« The
Tyburn Tree » (L'arbre de Tyburn, gravure, 1680), appelé ainsi car le
triple gibet en bois s'y dressa jusqu'en 1759.
Tyburn tree. WORK 16/376; is an illustration, said to be from about 1680, of the permanent gallows at Tyburn, which stood where Marble Arch now stands. This necessitated a three-mile cart ride in public from Newgate prison to the gallows. Huge crowds collected on the way and followed the accused to Tyburn. They were used as the gallows for London offenders from the XVIth century until 1759."
Bienheureux Thomas
Woodhouse
Prêtre jésuite martyr en
Angleterre (+ 1573)
Pendant la persécution déclenchée, en 1561, par la reine d'Angleterre, Élisabeth Ière, le bienheureux Thomas est arrêté pour avoir célébré la messe romaine. Il restera en prison durant douze années, exhortant par écrit la reine à revenir à la foi catholique. Il est alors condamné et pendu.
À Londres, en 1573, le bienheureux Thomas Woodhouse, prêtre de la Compagnie de
Jésus et martyr. Ordonné prêtre sous la reine catholique Marie Tudor, il subit
ensuite la persécution de la reine Élisabeth Ière: pris en flagrant délit de
messe, il fut détenu en prison durant plus de douze ans, et chercha à ramener
ses codétenus à l'Église catholique. Pendu au gibet de Tyburn, il fut dépecé à
terre et étripé encore vif.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/7382/Bienheureux-Thomas-Woodhouse.html
Le Bienheureux Thomas Woodhouse
Death: 06/29/1573
Nationality (place of
birth): Angleterre
Le P. Thomas Woodhouse
(1535-1573) était le premier jésuite à mourir dans le conflit entre le Pape et
la Couronne anglaise, bien qu’il n’ait été admis dans la Compagnie que peu
avant son arrestation. Il a probablement été ordonné prêtre dans les dernières
années du règne de Mary Tudor, la reine catholique. Il n’accepta pas qu’au
moment de monter sur le trône en 1558 a reine Elisabeth I introduise des
réformes en matières de religion, y compris un livre de prière non catholique,
il put encore moins obéir à son décret lui conférant l’autorité suprême en
matières religieuses. En conséquence il renonça à son poste de curé dans le
Linconshire en 1560 pour devenir tuteur des enfants d’une famille riche du Pays
de Galles. Mais il démissionna de ce poste entre autres à cause de différences
religieuses. Il continua à célébrer la messe quand il le pouvait, et a été
arrêté le 14 mai 1561 tandis qu’il célébrait la messe. Il a été emprisonné
pendant 12 ans dans la ‘prison pour dettes’ à Londres, et put développer un
véritable apostolat parmi les prisonniers, grâce à la tolérance du gardien.
En 1572 Il écrivit au
père provincial des jésuites à Paris, parce que la Mission Anglaise n’avait pas
encore été créée, et demanda d’être admis dans la Compagnie. On l’accepta, et,
dans son enthousiasme, il écrivit une lettre au trésorier de la reine lui
demandant de la persuader d’accepter l’autorité du pape. Au lieu de faire ce
que le prêtre lui demandait, William Cecil donna l’ordre de le juger le 13 juin
1573. On le trouva coupable de trahison pour avoir parler négativement de la
reine. Trois jours plus tard on l’amena à Tyburn pour être pendu et écartelé.
Initialement regroupé et
édité par: Tom Rochford,SJ
Traducteur: Guy Verhaegen
SOURCE : https://www.jesuits.global/fr/saint-blessed/le-bienheureux-thomas-woodhouse/
Profile
Priest in
Lincolnshire, England.
Forced to resign due state persecution,
he became a tutor in Wales. Arrested and
sent to Fleet Prison on 14 May 1561 for
the crime of celebrating Mass. He
lay there for nine years before being tried and convicted for his faith.
