusing
to set eyes on his young wife who waited patiently at Arundel House.
Even during this period
of dissipation, Philip was extravagant in helping the poor and sick. He
servants worshipped him because he treated every individual courteously. About
this time his grandfather died and he inherited the title and estates of the
earl of Arundel. Deeply impressed by Saint Edmund Campion when he debated
theology with the deans of Windsor at London, Philip reformed his life, was
reconciled to his neglected wife, and eventually fell deeply in love with her.
About the same time as
Campion's defense of the faith, Anne Dacre and Philip's favorite sister, Lady
Margaret Sackville, were reconciled to the Catholic Church. Elizabeth
immediately banished Anne Dacre and placed her under house arrest in Surrey,
where she gave birth to their first daughter. Philip was imprisoned in the
Tower of London for a short time. Upon his release, he, too, returned to the
Catholic Church in 1584 with fervor and conscientiousness.
In late April 1585,
Philip tried to escape across the English Channel to Flanders with his family
and brother William as so many Catholics of his country had done before. But
the captain of the ship he had hired betrayed him. Again, he was thrown into
the Tower, where he was severely beaten and accused of treason for working with
Mary, Queen of Scots. The charge was not provable, but he was fined 10,000
pounds. His pleas for mercy and to be allowed to see his wife, daughter, and
newborn son went unanswered by the queen.
On various occasions it
was reported to his wife that the earl was drinking in prison, that he had
affairs with all kinds of loose women, and was entirely indifferent to
religious concerns. Even where he was at the point of death in 1596, it was
made a condition that he must renounce his faith if he wanted to see Anne and
the children before he died.
At the time of the
Spanish Armada, he was again accused of treason (though he was in the Tower of
London at the time) and ordered executed--a sentence that was never carried
out. He was kept imprisoned in the Tower and died there six years later, on
October 19, perhaps poisoned (Benedictines, Delaney, Undset).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1019.shtml
John Jones, OFM Priest M
(AC)
Born at Clynog Fawr, Carnarvonshire, Wales; died July 12, 1598; beatified in
1929; canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England
and Wales. Born of a Catholic family, John Jones was ordained at Rheims and in
1587 was working among the Catholic prisoners in Marshalsea Prison in London.
He was discovered, imprisoned at Wisbech Castle, but managed to escape to the
Continent.
He joined the Franciscans
of the Observants, probably at Pontoise, France, and was professed at Ara Coeli
Convent in Rome. He received permission to return to England in 1592, using the
alias John Buckley, worked in London and other parts of England, and was
arrested again in 1596.
He was imprisoned for two
years (he brought Blessed John Rigby back to the faith while in prison), and
when convicted of being a Catholic priest guilty of treason for having been
ordained abroad and returned to England, he was hanged, drawn, and quartered at
Southwark in London (Benedictines, Delaney).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0712.shtml
Thomas Garnet, SJ Priest
M (AC)
Born at Southwark; died 1608; beatified 1929; canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI
as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. Born into a distinguished
Catholic family, Thomas Garnet was the nephew of the famous Jesuit, Father
Henry Garnet, and the son of Richard Garnet, a faithful Catholic who had been a
distinguished fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. His early education was at
Horsham Grammar School, but at the age of 16 or 17, he was sent to the newly
opened College of Saint Omer in France. In January 1595, he and several of the
other students set sail for Spain, but not until 14 months later, after many
adventures which included a term of imprisonment in England, did he succeed in
reaching Spain and the English Jesuit College at Valladolid. There, at the
close of his theological course, he was ordained a priest. He was then sent on
the English mission with Blessed Mark Barkworth in 1599. His manner of life for
the next six years he described in a few words in his evidence when on trial:
"I wandered from place to place to recover souls which had gone astray and
were in error as to the knowledge of the true Catholic Church."
In 1606, the year he
uncle was executed, Father Thomas Garnet was arrested near Warwick shortly
after the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot. First he was imprisoned in the
Gatehouse and then moved to Newgate. Because he had been staying in the house
of Mr. Ambrose Rookwood, who was implicated in the conspiracy, and because he
was so closely connected to Father Henry Garnet, it was hoped that important information
could be extracted from him, but neither threats nor the strictest
cross-examination could elicit any incriminating admission. After eight or nine
months spent in a damp cell with no better bed than the bare ground, he was
deported to Flanders with 46 other priests. While still in England Saint Thomas
had been admitted to the Society of Jesus by his uncle, who was superior of the
Jesuits in England, and he now proceeded to Louvain for his novitiate. The
following year, in September, he returned to England. Six weeks later he was
betrayed by an apostate priest and arrested again.
At the Old Bailey he was
charged with high treason on the grounds that he had been made a priest by
authority derived from Rome and that he had returned to England in defiance of
the law. His priesthood he neither admitted nor denied, but he firmly refused
to take the Oath of Supremacy. On the evidence of three witnesses who declared
that when he was in the Tower he had signed himself Thomas Garnet, Priest, he
was declared guilty and was condemned to death.
On the scaffold he
proclaimed himself a priest and a Jesuit, explaining that he had not
acknowledged this at his trial lest he should be his own accuser or oblige the
judges to condemn him against their consciences. The Earl of Essex and others
tried up to the last moment to persuade him to save his life by taking the
oath, and when the end came and the cart was drawn away they would not allow
him to be cut down until it was certain he was quite dead (Benedictines, Delaney,
Walsh).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0623.shtml
John Kemble, Priest MM
(RM)
Born at Saint Weonard's, Herefordshire, England, in 1599; died at Hereford, in
1679; beatified in 1929; canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty
Martyrs of England and Wales.
John Kemble was born to
Catholic parents, studied for the priesthood at Douai, and was ordained in
1625. He then labored in the English mission in Herefordshire and Monmouthshire
for 53 years. During the hysteria, in 1678, surrounding the Titus Oates Plot,
Father Kemble was arrested at Pembridge Castle, his brother's home, which he
had used as his headquarters. He was charged with complicity in the fraudulent
plot to assassinate King Charles II. When no evidence could be found of his
involvement, he was examined by the Privy Council in London and found guilty of
being a Catholic priest. The 80-year-old Father Kemble was so respected that he
was allowed to die upon the gallows before the other grisly rituals of the
drawing and quartering were carried out. Thus, he was thus spared much of the
agonies that others suffered. One of his hands was cut off and is kept as a
relic in the Catholic Church in Monmouth (Benedictines, Delaney).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0822.shtml
John Wall, OFM Priests M (RM)
Born near Preston, Lancashire, England; died at Redhill, Worcester on August
22, 1679; beatified in 1929; canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI as one of the
Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. John had his early education at Douai,
France, then completed his studies for the priesthood at the Roman college and
was ordained in Rome in 1645. He served as a missionary for a time. When Father
John Wall entered the Friars Minor in 1651 at Saint Bonaventure's in Douai, he
took the new name of Father Joachim of Saint Anne. He joined the English
mission at Worcester in 1656, where he labored under the aliases of Francis
Johnson, Dormer, and Webb until his arrest 22 years later in December 1678 at
Bromsgrove. After being imprisoned for five months, he was acquitted of any
complicity in the Titus Oates Plot. Nevertheless, he was hanged, drawn, and
quartered for refusing to deny the faith and his priesthood
(Benedictines,Delaney).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0822.shtml
CANONIZATION OF 40
ENGLISH AND WELSH MARTYRS
Paolo Molinari, S.J.
Who the Forty Martyrs are
The forty Martyrs are
among the best known of the many Catholics who gave their lives in England and
Wales during the 16th and 17th centuries owing to the fact that their religious
convictions clashed with the laws of the State at that time.
As is known, King Henry
VIII had proclaimed himself supreme head of the Church in England and Wales,
claiming for himself and his successors power over his subjects also in
spiritual questions. According to our Catholic faith, this spiritual supremacy
is due only to the Vicar of Christ, the Roman Pontiff. The Blessed Martyrs, and
with them many other Catholics, though they wished to be, and actually were,
loyal subjects of the Crown in everything belonging to it legitimately
according to the ideas of that time, refused for reasons of conscience to
recognize the "spiritual supremacy" of the King and to obey the laws
issued by the political power on purely spiritual questions such as Holy Mass,
Eucharistic Communion and similar matters. This was what led many people to face
and meet death courageously rather than act against their conscience and deny
their Catholic faith as regards the spiritual Primacy of the Vicar of Christ
and the dogma of the Blessed Sacrament. From the ecumenical point of view, it
is extremely important to realize the fact, proved historical, that the Martyrs
were not put to death as a result of internal struggles between Catholics and
Anglicans, but precisely because they were not willing to submit to a claim of
the State which is commonly recognized today as being illegitimate and
unacceptable.
If—as has always been
clearly recognized in the case of St. Thomas More—it would be a serious error
to consider him a leading figure in the opposition between Catholics and
Anglicans, whereas he must be considered a person who rose in defence of the
rights of conscience against State usurpation, the same can be said of the 40
Martyrs, who died for exactly the same reasons.
And this is just what the
Church intends to stress with their Canonization. It was and is her intention
to hold up to the admiration not only of Catholics, but of all men, the example
of persons unconditionally loyal to Christ and to their conscience to the
extent of being ready to shed their blood for that reason. Owing to their
living faith in Christ, their personal attachment to Him, their deep sharing of
His life and principles, these persons gave a clear demonstration of their
authentically Christian charity for men, also when—on the scaffold—they prayed
not only for those who shared their religious convictions, but also for all
their fellow-countrymen it; and in particular for the Head of the State and
even for their executioners.
This firm attitude in
defence of their own freedom of conscience and of their faith in the truth of
the Primacy of Christ and of the Holy Eucharist is identical in all the 40
Martyrs. In every other respect, however, they are different as for example in
their state in life, social position, education, culture, age, character and
temperament, and in fact in everything that makes up the most typically
personal qualities of such a large group of men and women. The group is
composed, in fact, of 13 priests of the secular clergy, 3 Benedictines, 3
Carthusians, 1 Brigittine, 2 Franciscans, 1 Augustinian, 10 Jesuits and 7
members of the laity, including 3 mothers.
The history of their
martyrdom makes varied and stimulating reading as the different characters are
revealed, not without a touch of typically English humour.
The torments they
underwent give an idea of their fortitude. The priests—for example—were hanged,
and shortly after the noose had tightened round their neck they were drawn and
quartered. In most cases the second operation took place when they were still
alive, for they were not left hanging long enough to bring about their death,
sometimes only for a very few seconds.
For the others—that is,
those who were not priests—death by hanging was the normal procedure. But
before their execution the Martyrs were usually cruelly tortured, to make them
reveal the names of any accomplices in their "crime", which was
having celebrated Holy Mass, having attended it or having given shelter to
priests. In the course of the trial, and during the tortures, they were offered
their life and freedom on condition they recognized the king (or the queen,
according to the period), as head of the Church of England.
And here are some
particular features that drive home to us the spirituality of these Martyrs and
how they faced death.
Cuthbert Mayne, a secular
priest, replied to a gaoler who came to tell him he would be executed three
days later: "I wish I had something valuable to give you, for the good
news you bring me...".
Edmund Campion, a Jesuit, was so pleased when taken to the place of execution
that the people said about him and his companions: "But they're laughing!
He doesn't care at all about dying...'.
Ralph Sherwin, the first of the martyrs from the English College in Rome had heavy chains round his ankles that rattled at every step he took. "I have on my feet—he wrote wittily to a friend of his—some bells that remind me, when I walk, who I am and to whom I belong. I have never heard sweeter music than this..." He was executed immediately after Campion; he piously kissed the executioner's hands, still stained with the blood of his fellow martyr.
Alexander Briant—the diocesan priest who entered the Society of Jesus shortly before his death—had made himself a little wooden cross during his imprisonment, and held it clasped tightly between his hands all the time, even during the trial. It was then, however that they snatched it away from him But he replied to the judge: "You can take it out of my hands, but not out of my heart". The cross was later bought by some Catholics and is now in the English College in Rome.
