"The torments they endured were horrible": The Catholic Martyrs of England and Wales, 1535-1679

From Fr. Christopher George Phillips, the retired founding pastor of Our Lady of the Atonement Church in San Antonio, Texas, a parish of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, comes this reflection on the May 4th feast of Catholic Martyrs of England and Wales:

The English Martyrs include 284 men and women who gave their lives during the 16th and 17th centuries. They were martyred simply because they remained steadfast in their Catholic faith. What had happened?

King Henry VIII had proclaimed himself supreme head of the Church in England, claiming for himself and his successors power over his subjects not only in civil matters, but also in all things spiritual. He took to himself a spiritual power that can belong only to the Pope as the Vicar of Christ and Successor of St. Peter. The Catholics at that time wanted to be loyal subjects of the Crown, but their consciences could not allow them to grant the power of spiritual supremacy. It is as though, in the United States, the president and Congress took upon themselves the power to determine what we as Catholics believe, and how we worship. We could not allow Congress to pass laws that changed the Church’s teaching about the Mass, or what we believe about God. But this was what had happened in England and Wales. This was what led many people to face death courageously rather than act against their consciences and deny their Catholic faith.

Please read the rest there.

This Feast, honoring all the martyrs, canonized and beatified, is celebrated in the Anglican Ordinariate* and in the dioceses of England on May 4th, the date of the execution of the Protomartyrs in 1535 (Saints John Houghton, Augustine Webster, Robert Lawrence, Richard Reynolds, and Blessed John Haile); in the dioceses of Wales, their Feast, known as the Feast of Six Welsh Martyrs and [English] Companions, is celebrated on October 25th, the date that Pope Saint Paul VI canonized the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales in 1979.

*Please note that is celebrated as a Feast in the Anglican Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, but as a Memorial in the Ordinariates of the Chair of St. Peter in North American and of Our Lady of the Southern Cross in Australia.

According to the Liturgical Calendar of England:

The English Men and Women martyred for the Catholic Faith 1535–1680 and beatified or canonised by the Holy See. On this day in 1535 there died at Tyburn three Carthusian monks, the first of many martyrs, Catholic and Protestant, of the English reformation. Of these martyrs, forty two [including Saints John Fisher and Thomas More, and the six Welsh Martyrs] have been canonised and a further two hundred and forty two declared blessed, but the number of those who died on the scaffold, perished in prison, or suffered harsh persecution for their faith in the course of a century and a half cannot now be reckoned. They came from every walk of life; there are among them rich and poor, married and single, women and men. They are remembered for the example they gave of constancy in their faith, and courage in the face of persecution.

The Six Welsh Martyrs, listed on the website of the Liturgical Calendar of Wales are: Saints John Jones, Philip Evans, John Lloyd, David Lewis, Richard Gwyn, and John Roberts. Saints Evans, Lloyd, Lewis, and Gwyn were executed in the throes of the Popish Plot in 1679.

Holy Catholic Martyrs of England and Wales, pray for us!

Preview: Saints Crispin and Crispinian on the Son Rise Morning Show

Although their feast is no longer on the Roman Calendar, Anna Mitchell of the Son Rise Morning Show asked me to discuss the feast of Saints Crispin and Crispinian on Monday, October 25, their traditional feast (they are still included on the Church of England's sanctoral calendar). 

Please listen live on EWTN Radio or on your local EWTN affiliate at my usual time, 7:50 a.m. Eastern/6:50 a.m. Central.

They were martyrs in the early Church, excruciatingly executed during the reign of Diocletian on October 25 in 285/286. The old Catholic Encyclopedia gives an account of their martyrdom, according to the Bollandists:

The legend relates that they were Romans of distinguished descent who went as missionaries of the Christian Faith to Gaul and chose Soissons as their field of labour. In imitation of St. Paul they worked with their hands, making shoes, and earned enough by their trade to support themselves and also to aid the poor. During the Diocletian persecution they were brought before Maximianus Herculius whom Diocletian had appointed co-emperor. At first Maximianus sought to turn them from their faith by alternate promises and threats. But they replied: "Thy threats do not terrify us, for Christ is our life, and death is our gain. Thy rank and possessions are nought to us, for we have long before this sacrificed the like for the sake of Christ and rejoice in what we have done. If thou shouldst acknowledge and love Christ thou wouldst give not only all the treasures of this life, but even the glory of thy crown itself in order through the exercise of compassion to win eternal life." When Maximianus saw that his efforts were of no avail, he gave Crispin and Crispinian into the hands of the governor Rictiovarus (Rictius Varus), a most cruel persecutor of the Christians. Under the order of Rictiovarus they were stretched on the rack, thongs were cut from their flesh, and awls were driven under their finger-nails. A millstone was then fastened about the neck of each, and they were thrown into the Aisne, but they were able to swim to the opposite bank of the river. In the same manner they suffered no harm from a great fire in which Rictiovarus, in despair, sought death himself. Afterwards the two saints were beheaded at the command of Maximianus.

