Thomas Holland. Melchior Küsel (grabado)-Karel Škréta
(dibujo), Mathias Tanner, "Societas Jesu usque ad sanguinis et vitae profusionem
militans, in Europa, Africa, Asia, et America, contra gentiles, Mahometanos,
Judaeos, haereticos, impios, pro Deo, fide, Ecclesia, pietate, sive, Vita, et
mors eorum, qui ex Societate Jesu in causa fide", Praga, 1675.
Bienheureux Thomas Holland
Prêtre, jésuite et martyr en Angleterre (+ 1642)
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/9612/Bienheureux-Thomas-Holland.html
Thomas Holland
Bienheureux
Le P. Thomas Holland (1600-1642) souffrit d’une
mauvaise santé pendant les 7 années qu’il passa à exercer son ministère dans
son pays natal, l’Angleterre. Malgré ses souffrances et les dangers, il circula
courageusement dans Londres pour apporter les sacrements aux catholiques
pendant la persécution.
Il est né dans le Lancashire et étudia au Collège
Anglais à Saint-Omer en Flandre, pendant 6 ans. En août 1621 il alla à
Valladolid en Espagne pour y continuer ses études au Collège Anglais, et
retourna ensuite en Flandre en 1624 pour entrer chez les jésuites. Il accomplit
son noviciat et ses études de théologie en Flandre et y a été ordonné. Après il
fut nommé directeur spirituel des scolastiques à St-Omer. En 1635 il a été
désigné pour la mission anglaise, dans l’espoir que l’air natal améliorerait la
mauvaise santé, dont il avait commencé à souffrir.
La vie qu’il était obligé de mener rendit sa santé
encore plus mauvaise, pas meilleure. Pendant la journée il était obligé de
rester à l’intérieur et de voyager la nuit, à cause du danger d’être arrêté par
des chasseurs de prêtres. Les épreuves auxquelles il était soumis causèrent une
perte d’appétit, qui, à son tour empira sa santé. Pourtant cette mauvaise santé
ne l’empêcha pas d’exercer son ministère jusqu’au moment de son arrestation le
4 octobre 1642, à cause du soupçon qu’il était prêtre. Il a été emprisonné à la
Nouvelle Prison à Londres pendant 2 semaines et emmené ensuite à Newgate pour
son procès. On ne put fournir la preuve qu’il était prêtre, et il avait
soigneusement évité qu’on puisse le surprendre à prier, mais quand la cour lui
demanda de déclarer sous serment qu’il n’était pas prêtre, il refusa, et le
jury le déclara coupable et le condamna à être exécuté. L’ambassadeur de France
offrit d’intervenir en sa faveur, mais il préféra le martyre. Des amis
franciscains introduisirent secrètement le nécessaire pour célébrer la messe
pour lui permettre de célébrer une dernière fois la messe. Au matin du 12
décembre on le traîna jusqu’à Tyburn pour l’exécution. Il pria encore pour ceux
qui l’avaient condamné, pour le roi Charles I, la famille royale, le parlement
et la nation. Il donna au bourreau le peu de monnaie qui lui restait, lui
pardonna ce qu’il allait faire et fut pendu jusqu’à ce que mort s’en suive. Son
corps fut ensuite décapité et écartelé, avant d’être exposé sur le «Pont de
Londres». (London Bridge).
Initialement regroupé et édité par: Tom Rochford,SJ
Traducteur: Guy Verhaegen
SOURCE : https://www.jesuits.global/fr/saint-blessed/le-bienheureux-thomas-holland/
Blessed Thomas Holland
Also
known as
- Thomas
Sanderson
- Thomas
Hammond
Profile
Apparently the son of
Richard Holland, a landed gentleman. Studied at Saint
Omer, France, and Valladolid, Spain in 1621. Jesuit novice at Watten, Flanders, Belgium in 1624. Ordained in 1624 at Liège, Belgium. Parish priest at Ghent. Prefect of Saint
Omer’s. Spiritual co-adjutor at Ghent on 28 May 1634. He returned to England c.1635 to minister to
covert Catholics, living on the run and
using false names due to government perscution. He was skilled in
disguises, spoke flawless French, Spanish, and Flemish, and could
fool many. Arrested in London on 4 October 1642 for the crime
of priesthood. He refused to
cooperate with the trial proceedings, was convicted of being a priest, and sentenced to die. While awaiting execution, he ministered to other prisoners. Martyr.