John Paine (a secular priest, whose death was long mourned in the whole of
Chelmsford) kissed the gallows before dying; and Richard Gwyn, a layman
helped the hangman, overcome with emotion, to put the rope round his neck Some
strange and extremely revealing episodes are told about Gwyn. Once for example,
when he was in prison he was taken in chains to a chapel and obliged to stand
right under the pulpit where an Anglican preacher was giving a sermon. The
prisoner then began to rattle his chains, making such a din that no one could
hear a word of what was being said. Taken back again to his cell, he was
approached by various Protestant ministers. One of them, who had a purple nose,
wanted to dispute about the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and asserted that God
had given them also to him, not just to St. Peter. "There is a
difference", Richard Gwyn retorted "St. Peter was entrusted with the
keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, while the keys entrusted to you are obviously
those of the beer cellar".
Cultured Elizabethan
society has its representatives among the martyrs Swithun Wells was
one of them. He had travelled a great deal; he had also been in Rome, and knew
Italian well. He was a sportsman, particularly fond of hunting. On his way to
the gallows, he caught sight of an old friend among the crowd and said to him:
'Farewell, my dear! And farewell too, to our fine hunting-parties. Now I've
something far better to do...". It was December 10th, 1591, and bitterly
cold. When they stripped him, he turned to his main persecutor, Topcliffe, and
said in a joking tone: "Hurry up, please Mr. Topcliffe. Are you not
ashamed to make a poor old man suffer in his shirt in this cold?"
Catholic priests managed
to exercise the ministry thanks to the precious collaboration of the faithful.
who welcomed them and kept them hidden in their homes and facilitated the
celebration of Holy Mass. As can well be understood, now and again some one
would betray them. The Jesuit laybrother, Nicholas Owen, was famous for
the many hiding-places he built in numerous houses all over England. Arrested
and imprisoned in the Tower of London, he died while being brutally tortured.
Of the forty Martyrs, the
one who underwent the most torture was Henry Walpole, a Jesuit priest. His
exceptional physique resisted the most atrocious forms of torture for as many
as 14 times, until the gallows put an end to his sufferings.
The following inscription
can still be read in the Tower of London, in one of the cells in which the
Martyrs were detained: "Quanto plus afflictionis pro Christo in hoc
saeculo, tanto plus gloriae in futuro" (the more suffering for Christ in
this life, the more glory in heaven). The words were carved by Philip
Howard, Earl of Arundell. He was the queen's favourite when he made his
appearance at court, at the age of 18, leading a dissolute life. At the age of
24, he happened to be present at a discussion between Campion and some
Protestant ministers. The holy Jesuit's words made a deep impression on him; as
a result he was converted to Catholicism. As he was about to flee to the
continent. he was captured and thrown into prison. He spent eleven long years there,
reading, praying and meditating. He was condemned to death, but the sentence
was postponed by the Queen's intervention. He fell seriously ill and died in
prison.
A curious fact happened
to the Franciscan John Jones. At the time of his execution, the hangman
found he had forgotten the rope. The martyr took advantage of the hour's wait
to speak to the crowd and to pray.
What is most striking is
the serenity with which they all met death. Some of them even made witty,
humorous remarks.
Thus, for example the
Benedictine; John Roberts, seeing that a fire was being lit to burn his
entrails—after hanging and quartering—made the sally: "I see you are preparing
us a hot breakfast!".
When someone shouted at
the Jesuit Edmund Arrowsmith: "You've got to die, do you
realize?", he replied calmly: "So have you, so have you, my good
man...". It is testified that Alban Roe a Benedictine religious,
was a very entertaining fellow. In spite of the torture that was inflicted on
him in prison he found the courage to invite the wardens to play cards with
him, telling funny stories. He gave all the money he had to the executioner to
drink to his health, warning him not to get drunk, however.
Philip Evans, having
found a particularly kind judge, was treated somewhat indulgently in prison, so
much so that he could even play tennis. Well, it was just during a game that
the news of his condemnation to death arrived. He continued to play, as if
nothing had happened. Then he picked up his harp and began to play.
John Kemple, a secular
priest, was the only one who always refused to go into biding. "I'm too
old now—he would say—and it is better for me to spend the rest of my life
suffering for my religion". Of course he was caught and arrested. Before
he was hanged, he asked to be allowed to smoke his inseparable pipe. The
executioner, who happened to be an old friend of his, was overcome with emotion
when the moment came to carry out his task and showed his hesitation. Then it
was the martyr who urged him on, saying: "My good Anthony, do what you
have to do. I forgive you with all my heart...".
The martyrdom of Margaret
Clitherow is particularly moving. She was accused "of having
sheltered the Jesuits and priests of the secular clergy, traitors to Her
Majesty the Queen"; but she retorted: "I have only helped the Queen's
friends". Margaret knew that the court had decided to condemn her to death
and, not wanting to make the jury accomplices in her condemnation, she refused
the trial. The alternative was to be crushed to death. When the terrible
sentence was passed, Margaret said: "I will accept willingly everything
that God wills".
On Friday March 25th,
1588, at eight o'clock in the morning, Margaret, just thirty-three years old,
left Ouse Bridge prison, barefooted, bound for Toll Booth, accompanied by two
police superintendents, four executioners and four women friends; she carried
on her arm a white linen garment. When she arrived at the dungeon, she knelt in
front of the officials, begging that she should not be stripped, but her prayer
was not granted. While the men looked away, the four pious women gathered round
her and before Margaret lay down on the ground they spread over her body the
white garment that the prisoner had brought with her for that purpose. Then her
martyrdom began.
Her arms were stretched
out in the shape of a cross, and her hands tightly bound to two stakes in the
ground. The executioners put a sharp stone the size of a fist under her back
and placed on her body a large slab onto which weights were gradually loaded up
to over 800 pounds. Margaret whispered: "Jesus, have mercy on me".
Her death agony lasted for fifteen minutes, then the moaning ceased, and all
was quiet.
These brief remarks on
some outstanding episodes of the martyrdom of the 40 Martyrs, and the quoting
of some of the words they uttered at the gallows, are sufficient to show what
was the ultimate reasons for their death and, at the same time, the sublimely
Christian state of mind of these heroes of the faith.
The history of the Cause
The history of the
Beatification and Canonization Cause of our forty blessed Martyrs is part of.
the wider history of a host of Martyrs who shed their blood in defence of the
Catholic religion in England, from the schism that began in the reign of Henry
VIII down to the end of the 17th century.
As early as the end of
1642 the first steps were taken to initiate the canonical process, but owing to
the persecutions that were still rife, this initiative had soon to be suspended
Nevertheless the victims of the persecution continued to be considered and
venerated as martyrs. The Cause to prove their martyrdom and the existence of
their cult was presented in Rome only in the second half of the last century,
that is, following upon the reconstitution of the Catholic hierarchy in England
and Wales, which took place in 1850.
The Cause of 254 martyrs
was introduced on December 9th, 1886, by Leo XIII. Shortly afterwards, on
December 29th 1886, the cult of 54 martyrs was confirmed by special decree,
then on May 13th, 1895, 9 others. Finally, with the Apostolic Letter Atrocissima
tormenta passi on December 15th, 1929, Pius XI beatified 136 victims of
this persecution, and on May 19th 1935 he solemnly canonized Cardinal John Fisher
and Chancellor Thomas More.
In still more recent
times, the Hierarchy of England and Wales, conscious of the deep devotion to
the martyrs who on different occasions had been declared blessed by the
apostolic See, and aware that this devotion was addressed especially to some of
the most popular of them was induced by the requests of the faithful and the
multiplicity of favours obtained, to promote the canonization not of the whole
host of these martyrs, but of a limited group of them. Right from the beginning
of the negotiations, the Canonization Cause of these Martyrs was entrusted by
the Hierarchy of England and Wales to Fr. Paolo Molinari, Postulator General of
the Society of Jesus and President of the College of Postulators. He in turn
nominated as Assistant Postulators Father Philip Caraman and James Walsh of the
English Province of the Society. When the former was put for some years at the
disposal of the Bishop of Oslo for certain important tasks, Father Clement
Tigar, S.J. took his place.
After patient and
laborious work, the list of the 40 martyrs chosen was presented by Fr. Molinari
to the Holy See on December 1st, 1960. After the usual practices the latter
proceeded, on May 24th 1961, with the so-called re-opening of the Cause by
means of the Decree <Sanctorum Insula>, issued by order of Pope John
XXIII.
Eleven of these forty
martyrs had been included among the blessed solely by a decree confirming their
cult. It was now necessary, in view of the hoped-for canonization, to make a
thorough historical re-examination of their martyrdom, which had not been
done ex professo when the Positio super introductione causue was
prepared last century. As is customary, this task was entrusted to the
Historical Section of the Sacred Congregation of Rites. Availing itself
essentially of the studies carried out under its direction by the General
Postulation of the Society of Jesus and by the office of the English
Vice-Postulation, it made a very favourable pronouncement on the material and
formal martyrdom of the eleven Blessed in question. The other studies
prescribed by law having been completed, His Holiness Paul VI signed the
special Decree of the Declaratio Martyrii of these eleven Blessed
Martyrs, on May 4th 1970. In preparing for this Decree, two volumes were
published in English and in Italian respectively of the Positio super
Martyrii et cultu ex officio concinnata (Official Presentation of
Documents on Martyrdom and Cult) (Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, 1968, pp. XLIV,
375 in folio) which in the judgment of international critics is a real model of
scientific editing of old texts.
Miracles attributed to
the Forty Blessed Martyrs
Even before the rehearing
of the Cause, many reports of favours and apparently miraculous cures
attributed to the intercession of our Blessed Martyrs, had come to the knowledge
of the Catholic Hierarchy of England and Wales, which hastened to inform the
competent Roman Authorities.
From the time when the
Cause of the 40 Blessed Martyrs was reopened, the ecclesiastical Hierarchy
called for a prayer campaign in all English dioceses. Its most outstanding
manifestations were various pilgrimages to the shrines of the Martyrs, diocesan
and interdiocesan rallies, and particularly "<Martyrs'
Sunday>", the yearly celebration of the memory of these Martyrs by all
dioceses and parishes.
As a result of the
intensification of the devotion of the faithful and their prayers, a good many
events took place which looked like miracles. Sufficient data were collected
about them to induce the Archbishop of Westminster, then Cardinal William
Godfrey, to send a description of 24 seemingly miraculous cases to the Sacred
Congregation.
The most striking of
these and of the others that continued to be notified to the Postulation were
first examined with special care by doctors of high repute. On the basis of
their answers, two cases were chosen and the usual Apostolic Proceedings were
instituted, and the acts were sent to the Sacred Congregation of Rites in Rome.
In the meantime requests
and pleas continued to arrive for the canonization of the 40 blessed Martyrs of
England and Wales as soon as possible. His Holiness Paul VI, duly informed
about the extremely favourable outcome of the discussion of the Medical Council
regarding one of the two above-mentioned cases, and keeping in mind the fact that
the blessed Thomas More and John Fisher, belonging to the same group of
Martyrs, had been canonized with a dispensation from miracles, considered that
it was possible to proceed with the Canonization on the basis of this one
miracle, after further discussions at the S. Congregation for the Causes of
Saints had taken place.
The same S. Congregation,
having issued the special Decree on July 30th, 1969, proceeded with the
examination of the miracle, that is, the cure of a young mother affected with a
malignant tumour (fibrosarcoma) in the left scapula, a cure which the Medical
Council had judged gradual, perfect, constant and unaccountable on the natural
plane.
After due assessment of
the case and the usual discussions within the S. Congregation for the Causes of
Saints, which concluded with an extremely favourable result on May 4th, 1970,
his Holiness Paul VI confirmed the preternatural character of this cure brought
about by God at the intercession of the 40 blessed Martyrs of England and
Wales.
From the point of view of
canonical procedure, the way was now open for solemn Canonization if the
Sovereign Pontiff so decided.
There still remained
another problem, however, which had been carefully taken into account by the
Postulation right from the beginning, but which now had to be solved on the
basis of another thorough study, that is, the problem of the opportuneness of
this Canonization. While in fact the vast majority of English
Catholics—Bishops, clergy and laity—thorough study, that is, the problem of
faith to be raised to the honours of the altar, some voices had been raised in
repeated circumstances to say that canonization of these Martyrs might be
inopportune for ecumenical reasons.
Opportuneness of the
Canonization
In more recent times—November
1969—the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Ramsey, had expressed his apprehension
that this Canonization might rekindle animosity and polemics detriment to the
ecumenical spirit that has characterized the efforts of the Churches recently.