At some point during his incarceration he
joined the Jesuits,
and he ministered to fellow prisoners when
possible.
On 19 November 1572 he
convinced the prison washer-woman to
take a letter to Lord Burghley. In it he begged that Burghley seek
reconciliation with Rome,
and convince Elizabeth to
do the same. He followed up this by writing more letters and papers, signing
them, tying them to rocks, and throwing them from his window into the street in
hopes that passersby would spread his message. He was soon transferred to
Newgate prison,
and a few weeks later, executed. Martyr.
Born
hanged,
drawn, and quartered on 19 June 1573 at
Smithfield, London, England
29
December 1886 by Pope XIII (cultus
confirmation)
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
Martirologio Romano, 2005 edition
MLA
Citation
“Blessed Thomas
Woodhouse“. CatholicSaints.Info. 18 June 2024. Web. 19 June 2024. <https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-thomas-woodhouse/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-thomas-woodhouse/
Bl. Thomas Woodhouse
Feastday: June 19
Death: 1573
English martyr. A
resident of Lincolnshire, he received ordination as a secular priest and
took up a post there. Forced to resign from this post, he became a tutor in
Wales. He was arrested in 1561 for celebrating a Mass and was sent to
Fleet Prison. During the period of his incarceration, which lasted twelve
years, he entered the Society of Jesus Thomas was tried in
1570. He was hanged at Tyburn.
SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=2327
Book of Saints –
Thomas Woodhouse
Article
(Blessed) Martyr (June
19) (16th
century) A beneficed priest in
Lincolnshire in the time of Queen Mary. Refusing to turn Protestant at the
orders of her unhappy sister Elisabeth, he was put to death at
Tyburn (A.D. 1573).
He had been admitted into the Society
of Jesus shortly before his arrest.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate.
“Thomas Woodhouse”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info.
10 November 2017. Web. 19 June 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-thomas-woodhouse/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-thomas-woodhouse/
Saints
of the Day – Blessed Thomas Woodhouse, S.J., Martyr
Article
Died 1573; beatified in
1886. During the persecutions in England, Father Woodhouse lived in
Lincolnshire and worked as a private tutor in Wales. In 1561, he was taken to
Fleet prison where he remained until his death. During this time, he was
admitted by letter to the Society of Jesus. He was hanged at Tyburn
(Benedictines).
MLA
Citation
Katherine I
Rabenstein. Saints of the Day, 1998. CatholicSaints.Info.
18 June 2024. Web. 19 June 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saints-of-the-day-blessed-thomas-woodhouse-s-j-martyr/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saints-of-the-day-blessed-thomas-woodhouse-s-j-martyr/
Thomas Woodhouse
Blessed
Death: 06/29/1573
Nationality (place of
birth): England
Thomas Woodhouse
(1535-1573) was the first Jesuit to die in the conflict between pope and
English crown, although he was only admitted to the Society just before his
arrest. He was probably ordained a priest during the final year of the reign of
Mary Tudor, the Catholic queen. He could not accept Elizabeth I who instituted
religious reforms, including a non-Catholic prayer book after she became queen
in 1558; even less could he abide the 1559 decree declaring her supreme in religious
matters. So Woodhouse resigned his parish position in Lincolnshire in 1560 and
became tutor to the children of a wealthy family in Wales. However, he resigned
that post as well over religious differences. He continued to celebrate Mass
when he could and was arrested on May 14, 1561, while at Mass. He was
imprisoned in London's Fleet Prison for 12 years, but was able to develop an
apostolate to other prisoners because of his warder's tolerance.
At some point in 1572 he
wrote the Jesuit provincial in Paris because the English mission was not yet
established, and asked to become a member of the Society. He was accepted, but
in his enthusiasm wrote a letter to the queen's treasurer asking him to
persuade to accept the pope's authority. Instead of doing what the priest
asked, the treasurer, William Cecil, ordered him brought to trial on June 16,
1573 where he was found guilty of treason for speaking unfavorably of the
queen. Three days later he was taken to Tyburn to be hanged, drawn and
quartered.