Born
- hanged, drawn,
and quartered on 12 December 1642 at Tyburn, London, England
- 8 December 1929 by Pope Pius XI (decree of martyrdom)
SOURCE :
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-thomas-holland/
Ven. Thomas Holland
An English martyr, b. 1600
at Sutton, Lancashire; martyred at Tyburn,
12 December, 1642. He was probably son of Richard Holland, gentleman, was educated at St. Omer's and
subsequently in August, 1621, went to Valladolid, where he
took the missionary oath 29
December, 1633. When the abortive negotiations for the spanish match were
taking place in 1623, Holland was sent to Madrid to assure
Prince Charles of the loyalty of the seminarists of Valladolid, which he did in
a Latin oration. In 1624 he entered the novitiate of
the Society of Jesus at
Watten in Flanders and
not long after was ordained priest at Liège. After serving as
minister at Ghent and
prefect at St.
Omer's he was made a spiritual coadjutor at Ghent (28 May,
1634) and sent on the English mission the following year. He was an adept in
disguising himself, and could speak French, Spanish, and Flemish to
perfection but was eventually arrested on suspicion in a London street 4
Oct., 1642, and committed to the New Prison. He was afterwards transferred to
Newgate, and arraigned at the Old Bailey, 7 December, for being a priest. There was no
conclusive evidence as to this; but as he refused to swear he was not, the jury
found him guilty, to the indignation of the Lord Mayor, Sir Isaac Pennington,
and another member of the bench named Garroway. On Saturday, 10 December,
Sergeant Peter Phesant, presumably acting for the recorder, reluctantly passed
sentence on him. On his return to prison great
multitudes resorted to him, and he heard many confessions. On Sunday and Monday
he was able to say Mass in prison, and soon after
his last Mass was taken off to execution. There he was allowed to make a
considerable speech and to say many prayers, and when the
cart was turned away, he was left to hang till he was dead. His brethren called
him bibliotheca pietatis.
Sources
POLLEN, Acts of the English Martyrs (London, 1891),
358-367; CHALLONER, Missionary Priests, II, no. 174; GILLOW, Bibl. Dict. Eng.
Cath. (London and New York, 1885-1902), III, 353-6; COOPER in Dict. Nat. Biog.
Wainewright, John. "Ven. Thomas
Holland." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York:
Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 22 Dec.
2020 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07393a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for
New Advent by Joseph P. Thomas. Dedicated to Fr. Cyriac Kottayarikil
M.C.B.S.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. June
1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal
Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2020 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07393a.htm
Blessed Thomas Holland, SJ
Thomas Holland, an Englishman was born in Sutton, near
Prescot, in Lancashire. In his youth, he spent six years at the English college
at Saint-Omer in Flanders and later in 1621, at the English college in
Valladolid, Spain. It was here as a seminarian at St Alban’s that Thomas was
chosen to extend a welcome in Latin to Prince Charles during his visit to
Madrid in 1623. Thomas returned to Flanders in 1624 and entered the Jesuit
novitiate at Watten. He continued with his theological studies at Liege where
he was ordained.
Fr Holland returned to Saint-Omer to be the
seminarians’ spiritual director and was nicknamed the “Library of Piety”
because of his vast knowledge of the ascetical life. He was assigned to the
English mission as his superiors hoped that his poor health would improve in
his native air. However his health worsened because of the difficult conditions
he was living in because priest-hunters were eagerly seeking priests for the
reward offered for their whereabouts or capture. Fr Holland went about in
disguises, taking on the names of Saunderson and Hammond as aliases and because
he was fluent in French, Flemish and Spanish, he was able to pass off as a
foreigner. Despite his poor health, Fr Holland did not allow it to interfere
with his ministry which he carried out at night or in the early morning for
seven years.