But the reaction of the press, lay, Anglican and Catholic, showed clearly that
this concern—though shared by some Anglicans and Catholics—did not correspond
to the view of the vast majority. Many people, in fact, both Anglicans and
Catholics, were aware of the fact that, right from the beginning of the
re-opening of the Cause, the policy of its Promoters had been characterized by
an extremely serene and ecumenical note; what is more, they realized the
positive repercussions it offers just in this field if it is presented in this
very spirit.
Right from the first
announcement of the Re-opening of the Cause of the 40 Martyrs, decreed by Pope
John XXIII on 24 May 1961, the Hierarchy of England and Wales let it be clearly
under stood that nothing was further from the intentions of the Bishops than to
stir up bad feelings and quarrels of the past.
The aim of the Postulator
General Paolo Molinari S.J. and his collaborators, James Walsh S.J., Philip
Caraman S.J. and Clement Tigar S.J., while they were carrying out the historical
research and investigation, was to ensure that the Cause would be presented in
an authentically ecumenical way.
For this reason the
Postulator General, always working in close contact with the authorities of the
S. Congregation that deals with the Causes of Saints and in agreement with the
Hierarchy of England and Wales, asked Cardinal Agostino Bea, then President of
the Secretariat for the Union of Christians, to act as the Cardinal Ponens of
the Cause Aware of its ecumenical significance, he sustained, promoted and
encouraged its course until he died. After his death the Secretariat itself
continued to follow attentively the individual phases of the Cause and not only
did not find any contrary motive but collaborated skillfully to ensure that the
approach would benefit the ecumenical cause, instead of hampering it. (See in
this connection the address that the present President of the Secretariat,
Card. Willebrands, delivered in the Anglican cathedral in Liverpool during his
recent visit to England).
The vast majority of
people understood all this. The most authoritative voice in this sense was that
of the British Council of Churches, which made a public declaration on the
matter on December 17th, 1969. Not only does it recognize the importance for
the Catholic Church to venerate its Martyrs, to whom the survival of the
Catholic Church in England and Wales is essentially due, but it also expressed
satisfaction that the various Christian denominations are united today in
recognizing the tradition of the Martyrs as a common element from which we must
all draw strength disregarding denominational frontiers.
Quite a few authoritative
persons—including several Anglican Bishops—keeping in mind and appreciating the
actions of considerable ecumenical value of Pope Paul VI on various
occasion—expressed the view and the hope that the Canonization of the 40
Martyrs might be an opportunity for the members of other Christian
denominations to make a positive gesture that would funkier the cause of union,
by joining in the admiration of Catholics for these Martyrs.
Ecumenical exchanges
Some months before the
Consistory the General Postulation, as well as the Vice-Postulation, had
charged specialized agencies with following the whole national and provincial
press of England and Wales, together with the European and American press, and
sending it constantly everything that was published in connection with the
Cause. At the same time it redoubled its efforts to obtain the widest and most
accurate information not only on the attitude of English and Welsh Catholics,
but above all on that of the Anglicans, with many of whose best qualified
representatives there had long existed relations marked by sincere and
brotherly frankness and a genuine spirit of mutual understanding and
collaboration. The Hierarchy of England and Wales, in its turn, and in the
first place Card. Godfrey's successor, His Eminence Card. Heenan,
Vice-President of the Secretariat for the Union of Christians, made a point of
establishing and maintaining exchanges of views with the competent authorities
of the various Christian denominations in their country.
On the basis of this huge
mass of material, it was established beyond al] shadow of doubt that at least
85 per cent of what had been printed in England and Wales, both on the Catholic
and the non-Catholic side, far from being unfavourable to the Cause, was
clearly in favour of it or at least showed great understanding for the
opportuneness of the canonization. This applies to publications such as "Church
Times", or the "Church of England Newspaper." and the most
widely read English national papers such as "The Times", "The
Guardian", "The Economist", "The Spectator" "The
Daily Telegraph", "The Sunday Times" and many others.
On the other hand some foreign
publications—including some well-known papers of protest—raised difficulties.
It was at once clear, however, that these were based on insufficient knowledge
of the complicated historical situation in which the Martyrs sacrificed their
lives, and, to an even greater degree, of the present ecumenical situation in
England. The latter calls for at least a minimum of concrete knowledge and
cannot easily be understood by those who do not take the trouble to study it
thoroughly Of course, everything possible has been done, by means of press
conferences and other opportune methods, to eliminate this type of
misunderstanding, generally most successfully.
A serious, serene and
objective study of the whole situation led to the conclusion, therefore, that
besides the numerous reasons clearly in favour of the canonization of the 40
blessed Martyrs, there were no real ecumenical objections to it, on the
contrary the canonization offered considerable advantages also from the genuinely
ecumenical point of view.
It was precisely these
ideas that His Holiness Paul VI expressed and explained in a masterly fashion
in the address he delivered on the occasion of the Consistory on May 18th,
1970, in which he announced his intention to proceed with the solemn canonization
of the 40 blessed Martyrs of England and Wales on October 25th, 1970. In this
address the Holy Father, besides pointing out, with serene frankness and great
charity, the ecumenical value of this Cause, also laid particular stress on the
fact that we need the example of these Martyrs particularly today not only
because the Christian religion is still exposed to violent persecution in
various parts of the world, but also because at a time when the theories of
materialism and naturalism are constantly gaining ground and threatening to
destroy the spiritual heritage of our civilization, the forty Martyrs—men and
women from all walks of life—who did not hesitate to sacrifice their lives in
obedience to the dictates of conscience and the divine will, stand out as noble
witnesses to human dignity and freedom.
This declaration of the
Sovereign Pontiff was received with practically unanimous approval, which
showed how right the decision had been to proceed with the canonization. His
address was given a great deal of attention and certainly contributed
effectively to dispelling any doubts that may still have existed in certain
quarters.
At the same time the
Pope's words drive home to us unmistakably why the Church continues to propose
new Saints. The formal recognition of the holiness of some of her members has
the aim of presenting to the faithful and to all men the unshaken loyalty with
which they followed Christ and his law. It aims at letting us have, in a living
and existential way, the message that God addressed to us in his Son, who came
on earth to make us share his life and his love. It aims at making us
understand that, by welcoming his teaching and receiving Christ our Lord with
sincere hearts we already become participants in that life that will be granted
to us in its fullness when, having finished the course of our earthly existence
after being faithful to Him, we are admitted to his presence (cfr. Lumen
Gentium, 48).
Through these Saints it
is God himself who is speaking to us and helping us to understand how, in the
shifting circumstances of life, we must live our union with Him more and more
intensely and thus grow in holiness:
"For when we look at
the lives of those who have faithfully followed Christ, we are inspired with a
new reason for seeking the city which is to come (Heb. 13:14; 11:10). At the
same time we are shown a most safe path by which among the vicissitudes of this
world and in keeping with the state in life and condition proper to each of us,
we will be able to arrive at perfect union with Christ, that is, holiness. In
the lives of those who shared in our humanity and yet were transformed into
especially successful images of Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 3:18), God vividly manifests
to men His presence and His face. He speaks to us in them, and gives us a sign
of His kingdom, to which we are powerfully drawn, surrounded as we are by so
many witnesses (cf. Heb. 12:1), and having such an argument for the truth of
the gospel" (Lumen Gentium, No. 50).
The situations in which
we live may vary, but in the last analysis they have a deep element in common
which transcends time and circumstances. At the root of our existence there is
God's invitation, his offer to open our hearts to his love and respond in our
lives with authentic responsibility and consistency, to the claims of the love
of Him who gave his life for us
Taken from:
L'Osservatore Romano
Weekly Edition in English
29 October 1970
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May
4 – The Forty Martyrs of England and Wales (16th-17th centuries: details)
The image here is of St Margaret Clitherow, the
“pearl of York”, a married woman who held Masses in her house and sheltered
priests. She suffered a horrific death. For details of her life and death,
see 26th
March. Here Patrick Duffy gives the details of the lives and deaths of
each of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
3 Carthusians:
The Carthusians were all priors of different
Charterhouses houses of the Carthusian Order). Summoned in 1535 by
Secretary of State Thomas Cromwell to sign the Oath of Supremacy, they declined
and by virtue of their Carthusian vow of silence refused to speak in their own
defence.
Augustine Webster was educated at Cambridge and
was prior of the Carthusian house of Our Lady of Melwood at Epworth, on the
Isle of Axholme, North Lincolnshire in 1531.
John Houghton was born c. 1486 and educated at
Cambridge. He joined the London Charterhouse in 1515. In 1531, he became abbot
of the Charterhouse of Beauvale in Nottinghamshire but was then elected Prior
of the London house, to which he returned.
Robert Lawrence served as prior of the
Charterhouse at Beauvale, Nottinghamshire.
The three were cruelly tortured and executed at
Tyburn, making them among the first martyrs from the order in England. They
were beatified in 1886.
1 Augustinian friar: John Stone d. 1538
John Stone was a doctor of theology living in the
Augustinian friary at Canterbury. He publicly denounced the behaviour of King
Henry VIII from the pulpit of the Austin Friars and publicly stated his
approval of the status of monarch’s first marriage – clearly opposing the
monarch’s wish to gain a divorce. In 1538, in consequence of the Act of
Supremacy, Bishop Richard Ingworth (a former Dominican, and by then Bishop of
Dover) visited the Canterbury friary as part of the process of the dissolution
of monasteries in England. Ingworth commanded all of the friars to sign a deed
of surrender by which the King should gain possession of the friary and its
surrounding property. Most did, but John Stone refused and even further
denounced bishop Ingworth for his compliance with the King’s desires. He was executed
at the Dane John (Dungeon Hill), Canterbury, for his opposition to the King’s
wishes.
1 Brigittine: Richard Reynolds 1492-1535
The Brigittines were an order of monks founded by St
Bridget of Sweden.
Richard was born in Devon in 1492 and educated at
Cambridge. In 1513, he entered the Brigettines at Syon Abbey, Isleworth. When
Henry VIII demanded royal oaths, Richard was along with the Carthusian priors
who were hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn Tree in London after being
dragged through the streets in 1535.
Two Franciscans
John Jones
(Friar Observant – also known as John Buckley, John
Griffith, or Godfrey Maurice)
John Jones was from a good Welsh and strongly Catholic
family. As a youth, he entered the Observant Franciscan convent at Greenwich;
at its dissolution in 1559 he went to the Continent, and took his vows at
Pontoise, France. After many years, he journeyed to Rome, where he stayed at
the Ara Coeli convent of the Observants (A branch of the Franciscan Order of
Friars Minor that followed the Franciscan Rule literally) . There he joined the
Roman province of the Reformati (a stricter observance branch of the Order of
Friars Minor). In 1591, he requested to return on mission to England. His
superiors, aware that such a mission usually ended in death, consented and John
also received a special blessing and commendation from Pope Clement VIII.
Reaching London at the end of 1592, he stayed
temporarily at the house which Father John Gerard SJ had provided for
missionary priests; he then laboured in different parts of the country. His
brother Franciscans in England elected him their provincial. In 1596 a
notorious priest catcher called Topcliffe had him arrested and imprisoned for
nearly two years. During this time he met, and helped sustain in his faith,
John Rigby. On 3 July 1598 Father Jones was tried on the charge of “going over
the seas in the first year of Her majesty’s reign (1558) and there being made a
priest by the authority from Rome and then returning to England contrary to
statute” . He was convicted of high treason and sentenced to being hanged,
drawn, and quartered.
The execution was to take place in the early morning
at St. Thomas’ Watering, in what is now the Old Kent Road, at the site of the
junction of the old Roman road to London with the main line of Watling Street.
Such ancient landmarks had been immemorially used as places of execution,
Tyburn itself being merely the point where Watling Street crossed the Roman
road to Silchester. The executioner had forgotten his ropes! In the delay
while the forgetful man went to collect his necessary ropes John Jones took the
opportunity to talk to the assembled crowd. He explained the important
distinction – that he was dying for his faith alone and had no political
interest. His dismembered remains were exposed, but were removed by some young
Catholic gentlemen, one of whom suffered a long imprisonment for this offence.
One of the relics eventually reached Pontoise, where the martyr had taken his
religious vows.