Originally Collected and
edited by: Tom Rochford, SJ
SOURCE : https://www.jesuits.global/saint-blessed/blessed-thomas-woodhouse/
Blessed Thomas Woodhouse
Martyr who suffered
at Tyburn 19 June, 1573, being disembowelled alive. Ordained in Mary's
reign, he was a Lincolnshire rector for under a
year, and in 1560 acted as a private tutor in Wales. On 14 May, 1561,
he was committed to the Fleet, London, having been arrested while saying Mass. For the rest of
his life he remained in custody, uncompromising in his opposition to heresy, saying Mass in secret
daily, reciting his Office regularly, and thirsting for martyrdom; but treated
with considerable leniency till on 19 November, 1572, he sent the prison washerwoman
to Lord Burghley's house with his famous letter. In it he begs him to seek
reconciliation with the pope and earnestly
to "persuade the Lady Elizabeth, who for her own great disobedience is
most justly deposed, to submit herself unto her spiritual prince and
father". Some days later in a personal interview he used equally definite
language. Confined then by himself he wrote "divers papers, persuading men
to the true faith and obedience", which he signed, tied to stones, and
flung into the street. He was repeatedly examined both publicly and privately.
Once, when he had denied the queen's title, someone said, "If you saw her
Majesty, you would not say so, for her Majesty is great". "But the
Majesty of God is greater", he answered. After being sentenced at the Guildhall
either in April or on 16 June, he was taken to Newgate. He was admitted to
the Society of Jesus in prison, though the Decree of the
Congregation of Rites, 4 December, 1886, describes him as a secular priest. He is
not to be confused with Thomas Wood.
Wainewright,
John. "Blessed Thomas Woodhouse." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton
Company, 1912. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14698a.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Marie Jutras.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2023 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14698a.htm
June 19th: Blessed Thomas
Woodhouse, SJ
Born : 1535
Died : June 19, 1573
Beatified : December 9, 1886
Fr Thomas Woodhouse was
the first Jesuit to die for Christ in the conflict between the Catholic Church
and the English monarchy between 1573 and 1679. Very little is known about his
life prior to his imprisonment under Elizabeth I. He was born in England and
was ordained probably in 1558, during the final year of the reign of Mary
Tudor, the Catholic queen. He could not accept Elizabeth I who instituted
religious reforms, including a non-Catholic prayer book, together with the 1559
decree declaring her supremacy in matters of religion. He resigned his parish
position in Lincolnshire in 1560 and became tutor to the children of a wealthy
family in Wales. He later left this position because of religious differences.
Fr Woodhouse continued to
celebrate Mass whenever he could, despite laws against the Catholic Mass and
was arrested on May 14, 1561, while at Mass. He was imprisoned in London’s
Fleet Prison where he spent the next twelve years. He was able to develop an
apostolate to other prisoners because the prison officials were quite tolerant.
He brought some of the inmates back to the Church. He also wrote short essays
which he tied to a stone and threw them out whenever he saw a suitable
individual pass his cell window. In 1572, he wrote to the Jesuit provincial in
Paris as there was no Jesuit mission in England, requesting to enter the
Society of Jesus. He was accepted. In his enthusiasm, he wrote a letter to
William Cecil, the queen’s treasurer asking him to persuade the queen to accept
the pope’s authority. Instead of doing what Fr Woodhouse asked, Cecil ordered
him to be brought to trial on June 16, 1573 at Guildhall and when he repeatedly
refused to acknowledge the judges’ authority and contested the competence of a
secular tribunal to try a priest on religious matters, he was found guilty of
high treason and was sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered.
Fr Woodhouse met a
martyr’s death three days after his trial at Tyburn. He was the second priest,
but the first Jesuit, to be executed in England on religious grounds. He was
beatified by Pope Leo XIII on Dec 9, 1886.
