Prelude to a Feast

In England and Wales, Tuesday, May 4th, is the Memorial of the Martyrs of England and Wales, which honors all those beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1987 and canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970.

I will be on The Son Rise Morning Show Tuesday morning at 7:45 Eastern/6:45 Central to talk with Brian Patrick about this feast, focusing on the Carthusian priors martyred on May 4, 1535. These are the priors St. Thomas More saw from his cell in the Tower of London being led away to Tyburn for their executions for treason against Henry VIII. They had refused to swear the Oath of Supremacy and were thus drawn, hung, and quartered in their habits, including their hair shirts, which posed difficulties for their executioner. Thomas More had tried his vocation at the Charterhouse in London—these monks were renowned for their observance of the rule (there was certainly no corruption or laxity among them!). He remarked to his daughter Meg that the priors went as joyfully to their deaths as bridegrooms to their weddings! It was no accident that More saw them on their hurdles—this was a warning to him.

The rest of the Carthusians received ever more brutal sentences of execution—Henry VIII really wanted to make an example of them: some were hung and left to die of exposure (dehydration) and others were starved to death in prison, chained standing up in their cells. This blog (The Hermeneutic of Continuity) includes a post with pictures from a Carthusian chapter house depicting their martyrdoms.

The Carthusians of the Charterhouse of London:
· Saint John Houghton, prior of the London Charterhouse, executed at Tyburn, London, on May 4, 1535.
· Saint Robert Lawrence, prior of Beauvale Charterhouse, executed at Tyburn, London, on May 4, 1535.
· Saint Augustine Webster, prior of Axholme Charterhouse, executed at Tyburn, London, on May 4, 1535.
· Blessed Humphrey Middlemore, vicar of the London Charterhouse, executed at Tyburn, London, on June 19, 1535.
· Blessed William Exmew, procurator of the London Charterhouse, executed at Tyburn, London, on June 19, 1535.
· Blessed Sebastian Newdigate, choir monk of the London Charterhouse, executed at Tyburn, London, on June 19, 1535.
· Blessed John Rochester, choir monk of the London Charterhouse, exiled by the government to the Charterhouse of St Michael at Hull in Yorkshire, executed at York on May 11, 1537, by being hanged in chains from the city battlements until dead.
· Blessed James Walworth, choir monk of the London Charterhouse, exiled by the government to the Charterhouse of St Michael at Hull in Yorkshire, executed at York on May 11, 1537, by being hanged in chains from the city battlements until dead.
· Blessed William Greenwood, laybrother of the London Charterhouse, died of starvation in Newgate Prison, London on June 6, 1537
· Blessed John Davy, deacon, choir monk of the London Charterhouse, and two days later the deacon on June 8. 1537
· Blessed Robert Salt, laybrother of the London Charterhouse, died of starvation in Newgate Prison, London on June 9, 1537
· Blessed Walter Pierson, laybrother of the London Charterhouse, died of starvation in Newgate Prison, London on June 10, 1537
· Blessed Thomas Green (perhaps alias Thomas Greenwood), choir monk of the London Charterhouse, died of starvation in Newgate Prison, London on June 10, 1537
· Blessed Thomas Scryven, laybrother of the London Charterhouse, died of starvation in Newgate Prison, London on June 15, 1537
· Blessed Thomas Redyng, laybrother of the London Charterhouse, died of starvation in Newgate Prison, London on June 16, 1537
· Blessed Richard Bere, choir monk of the London Charterhouse, died of starvation in Newgate Prison, London on August 9, 1537
· Blessed Thomas Johnson, choir monk of the London Charterhouse, died of starvation in Newgate Prison, London on September 20, 1537
· Blessed William Horne, laybrother of the London Charterhouse, hanged, disembowelled, and quartered at Tyburn, London on August 4, 1540.

