Bienheureuse Margaret Ball
Veuve irlandaise emprisonnée à soixante-dix ans, martyre. (✝ 1584)
Née
Margaret Bermingham vers 1515 à Skreen dans le comté de Meath en Irlande.
Elle épousa Bartholomew Ball un riche commercçant de Dublin. Au temps des
persécutions religieuses, elle herbergeait souvent des prêtres ou des évêques
passant par Dublin pour leur donner asile. Elle invitait également son fils
Walter en espérant qu'il se convertisse. Quant il fut élu maire de Dublin en
1580, il fit arrêter sa mère, la fit torturer et emprisonner pour le restant de
ses jours. Elle mourut en 1584.
(d'après 'The Chapel of Blessed Margaret Ball' diocèse de Dublin - site en anglais)
Elle a été choisie comme sainte patronne du 50ème congrès international eucharistique, Dublin 2012 (en italien) avec sainte Mary MacKillop et Saint Colomban.
Quand il était impossible de prier ouvertement et librement en temps de persécution, la messe était célébré en secret, souvent chez des chrétiens qui prenaient de grands risques pour pouvoir accéder au Christ dans l'Eucharistie. C'était pour avoir facilité de telles célébrations chez elle que Margaret Ball, patronne du Congrès, fut mise en prison à Dublin.
Elle est fêtée le 30 janvier ou le 20 juin suivant les sources.
La Bienheureuse Margaret Ball et son petit-fils, le
Bienheureux Francis Taylor,
Pro-cathédrale
Sainte-Marie, Dublin
MARGUERITE BALL
Laïque, Mère, Martyre, Bienheureuse
1515-1584
Le
fait d'être mère d'un magistrat municipal de Dublin ne fut pas pour Marguerite
(Margaret) Ball, née Bermingham, motif d'orgueil, mais plutôt source de
souffrances, et certainement la cause de sa mort, comme martyre de l'Église.
Le contexte
historique se déroule dans une époque troublée par le schisme anglican,
déclenché par Henri VIII qui se fit proclamer chef de l'Église d'Angleterre par
l'Acte de Suprématie. L'Irlande fit de même en 1536 et le Parlement de Dublin
ainsi exposa l'Église catholique à la persécution...
Marguerite avait à l'époque vingt ans, étant née en 1515 d'une
ancienne famille de l'île, et épouse de Barthélémy Ball depuis l'âge de seize
ans. La famille était profondément catholique et jouissait d'une position aisée
dans la société irlandaise. Barthélémy Ball, riche marchand, devint maire de
Dublin en 1553-1554. Dans leur demeure, les Ball avaient une chapelle privée
avec un chapelain et Marguerite s'occupait d'une école catholique qu'elle
patronnait.
Devenue veuve en 1568, Marguerite, qui offrait l'hospitalité à de
nombreux prêtres et religieux, n'eut plus le soutien de son mari, alors que la
situation politique devenait risquée pour les Catholiques.
En 1570 la reine Élisabeth Ière fut excommuniée, tandis qu'une
féroce persécution s'abattait sur les Catholiques anglais, et aussi sur les
Irlandais.
Vers la fin de la décennie, Marguerite Ball fut arrêtée sous le
prétexte d'avoir fait célébrer une messe chez elle, puis elle fut relâchée sous
caution.
Entre-temps, l'un de ses fils, Walter, pétri d'ambitions, décida
de briguer le conseil municipal de Dublin. Pour cela il devait renoncer à sa
foi et reconnaître la reine d'Angleterre comme chef suprême de l'Église
d'Angleterre et de l'Église d'Irlande. C'est ce qu'il fit. Sa mère essaya de
l'en dissuader, mais il ne renonça pas à ses ambitions. Au contraire, il vit en
sa mère, l'obstacle majeur à la réussite de sa carrière politique.
Peu après sa nomination comme maire, il fit arrêter sa mère, sous
l'accusation d'avoir accueilli chez elle un prêtre persécuté. A près de 70 ans,
la bienheureuse Marguerite Ball fut promenée sur un chariot découvert à travers
toute la ville de Dublin et exposée aux railleries populaires. Elle fut
emprisonnée plusieurs années dans une prison insalubre avec seize autres
martyrs de la Foi et y termina ses jours en 1584, ayant refusé d'abjurer.
Elle fut béatifiée par Jean-Paul II le 27 septembre 1992.
Blessed Margaret Ball
Also
known as
- Maighréad
Ball
- Maighréad
nic Fheorais
- Margaret
Bermingham
- Margherita
Ball
- 20 June
- 30 January on some calendars
Profile
Lay women in the archdiocese of Dublin, Ireland. Married to wealth merchant Bartholomew Ball.