SOURCE : https://www.jesuit.org.sg/june-thomas-woodhouse-sj/
WOODHOUSE, THOMAS, BL.
Elizabethan clerical
protomartyr; b. c. 1535, place unknown; d. Tyburn, June 19, 1573.
Woodhouse, ordained shortly before 1558, was dissatisfied with the Elizabethan
religious settlement. He resigned his pastorate in Lincolnshire and took a
position as tutor to the children of a Welsh gentleman. Religious beliefs again
proved a source of difficulty, and Woodhouse soon resigned from his post.
Arrested while celebrating Mass, he was imprisoned on May 14, 1561. In Fleet
prison from 1561 to 1563, he continued to say Mass and to seek converts. A plague
in 1563 forced the jailers to move the Fleet prisoners to Cambridgeshire.
Sometime after returning to his London prison, Woodhouse requested entrance
into the Jesuit Society (1572). His acceptance into the society seems to have
partially inspired his appeal to William Cecil, Lord Burghley, that he
advise Elizabeth
I to submit to the pope. Woodhouse also wrote a number of pamphlets
urging Englishmen to adhere to the true faith. His novel way of distributing
them was to attach them to stones that he threw from his prison window. Cecil
ordered his trial, and on June 16, 1573, Woodhouse was tried and convicted of
high treason at the Guildhall, London. Three days later he was taken from
Newgate prison to Tyburn, where he became the first priest executed for high
treason on strictly religious grounds during the reign of Elizabeth
I. He was beatified by Leo
XIII on Dec. 9, 1886.
Feast: Dec. 1 (Jesuits).
See Also: england,
scotland, and wales, martyrs of.
Bibliography: E. I. Carlyle, The Dictionary of National Biography from the Earliest Times to
1900 21:873–874. B. Camm, ed., Lives of the English Martyrs Declared
Blessed by Pope Leo
XIII in 1886 and 1895, 2 v. (New
York 1904–14). H. Foley, ed., Records of the English Province of
the Society
of Jesus, 7 v. (London 1877–82) 7.3:859–861, 967; 7.4:1257–67. J. H. Pollen, Acts of the English Martyrs (London 1891). J. N. Tylenda, Jesuit Saints & Martyrs (Chicago 1998), 189–90.
[P. S. McGarry]
New Catholic Encyclopedia
Bl.
Thomas Woodhouse — A Martyr to Remember
Blessed Thomas Woodhouse is
a real character. I don’t recall ever hearing of him before last night, which
is perfectly typical of the man. He was a real life Father Brown of Elizabethan
times — sweet, humble, optimistic, likeable, determined to convert souls and
make God’s point no matter what, and a lot sharper than people thought.
He was ordained during
Queen Mary’s brief reign, and first appeared in history as an ordinary
Lincolnshire parish priest and rector. He served there for less than a year
before Elizabeth came in, and then ended up earning his bread as a tutor in
Wales. He was arrested May 14, 1561, while saying Mass (under ‘Good’ Queen Bess
that was a treasonous crime, remember?) and was sent to the Fleet Prison. He
remained there for twelve years, living on charity. (You had to pay for your
food and keep while imprisoned, or starve. Luckily, the jailers liked him.)
He was generally a model
prisoner, but he consistently did as he thought best and could not be stopped.
He converted his fellow prisoners to Catholicism. He said Mass for them
regularly, despite rules and watchers. He wrote letters whenever it seemed good
to him. He even preached to people outside the prison, by writing little
messages calling people to repentance, then tying them to stones and throwing
them through the windows or over the walls.
One nasty London year,
the Fleet was evacuated to the head jailer’s country home, because of plague.
It was during Lent, and Father Woodhouse got upset that the jailer was eating
meat and not fasting on Fridays. He told the jailer sternly that he could not
and would not remain in a house that did not keep Lent. The jailer thought he
was joking; but the next morning, Woodhouse was gone. He remained missing until
someone thought to check the empty prison. Sure enough, there was Fr.