Shakespeare's Henry V recalls to his troops in Act IV, Scene 3 that they fight the battle of Agincourt on the feast of these twin martyr saints, Saints Crispin and Crispinian:

This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

When Laurence Olivier filmed his version of Henry V in 1944, Winston Churchill was very pleased with the patriotic fervor of this speech, so needed during the Battle of Britain and World War II. 

Shakespeare's Henry V brings up other Catholic imagery that might have sounded strange in post-Reformation English ears, but might have still be vaguely familiar in 1599. In Act IV, Scene I the king describes all he has done to pray for the repose of King Richard II's soul to make up for his father's "fault . . . in compassing the crown":

O God of battles! steel my soldiers' hearts;
Possess them not with fear; take from them now
The sense of reckoning, if the opposed numbers
Pluck their hearts from them. Not to-day, O Lord,
O, not to-day, think not upon the fault
My father made in compassing the crown!
I Richard's body have interred anew;
And on it have bestow'd more contrite tears
Than from it issued forced drops of blood:
Five hundred poor I have in yearly pay,
Who twice a-day their wither'd hands hold up
Toward heaven, to pardon blood; and I have built
Two chantries, where the sad and solemn priests
Sing still for Richard's soul. More will I do;
Though all that I can do is nothing worth,
Since that my penitence comes after all,
Imploring pardon.

Those were terms often used in Last Wills and Testaments before Henry VIII (he wanted Masses said for his soul that certainly weren't offered during his son's reign*), Edward VI, and Elizabeth I changed Christian doctrine and practice in England: having the poor pray for the departed soul; having Masses and the Offices said in Chantries, special chapels for that purpose, either within churches and cathedrals or on private land. Henry VIII ordered the chantries dissolved along with the monasteries in 1545 but died before he benefited from the proceeds; Edward VI followed up with another Act closing them down. So Shakespeare was alluding here to traditions that had been declared illegal as the doctrine of Purgatory and the efficacy of prayer for the dead was declared false.

*Henry VIII's Will of 1546 required the following:

Upon his death, his executors shall, as soon as possible, cause the service for dead folk to be celebrated at the nearest suitable place, convey his body to Windsor to be buried with ceremonies (described), and distribute 1,000 mks.in alms to the poor “(common beggars, as much as may be, avoided)” with injunctions to pray for his soul. St. George’s College in Windsor Castle shall be endowed (if he shall not have already done it) with lands to the yearly value of 600l., and the dean and canons shall, by indenture, undertake:–(1) to find two priests to say mass at the aforesaid altar; [sounds like a chantry!](2) to keep yearly four solemn obits at which 10l. shall be distributed in alms; (3) to give thirteen poor men, to be called Poor Knights, each 12d. a day, and yearly a long gown of white cloth &c. (described), one of the thirteen being their governor and having, in addition, 3l. 6s. 8d. yearly; and (4) to cause a sermon to be made every Sunday at Windsor.

Image Credit (public domain): Aert van den Bossche - Martyrdom of St. Crispin and Crispinian

This Morning: New Series on the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales

As promised, I'll be on the Son Rise Morning Show with Anna Mitchell at about 7:50 a.m. Eastern/6:50 a.m. Central to begin our new series on the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales, leading up to the 50th anniversary of their canonization on October 25, 1970.

Please listen live here; the podcast will be archived here.

It's interesting to note that on the Vatican website, the homily Pope Paul VI preached at the Mass and Canonization is mostly in Italian, with an introduction in English welcoming Cardinal John Carmel Heenan, Archbishop of Westminster, other Catholic bishops and priest, and laity from England. He also welcomed the official representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Reverend Doctor Harry Smythe and other Anglicans. But when he discusses the reasons for the canonization and presents some of the martyrs individually, that portion of the homily is only in Italian. There is a translation into Portuguese, if that's helpful to you.

He concluded with another portion in English:

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.

The New York Times covered the event and noted the emphasis on ecumenism and inter-faith harmony, but also noting that some Catholics unhappy with the changes in the liturgy protested the event.