John Wall 1620-1679
Franciscan (known at Douay and Rome as John Marsh, and
other aliases while on the mission in England)
Born in Preston, Lancashire, 1620, the son of wealthy
and staunch Catholics, he was sent at a young age to Douai College. He entered
the Roman College in 1641 and was ordained in 1645. Sent on mission in 1648, he
received the habit of St. Francis at St. Bonaventure’s Friary, Douai in 1651
and a year later was professed, taking the name of Joachim of St. Anne. He
filled the offices of vicar and novice master at Douai until 1656, when he
returned to the Mission, and for twenty years ministered in Worcestershire.
Captured in December 1678 at Rushock Court near Bromsgrove, where the sheriff’s
man came to seek a debtor. When it was discovered he was a priest, he was
asked to take the Oath of Supremacy and when he refused was put in Worcester
Gaol
Sent on to London, he was four times examined by
Oates, Bedloe, and others in the hope of implicating him in the pretended plot;
but was declared innocent of all plotting and could have saved his life if he
would abjure his religion. Brought back to Worcester, he was executed at
Redhill on 22 August 1679. The day previous, William Levison was enabled to
confess and communicate him, and at the moment of execution the same priest
gave him the last absolution. His quartered body was given to his friends, and was
buried in St. Oswald’s churchyard.
3 Benedictines
Alban Roe 1582-1642
Born Bartholemew Roe 1583 in Bury, St Edmunds,
Suffolk. After meeting an imprisoned Catholic recusant, he converted to
Catholicism. He spent some time at the English College at Douai in northern
France, but was expelled for insubordination. He spent the rest of his
novitiate at the Abbey of St. Lawrence, Dieulouard, a newly opened Benedictine
house near Nancy – the home of Benedictine monks fleeing persecution in
England. He was ordained priest there in 1612. Sent back to England, he was
banished in 1615 but returned in 1618 and was imprisoned until 1623, when his
release and re-exile was organised by the Spanish Ambassador. He returned two
years later for the last time and was imprisoned for seventeen years. He
was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn on the 21st of January 1642.
Ambrose Barlow 1585-1641
Born Edward Barlow at Handforth Hall, Cheshire.
Until 1607 he belonged to the Anglican church, but then turned to the Catholic
church. He was educated at the Benedictine monastery of St. Gregory in
Douai, France, and entered the English College in Valladolid, Spain, in 1610.
He later returned to Douai where his elder brother (William) Rudesind Barlow
was a professed monk. Barlow also professed in 1614 and was ordained a priest
in 1617. Sent to England on mission in South Lancashire, he lived with
protecting families near Manchester. But he was pursued for
proselytising, imprisoned five times and released, but was finally arrested on
Easter Sunday 1641. Paraded at the head of his parishoners, dressed in
his surplice, and was followed by some 400 men armed with clubs and swords, he
could have escaped in the confusion, but he voluntarily gave himself up.
Imprisoned in Lancaster Castle for four months, he was sentenced after
confessing to being a Catholic priest. On Friday September 10 he was hanged,
drawn and quartered at Lancaster on 10th September 1641. Many of his
relics are preserved, a hand being at Stanbrook Abbey near Worcester and his
skull in Wardley Hall.
John Roberts 1575-1606
John was born in 1575 the son of John and Anna Roberts
of Trawsfynydd, Merionethshire, Wales. He matriculated at St. John’s College,
Oxford, in February 1595 but left after two years without taking a degree and
went as a law student at one of the Inns of Court. In 1598 he travelled on the
continent and in Paris. Through the influence of a Catholic fellow-countryman
he was converted and on the advice of John Cecil, an English priest who
afterwards became a Government spy, he decided to enter the English College at
Valladolid in 1598.
The following year he went to the Abbey of St
Benedict, Valladolid, and from there he was sent for his novitiate to the Abbey
of St. Martin at Compostella where he was professed in 1600. After completing
his studies he was ordained and set out for England on the 26 December 1602.
Arriving in April 1603, he was arrested and banished on 13th May. He reached
Douai on 24 May and soon returned to England where he ministered among the
plague-stricken people in London. In 1604, while embarking for Spain with four
postulants, he was again arrested. Not being recognised as a priest, he
was soon released and banished, but he returned to England at once. On 5 November,
1605, while the house of Mrs. Percy, first wife of the Thomas Percy who was
involved in the Gunpowder Plot was being searched, he found Roberts there and
arrested him. Though acquitted of any complicity in the plot itself, Roberts
was imprisoned in the Gatehouse at Westminster for seven months and then exiled
anew in July 1606.
He now founded and became the first prior of the
English Benedictine house at Douai for monks who had entered various Spanish
monasteries. This was the beginning of the monastery of St. Gregory at Douai
and this community of St. Gregory’s still exists at Downside Abbey, near Bath,
England, having settled in England in the 19th century.
In October 1607, Roberts returned to England and in
December was yet again arrested and again contrived to escape after some months
and lived for about a year in London, again travelling to Spain and Douai in
1608. Returning to England within a year, knowing that his death was certain if
he were again captured, he was in fact captured on 2nd December 1610 just as he
was concluding Mass. Taken to Newgate in his vestments, he was tried and found
guilty under the Act forbidding priests to minister in England, and on 10th
December was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn. His body was taken and
buried in St. Gregory’s, Douai, but disappeared during the French Revolution.
Two fingers are still preserved as relics at Downside and Erdington Abbeys
respectively and a few minor relics exist.
10 Jesuits
Alexander Briant 1556-1581
Alexander Briant (1556-1581)
Alexander was born in Somerset about 1556 and at an
early age entered Hart Hall, Oxford, where he met a Jesuit priest and became a
Catholic. He then went to the English college at Reims and was ordained priest
there in 1578. He returned to England and ministered in in his home county of
Somersetshire. Arrested in 1581, he was taken to London and seriously tortured,
though in a letter to his Jesuit companions he said he felt no pain and
wondered if this were miraculous. He was barely twenty five when he was executed
at Tyburn.
Edmund Campion 1540-1581
Edmund
Campion (* 1540; † 1581), Jesuit
Son of a Catholic bookseller named Edmund whose family
converted to Anglicanism, he planned to enter his father’s trade, but was
awarded a scholarship to Saint John’s College, Oxford under the patronage of
Queen Elizabeth I’s court favorite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. A much
sought-after speaker, he was being spoken as a possible Archbishop of
Canterbury. Queen Elizabeth offered him a deaconate in the Church of
England, but he declined the offer. Instead he went to Ireland to take
part in the proposed establishment of the University of Dublin. Here he enjoyed
the protection of of Lord Deputy Sir Henry Sidney and the friendship of Sir
Patrick Barnewell at Turvey. While in Ireland he wrote a history of
Ireland (first published in Holinshead’s Chronicles).
In 1571 he left Ireland secretly and went to Douai
where he was reconciled to the Catholic Church and received the Eucharist that
he had denied himself for the previous 12 years. He entered the English College
founded by William Allen, another Oxford religious refugee. After
obtaining his degree in divinity, he walked as a pilgrim to Rome and joined the
Jesuits. Ordained in 1578, he spent some time working in Prague and
Vienna. He returned to London as part of a Jesuit mission, crossing the
Channel disguised as a jewel merchant, and worked with Jesuit brother Nicholas
Owen. He led a hunted life, preaching and ministering to Catholics in
Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, and Lancashire. At this time also he
wrote his Decem Rationes (“Ten Reasons”) against the Anglican Church, 400
copies of which found their way to the benches of St Mary’s, Oxford, at the Commencement,
on June 27, 1581.
Captured by a spy, Campion was taken to London and
committed to the Tower. Charged with conspiring to raise a sedition in
the realm and dethrone the Queen he was found guilty. Campion replied:
“If our religion do make traitors we are worthy to be condemned; but otherwise
are and have been true subjects as ever the queen had. In condemning us, you
condemn your own ancestors, you condemn all the ancient Bishops and Kings, you
condemn all that was once the glory of England….” After spending his last days
in prayer, was led with two companions to Tyburn and hanged, drawn and
quartered on December 1, 1581.
Robert Southwell 1561-1595
Robert was brought up in a family of Catholic
aristocrats in Norfolk and educated at Douai. Moving to Paris, he was placed
under a Jesuit priest, Thomas Darbyshire and after a two-year novitiate spent
mostly at Tournai, in 1580 he joined the Society of Jesus. In spite of
his youth he was made prefect of studies in the Venerable English College at
Rome and was ordained priest in 1584.
It was in that year that an act was passed forbidding
any English-born subjects of Queen Elizabeth, who had entered into priests’
orders in the Roman Catholic Church since her accession, to remain in England
longer than forty days on pain of death. But Southwell, at his own request, was
sent to England in 1586 as a Jesuit missionary with Henry Garnett. He went from
one Catholic family to another, administering the sacraments and in 1589 became
domestic chaplain to Ann Howard, whose husband, the first earl of Arundel, was
in prison convicted of treason. It was to him that Southwell addressed his Epistle
of Comfort. This and his other religious tracts, A Short Rule of Good Life,
Triumphs over Death, Mary Magdalen’s Tears and a Humble Supplication to Queen
Elizabeth, were widely circulated.
After ministering successfully for six years,
Southwell was arrested. He was repeatedly tortured and badly treated so that he
might give evidence about other priests. His father petitioned Queen
Elizabeth that he either be brought to trial and put to death, if found guilty,
or removed in any case from the filthy hole he was in. Southwell was then
lodged in the Tower of London, and allowed clothes and a bible and the works of
St Bernard. His imprisonment lasted for 3 years, during which period he was
tortured on ten occasions. In 1595 he was charged with treason, and
removed from the Tower to Newgate prison, where he was put in to a hole called
Limbo.
A few days later he was indicted as a traitor under
the law prohibiting the presence within the kingdom of priests ordained by
Rome. Southwell admitted the facts but denied “entertaining any designs or
plots against the queen or kingdom”. His only purpose, he said, had been to
administer the sacraments according to the rite of the Catholic Church to such
as desired them. When asked to enter a plea, he declared himself, “not guilty
of any treason whatsoever”. However, he was found guilty and next day,
February 20, 1595, he was drawn in a cart to Tyburn. A notorious highwayman was
being executed at the same time, at a different place – perhaps to draw the
crowds away – but many people came to witness the priest’s death. He was
allowed to address them at some length. He confessed that he was a Jesuit
priest and prayed for the salvation of the queen and his country. He commended
then his soul to God with the words of the psalm in manus tuas. He hung in the
noose for some time, making the sign of the cross as best he could. Some of the
onlookers tugged at his legs to hasten his death, and his body was then
bowelled and quartered.
As well as the religious tracts mentioned above, he
left a number of poems written in prison which are considered of high literary
merit.
Henry Walpole 1558-1595
Henry was born at Docking, Norfolk, in 1558 and was
educated at Norwich School, Peterhouse, Cambridge, and Gray’s Inn.
Converted to Roman Catholicism by the death of Saint Edmund Campion, he went by
way of Rouen and Paris to Reims, where he arrived in 1582. In 1583 he was
admitted into the English College, Rome. On 2 February 1584, he became a
probationer of the Society of Jesus and soon after went to France, where he
continued his studies, chiefly at Pont-à-Mousson. He was ordained priest at
Paris, 17 December 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 mission to England in 1590. He was arrested shortly after landing at
Flamborough for the crime of Catholic priesthood, 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, where he was hanged, drawn and quartered on 7 April
1595.
Nicholas Owen 1550-1606
Born around 1550 into a devout Catholic family,
Nicholas became a carpenter by trade, and for several years during the reign of
Elizabeth I built hiding-places for priests in the homes of Catholic families.
He frequently travelled from house to house under the name of “Little John”,
accepting food as payment before starting off for a new project. Only slightly
taller than a dwarf and suffering from a hernia, his work often involved
breaking through stone, and, to minimize the chances of betrayal, he always
worked alone. For some years, Owen worked in the service of Jesuit priests John
Gerard and Henry Garnet. Through them he was admitted into the Society of Jesus
as a lay brother.