Woodhouse, quietly keeping Lent in his familiar cell.
Fr.Woodhouse kept up with
current events, and it seems that he heard all about the good work being done
in England by the brave Jesuit missionaries. He got so excited that he wrote to
the French head of the Society of Jesus, asking to be admitted despite his
obvious inability to fulfill the normal requirements at that time. Apparently,
the Jesuits were touched by this, and sent him a letter back admitting him to
their company. This made him very happy and proud, but he was too humbled by
the honor to inform anyone but his confessor.
Not long after this, Fr.
Woodhouse seems to have decided that it was time to step up his twelve-year
campaign to get martyred. Obviously, the jailers were too nice. Someone else
would have to be tried. It was time to get Ignatian.
The letter got Lord
Burghley’s attention, but mostly seems to have amused him. It seems probable
that he only had Fr. Woodhouse called for questioning for amusement, or to see
if he might name any other Catholics. But the interview deteriorated when the
priest very nicely insisted on calling Lord Burghley by his surname, Cecil,
because the noble title had been granted by someone who wasn’t really queen.
Father Woodhouse was on
his way to a martyr’s crown, and nobody was going to stop him. There were some
interviews designed to find him too crazy or stupid to kill, but Woodhouse
quoted the Church Fathers and argued his theological points with great clarity.
When the crowd on his way to Tyburn was a little too sympathetic, he sweetly
went his own way by insisting on praying in Latin, and thus got them mad at him
again. In the end, the executioners (who sometimes mercifully allowed a man to
die of hanging before he was quartered) were so annoyed by his behavior that
they insisted on keeping him alive, right up to the point his heart was ripped
out while still beating. But cute, sweet, insignificant little Father Woodhouse
died happy on June 19, 1573 — as the first Jesuit ever martyred in England!
The Fifth of November, by
coincidence (or not), is when the Jesuits celebrate all their order’s canonized
saints, as well as those named blessed or venerable. Some websites even forget
to mention Blessed Thomas Woodhouse — which is entirely in keeping with his
style! But I think he’s well worth recall.
Priest, confessor,
martyr. Last minute Jesuit, occasional trickster, full time servant of God.
Smart, simple, humble, and still under people’s radar.
Bl. Thomas Woodhouse,
pray for us.
(Info in this post came
from Lives
of the English Martyrs (Vol. 2), edited by Dom Bede Camm. Another cool book
by Camm is Forgotten
Shrines, also at archive.org.)
SOURCE : https://suburbanbanshee.wordpress.com/2007/11/06/bl-thomas-woodhouse-a-martyr-to-remember/
Friday, June 19, 2015
Blessed
Thomas Woodhouse, English Jesuit Protomartyr
According to this website for
the Jesuit Curia in Rome:
Thomas Woodhouse (1535-1573) was the first Jesuit to die in the conflict
between pope and English crown, although he was only admitted to the Society
just before his arrest. He was probably ordained a priest during the final year
of the reign of Mary Tudor, the Catholic queen. He could not accept Elizabeth I
who instituted religious reforms, including a non-Catholic prayer book after
she became queen in 1558; even less could he abide the 1559 decree declaring
her supreme in religious matters. So Woodhouse resigned his parish position in
Lincolnshire in 1560 and became tutor to the children of a wealthy family in
Wales. However, he resigned that post as well over religious differences. He
continued to celebrate Mass when he could and was arrested on May 14, 1561,
while at Mass. He was imprisoned in London's Fleet Prison for 12 years, but was
able to develop an apostolate to other prisoners because of his warder's
tolerance.
At some point in 1572 he wrote the Jesuit provincial in Paris because the
English mission was not yet established, and asked to become a member of the
Society. He was accepted, but in his enthusiasm wrote a letter to the queen's
treasurer asking him to persuade to accept the pope's authority. Instead of
doing what the priest asked, the treasurer, William Cecil, ordered him brought
to trial on June 16, 1573 where he was found guilty of treason for speaking
unfavorably of the queen. Three days later he was taken to Tyburn to be hanged,
drawn and quartered.