On Friday this week, I'll offer you a preview of the first three martyrs we'll discuss, three of the protomartyrs of the English Reformation under Henry VIII:

John Houghton, Carthusian Prior, London Charterhouse
Augustine Webster, Carthusian Prior, Epworth Charterhouse (Isle of Axholme, Lincolnshire)
Robert Lawrence, Carthusian Prior, Beauvale Charterhouse, Nottinghamshire

New Series on the SRMS: 50 years of the 40 Martyrs

Before Matt Swaim, Anna Mitchell and I began the series on Lenten and Easter reflections based on St. John Henry Newman's sermons, we had been doing a series on the great anniversaries this year: events, births, deaths, etc, from the Battle of Thermopylae to the birth of Karol Wojtyla (Pope St. John Paul II).

One of the anniversaries to mark this year is October 25, 1970, the 50th anniversary of the canonization of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales by Pope St. Paul VI. So we are starting a new series on the Son Rise Morning Show on Monday, June 8 (at the usual time, 6:50 a.m. Central/7:50 a.m. Eastern). Each Monday morning, we will highlight two (or three) martyrs, concluding on Monday, October 26 the day after the anniversary.

Please listen live here; the podcast will be archived here.

To start us off, on Monday, June 8, I'll talk to Anna about the time and the context of the canonizations in 1970, 35 years after St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More were canonized by Pope Pius XI--eleven of these 40 martyrs had been beatified with Fisher and More by Pope Pope Leo XIII in 1886 (84 years before); 29 more of these 40 martyrs had been beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1929 (41 years before).

So why did Pope Paul VI canonize these 40 martyrs in 1970? Why were there some who thought the timing inopportune?

For answers, we turn to this article from the weekly English edition of L'Osservatore Romano on October 29, 1970, preserved for us in the EWTN library.

To examine the second question first: Pope Paul VI and Michael Ramsey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, had met in Rome and issued The Common Declaration by Pope Paul VI and the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Michael Ramsey on March 24, 1966. They agreed to enter into a dialogue, seeking unity:

In willing obedience to the command of Christ who bade His disciples love one another, they declare that, with His help, they wish to leave in the hands of the God of mercy all that in the past has been opposed to this precept of charity, and that they make their own the mind of the Apostle which he expressed in these words: ‘Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus’ (Phil 3:13-14).

They affirm their desire that all those Christians who belong to these two Communions may be animated by these same sentiments of respect, esteem and fraternal love, and in order to help these develop to the full, they intend to inaugurate between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion a serious dialogue which, founded on the Gospels and on the ancient common traditions, may lead to that unity in truth, for which Christ prayed.

The dialogue should include not only theological matters such as Scripture, Tradition and Liturgy, but also matters of practical difficulty felt on either side. His Holiness the Pope and His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury are, indeed, aware that serious obstacles stand in the way of a restoration of complete communion of faith and sacramental life; nevertheless, they are of one mind in their determination to promote responsible contacts between their Communions in all those spheres of Church life where collaboration is likely to lead to a greater understanding and a deeper charity, and to strive in common to find solutions for all the great problems that face those who believe in Christ in the world of today. . . .

As the L'Observatore Romano article notes, the canonization of these 40 Martyrs seemed to contradict the quotation from Saint Paul's Letter to the Philippians ("Forgetting those things which are behind"), and Dr. Ramsey opined that it was not timely, ecumenically speaking:

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.

In fact, public opinion seemed to accord with the postulator's view:

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.

As to why the cause of the English martyrs was revived so many years after the previous beatifications and canonizations Fr. Paolo Molinari, SJ the postulator of the cause explained:

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.

Furthermore, there were miracles attributed to the intercession of the 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.

Catholics in England had been encouraged to honor the martyrs and to seek their prayers:

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.

So on May 18, 1970, Pope Paul VI announced the canonization of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales:

"We greatly rejoice that unanimously you have asked that these blessed Martyrs of England and Wales be canonized; this is also our desire. It is our intention to enroll them among the saints and to declare them worthy of the honours that the Church attributes to those holy persons who have obtained their heavenly reward. With God's help, we will do this on the twenty-fifth day of October of this year in the Vatican Basilica".