Hid priests and bishops in her home during
a period of state persecution of the Church. Her eldest son,
Walter, gave in to the pressure from the authorities and became a Prostetant;
when he became mayor of Dublin, assisted in the persecution of Catholics and
had his mother imprisoned. One of the Irish Martyrs.
Born
- 27 September 1992 by Pope John Paul II in Rome, Italy
Blessed Margaret
Ball
Margaret was born in Cobskill (now
Skryne), Ireland, in 1515. Her Catholic family was involved in politics,
particularly as the realities of the Protestant Reformation took hold in
Ireland. When she was sixteen years-old she married Bartholomew Ball, an alderman of Dublin. The couple had
ten children, five of whom survived to adulthood. Bartholomew was elected Lord
Mayor of Dublin in 1553 and the family moved into a large, comfortable home and
Margaret used her influence to provide classes for local children in her
family’s home. Bartholomew died in 1573.
In 1558, had Queen
Elizabeth I imposed harsher penalties for who refused to accept the tenets of
the English Reformation, initiating a decades-long period of persecution that
claimed the lives of hundreds English, Scottish, and Irish Catholics. In
response, the Ball family provided a safe house for any Catholic clergy passing
through Dublin. Despite their faith and courage, Margaret’s son, Walter, became a member of the Church of England in order to
advance his career. Walter was eventually appointed Commissioner for
Ecclesiastical Causes (in support of the Church of England) and later installed
as mayor of Dublin. Shortly after taking office, Walther had Margaret and her
private chaplain arrested and taken to the dungeons of Dublin.
Although the rest of the family protested, Walter
maintained that he would not allow his mother to go free until she “took the oath,” recognizing the English monarch as the
head of the Church. Margaret—who was crippled with debilitating arthritis—died
in prison in 1584, after years of suffering the effects of the cold, wet
environment of the dungeon.
Blessed Margaret Ball was beatified with Bishop Dermot O’Hurley (who had been arrested in 1577 while
saying Mass in the Ball home), Francis Taylor (the husband of Margaret’s granddaughter), and 13 other Irish
martyrs in 1992.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells two parables about the Kingdom of Heaven, including the
Parable of the Mustard Seed. That image of the tiny mustard seed, growing up
into a great tree with its large, sheltering branches, is both a metaphor for
the Reign of God but also a key to understanding the life and witness of
Blessed Margaret Ball. A wife, mother, and woman of faith, her small acts of
courage and fidelity not only helped provide safety for bishops and priests,
but they helped keep the Catholic Faith alive in Ireland during a time of
ferocious persecution.
Reflect today on a time in your life when a kind word
or small act of kindness helped you through a difficult time. Ask Blessed
Margaret Ball to help you be aware of opportunities for you to be a sheltering
support for someone in need.
Prayer +
O God,
by whose gift strength is made perfect in weakness,
grant to all who honor the glory of blessed Margaret Ball
that she, who drew from you the strength to triumph,
may likewise always obtain from you
the grace of victory for us.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(from The Roman Missal: Common of Martyrs—For a Holy Woman Martyr)
Blessed Margaret Ball
The
Challoner family is linked to Blessed Margaret Ball (1521-1583), Martyr of
the Roman Catholic faith. Her son Walter, while Mayor of Dublin, had
Margaret thrown into the dungeon of Dublin Castle for having had the Catholic
Mass celebrated. There she was to remain for three years with crippling
arthritis in the cold, wet dungeon with no outside light before she eventually
died. When her other son Nicholas (who also remained Catholic) became Mayor, he
visited her everyday but could not have her freed. In September 1991, Pope John
Paul II beatified Margaret Ball alongside sixteen other Irish Catholic
Martyrs, making her Blessed Margaret Ball.
Roger
Challoner’s grandson Thomas Challoner married Rose Ussher (the
great-granddaughter of Blessed Margaret through her son Nicholas), while
Roger’s other grandson Luke Challoner married Rose Ball (the granddaughter of
Blessed Margaret through her son Walter). It is quite possible
that some of the Dublin Challoners of the 1600s and 1700s were descended
from Blessed Margaret through Thomas and Rose’s two sons John and Luke
Challoner.
Martyrs Close to Home
January 30, 2016
The
photograph shows statues of the martyrs Blessed Margaret Ball and Blessed
Francis Taylor at Saint Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in Dublin. We keep their feast
today.