He was first arrested in 1582 after the execution of
Edmund Campion, for declaring Campion’s innocence, but later released. He was
arrested again in 1594, and was tortured, but revealed nothing. He was released
when a wealthy Catholic paid a fine on his behalf, the jailers believing that
he was merely an insignificant friend of some priests. Early in 1606,
Owen was arrested again in Worcestershire, giving himself up voluntarily in
order to distract attention from priests who were hiding nearby. Under English
law, he was exempt from torture, as he had been maimed a few years previously,
when a horse fell on him. Nevertheless, he was racked until he died, having
betrayed nothing.
Thomas Garnet 1575-1608
Thomas Garnet was born at Southwark 1575 into a
prominent family. His uncle, Henry Garnet, was the Superior of all the Jesuits
in England. His father Richard was at Balliol College, Oxford, at the
time when greater severity began to be used against Catholics and his example
and spirituality provided leadership to a generation of Oxford men who produced
many other inspirational English Catholics. Thomas attended school at Horsham
and at 17 was among the first students of Saint Omer’s Jesuit College in 1592.
In 1595 he was on his way to study theology at Saint Albans, Valladolid, when
he and five companions accompanied by Fr Tomas Baldwin were discovered in the
hold of their ship by English soldiers and taken prisoner to London. After many
escapades Thomas eventually reached Saint Omer again and eventually went on to
Valladolid.
Ordained at 24 in 1599 he returned to England. “I
wandered from place to place, to reduce souls which went astray and were in
error as to the knowledge of the true Catholic Church”. During the confusion
caused by the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 he was arrested near Warwick, going under
the name Thomas Rokewood, which he had no doubt assumed from Ambrose Rokewood
of Coldham Hall, whose chaplain he then was, and who had, unfortunately, been
implicated in the plot. Imprisoned first in the Gatehouse, then in the Tower,
where he was tortured in order to make him give evidence against Henry Garnet,
his famous uncle, Superior of the English Jesuits, who had recently admitted
him into the Society of Jesus. Henry Garnet had known of the plot and had tried
to dissuade the conspirators who had confided in him. Though no connection with
the conspiracy could be proved against Thomas, he was kept in the Tower of
London for seven months, at the end of which he was suddenly put on board ship
with forty-six other priests, and a royal proclamation, dated 10 July 1606, was
read to them, threatening death if they returned. They were carried across the
Channel and set ashore in Flanders.
Thomas now went to Saint Omer and then to Brussels to
see the Superior of the Jesuits, Father Baldwin, his companion in the
adventures of 1595. Father Baldwin sent him to the English Jesuit novitiate,
Saint John’s, Louvain, where he was the first novice to be received. In
September 1607 he was sent back to England, but was arrested six weeks later by
an apostate priest called Rouse. This was the time of King James’ controversy
with Cardinal Bellarmine about the Oath of Allegiance. Garnet was offered his
life if he would take the oath, but he refused, and was executed at 32 at
Tyburn, protesting that he was “the happiest man this day alive”.
Edmund Arrowsmith 1585–1628
The son of Robert Arrowsmith, a farmer, he was born at
Haydock in 1585 and was baptised Brian, but always used his Confirmation name
of Edmund. The family was constantly harassed for its adherence to Catholicism,
and in 1605 Edmund left England and went to Douai to study for the priesthood.
He was forced to quit due to ill health. He was ordained in 1611 and sent on
the English mission the following year. He ministered to the Catholics of
Lancashire without incident until about 1622, when he was arrested and
questioned by the Protestant bishop of Chester. Edmund was released when King
James I ordered all arrested priests be freed, joined the Jesuits in 1624 and
in 1628 was arrested when betrayed by a young man, the son of the landlord of
the Blue Anchor Inn in south Lancashire, whom he had censured for an incestuous
marriage. He was convicted of being a Catholic priest, sentenced to death, and
hanged, drawn and quartered at Lancaster on August 28th 1628.
Henry Morse 1595-1644
Born in Norfolk. He began studies at Cambridge and
took up the study of law at Barnard’s Inn, London; at the same time he became
increasingly dissatisfied with the established religion and more convinced of
the truth of the Catholic faith. He went to Douai where he was received into
the Catholic church in 1614. After various journeys reached Rome where he was
ordained in 1623. Before leaving Rome he met the Superior General of the
Jesuits with a view to joiningthe order and left for England in 1624. He was
admitted to the Society of Jesus at Heaton shortly arriving in England, but
almost immediately was arrested and imprisoned for three years in York Castle,
where he made his novitiate under his fellow prisoner, Father John Robinson SJ,
and took simple vows. Afterwards he was chaplain to the English soldiers
serving in the Spanish army in the Low Countries.
Returning to England at the end of 1633 he worked in
London, and in 1636 is reported to have received about ninety Protestant
families into the Church. He himself contracted the plague but recovered.
Arrested in 1636, he was imprisoned in Newgate and charged with being a priest
and having withdrawn the king’s subjects from their faith and allegiance. He
was found guilty on the first count, not guilty on the second, and sentence was
deferred. While in prison he made his solemn profession to Father Edward
Lusher. He was released on bail for 10,000 florins in June 1637 at the
insistence of Queen Henriette Maria, wife of King Charles I. In order to free
his sureties he voluntarily went into exile when the royal proclamation was
issued ordering all priests to leave the country before 7 April, 1641, and
again became chaplain to English regiment in the service of Spain in Flanders.
In 1643 he returned to England but was arrested after
about a year and a half and imprisoned at Durham and Newcastle, and sent by sea
to London. On 30th January he was again brought to the bar and condemned on his
previous conviction. On the day of his execution his cart was drawn by four
horses and the French ambassador attended with all his suite, as did the Count
of Egmont and the Portuguese Ambassador. The martyr was allowed to hang until
he was dead. At the quartering the footmen of the French Ambassador and of the
Count of Egmont dipped their handkerchiefs into the martyr’s blood. In 1647
many persons possessed by evil spirits were relieved through the application of
his relics.
David Lewis 1616-1679
David was a Welshman of good family, born in
Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, in 1616. His father Morgan Lewis belonged to an old
Catholic family, but he had become a Protestant. His mother, Margaret Prichard,
was Catholic, however, and all but one of their nine children were raised
Catholics except David himself. After attending the Royal Grammar School at Abergavenny,
David, then aged 16, was sent to London to study law at the Middle Temple.
Three years later he lost interest in the legal profession and went to France
as tutor of the son of one Count Savage. Probably he was reconciled to the
Catholic Church while living in Paris. He then went back to Wales for a couple
of years, but in 1638 he set out for Rome to study for the priesthood at the
Venerable English College. Ordained a secular priest in 1642, he entered the
Jesuits two years later. The Jesuit superiors sent him as a missionary to Wales
in 1646 but recalled him soon afterward to be spiritual director of the English
College.
In 1648 he was sent back to Wales, and there he was to
remain for the next thirty years. Assigned to a remote farmhouse at the Cwm, a
hideout of Jesuits and other hunted priests from miles around, David worked the
Welsh-English borderlands where there were many Catholics refusing to conform
to Anglicanism (recusants). For the care he gave to both their spiritual and
bodily needs, they called him “Father of the Poor”. In 1678 the infamous Titus
Oates claimed to have discovered an international plot to kill King Charles II
and force England back into the Roman fold. Oates was a total rascal, but the
very rumor of such a plot was enough to stir up a new persecution of Catholics.
“Royal officials pounced on Cwm College, and the Jesuits there barely escaped.
Father Lewis went into hiding elsewhere in Wales, but he was not safe for long.
The wife of a former servant set soldiers on his
trail. and he was imprisoned in Monmouth for two months. Tried in March
1679 he was condemned but was then sent to London to be examined by the Privy
Council on the Titus Oates Plot. Offered his freedom if he became an
Anglican, he declined. He was brought back to Usk in Monmouthshire where he was
hanged on August 27, 1679. The hangman fled the scene, fearing the crowd would
stone him. While they were searching someone to do the job, Lewis gave such a
moving speech at the gallows that it was later published. “I believe you are
here met not only to see a fellow-native die, but also with expectation to hear
a dying fellow native speak. I suffer not as a murderer, thief, or such like
malefactor, but as a Christian, and therefore am not ashamed. My religion is
the Roman Catholic one; in it I have lived above these many years; in it I now
die, and so fixedly die, that if all the good things in this world were offered
me to renounce my faith, all should not move me one hair’s breath from my Roman
Catholic faith. A Roman Catholic I am; a Roman Catholic priest I am; a Roman
Catholic priest of that religious order called the Society of Jesus I am, and I
bless God who first called me. A blacksmith was found who was bribed to do the
job. Lewis was so well thought of in the neighborhood that nobody gave his
executioner any business ever after.
Philip Evans 1645-1679
Engraving
of Saint Philip Evans: from the Galerie illustrée de la Compagnie de Jésus de
Alfred HAMY, vol.3, 1893.
Portret van de heilige Phillipus Evans, met een mes in zijn borst. Hij
stierf als gevolg van het pauscomplot. Een van de Veertig martelaren van
Engeland en Wales.
Born in Monmouth 1645 and educated at St Omer where he
joined the Society of Jesus in 1665. He was ordained at Liege in 1675 and
sent to South Wales where he ministered until in 1678 he was caught up in the
collective that surrounded the so-called Titus Oates Plot. In that year a
certain John Arnold, of Llanvihangel Court near Abergavenny, a justice of the
peace and hunter of priests, offered a reward of £200 (an enormous sum then)
for his arrest. Despite the manifest dangers Father Evans steadfastly refused
to leave his flock. He was arrested at Sker in Glamorganshire, 4 December
1678. He refused the oath and was confined alone in an underground
dungeon in Cardiff Castle.
Two or three weeks afterwards he was joined by John
Lloyd, a secular priest, who had been taken at Penlline in Glamorgan (See under
13 Priests of the Secular Clergy). He was a Breconshire man, who had taken the
missionary oath at Valladolid in 1649 and been sent to minister in his own
country. After five months the two prisoners were brought up for trial at the
shire-hall in Cardiff, charged not with complicity in the plot but as priests
who had come unlawfully into the realm. It had been difficult to collect
witnesses against them, and they were condemned and sentenced by Mr Justice
Owen Wynne principally on the evidence of two poor women who were suborned to
say that they had seen Father Evans celebrating Mass. On their return to prison
they were better treated and allowed a good deal of liberty, so that when the
under-sheriff came on July 21 to announce that their execution was fixed for
the morrow, Father Evans was playing a game of tennis and would not return to
his cell till he had finished it. Part of his few remaining hours of life he
spent playing on the harp and talking to the numerous people who came to say
farewell to himself and Mr Lloyd when the news got around. The execution took
place on Gallows Field, Cardiff). Philip died first, after having addressed the
people in Welsh and English, and saying ‘Adieu, Mr Lloyd, though for a little
time, for we shall shortly meet again. John made only a very brief
speech: he said, ‘I never was a good speaker in my life.’
13 Priests of the Secular Clergy
Cuthbert Mayne 1543–1577
Cuthbert
Mayne, Kutbert Mayne (pl)
Cuthbert was born at Yorkston, near Barnstaple in
Devon and baptized on St Cuthbert’s day. He grew up in the early days of
the boy King Edward VI with an overtly Protestant government installed.
Cuthbert’s uncle was a priest who favoured the new doctrines and it was
expected that Mayne, a good-natured and pleasant young man, but with no great
thought of principles of any kind, would inherit his uncle’s benefice.
Educated at Barnstaple Grammar School and ordained a Protestant minister
at the age of eighteen or nineteen he was installed as rector of Huntshaw, near
his birthplace. There followed university studies, first at St Alban’s Hall,
then at St John’s College, Oxford, where he was made chaplain. taking his BA in
1566 and MA 1570.