The 40 Martyrs are, in the chronological order in which we'll discuss them on the Son Rise Morning Show (unless otherwise noted, they are priests; unless otherwise noted, they are seminary, non-order priests):

From the reign of Henry VIII:

John Houghton, Carthusian Prior, London Charterhouse
Augustine Webster, Carthusian Prior, Epworth Charterhouse (Isle of Axholme, Lincolnshire)
Robert Lawrence, Carthusian Prior, Beauvale Charterhouse, Nottinghamshire
Richard Reynolds, Briggitine Priest of Syon Abbey
John Stone, Augustinian Canon of Canterbury Abbey

From the reign of Elizabeth I:

Cuthbert Mayne
Ralph Sherwin
Edmund Campion, SJ
Alexander Briant, SJ
John Payne
Luke Kirby
Richard Gwyn, layman*
Margaret Clitherow
Margaret Ward
Swithun Wells, layman
Eustace White
Polydore Plasden
Edmund Gennings
John Boste
Philip Howard, layman
Robert Southwell, SJ
Henry Walpole, SJ
John Jones (Griffith), Franciscan*
John Rigby, layman
Anne Line

During the reign of James I:

Nicholas Owen, Jesuit lay-brother
Thomas Garnet, SJ
John Roberts, OSB*
John Almond

During the reign of Charles I and/or the Civil War/Interregnum period:

Edmund Arrowsmith, SJ
Ambrose Barlow, OSB
Alban Roe, OSB
Henry Morse, SJ

During the reign of Charles II:

John Southworth

The Popish Plot Martyrs during the reign of Charles II:

Philip Evans, SJ*
David Lewis, SJ*
John Wall, Franciscan
John Kemble
John Lloyd*
John Plessington

*The six Welsh martyrs are:

Richard Gwyn, layman
John Jones (Griffith), Franciscan
John Roberts, OSB
Philip Evans, SJ
Davis Lewis, SJ
John Lloyd

Holy Martyrs of England and Wales, pray for us!

A Little Like Recusants: Spiritual Communion in Recusant England and Today

This year, on October 25, we will mark the 50th anniversary of the canonization of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales by Pope Paul VI in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome (1970).

Their feast was moved in 2000 from October 25 to May 4, the anniversary of the executions of the protomartyrs among the Forty, Saint John Houghton, prior of the London Charterhouse, Saint Robert Lawrence, prior of Beauvale Charterhouse, Saint Augustine Webster, prior of Axholme Charterhouse, and Saint Richard Reynolds, a Bridgettine monk of the Syon Abbey. These four, and a Blessed martyr, John Haile, Vicar of Isleworth (beatified on December 29, 1886 by Pope Leo XIII) were all hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn in 1535.

(The original feast day of October 25 is still kept in the dioceses of Wales under the title of The Six Welsh Martyrs and Their Companions--the "English" martyrs are the companions. This year because October 25 is a Sunday the feast will not be observed.)

In this time of pandemic, I've wondered if other Catholics like me who usually attended Daily Mass as often as possible, kept a weekly Holy Hour in their parishes, and were likewise pretty active in religious observances, have been experiencing something like what Catholics in Tudor England did when gradually, eventually cut off from the public worship of the Church. I was fortunate enough to attend Mass at Noon on Tuesday, March 17 and receive Holy Communion that day at the Cathedral. During the brief homily, it was announced that no public Masses would be celebrated after 1 p.m. that day and that all Adoration Chapels would be closed as of 1 p.m. that day. Anyone keeping their Noon Holy Hours in their parish chapels might have witnessed the Blessed Sacrament being removed from the Monstrance and transferred to the Tabernacle, the candles snuffed out, and the door locked. Like the Stripping of the Altars in the middle of the day.

In our diocese (Wichita, Kansas), churches have been kept open and visits to the Blessed Sacrament--limited to ten people at a time--have been possible. Confessions have been regularly offered, with the required safety precautions. Otherwise we have had to rely on broadcast (EWTN) or streamed Masses (Facebook and YouTube)--and of course, the practice of a making Spiritual Communion.

Secretly practicing Catholics in England had recourse to Spiritual Communion regularly during the Recusant/Penal era. Lisa McClain in Lest We be Damned: Practical Innovation & Lived Experience Among Catholics in Protestant England, 1559-1642 (Routledge: 2005), cited the Jesuit priest John Radford's 1594/1605 book for Catholic laity in England, A Directorie teaching the Way to the Truth in a briefe and plaine Discourse against the Heresies of this Time. He explained that yes, the Sacraments, especially the Mass and Holy Communion, are the normal means by which Catholics receive sanctifying grace but that God was not bound to the Sacraments. Even if they could not attend Mass, they could unite themselves to the celebration of the Mass wherever it was; even if they could not receive Holy Communion, they could make a spiritual communion: God had not left them without the means of receiving His love and grace. Another book, William Stanney's 1617 A Treatise on Penance, instructed Catholics how to make a Spiritual Communion: make a good examination of conscience and an act of perfect contrition, and then pray to receive Jesus spiritually through act of fervent desire. McClain notes that Stanney seems "uncomfortable with an exact substitution of spiritual reception for the corporal, but he clearly comforts Catholics that they would make progress toward salvation by receiving spiritually in the absence of the Mass."