Blessed Margaret Ball
Blessed Margaret Ball was born Margaret Birmingham near Skreen in County Meath
in 1515. Her father, Nicholas, had left England because, with other members of
his family, he did not accept the religious reforms of Henry VIII; he settled
on a farm in Corballis, County Meath. At the age of 15, Margaret married
Alderman Bartholomew Ball of Balrothery, who operated the bridge over the
Dodder which still carries his name. Margaret had ten children, though only
five survived to adulthood. Her husband was elected Mayor of Dublin in 1553,
making Margaret the Mayoress.
Betrayed by Her Son
With the accession of Queen Elizabeth I, Margaret’s son Walter renounced his
Catholic faith and became a Protestant. His mother, in an attempt to win him
back to the one, truth faith, invited him to meet “a special friend”; when
Walter arrived at his mother’s house, he found Archbishop Dermot O’Hurley,
celebrating Holy Mass with his mother and other family members in attendance.
He had his mother arrested and thrown into Dublin Castle. Margaret could have
secured her freedom if she took the Oath of Supremacy, but she refused to deny
her Catholic faith. She died in 1584, aged 69 years, and crippled with
arthritis after three years in the cold, damp dungeons. Magnanimously, she left
her property to the Protestant son who had put her in prison.
Blessed Francis Taylor
Two generations later the same pattern was repeated by Francis Taylor, Margaret
Ball’s grandson-in-law, who was born about 1550 in Swords, County Dublin.
Francis was elected Mayor of Dublin 1595. He was later condemned to the
dungeons of Dublin Castle after exposing fraud in the parliamentary elections
to the Irish House of Commons. For seven years he refused to deny his Catholic
faith by taking the Oath of Supremacy which could have obtained his freedom.
Blessed Francis Taylor died in Dublin Castle on 29 January 1621.
Margaret Ball
In September
1992 Pope John Paul 11 beatified seventeen Irish martyrs, among them
'Blessed' Margaret Ball a native of Ballygall.
Born in
Corballis, Co. Meath in 1515, Margaret married Bartholomew Ball, a
maerchant and Mayor of the City of Dublin. They lived at Ballygall House,
now Hillcrest Park. Ireland in the 1530's was under the rule of the English
King, who declared himself head of the Church and State. Anyone who professed
the Catholic Faith was dealt with severely. Monasteries which cared for
the poor and sick were closed, ancient relics were destroyed and Catholic
education was no longer allowed and the Mass had to be celebrated in secret.
Margaret Ball's
faith meant so much to here that she actively defied the authorities. She
helped to organise religious education and regularly his clergy at her home,
which meant that the Mass was celebrated there almost every day. In
carrying out these actions Margaret knew that there would be consequences if
she were to be caught. Her home was often raided and after one of these
raids Margaret and a Priest were marched through the streets of Dublin and
imprisoned for a short while.
During this
time Margaret's son Walter abandoned his faith, and gained a reputation as
a bitter opponent of Catholicism. In 1580 Walter became Mayor of Dublin,
putting him in a position to bring about the religious changes demanded by the
British monarch. Walter knew that drastic action would be needed if the
city were to be rid of Catholicism. To do this he would have to deal with
his mother, and he ordered her to be arrested.
By this time
Margaret was in her 60's and crippled with arthritis. She was tied to a
wooden hurdle and dragged through the streets of Dublin, to Dublin Castle where
she was imprisoned for the rest of her life. The conditions in the
prison must have seemed unbarable to Margaret. She could have left the
prison and returned home at any time if she renounced her Catholic faith and
accepted the Queen of England as head of the Church. Margaret could never
give up her faith, her belief in the message of the Gospel was so strong that
she was willing to die for it.
In 1583
Margaret died in appaling conditions in the dungeons of Dublin Castle.
Margaret Ball,
and all the Irish martyrs are examples of integrity and commitment, in love to
Christ.
"God our
creator, in the lives of the Irish martyrs you have given us a wonderful
example of courage under persecution, of faithfulness to the Gospel, and of
loyalty to the Church. Through their intercession may we be strengthened
to act according to our own Catholic faith and to respect the beliefs of others
SOURCE : https://web.archive.org/web/20110117190704/http://www.ballygallparish.ie/about-us/margaret-ball
Beata Margherita Ball Madre di famiglia, martire
Skreen, Irlanda, 1515 circa – Dublino, Irlanda, 1584
Durante
la persecuzione di Elisabetta I d'Inghilterra, ospitava nella sua casa
sacerdoti e religiosi. Denunciata dal suo stesso figlio, fu incarcerata a
Dublino e morì vittima di atroci tormenti.