It was at this time that Mayne made the acquaintance
of Edmund Campion and became became a Catholic. Late in 1570, a letter
addressed to him from a Catholic Gregory Martin fell into the hands of the
Anglican Bishop of London and officers were sent at once to arrest him and
others mentioned in the letter. Mayne evaded arrest by going to Cornwall
and from there went in 1573 to the English College at Douai. Ordained a
Catholic priest at Douai in 1575 he left for the English mission with another
priest, John Paine and took up residence with Francis Tregian, a gentleman, of
Golden, in St Probus’s parish, Cornwall. Tregian’s house was raided and the
searchers found a Catholic devotional article (an Agnus Dei) round Mayne’s neck
and took him into custody along with his books and papers. Imprisoned in
Launceston gaol, the authorities sought a death sentence but had difficulty in
framing a treason indictment, but five differrent charges were brought aginst
him
The trial judge directed the jury to return a verdict
of guilty and he was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. Mayne
responded, “Deo gratias”. Francis Tregian was also sentenced to die, but in
fact he spent 26 years in prison. Two nights before his execution Mayne’s
cell was reported by his fellow prisoners to have become full of a “great
light”. Before his execution, some Protestant ministers came to offer him his
life if he would acknowledge the supremacy of the queen as head of the church,
but he declined. Mayne was executed in the market place at Launceston on
November 29, 1577. He was not allowed to speak to the crowd, but only to say
his prayers quietly. He was the first martyr not to be a member of a
religious order. He was the first “seminary priest”, the group of priests who
were trained not in England but in houses of studies on the continent.
Ralph Sherwin 1550–1581
Ralph was born at Rodsley, Derbyshire, and was
educated at Eton College. In 1568, he was nominated by Sir William Petre to one
of the eight fellowships which he had founded at Exeter College, Oxford,
probably influenced by Sherwin’s uncle, John Woodward, who from 1556 to 1566
had been rector of Ingatestone, Essex, where Petre lived. A talented classical
scholar, Sherwin graduated with MA in July 1574. The following year he
converted to Roman Catholicism and fled abroad to the English College at Douai,
where he was ordained a priest by the Bishop of Cambrai 1577 and left for Rome
and stayed at the English College, Rome for nearly three years.
On 18 April 1580, Sherwin and thirteen companions left
Rome for England. On 9 November 1580, he was arrested while preaching in the
house of Nicholas Roscarrock in London and imprisoned in the Marshalsea, where
he converted many fellow prisoners, and on 4 December was transferred to the
Tower of London, where he was tortured on the rack and then laid out in the
snow. He is said to have been personally offered a bishopric by Elizabeth I if
he apostasised, but refused. After spending a year in prison he was finally
brought to trial with Edmund Campion on a trumped up charge of treasonable
conspiracy. He was convicted in Westminster Hall on 20 November 1581. Eleven
days later he was drawn to Tyburn on a hurdle along with Alexander Briant,
where he was hanged, drawn and quartered. His last words were “Jesu, Jesu, Jesu,
esto mihi Jesus!”
Luke Kirby (1549-1582)
Kirby received his MA probably at
Cambridge, before being reconciled at Louvain and entering Douai College in
1576. He was ordained a priest at Cambrai in September 1577 and left Rheims for
England on May 3, 1578; however, he returned on July 15th and went to Rome. There
he took the college oath at the English College, Rome in 1579. In June 1580, he
was arrested on landing at Dover, and committed to the Gatehouse, Westminster.
On December 4th, he was transferred to the Tower, where he was subjected
to torture. He died in chains in 1582.
John Paine d. 1582
Plaque
commemorating John Payne This plaque is on the wall of St. Ives Roman Catholic
Church. John Payne was hanged by the Provost Marshall for being a participant
in the Prayer Book Rebellion in 1549.
Paine was born at Peterborough, England, and was
possibly a convert. In 1574, he departed England for Douai, where he was
ordained in 1576. Immediately afterwards he was sent back to England with
Cuthbert Mayne. Arrested within a year and then released he departed the island
but came back in 1579. While staying in Warwickshire he was arrested once more
after being denounced by John Eliot, a known murderer who made a career out of
denouncing Catholics and priests for bounty. Imprisoned and tortured in the
Tower of London for nine months, he was finally condemned to death and hanged,
drawn, and quartered at Chelmsford.
Eustace White 1560-1591
Born at Louth in Lincolnshire, his parents were
Protestants, and his conversion resulted in a curse from his father. Educated
at Reims (1584) and at Rome (1586), where he was ordained, he came on the
mission in November, 1588, working in the west of England. Betrayed at
Blandford, Dorset, by a lawyer with whom he had conversed about religion. For
two days he held public discussion with a minister and greatly impressed the
Protestants present. He was then sent to London, where for forty-six days he
was kept lying on straw with his hands closely manacled. On 25 October the Privy
Council gave orders for his examination under torture, and on seven occasions
he was kept hanging by his manacled hands for hours together; he also suffered
deprivation of food and clothing. On 6 December together with Edmund Gennings
and Polydore Plasden, priests, and Swithin Wells and other laymen, he was tried
before the King’s Bench, and condemned for coming into England contrary to law.
With him suffered Polydore Plasden and three laymen.
Edmund G(J)ennings 1567-1591
Edmund was a thoughtful, serious boy from Lichfield,
Staffordshire, naturally inclined to matters of faith. At around sixteen years
of age he converted to Catholicism. He went immediately to the English College
at Rheims where he was ordained a priest in 1590, being then only twenty-three
years of age. He immediately returned to the dangers of England under the
assumed name of Ironmonger. His missionary career was brief. He was seized by
the notorious priest catcher Richard Topcliffe and his officers whilst in the
act of saying Mass in the house of Swithun Wells at Gray’s Inn in London on 7
November 1591 and was hanged, drawn and quartered outside the same house on 10
December.
Polydore Plasden 1563-1591 alias Oliver
Palmer
He was born in 1563, the son of a London horner.
Educated at Reims and at Rome, where he was ordained priest on 7 December,
1586. He remained at Rome for more than a year and then was at Reims from 8
April till 2 September, 1588, when he was sent on the mission. While at Rome he
had signed a petition for the retention of the Jesuits as superiors of the
English College, but in England he was considered to have suffered injury
through their agency. Captured on 8th November 1591 in London, at Swithin
Wells’s house in Gray’s Inn Fields, where Edmund G(J)ennings was celebrating
Mass. At his execution he acknowledged Elizabeth as his lawful queen, whom he
would defend to the best of his power against all her enemies, and he prayed
for her and the whole realm, but said that he would rather forfeit a thousand
lives than deny or fight against his religion. By the orders of Sir Walter
Raleigh, he was allowed to hang till he was dead, and the sentence was carried
out upon his body.
John Boste 1544-1594
John Boste was born in Westmoreland around 1544. He
studied at Queen’s College, Oxford where he became a Fellow. He converted to
Catholicism in 1576. He left England and was ordained a priest at Reims in
1581, before returning as an active missionary priest to Northern England. He
was betrayed to the authorities near Durham in 1593. Following his arrest he
was taken to the Tower of London for interrogation. Returned to Durham he was
condemned and executed at nearby Dryburn on 24 July 1594. Boste denied that he
was a traitor saying “My function is to invade souls, not to meddle with
temporal invasions”.
John Almond d. 1612
A native of Allerton, England, he was educated in
Ireland and then at Reims and in Rome. After his ordination in 1598, he
returned to England as a missionary, and was arrested in 1602. John was
imprisoned in 1608 for a time and arrested again in 1612. He was hanged, drawn,
and quartered at Tyburn.
John Southworth 1592-1654
John Southworth studied at the English College in
Douai, northern France, and was ordained priest before he returned to England.
Imprisoned and sentenced to death for professing the Catholic faith, he was
later deported to France. Once more he returned to England and lived in
Clerkenwell, London, during a plague epidemic. He assisted and converted the
sick in Westminster and was arrested again. Finally arrested and brought to the
Old Bailey, he was condemned for exercising the priesthood and executed at Tyburn
Gallows (hanged, drawn and quartered). His remains are now kept at Westminster
Cathedral in London.
John Plesington d. 1679
Born at Dimples Hall near Garstang, Lancashire, the
son of a Royalist Catholic, John was educated at Saint Omer’s in France and the
English college at Valladolid, Spain. He was ordained in Segovia in 1662.
Returning to England the following year, he worked in the area of Cheshire,
using the aliases Scarisbrick and William Pleasington. In 1670, Father John
became the tutor of the children of a Mr. Massey at Puddington Hall near
Chester. He was arrested and charged with participating in the “Popish Plot” to
murder King Charles II, a fabrication of Titus Oates. Despite the evidence that
Oates perjured himself during the trial, Father John was found guilty and
hanged at Boughton near Chester on July 19, 1679.
John Kemble 1599-1679
Born in 1599, in Herefordshire into a prominent local
Catholic family. He had four brothers priests. Kemble was ordained a priest at
Douai College, on 23 February 1625. He returned to England on 4 June 1625 as a
missioner in Monmouthshire and Herefordshire. Little is known of his work
for the next fifty three years, but his later treatment shows the esteem and
affection he was held in locally. Arrested during the Titus Oates Plot
confusion at his brother’s home, Pembridge Castle, near Welsh Newton. He was
warned about the impending arrest but declined to leave his flock, saying,
“According to the course of nature, I have but a few years to live. It will be
an advantage to suffer for my religion and, therefore, I will not
abscond.” He was arrested by a Captain John Scudamore of Kentchurch. It
is a comment on the tangled loyalties of the age that Scudamore’s own wife and
children were parishioners of Father Kemble.
Father Kemble, now 80, was taken on the arduous
journey to London to be interviewed about the plot. He was found to have had no
connection with it, but was found guilty of the treasonous crime of being a
priest. He was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. He was returned to
Hereford for the sentence to be carried out. Before he was led out for his
execution Father Kemble insisted on saying his prayers and finishing his
drink. The assembled party joined the elderly priest in a smoke and a
drink. To this day the sayings, “Kemble pipe”, and “Kemble cup”, meaning a
parting pipe or cup, are used in Herefordshire. Addressing the assembled crowd
before his death, the old priest said: “The failure of the authorities in
London to connect me to the plot makes it evident that I die only for
profession the Roman Catholic religion, which was the religion that first made
this Kingdom Christian.”
He was allowed to die on the gallows before the
butchery was carried out on his body. Thus he was spared the agonies suffered
by so many of the Catholic martyrs. One of the martyr’s hands is
preserved at St. Francis Xavier, Hereford. His body rests in the (Church of
England) churchyard of St Mary’s, Welsh Newton, and local Roman Catholics make an
annual pilgrimage to his grave. Miracles were soon attributed to the
saintly priest. Scudamore’s daughter was cured of throat cancer, while
Scudamore’s wife recovered her hearing whilst praying at the Kemble’s grave.
John Lloyd d. 1679
He was a Breconshire man who had taken the missionary
oath at Valladolid in 1649 and was sent to minister in his own country and was
arrested during the Oates’ scare at Penlline in Glamorgan. Along with
Philip Evans he was brought to trial in Cardiff on Monday, 5 May 1679. Neither
was charged with being associated with the ‘plot’ concocted by Oates but they
were charged with being priests and coming into the principality of Wales
contrary to the provisions of the law. There was no sensible evidence produced
against either man; nevertheless both were found guilty. The executions took
place in Gallows Field, Cardiff on 22nd July 1679. Philip Evans was
the first to die. He addressed the gathering in both Welsh and English saying,
“Adieu, Mr Lloyd, though for a little time, for we shall shortly meet
again. ” John Lloyd spoke very briefly saying, ‘I never was a good
speaker in my life’.
Laymen
John Rigby 1570-1600
John was born at Chorley, Lancashire, the fifth or
sixth son of Nicholas and Mary Rigby. Working for Sir Edmund
Huddleston, whose daughter Mrs. Fortescue was summoned to the Old Bailey for
recusancy, because she was ill, he decided to appear himself for her; he was
compelled to confess his own Catholicism and was sent to Newgate.
The next day, February 14, 1600, he signed a
confession saying that since he had been reconciled by John Jones, a
Franciscan, he had not attended church. He was chained and sent back to
Newgate, until he was transferred to the White Lion. Twice he was given the
chance to repent; twice he refused. His sentence was therefore ordered to be
carried out. On his way to execution, the hurdle was stopped by a Captain
Whitlock, who wished him to conform and asked him if he were married, to which
the martyr replied, “I am a bachelor; and more than that I am a maid”. The
captain then asked Rigby for his prayers. Rigby was executed by hanging at St.
Thomas Waterings on June 21, 1600. John Jones, the priest who had
reconciled Rigby, had suffered on the same spot July 12, 1598.
Philip Howard 1557-1595
Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel (1557-1595)
Eldest son of the fourth Duke of Norfolk (himself
executed for treason in 1572) who led a dissolute existence and left behind an
unhappy wife in Arundel Castle until he was converted by the preaching of St.