He was among the 54
martyrs beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1886 as a secular priest because his
application to the Jesuits and their acceptance of him was not known at the
time. Bede Camm wrote about him in Lives of the English Martyrs (1914). He must have
perplexed and exasperated the Elizabethan officials:
He was repeatedly
examined both publicly and privately. Once when he had denied the Queen's title
before the Recorder of London and other commissioners, some one said, " If
you saw her Majesty, you would not say so, for her Majesty is great."
"But the majesty of God is greater," he answered.
At length in April, 1573, he was arraigned at the Guildhall. He denied the authority of the judges, saying " they were not his judges, nor for his judges would he ever take them, being heretics and pre tending authority from her that could not give it them." He also protested against the competency of secular judges to try priests and spiritual causes, as the earlier Relation tells us, and was treated with the greatest indignity and contumely and held for a fool. He was found guilty of high treason and sentenced accordingly, but two months elapsed before his execution.
Before as after his condemnation he ever kept up the same bright, sweet
demeanour, the same intrepidity, the same eager desire to suffer for his
Master. When first a smith came to rivet irons on him he rewarded him with two
shillings. When the same man afterwards came, on some occasion, to take them
off, he stood waiting, cap in hand, after his work, hoping for a present, and
at last said, "Sir, this day seven-night when I burdened you with irons,
you rewarded me with two shillings: now that I have taken them away, for your
more ease, I trust your worship will reward me much better." "No,"
said the martyr, "then I gave thee wages for laying irons on me, because I
was sure to have my wages for bearing them; now, thou must have patience if
thou lose thy wages, since thou hast with taking away mine irons taken also
away those wages I have for carrying them. But come when you will to load me
with irons, and if I have money thou shalt not go home with an empty
purse."
When some one told him he
was to be removed to the Tower to be racked, "No," said he, "I
cannot believe that; but notwithstanding bring me true news here that it is so
and thou shalt have a crown of gold for thy pains." From this answer it
may be gathered that he had light from God about what was to happen to him: and
so, again, the next day a servant brought him word it was reported through all
London he should be put to death the next week, "No," he answered,
"I shall not die these two months and more." And so it
happened.
After his sentence he was
not taken back to his old prison, but was committed to Newgate. On his way to
the prison he was much ill-treated, "being tugged and lugged hither and
thither, weak and sore laden with irons; insomuch as going up the stairs at
Newgate, he fell down divers times on the stairs; and to one that seemed by his
words to pity him, he answered with a smiling countenance that these troubles
were sweet to him."Some one in the crowd gave him a blow on the face.
"Would God," he said turning to him, "I might suffer ten times
as much that thou might go free for the blow thou hast given me. I forgive thee
and pray to God to forgive thee even as I would be forgiven."
At Newgate he was put
into the place consecrated by the martyrdom of the Blessed Carthusian Fathers
who had been starved to death five-and- thirty years before. The author of the
"Relation of 1574" says it was the part of the prison appropriated to
robbers, and a most dismal place. But after a time he was removed to another
chamber, where a number of ministers were allowed access to him and disputed
with him. Some of them he confuted, surprising those present by his learning;
but when the Dean of St. Paul's came he severely rebuked him, and ended with
the words, "Begone, Satan."