Martirologio
Romano: Nello stesso luogo (Dublino in Irlanda) commemorazione della beata
Margherita Ball, martire, che, rimasta vedova, fu arrestata, su denuncia del
suo stesso figlio, per avere accolto in casa molti sacerdoti ricercati e, dopo
varie torture, morì settuagenaria in un giorno rimasto sconosciuto.
L’essere madre del
sindaco di Dublino per lei non fu né fonte di prestigio né motivo di orgoglio,
ma causa di enormi sofferenze che ne determinarono o sicuramente ne
accelerarono la morte. La vita e il martirio dell’irlandese Beata Margherita
Ball devono essere inquadrati nel clima di persecuzione religiosa che fa
seguito allo scisma anglicano avviato in Inghilterra da Enrico VIII. Gli
strettissimi legami socio-politici che legano l’Inghilterra all’Irlanda fanno
sì che nel 1536 (cioè cinque anni dopo il famoso “atto di supremazia” con cui
l’imperatore si era fatto proclamare capo supremo della chiesa d’Inghilterra e
dopo appena due dalla sua scomunica e dall’interdetto lanciato contro
l’Inghilterra da Papa Clemente VII) anche il parlamento di Dublino riconosca
Enrico VIII unico capo della chiesa irlandese, determinando in questa maniera
il definitivo strappo dalla Chiesa di Roma.
Margherita in quel periodo è ventunenne, essendo nata nel 1515 all’interno
dell’agiata famiglia Berminghan. A 16 anni si è sposata con Bartolomeo Ball e
dà alla luce ben 20 figli, dei quali solo alcuni hanno la fortuna di giungere
all’età adulta. Sono una coppia affiatata, profondamente religiosa, con una
solida posizione economica; il marito gode di un prestigio indiscusso, che lo
porta ad essere anche sindaco di Dublino. Non sono affatto allineati con la
situazione politico-religiosa dominante: si sentono e si comportano da veri
cattolici, continuando a riconoscere il primato del papa. Nel loro palazzo
abita un cappellano, che celebra normalmente la messa, la loro casa è aperta a
incontri di catechesi ed a momenti di preghiera; Margherita, facendosi forza
dell’influente prestigio del marito, arriva ad aprire nella sua proprietà anche
una scuola cattolica.
Bartolomeo muore nel 1568 e Margherita, oltre al dolore per la perdita della
persona amata, si trova anche privata della protezione e del sostegno che egli
le garantiva per professare apertamente e difendere la chiesa cattolica.
Malgrado tutto prosegue nel suo impegno, dando ospitalità in casa sua a
sacerdoti e religiosi anche quando ciò diventa estremamente rischioso. Nel
1570, infatti, con la scomunica di Elisabetta I che nel frattempo è salita al
trono, una feroce persecuzione si scatena in Inghilterra, in particolar modo
contro i sacerdoti cattolici e si estende ben presto anche in Irlanda. Verso la
fine degli anni Settanta Margherita viene arrestata con l’accusa di aver fatto
celebrare una messa in casa sua, ma viene ben presto liberata su cauzione. Nel
frattempo, il figlio Walter sta coltivando l’ambizione di diventare sindaco di
Dublino, adattandosi anche, per accedere alla carica, a rinnegare la propria
fede e riconoscere la supremazia religiosa della regina d’Inghilterra.
Margherita compie fino in fondo il suo dovere di mamma, cercando di far
comprendere al figlio che nessuna carica politica, anche se prestigiosa, può
essere barattata con la fede. Non solo non ci riesce, ma il figlio vede in lei
la più acerrima nemica e il maggior ostacolo per soddisfare la sua ambizione
politica.
Poco dopo la sua elezione a sindaco, infatti, fa arrestare la mamma con
l’accusa di aver dato ospitalità in casa sua a sacerdoti perseguitati.
Margherita è quasi settantenne e viene condotta in prigione su un carro, passando
per le strade di Dublino, esposta alla derisione ed allo scherno dell’intera
città. La attende una cella sporca, grondante umidità, senz’aria, che mina
irrimediabilmente la sua salute. Proprio in considerazione delle sue precarie
condizioni di salute, un paio di anni dopo le viene offerta la libertà in
cambio di un pubblico rinnegamento della sua fede. Scontata la risposta
negativa di questa donna forte e coraggiosa, che sceglie di terminare in
carcere i suoi giorni, martire dell’Eucaristia e del Primato Pontificio. Muore
nella sua cella nel 1584 ed insieme ad altri sedici compagni di fede (di cui 4
vescovi, 6 sacerdoti, 1 fratello religioso e cinque laici) anche lei, unica
casalinga del gruppo, è stata beatificata da Giovanni Paolo II il 27 settembre
1992.
Autore: Gianpiero Pettiti