Edmund Campion.
Born in Strand, London, Philip was the eldest son
of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk and Lady Mary FitzAlan, daughter of Henry
FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel. He was baptized at Whitehall Palace with the
Royal Family in attendance, and was named after his godfather, King Philip II
of Spain.
At the age of 14, he was married to his foster sister,
Anne Dacre. After years of estrangement, they were reunited and built a very
strong marriage. His father was attainted and executed in 1572, but
Philip Howard succeeded to his mother’s heritage upon the death of his
grandfather, becoming Earl of Arundel in 1580. Arundel, and much of his
family, became Catholic at a time during the reign of Queen Elizabeth when it
was very dangerous to do so. They also attempted to leave England without
permission. While some might be able to do this quietly, Arundel was second
cousin of the Queen. He was committed to the Tower of London on 25 April 1585.
While charges of high treason were never proved, he was to spend ten years in
the Tower, until his death of dysentery. He had petitioned the Queen as he lay
dying to allow him to see his beloved wife and his son, who had been born after
his imprisonment. The Queen responded that if he would return to Protestantism
his request would be granted. He refused and died alone in the Tower. He was
immediately acclaimed as a Catholic Martyr.
He was buried without ceremony beneath the floor of
the church of St. Peter ad Vincula, inside the walls of the Tower. Twenty nine
years later, his widow and son obtained permission from King James I of England
to move the body to the chapel of Arundel Castle. His tomb remains a site of
pilgrimage. He was attainted in 1589, but his son Thomas eventually was
restored in blood and succeeded as Earl of Arundel, and to the lesser titles of
his grandfather.
Richard Gwyn 1537–1584 Also known by his
anglicised name, Richard White
He was born in Montgomeryshire, Wales. At the age of
20 he matriculated at Oxford University, but did not complete a degree. He then
went to Cambridge University, where he lived on the charity of St John’s
College and its master, the Roman Catholic Dr. George Bulloch. However, at the
beginning of the reign of Elizabeth I in 1558, Bullock was forced to resign the
mastership; this forced the end of the university career of Richard Gwyn, after
just two years.
He returned to Wales and became a teacher, continuing
his studies on his own. He married Catherine; they had six children, three of
whom survived him. His adherence to the old faith was noted by the Bishop of
Chester, who brought pressure on him to conform to the Anglican faith. It is
recorded in an early account of his life that after some troubles, he yielded
to their desires, although greatly against his stomach… But he had no sooner
come out of the church but a fearful company of crows and kites so persecuted
him to his home that they put him in great fear of his life, the conceit
whereof made him also sick in body as he was already in soul diseased; in which
sickness he resolved himself (if God would spare him life) to become a
Catholic.
Gwyn often had to change his home and his school to
avoid fines and imprisonment. Finally in 1579 he was arrested by the Vicar of
Wrexham, a former Catholic who had converted to the new faith. He escaped and
remained a fugitive for a year and a half, was recaptured, and spent the next
four years in one prison after another until his execution.
In May 1581 Gwyn was taken to church in Wrexham,
carried around the font on the shoulders of six men and laid in heavy shackles
in front of the pulpit. However, he “so stirred his legs that with the noise of
his irons that the preacher’s voice could not be heard.” He was placed in the
stocks for this incident, and was taunted by a local priest who claimed that
the keys of the church were given no less to him than to St. Peter. “There is
this difference,” Gwyn replied, “namely, that whereas Peter received the keys
to the Kingdom of Heaven, the keys you received were obviously those of the
beer cellar.”
Gwyn was fined £280 for refusing to attend Anglican
church services, and another £140 for “brawling” when they took him there. When
asked what payment he could make toward these huge sums, he answered,
“Six-pence.” Gwyn and two other Catholic prisoners, John Hughes and Robert
Morris, were ordered into court in the spring of 1582 where, instead of being
tried for an offence, they were given a sermon by a Protestant minister.
However, they started to heckle (one in Welsh, one in Latin and one in English)
to the extent that the exercise had to be abandoned.
Gwyn was tortured often in prison, largely with the
use of manacles. However, his adherence to the Catholic faith never wavered.
Richard Gwyn, John Hughes and Robert Morris were
indicted for high treason in 1583 and were brought to trial. Witnesses gave
evidence that they retained their allegiance to the Catholic Church, including
that Gwyn composed “certain rhymes of his own making against married priests
and ministers” and “That he had heard him complain of this world; and secondly,
that it would not last long, thirdly, that he hoped to see a better world [this
was often construed as plotting a revolution]; and, fourthly, that he confessed
the Pope’s supremacy.” The three were also accused of trying to make converts.
Gwyn and Hughes were found guilty. At the sentencing
Hughes was reprieved and Gwyn condemned to death by hanging, drawing and
quartering. This sentence was carried out in the Beast Market in Wrexham on 15
October 1584.
Just before Gwyn was hanged he turned to the crowd and
said, “I have been a jesting fellow, and if I have offended any that way, or by
my songs, I beseech them for God’s sake to forgive me.” His friend the hangman
pulled on his leg irons hoping to put him out of his pain. When he appeared
dead they cut him down, but he revived and remained conscious through the
disembowelling, until his head was severed. His last words, in Welsh, were
“Iesu, trugarha wrthyf” (Jesus, have mercy on me).
Relics of Richard Gwyn are to be found in the
Cathedral Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, Wrexham. In addition, St Richard Gwyn
RC High School, Flint founded in 1954 was named after him Gwyn. There is also a
school of the same name in Barry, Wales.
Swithun Wells d. 1591
Wells was born at Brambridge, Hampshire, around 1536,
and was for many years schoolteacher at Monkton Farleigh in Wiltshire. During
this period, he attended Protestant services, but in 1583, was reconciled to
the Catholic Church. In 1585 he went to London, where he took a house in Gray’s
Inn Lane.
In 1591, Saint Edmund Gennings was saying Mass at
Wells’s house, when the well-known priest-hunter Richard Topcliffe burst in
with his officers. The congregation, not wishing the Mass to be interrupted,
held the door and beat back the officers until the Mass was finished, after
which they all surrendered quietly. Wells was not present at the time, but his
wife was, and was arrested along with Gennings, another priest, Saint Polydore
Plasden, and three laymen, John Mason, Sidney Hodgson, and Brian Lacey. Wells
was immediately arrested and imprisoned on his return. At his trial, he said
that he had not been present at the Mass, but wished he had been.
He was sentenced to die by hanging, and was executed
outside his own house on 10 December 1591, just after Saint Edmund Gennings. On
the scaffold, he said to Topcliffe, “I pray God make you of a Saul a Paul, of a
bloody persecutor one of the Catholic Church’s children. His wife, Alice, was
reprieved, and died in prison in 1602.
3 Laywomen – all of them mothers
Margaret Clitherow (1556-1586) “the Pearl of York”
St.
Margaret Clitherow
Margaret was born the daughter of a Sheriff of
York in Middleton after Henry VIII of England split the Church of England from
the Roman Catholic Church. She married John Clitherow, a butcher, in 1571 (at
the age of 15) and bore him two children. She converted to Roman Catholicism at
the age of 18, in 1574. She then became a friend of the persecuted Roman
Catholic population in the north of England. Her son, Henry, went to Reims to
train as a Catholic priest. She regularly held Masses in her home in the
Shambles in York. There was a secret tunnel between her house and the house
next door, so that a priest could escape if there was a raid. A house once
thought to have been her home, now called the Shrine of the Saint Margaret
Clitherow, is open to the public; her actual house (10, The Shambles) is
further down the street.
In 1586 she was arrested and called before the York
assizes for the crime of harbouring Roman Catholic priests. She refused to
plead to the case so as to prevent a trial that would entail her children being
asked to testify, and she was executed by being crushed to death – the standard
punishment for refusal to plead. On Good Friday of 1586, she was laid out upon
a sharp rock, and a door was put on top of her and loaded with immense weight.
Death occurred within fifteen minutes.
Margaret Ward d. 1588
Nothing is known of Margaret Ward’s early life except
that she was born in Cheshire of good family and for a time dwelt in the house
of a lady of distinction named Whitall in London. Hearing that the priest
William Watson, was confined at Bridewell Prison, she obtained permission to
visit him. She was thoroughly searched before and after early visits, but
gradually the authorities became less cautious, and she managed to smuggle a
rope into the prison.
Fr Watson escaped, but hurt himself in so doing, and
left the rope hanging from the window. The boatman whom Margaret Ward had
engaged to take him down the river then refused to carry out the bargain. Ward,
in her distress, confided in another boatman, John Roche, who undertook to
assist her. He provided a boat, and exchanged clothes with the priest. Fr.
Watson got away, but Roche was captured in his place, and Ward, having been Fr
Watson’s only visitor, was also arrested.
Margaret Ward was kept in irons for eight days, was
hung up by the hands, and scourged, but absolutely refused to disclose the
priest’s whereabouts. At her trial, she admitted to having helped Fr. Watson to
escape, and rejoiced in “having delivered an innocent lamb from the hands of
those bloody wolves.” She was offered a pardon if she would attend a Protestant
service, but refused. She was hanged at Tyburn on 30 August 1588, along with
John Roche and others.
Anne Line d.1601
Anne Line’s date of birth is unknown, but she was
the second daughter of Willam Heigham of Essex, a strict Calvinist, and was,
together with her brother William, disinherited for converting to Catholicism.
Some time before 1586, she married Roger Line, a young Catholic who had been
disinherited for the same reason. Roger Line and young William Heigham were
arrested together while attending Mass, and were imprisoned, fined, and finally
banished. Roger Line went to Flanders, where he recived a small allowance from
the King of Spain, part of which he sent regularly to his wife until his death
around 1594.
Around that time Fr John Gerard opened a house of
refuge for hiding priests and put the newly-widowed Anne Line in charge of it,
despite her ill-health and frequent headaches. By 1597 this house had become
insecure, so another was opened, and Anne Line was, again, placed in charge. On
2 February 1601, Fr Francis Page was saying Mass in the house managed by Anne
Line, when men arrived to arrest him. The priest managed to slip into a special
hiding place, prepared by Anne, and afterwards to escape, but she was arrested,
along with two other laypeople.
Tried at the Old Bailey on 26 February, she was so
weak that she was carried to the trial in a chair. She told the court that so
far from regretting having concealed a priest, she only grieved that she “could
not receive a thousand more.” Sir John Popham, the judge, sentenced her to hang
the next day at Tyburn.
Anne Line was hanged on 27 February 1601. She was executed
immediately before two priests, Fr. Roger Filcock, and Fr. Mark Barkworth,
though, as a woman, she was spared the disembowelling that they endured. At the
scaffold she repeated what she had said at her trial, declaring loudly to the
bystanders: “I am sentenced to die for harbouring a Catholic priest, and so far
I am from repenting for having so done, that I wish, with all my soul, that
where I have entertained one, I could have entertained a thousand.” Fr.
Barkworth kissed her hand, while her body was still hanging, saying, “Oh
blessed Mrs. Line, who has now happily received thy reward, thou art gone
before us, but we shall quickly follow thee to bliss, if it please the
Almighty.”
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English Martyrs, Our Lady and the English
Martyrs Church, Cambridge
Vetrata raffigurante i Quaranta martiri. Al centro è la Beata Vergine. Chiesa di Nostra Signora
e dei Martiri inglesi (Cambridge)
Beati Martiri della Gran
Bretagna
85 martiri dal 1535 al
1681 - † Inghilterra, Galles, Scozia
La storia delle persecuzioni anticattoliche in Inghilterra, Scozia, Galles, parte dal 1535 e arriva al 1681; il primo a scatenarla fu come è noto il re Enrico VIII, che provocò lo Scisma d’Inghilterra con il distacco della Chiesa Anglicana da Roma.
Artefici più o meno cruenti furono oltre Enrico VIII, i suoi successori Edoardo VI (1547-1553), la terribile Elisabetta I, la “regina vergine” († 1603), Giacomo I Stuart, Carlo I, Oliviero Cromwell, Carlo II Stuart.
Morirono in 150 anni di persecuzione, migliaia di cattolici inglesi appartenenti
ad ogni ramo sociale, testimoniando il loro attaccamento alla fede cattolica e
al papa e rifiutando i giuramenti di fedeltà al re, nuovo capo della religione
di Stato.