His behavior at his
execution was also brave and resolute:
He was drawn in the usual
way to the place of execution. Hearing him pray in Latin, some of the crowd
wanted him to pray in English so that all might join with him. He answered that
with the Catholics he would willingly, but as for the others he would neither
pray with them nor have them pray with him or for him; though he would
willingly pray for them. The Sheriff was impatient at what he called his
obstinacy, and cried out, "Away with him, executioner, strip him of his
garments, put the rope about his neck and do it quickly." Then he called
to the martyr to ask pardon of God, the Queen, and the country, but Blessed
Thomas answered, "Nay, I on the part of God, demand of you and of the
Queen, that ye ask pardon of God and of holy Mother Church, because contrary to
the truth ye have resisted Christ the Lord, and the Pope, His Vicar upon
earth." These bold words drew shouts from the ever-fickle crowd of "
Hang him, hang him, this man is worse than Storey." [Blessed John
Storey]
He was cut down alive, so
that "he went between two from the gallows to the fire, near which he was
spoiled, and came perfectly to himself before the hangman began to bowel him ;
inasmuch as some have said he spoke when the hangman had his hand in his body
seeking for his heart to pull it out."
SOURCE : https://supremacyandsurvival.blogspot.com/2015/06/blessed-thomas-woodhouse-english-jesuit.html
Beato Tommaso
Woodhouse Sacerdote gesuita, martire
Festa: 19 giugno
>>> Visualizza la
Scheda del Gruppo cui appartiene
† Tyburn, Londra, 19
aprile 1573
Ordinato sacerdote
durante il regno di Maria Tudor, epoca in cui la fede cattolica godeva del
favore regio, Woodhouse si trovò ad affrontare un drammatico capovolgimento con
l'ascesa al trono di Elisabetta I. Il cattolicesimo venne bandito e i suoi
sostenitori perseguitati con ferocia. Arrestato nel 1561, Woodhouse trascorse
dodici anni imprigionato, dedicandosi con instancabile zelo alla conversione
dei suoi compagni di prigionia, testimoniando la propria fede anche nelle
circostanze più difficili. Arso dal desiderio del martirio, Woodhouse non esitò
a manifestare pubblicamente la sua fede, anche di fronte al tribunale che lo
condannava a morte per tradimento. La sua incrollabile devozione lo portò ad
essere ammesso nella Compagnia di Gesù, desiderando ardentemente di consacrare
la sua vita al servizio di Dio. Nonostante i tentativi di farlo passare per
pazzo, Woodhouse rimase irremovibile nella sua fede e venne giustiziato a
Tyburn nel 1573.
Martirologio
Romano: Sempre a Londra, beato Tommaso Woodhouse, sacerdote della
Compagnia di Gesù e martire, che, ordinato sacerdote sotto la regina Maria la
Cattolica e poi tenuto in carcere durante la persecuzione della regina
Elisabetta I a motivo della sua fede per più di dodici anni, si adoperò
strenuamente per riconciliare i compagni di prigionia con la Chiesa cattolica,
finché sul patibolo di Tyburn coronò il suo martirio.
La sua storia si snoda tra l'Inghilterra cattolica di Maria Tudor e quella tormentata dalla persecuzione religiosa di Elisabetta I.
Ordinato sacerdote durante il regno di Maria Tudor, epoca in cui la fede cattolica era dominante in Inghilterra, Woodhouse vide il suo mondo sconvolto dall'ascesa al trono di Elisabetta I nel 1558. Con l'affermarsi del protestantesimo, il cattolicesimo venne soppresso e i suoi sostenitori perseguitati. Rifiutando di abiurare la sua fede, Woodhouse si rifugiò nel Galles, dove fu catturato e imprigionato per ben dodici anni.
Nonostante la reclusione forzata, Woodhouse non rinunciò alla sua missione sacerdotale. La prigione, lungi dall'essere un luogo di desolazione, divenne per lui un'insperata opportunità di apostolato. Con instancabile zelo si adoperò per convertire i suoi compagni di prigionia e sostenere la loro fede. Tra i suoi convertiti figura Tommaso Gascoigne, un gentiluomo incarcerato per debiti.