The next group includes the martyrs Pope Paul canonized on October 25, 1970. This list contains many famous names: St. Edmund Campion, St. Margaret Clitherow, St. Philip Howard, St. Robert Southwell, etc. On The Son Rise Morning Show, I have been discussing some of these saints on the anniversary of their martyrdoms. Actually, St. Margaret Clitherow, St. Anne Line, and St. Margaret Ward are all honored on a separate feast day on August 30th.

· Saint John Almond
· Saint Edmund Arrowsmith
· Saint Ambrose Barlow
· Saint John Boste
· Saint Alexander Briant
· Saint Edmund Campion
· Saint Margaret Clitherow
· Saint Philip Evans
· Saint Thomas Garnet
· Saint Edmund Gennings
· Saint Richard Gwyn
· Saint John Houghton
· Saint Philip Howard
· Saint John Jones
· Saint John Kemble
· Saint Luke Kirby
· Saint Robert Lawrence
· Saint David Lewis
· Saint Anne Line
· Saint John Lloyd
· Saint Cuthbert Mayne
· Saint Henry Morse
· Saint Nicholas Owen
· Saint John Payne
· Saint Polydore Plasden
· Saint John Plessington
· Saint Richard Reynolds
· Saint John Rigby
· Saint John Roberts
· Saint Alban Roe
· Saint Ralph Sherwin
· Saint John Southworth
· Saint Robert Southwell
· Saint John Stone
· Saint John Wall
· Saint Henry Walpole
· Saint Margaret Ward
· Saint Augustine Webster
· Saint Swithun Wells
· Saint Eustace White

These are the names of those beatified by Pope John Paul II on November 22, 1987. The martyrs are not as well known, but they are mostly priests who were executed for being present in England during the recusant era starting during Elizabeth I’s reign:

· John Adams
· Thomas Atkinson
· Edward Bamber
· George Beesley
· Arthur Bell
· Thomas Belson
· Robert Bickerdike
· Alexander Blake
· Marmaduke Bowes
· John Bretton
· Thomas Bullaker
· Edward Burden
· Roger Cadwallador
· William Carter
· Alexander Crowe
· William Davies
· Robert Dibdale
· George Douglas
· Robert Drury
· Edmund Duke
· George Errington
· Roger Filcock
· John Fingley
· Matthew Flathers
· Richard Flower
· Nicholas Garlick
· William Gibson
· Ralph Grimston
· Robert Grissold
· John Hambley
· Robert Hardesty
· George Haydock
· Richard Hill
· John Hogg
· Richard Holiday
· Nicholas Horner
· Thomas Hunt
· Thurstan Hunt
· Francis Ingleby
· William Knight
· Joseph Lampton
· William Lampley
· John Lowe
· Robert Ludlam
· Charles Meehan
· Robert Middleton
· George Nichols
· John Norton (martyr)
· Robert Nutter
· Edward Osbaldeston
· Anthony Page
· Thomas Palaser
· William Pike
· Thomas Pilcher
· Thomas Pormort
· Nicholas Postgate
· Humphrey Pritchard
· Christopher Robinson
· Stephen Rowsham
· John Sandys
· Montford Scott
· Richard Sergeant
· Richard Simpson
· Peter Snow
· William Southerne
· William Spenser
· Thomas Sprott
· John Sugar
· Robert Sutton
· Edmund Sykes
· John Talbot
· Hugh Taylor
· William Thomson
· Robert Thorpe
· John Thules
· Edward Thwing
· Thomas Watkinson
· Henry Webley
· Christopher Wharton
· Thomas Whittaker
· John Woodcock
· Nicholas Woodfen
· Roger Wrenno
· Richard Yaxley

Each of these lists could be used in a litany for private devotion (Saint John Houghton, pray for us; Saint Robert Lawrence, pray for us; Saint Augustine Webster, pray for us and so on). Thinking of the willingness of these priests to lay down their lives to serve the stricken Catholic people of England could be fruitful in this Year of the Priest. Another way to honor these men and women on their memorial is to be as true to the Catholic faith as they were. We may not have the opportunity to die for Christ, but we certainly must live for Christ. They did both and thus truly blessed.