Primi a morire come gloriosi martiri, il 4 maggio e il 15 giugno 1535, furono
19 monaci Certosini, impiccati nel tristemente famoso Tyburn di Londra,
l’ultima vittima fu l’arcivescovo di Armagh e primate d’Irlanda Oliviero
Plunkett, giustiziato a Londra l’11 luglio 1681.
L’odio dei vari nemici del cattolicesimo, dai re ai puritani, dagli avventurieri agli spregevoli ecclesiastici eretici e scismatici, ai calvinisti, portò ad inventare efferati sistemi di tortura e sofferenze per i cattolici arrestati.
In particolare per tutti quei sacerdoti e gesuiti, che dalla Francia e da Roma, arrivavano clandestinamente come missionari in Inghilterra per cercare di riconvertire gli scismatici, per lo più essi erano considerati traditori dello Stato, in quanto inglesi rifugiatosi all’estero e preparati in opportuni Seminari per il loro ritorno.
Tranne rarissime eccezioni, come i funzionari di alto rango (Tommaso Moro, Giovanni Fisher, Margherita Pole) decapitati o uccisi velocemente, tutti gli altri subirono prima della morte, indicibili sofferenze, con interrogatori estenuanti, carcere duro, torture raffinate come “l’eculeo”, la “figlia dello Scavinger”, i “guanti di ferro” e dove alla fine li attendeva una morte orribile; infatti essi venivano tutti impiccati, ma qualche attimo prima del soffocamento venivano liberati dal cappio e ancora semicoscienti venivano sventrati.
Dopo di ciò con una bestialità che superava ogni limite umano, i loro corpi venivano squartati ed i poveri tronconi cosparsi di pece, erano appesi alle porte e nelle zone principali della città.
Solo nel 1850 con la restaurazione della Gerarchia Cattolica in Inghilterra e Galles, si poté affrontare la possibilità di una beatificazione dei martiri, perlomeno di quelli il cui martirio era comprovato, nonostante i due - tre secoli trascorsi.
Nel 1874 l’arcivescovo di Westminster inviò a Roma un elenco di 360 nomi con le prove per ognuno di loro. A partire dal 1886, i martiri a gruppi più o meno numerosi, furono beatificati dai Sommi Pontefici, una quarantina sono stati anche canonizzati nel 1970.
Per altri 85 nel 1987, si sono conclusi gli adempimenti necessari e così il 22 novembre 1987 papa Giovanni Polo II li ha beatificati a Roma, con il capofila Giorgio Haydock, confermando il giorno della loro celebrazione al 4 maggio.
Di essi 63 sono sacerdoti, di cui 2 gesuiti, 1 domenicano, 5 francescani e 55 diocesani; gli altri 22 sono laici, fra cui il tipografo William Carter.
Autore: Antonio Borrelli
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/92093
40 martiri di Inghilterra
e Galles
(†1535-1679)
Canonizzazione:
- 25 ottobre 1970
- Papa Paolo VI
- Basilica Vaticana
Ricorrenza:
- Senza data
(Celebrazioni singole)
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
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 - Libreria
Editrice Vaticana
SOURCE : http://w2.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/it/homilies/1970/documents/hf_p-vi_hom_19701025.html
et https://www.causesanti.va/it/santi-e-beati/40-martiri-di-inghilterra-e-galles.html
San Luca Kirby Sacerdote
e martire
>>>
Visualizza la Scheda del Gruppo cui appartiene
Richmond, Inghilterra,
1549 – Tyburn, Inghilterra, 30 maggio 1582
Martirologio Romano: A
Londra in Inghilterra, san Luca Kirby, sacerdote e martire, che, durante la
persecuzione della regina Elisabetta I, dopo molti supplizi, fu appeso alla
triplice forca di Tyburn. Insieme a lui patirono sul medesimo patibolo i beati
sacerdoti e martiri Guglielmo Filby, Lorenzo Johnson e anche Tommaso Cottam,
della Compagnia di Gesù.
San Luca Kirby appartiene
alla folta schiera di martiri inglesi uccisi in odio alla fede cattolica in
seguito allo scisma anglicano, causato dal divorzio del re Enrico VIII e
dall’imposizione di un giuramento di fedeltà al sovrano medesimo quale nuovo
capo della Chiesa d’Inghilterra.
Luca nacque nel 1549
probabilmente a Richmond, nella contea di York, da un’antica e nobile famiglia
originaria del Lancashire. Conseguì il dottorato in lettere presso l’università
di Cambridge, poi a Lovanio si riconciliò con la Chiesa cattolica e, desideroso
di spendere la sua vita per cristo nel ministero sacerdotale, nel 1576 entrò
nel Collegio inglese di Douai. Nel settembre 1577 poté finalmente ricevere
l’ordinazione presbiterale a Cambrai, ma solo il 18 ottobre successivo officiò
la sua prima Messa. L’anno seguente, nel mese di maggio, fu destinato alla
missione inglese, ma già nell’agosto si trasferì a Roma per perfezionare i suoi
studi. Nella primavera del 1579 il Kirby fu incluso tra il gruppo di studenti
che seguirono Padre Edmondo Campion nelle missioni inglesi: partì dunque da
Roma il 18 aprile 1580, giunse a Reims il 27 maggio, finché il 16 giugno
insieme a Matteo Fox e Guglielmo Hartley proseguì a piedi sino a Dunkerque, ove
si imbarcò per l’Inghilterra.
Nell’isola tuttavia non
gli fu possibile svolvegere alcuna attività missionaria, poiché a Dover venne
arrestato e rinchiuso per qualche tempo a Westminster nelle prigioni di
Gatehouse, per essere poi trasferito insieme ad altri sacerdoti, il 5 dicembre
1580, alla Torre di Londra, ove fu sottoposto a torture atroci. Il 14 novembre
1581 Luca Kirby fu processato insieme al Padre Campion ed altri compagni di
prigionia, imputato per un presunto complotto contro la regina. Riconosciuto
colpevole da una discutibile giuria, fu inevitabile la sua condanna a morte.
Per ragioni a noi ignote, venne però rinviata per mese l’esecuzione e solo il
30 maggio 1582 Luca Kirby affrontò il patibolo dichiarando sino all’ultimo la
sua innocenza, ma anche la sua ferma contrarietà alla supremazia della regina
in ambito spirituale. Insieme a lui affrontarono il martirio quel giorno anche
Guglielmo Filby, Lorenzo Johnson e Tommaso Cottam.
Alcuni documenti hanno
tramandato ai posteri la vicenda di questo eroico testimone della fede
cattolica, nonché una sua lettera inviata ad alcuni amici il 10 gennaio 1582. A
Stonyhurst sono conservate ancora oggi le sue reliquie. La Chiesa, che mai
dimenticò la sua fedeltà alla sede di Roma, ha glorificato in terra il suo
servo: Papa Leone XIII lo ha beatificato il 29 dicembre 1886 insieme a numerose
altre vittime della medesima persecuzione, mentre Paolo VI infine lo dichiarò
“santo” insieme ai 40 Martiri d’Inghilterrra e Galles.
Autore: Fabio
Arduino
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/93303
San Giovanni Jones Sacerdote
e martire
>>>
Visualizza la Scheda del Gruppo cui appartiene
† Saint Thomas Waterings,
Inghilterra, 12 luglio 1598
Nato in Inghilterra e
costretto ad esulare in Francia, entrò nell’ordine Francescano a Pontoise. Fu
ordinato sacerdote probabilmente a Reims. Dopo un breve soggiorno a Roma,
ritornò in patria ed esercitò clandestinamente il ministero a Londra. Arrestato
e rinchiuso in carcere, sopportò spietate torture e fu condannato a morte. La
sentenza fu eseguita a Saint Thomas Waterings il 12 luglio 1598.
Martirologio Romano:
Sempre a Londra, san Giovanni Jones, sacerdote dell’Ordine dei Frati Minori e
martire, che, originario del Galles, fattosi religioso in Francia, fu
condannato a morte sotto la regina Elisabetta I per essere entrato da sacerdote
in Inghilterra e compì il suo martirio appeso a un laccio fino alla morte.
Appartenente ad una buona
famiglia gallese rimasta fedele alla religione cattolica, il Jones nacque a
Clynag Fawr, nella contea di Carnarvon ed abbracciò ben presto la vita
religiosa, entrando tra i Francescani del convento di Grecnwich, che dovette
tuttavia lasciare nel 1559, allorché l'ordine di soppressione, emanato dalla
regina Elisabetta. colpì il convento. Riparalo in Francia, il Jones passò
ai Conventuali di Fontoise, dove ricevette la sacra ordinazione; ma da questo
momento si perdono completamente le sue tracce, che si ritrovano oltre
trent''anni più tardi a Roma, dove nel 1591, attratto da una maggiore
perfezione di vira, chiese ed ottenne di essere accolto tra gli Osservanti del
convento dell'Ara Coeli. Dopo un anno di soggiorno romano, egli fece istanza
presso i suoi superiori perché gli permettessero di tornare in Inghilterra a
svolgervi attività missionaria. Ottenuta la desiderata autorizzazione di
rimpatriare, prima di lasciare Roma volle essere ricevuto in udienza dal papa
Clemente VIII, al quale espose i morivi delia sua missione, implorando altresì
l'apostolica benedizione, che il pontefice gli impartì volentieri
accompagnandola con parole di elogio e d'incoraggiamento.
Giunto in Inghilterra,
con molta probabilità verso la fine del 1592, si fermò dapprima per qualche
tempo a Londra, ospite del gesuita p. Gerard, quindi allargò il campo del suo
apostolato missionario, prodigandosi attivamente per il bene e la salvezza
delle anime sino al 1596, allorché venne arrestato dal feroce persecutore RiccardoTopcliffc.
Gettato in prigione, fu sottoposto alle più crudeli e spieiate torture nel
tentativo di fargli rivelare i nomi dei suoi benefattori e dei suoi assistiti,
ma sempre invano, perche non fu mai possibile fargli pronunciare una sola
parola che avrebbe potuto compromettere l'incolumità di qualcuno, suscitando lo
stupore e l'ammirazione degli stessi carnefici per la sua forza d'animo e la
serena resistenza ai tormenti. Durante tutto il periodo della sua cattività, il
]ones potè continuare a prodigarsi per i cattolici che sempre più numerosi si
recavano a visitarlo, riuscendo persino a ricondurre alla Chiesa il beato G.
Righy, un laico che per un certo tempo si era conformato al protestantesimo e
che per il suo pentimento sarà martirizzato nel 1600. Processato, infine, dopo
due anni di detenzione il 3 lugl. 1598, e condannato a morte perche sacerdote,
venne giustiziato il 12 seguente a St. Thomas Waterings (Souihwark).
Un'esatta e
circostanziata relazione del suo martirio ci è stata conservata in una lettera
del gesuita H. Garnet (1555-1606) al generale dell'Ordine Claudio Acquaviva,
scritta tre giorni dopo l'esecuzione del Jones, il quale vi è sempre chiamato
con il suo nome di religione Godfrey Maurice (pubblicata da Diego de Yepes,
llisloria particular de la perse-cuciati de Ingldtcrra, Madrid 1599, pp.
710-13).
Il Chulloner ed altri
autori posteriori confondono il martire francescano con il benedettino Robert
Buckley, che fu rinchiuso nelle prigioni di Marshalsea(1582-15S4)edi Wisbach
(1587), tratti in inganno dallo stesso nome di Buckley usato dal Jones insieme
con gli altri due dì Herberd e di Freer. negli anni della sua attività
missionaria, per sfuggire alle insidie dei persecutori.
Beatificato da Pio XI il
15 die. 1929 (cf. AAS, XXII [1930], p. 15, n. LXXIX), il martire viene
commemoralo il 12 lug!.; le sue reliquie si venerano nel convento dei
Conventuali di Pontoise.
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/90375
Martyrs of England and
Wales († 1535-1680) (I) : http://newsaints.faithweb.com/martyrs/England01.htm
Voir aussi : https://wdtprs.com/2021/05/4-may-feast-of-the-forty-martyrs-of-england-and-wales/
HTTP://NEWSAINTS.FAITHWEB.COM/MARTYRS/ENGLAND01.HTMOur Lady and the