Arso da un ardente desiderio di martirio, Woodhouse cercò di prendere il posto del Beato Giovanni Storey, condannato a morte nel 1571. Sebbene il suo anelito non fosse destinato ad avverarsi, il suo destino era ben altro. Accolto nella Compagnia di Gesù, desiderava ardentemente entrare a farne parte. Scrisse a Lord William Cecil Burghley, esortando la regina a sottomettersi al papa Pio V.
Le sue audaci parole ebbero come conseguenza un processo presso il Guildhall nell'aprile del 1573. Con incrollabile fermezza, Woodhouse si rifiutò di riconoscere l'autorità dei giudici e la competenza del tribunale secolare nel giudicare un sacerdote. Condannato per alto tradimento, fu impiccato a Tyburn il 19 giugno 1573.
Proclamato beato da Leone XIII nel 1886, Woodhouse è venerato come martire e
protomartire della Compagnia di Gesù in Inghilterra. La sua memoria viene
celebrata ogni anno il 19 giugno.
Autore: Franco
Dieghi
Tra i numerosi cattolici arrestati in Inghilterra nel 1561, sotto la falsa accusa di aver congiurato contro la regina Elisabetta, trovavasi anche il rev. Tommaso Woodhouse, che, sorpreso a celebrare la Messa, venne immediatamente rinchiuso nelle prigioni del Fleet, dove rimase a languire per dodici anni, coronando infine con il martirio la sua lunga detenzione sofferta per la fede.
Della vita precedente del Woodhouse si sa soltanto che egli era stato ordinato sacerdote nell'ultimo anno di regno della cattolica Maria Tudor e che, dopo la morte della regina (17 novembre 1558), era stato costretto a lasciare il posto di rettore di una piccola parrocchia nella contea di Lincoln, che ricopriva da appena un anno, a causa della persecuzione anticattolica scatenata dalla nuova regina Elisabetta. Rifugiatosi allora nel Galles (1560), il Woodhouse visse facendo il precettore al figlio di un gentiluomo della regione, finché non venne arrestato il 14 luglio 1561.
Favorito sin dal principio di una certa libertà di azione, il Woodhouse fece della prigione un nuovo campo di apostolato, adoperandosi ad ottenere conversioni tra i suoi sventurati compagni di cattività; uno dei riconciliati da lui alla Chiesa cattolica fu, per esempio Tomaso Gascoigne, un gentiluomo imprigionato per debiti.
Tanto vivo era sempre stato nel Woodhouse il desiderio del martirio per la fede che cercò di attuarlo nel maggio del 1571, chiedendo di prendere il posto del beato Giovanni Storey, che aveva saputo essere stato allora condannato a morte. Accolto per lettera nella Compagnia di Gesù, in cui aveva ardentemente desiderato di entrare, dopo segrete trattative intercorse con il Provinciale gesuita di Parigi, nell'empito della sua gioia per essere stato esaudito, il Woodhouse scrisse a Lord William Cecil Burghley, Tesoriere del regno, una lettera datata 19 novembre 1572, nella quale egli lo sollecitava a persuadere la regina a fare atto di sottomissione al papa Pio V, da cui era stata giustamente deposta « per la sua grande disubbidienza ». Chiamato qualche giorno dopo a comparire davanti al Lord Tesoriere per essere interrogato al riguardo, il Woodhouse parlò ancor più schiettamente ed altrettanto fece davanti al Consiglio privato della regina, che cercò inutilmente di farlo passare per pazzo.
Al processo celebrato nell'aprile del 1573 al Guildhall, il Woodhouse non solo si rifiutò di riconoscere l'autorità dei giudici, ma contestò anche la competenza di quel tribunale secolare di giudicare un sacerdote. Riconosciuto infine come reo di alto tradimento, fu condannato alla pena capitale, venendo impiccato al Tyburn il 19 seguente. Proclamato beato da Leone XIII nel 1886, il Woodhouse, che i Gesuiti considerano come il protomartire della Compagnia sul suolo inglese, viene commemorato il 19 giugno.
Autore: Niccolò Del Re