As generally noted in histories about Catholic practices before the Reformation, the laity did not receive Holy Communion nearly as frequently as we do today--a Catholic who did so, like Margery Kempe or Margaret Beaufort, was thought unusual. Ordinarily, they confessed their sins at the beginning of Lent (Shrovetide) and during Holy Week, and then received Holy Communion on Easter Sunday: then they broke their Lenten fast. In The Stripping of the Altars, Duffy notes that this was more a community event than an individual act: everyone went to Holy Communion Easter Sunday--extra priests were brought in to accommodate all the communicants.

But English Recusant Catholics could not be assured that they would see a priest, risking capture and martyrdom, each Easter so they could "take [their] rights" ("taking one's rights" was the common term; when I was growing up it was referred to as "the Easter duty"!). That's why Spiritual Communion became so important and McClain demonstrates that the missionary priests serving in England wanted to encourage use of this devotion whenever Catholics couldn't attend Mass or receive Holy Communion.

So Recusant Catholics availed themselves of these spiritual means of remaining connected with the Sacrifice of the Mass and the Sacrament of Holy Communion. McClain describes how Stanney consoled these Catholics with the thought that their hunger for receiving the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus was part of their sanctification, bringing them closer to Jesus in their hearts even though they could not receive Him.

That's exactly where we are--or should be--today in the time of limited physical access to Mass and the Sacraments. Pray God we will be able to attend Mass soon--and be prepared to receive Holy Communion worthily.

Holy Martyrs of England and Wales, pray for us!

All the holy, unknown saints of Recusant England, pray for us!

Henry V's Martyrs and Saints on October 25, 1415

Shakespeare's Henry V recalls to his troops that they fight the battle of Agincourt on the feast of the twin martyr saints, Saints Crispin and Crispinian:

This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

But the historical Henry V had in mind another saint on the day of battle: St. John of Beverley, since October 25 was the feast of the translation--movement--of his relics. As the website of the Beverley Minster explains:

In 1415 King Henry V won the battle of Agincourt on the Feast of St. John’s translation (25th October). In 1420 the King visited John’s shrine to give thanks, and made him one of the patron saints of the Royal family.

The following extract is from prayers said on the feast of the translation:

“For though God decreed to give help to this church of His and the kingdom of England’s inhabitants, on the account of the merits of diverse saints with which she gloriously shines, yet He has of late more miraculously comforted them, as we sincerely trust, by the special prayers of the almificious confessor and pontiff, his most blessed John of Beverley….

O the ineffable consolation of these our times, especially refreshing and memorable to all ages, that is the gracious victory of the most Christian Prince Henry the fifth king of England and his army in the battle lately fought at Agincourt, in the county of Picardy, which was granted to the English by the immense mercy of God to the praise of His name and the honour of the kingdom of England on the feast of the translation of the said saint.

In which feast, during the engagement of our countrymen with the French…..holy oil flowed by drops like sweat out of his tomb as an indication of the Divine mercy toward his people, without doubt through the merits of the said most holy man.”

Henry VIII destroyed his shrine; his feast was removed from the Roman Calendar after the Second Vatican Council.

The 45th Anniversary of the 40 Martyrs

This morning on the Son Rise Morning Show (at about 6;45 a.m. Central/7:45 a.m. Eastern) Matt Swaim and I will discuss the original feast of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales, canonized by Blessed Pope Paul VI in 1970--which is still celebrated in the dioceses of Wales as the Feast of the Six Welsh Martyrs and Their Companions (the other 34!).

Pope Paul VI canonized the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales on October 25, 1970; 45 years ago this Sunday--although their Feast is celebrated in the dioceses of England on May 4 (since the year 2000) it's appropriate to remember that his action in 1970 was not without controversy.

This document archived at EWTN describes some of the difficulty:

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.

The six Welsh Martyrs celebrated on October 25 in the dioceses of Wales are Philip Evans, SJ and John Lloyd, John Jones, OFM, David Lewis, SJ, John Roberts, OSB, and the teacher Richard Gwyn.

Sorry for the short notice--we just set this interview up yesterday afternoon!