Fr Holland was arrested on suspicion of being a priest on Oct 4, 1642 after returning from a sick call and was detained for questioning at New Prison in London for two weeks. He was later sent to Newgate. During his confinement, Fr Holland hardly slept, often spending the night praying secretly. At his trial in Old Bailey on December 4, 1642, four witnesses claimed he was a Catholic priest but no proof was produced to confirm their testimony. However he was found guilty by the jury when he refused to swear that he was not a Catholic priest. When Fr Holland received his death sentence, he said: “Thanks be to God.” And later back at his cell he invited the Catholics there to join him in singing the Te Deum, the great hymn of thanksgiving.
With two days to live, many visitors came and
requested Fr Holland to remember their intentions and although the French
ambassador offered to intervene with the King, Fr Holland preferred martyrdom
to freedom. On the Sunday before his execution, his Capuchin friends brought
him the articles for Mass which he celebrated in his cell that day and also on
early Monday morning.
Fr Holland was dragged to Tyburn at mid-morning of the
12th and seeing a crowd had gathered in silence, he spoke: “I have been brought
here to die a traitor, a priest and a Jesuit; but in truth none of these things
has been proved.” Then mounting the cart, he placed the noose about his neck
and told the people that he was truly a priest and a Jesuit and that he
pardoned the judge and jury that had condemned him.. He recited his acts of
faith, hope, charity and contrition and then prayed for King Charles I and the
nation “for whose prosperity and conversion to the Catholic faith, if I had as
many lives as there are hairs on my head, drops of water in the ocean, or stars
in the firmament, I would most willingly sacrifice them all.” These words
brought cheers from the crowd. He then forgave his executioner for what he is
about to do and gave him the few coins he still had in his pocket.
With eyes closed in prayer, Fr Holland looked at a
priest in the crowd and received absolution. After he was hanged, his body was
beheaded and quartered and exposed on London Bridge. Fr Holland was only
forty-two years of age and a Jesuit for eighteen years. Pope Pius XI beatified
him on December 15, 1929.
SOURCE : https://www.jesuit.org.sg/dec-thomas-holland-sj/
Blessed Thomas Holland, SJ: "Sacrifice Them
All"
From The Jesuit Curia in Rome:
Thomas Holland (1600-1642) suffered from poor health
during the whole of the seven years he spent in active ministry in his native
England. Despite his suffering he fearlessly moved around London to bring the
sacraments to Catholics during a period of oppression.
He was born in Lancashire and attended the English
College at Saint-Omer in Flanders for six years. He moved to Valladolid, Spain,
in August 1621, to attend the English College there and then returned to
Flanders in 1624 so that he could enter the Jesuits. He did his novitiate and
theological study in Flanders and was ordained there before being assigned to
be the spiritual director of the scholastics at Saint-Omer. In 1635 he was
assigned to the English mission in the hope that his native air would meliorate
the poor health he had begun to suffer.
The conditions in which he had to live in England made
his health worse, not better. He had to stay indoors all day and travel only at
night because of the danger of arrest by priest-hunters. The hardships he
endured caused a loss of appetite, which only worsened his condition. Ill
health, however, did not keep from ministry; and he continued until his arrest
on Oct. 4, 1642 on suspicion of being a priest. He was detained at New Prison
in London for two weeks and then taken to Newgate at the time of his trial. No
evidence could be put forth proving that he was a priest, and he had been very
careful in prison not to be caught praying, but when the court asked him to
swear that he was not a priest, he refused; the jury found him guilty and
condemned him to die. The French ambassador offered to intervene to try to win
his freedom, but Holland said he preferred martyrdom. Some Capuchin friends
smuggled Mass supplies into prison so he could celebrate the Eucharist one last
time. On the morning of Dec. 12 he was dragged to Tyburn to be executed. He
prayed for those who had condemned him and for King Charles I, the royal
family, parliament and the nation. He gave the hangman the little money he had,
forgave him for what he was about to do and then was hanged until he was dead.
His body was then beheaded and quartered and exposed on London bridge.
This Jesuit site provides
more details about his execution and his beatification:
Fr Holland was dragged to Tyburn at mid-morning of the 12th and seeing a crowd had gathered in silence, he spoke: “I have been brought here to die a traitor, a priest and a Jesuit; but in truth none of these things has been proved.” Then mounting the cart, he placed the noose about his neck and told the people that he was truly a priest and a Jesuit and that he pardoned the judge and jury that had condemned him.. He recited his acts of faith, hope, charity and contrition and then prayed for King Charles I and the nation “for whose prosperity and conversion to the Catholic faith, if I had as many lives as there are hairs on my head, drops of water in the ocean, or stars in the firmament, I would most willingly sacrifice them all.” These words brought cheers from the crowd. He then forgave his executioner for what he is about to do and gave him the few coins he still had in his pocket.
With eyes closed in prayer, Fr Holland looked at a
priest in the crowd and received absolution. After he was hanged, his body was
beheaded and quartered and exposed on London Bridge. Fr Holland was only
forty-two years of age and a Jesuit for eighteen years. Pope Pius XI beatified
him on December 15, 1929.
Blessed Thomas Holland, pray for us!
SOURCE : http://supremacyandsurvival.blogspot.com/2015/12/blessed-thomas-holland-sj-sacrifice.html
+
Blessed THOMAS HOLLAND, Jesuit, 1642
Born in Lancashire, he was educated at St. Omer’s, where he was repeatedly, on account of his piety, elected prefect of the Sodality of Our Blessed Lady. Thence he was sent to Valladolid, and was chosen to make a Latin oration at Madrid before Charles Prince of Wales (Charles I), on occasion of a marriage then pro- posed with the Infanta Maria. Returning to Flanders, he entered the Society of Jesus, and was sent on the English Mission to London, 1634. He was then in very bad health, and his illness was increased by the close confinement imposed upon him by the unremitting house- searching of the pursuivants. Yet, notwith- standing the vigilance of his enemies and his own infirmities, through the various disguises he adopted, so as to be unrecognisable even by his friends, his perfect knowledge of French, Flemish, and Spanish languages enabling him to assume any character, he reaped auring two year's labour a rich harvest of souls. At length in 1642 he was apprehended on suspicion and sentenced. In prison his holy counsel and deep spiritual wisdom sanctified the throngs, English and forejgü, who came for his last words. He said Mass and administered the Sacraments up to the day of his execution at Tyburn, December 12, 1642.
“ I became all things to all men that I might save
all.”—1
Cor. ix.
22.
SOURCE : http://englishmartyrs.blogspot.com/2014/12/blessed-thomas-holland-jesuit-1642.html
HOLLAND, THOMAS (1600–1642), jesuit, born in
Lancashire in 1600, being probably a son of Richard Holland, gentleman, of
Sutton, and Anne his wife, received his education in the jesuit colleges at St.
Omer and Valladolid. When Prince Charles visited Madrid in 1623, Holland, at
the request of his fellow-collegians, went to the capital and addressed the
prince in a Latin oration, assuring him of the loyalty and good wishes of the
English students in the seminaries of Spain. He entered the novitiate of the
English province of the Society of Jesus at Watten in 1620, and afterwards
passed to the college at Liège and the House of the Third Probation at Ghent.
Subsequently he was appointed prefect of morals and confessor to the scholars
at St. Omer. In 1635, he was sent to England, and for seven years laboured on
the mission in London, sometimes assuming the aliases of Saunderson and
Hammond. At length, on 4 Oct. 1642, he was arrested and committed to the New
Prison, whence he was transferred to Newgate. On 7 Dec. he was indicted for
being a priest, was found guilty, and on 12 Dec. (O.S.) 1642 was executed at
Tyburn in the presence of a large crowd, including Count Egmont, Duke of
Gueldres, the Spanish ambassador, and almost all the members of his suite.
There is an engraved portrait of him in the ‘Certamen
Triplex’ of Father Ambrose Corbie [q. v.], published originally at Antwerp in
1645. A miniature portrait of him is preserved by the Teresian nuns at
Lanherne, Cornwall. A photograph by the Woodbury process has been published.
[Biography in Corbie's Certamen Triplex; Challoner's
Missionary Priests, No. 147; Florus Anglo-Bavaricus, p. 76; Foley's Records, i.
542–565, vii. 366; Gillow's Dict. of English Catholics; Granger's Biog. Hist.
of England, 5th edit., ii. 385; Marsys's Hist. de la Persécution des
Catholiques en Angleterre, iii. 101–17; Oliver's Jesuit Collections, p. 117.]
Beato Tommaso Holland Sacerdote gesuita, martire
>>>
Visualizza la Scheda del Gruppo cui appartiene
Sutton, Inghilterra, 1600 - Londra, Inghilterra, 12
dicembre 1642
Martirologio Romano: A Londra in Inghilterra,
beato Tommaso Holland, sacerdote della Compagnia di Gesù e martire, che,
condannato a morte sotto il re Carlo I per aver svolto clandestinamente il suo
ministero, rese con l’impiccagione lo spirito a Dio.
Nato nel 1600 a Sutton (Lancaster), dopo aver studiato al collegio di S. Omer, entrò nella Compagnia di Gesù. Fece il noviziato a Watten, nel Belgio, e frequentò gli studi di teologia a Liegi, da dove, ordinato sacerdote, £u inviato subito come direttore spirituale del collegio di S. Omer. La sua pietà e la sua cultura ascetica gli avevano meritato il titolo di Bibliotheca Pietatis.
Per la salute debolissima, fu mandato dai superiori in Inghilterra, dove giunse nel 1635. Non ne ricavò alcun miglioramento, anzi, i suoi disturbi si aggravarono sia per una ostinata inappetenza, sia per il fatto che doveva esercitare il suo ministero soprattutto di notte. Riuscì tuttavia a resistere per sette anni, esercitando un continuo apostolato attraverso peripezie di ogni genere. Dedicava tutto il tempo libero alla preghiera e ciò spiega come chi lo avvicinava avvertisse subito un'atmosfera soprannaturale.
Sospettato come sacerdote, sebbene senza prove, fu condotto in carcere a Newgate, il 4 ott. 1642. Fu molto abile nel difendersi durante il processo e nessuna prova fu raccolta contro di lui, ma fu ugualmente condannato a morte il 10 dic. Alla condanna rispose con gioia: Deo Gratias e, giunto in carcere, volle cantare il Te Deutn. Per due giorni la prigione fu assiepata di visitatori a cui egli rivolgeva parole piene di fede e di elevata spiritualità. Non volle che l'ambasciatore francese chiedesse per lui la grazia della liberazione, come si legge in una lettera da lui scritta ai superiori.
La mattina del 12 dic. potè celebrare la Messa in
carcere e poi fu condotto al patibolo del Tyburn. Qui manifestò pubblicamente
la sua qualifica di sacerdote e di gesuita, fece atti di fede e di contrizione,
offri a Dio la sua vita, perdonò tutti, diede poi al carnefice il poco denaro
che possedeva, ricevette l'assoluzione da un confratello nascosto tra la
folla. Fu impiccato mentre teneva le mani giunte. Aveva quarantotto anni, dei
quali diciannove vissuti nella Compagnia di Gesù. Fu beatificato da Pio XI nel
1929 e la sua festa si celebra il 12 dicembre.
Autore: Giovanni Battista Proja
