From Lizst to the Carmelites in Kensington: Father Hermann Cohen

Blessed Dominic Barberi, whom we celebrated earlier this week, was not the only nineteenth century missionary sent to England to help bring converts to the Church. David Oldroyd-Bolt writes in The Catholic Herald about Hermann Cohen, "Jewish child prodigy of the piano and gambling addict turned champion of the Eucharist and promoter of nocturnal Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament." He was convert to Catholicism because of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament at Benediction and Holy Mass:

It was while taking time to discern his vocation that Cohen popularised the practice of nocturnal devotions to the exposed Blessed Sacrament. Having taken advice from several priests Cohen decided to become a Discalced Carmelite. He served his novitiate at the convent of Le Broussey, near Bordeaux, receiving the habit on October 6, 1849 (the feast of the Holy Rosary) and making his religious profession on October 7, 1850.

Cohen, now Fr Augustin-Marie du Très Saint Sacrament, then spent a decade preaching around western Europe, often to crowds of thousands. Liszt and Cohen were reconciled in 1862 during a visit to Rome and remained close thereafter. At Cardinal Wiseman’s request, Pope Pius IX sent Fr Cohen “to convert England, as one of my predecessors sent the monk Augustine”. On October 15, 1863 he, along with several French Carmelites, moved into a house in Kensington. That year, for the first time since the Reformation, an English novice took the habit.

During the Franco-Prussian War, Fr Augustin-Marie went to Spandau prison to minister to the 5,000 French soldiers being held there. Smallpox was rife, and it was while administering Extreme Unction without a spatula to two men that he himself caught the disease. On January 19, 1871, he made his last Confession, received Holy Communion and said his last words: “Now, O my God, I place my soul into Your hands.” He died peacefully the next day.

Fr Cohen’s Cause for beatification was put forward on January 19, 2016 by Archbishop Jean-Pierre Ricard of Bordeaux and Bazas.

In researching this Carmelite foundation in Kensington, I realized that this was the Carmelite church we attended every day for Mass when Mark and I visited London with Monsignor William Carr from May 7 to 14, 2003, Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Simon Stock. What a providential coincidence:

Cardinal Wiseman asked Fr Hermann Cohen, a former professional musician, protégé of Liszt and convert from Judaism, to found a Carmelite monastery in London. In 1862, Fr Hermann came to London and temporarily based himself with the Sisters of the Assumption in Kensington Square. In 1863 he rented a large house in Kensington Church Street with extensive grounds to the south which later became the site of the church. A disused school was converted for use as a chapel. In 1864, the property was bought for £3,500. In July 1865 the construction of a permanent church began, from designs by E. W. Pugin. Built predominantly in the Early English style, the church opened on 16 July 1866. In 1875–76, the community also bought the copyhold of the remaining land along the north side of Duke’s Lane for approximately £4,600 and built there the priory, from designs by Goldie, Child & Goldie (1886–89, photo top right).

During the Second World War, Pugin’s church was severely damaged. A new church was built from designs by Sir Giles Scott, Son & Partners, who had been appointed in 1954.

More about the Carmelite Priory at Kensington here. More about Fr Augustin-Marie du Très Saint Sacrament here. The prayer for his beatification is here (English translation here).

Monsignor Carr, who concelebrated our wedding Mass on April 6, 1991, concelebrated Mass every weekday at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Simon Stock, always proclaiming the Gospel. For Sunday Mass during that visit Mark and I went to the Brompton Oratory because the Oratorians would not, according to the Carmelites, allow Monsignor Carr to concelebrate Mass. He wanted to experience the choir at the Oratory and of course to revel in the connection to Cardinal Newman!

The Passion of St. John the Baptist

From the Prado:

The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist and Herod’s Banquet
1630 - 1633. Oil on canvas

This work depicts the martyrdom of Saint John the Baptist due to the perfidy of Salome, who asked for his head after seducing King Herod with her dancing. Strobel, a painter of Polish origin, tells the story on an enormous stage that represents to moment of the martyrdom on the far right, where we can see the saint´s decapitated body. On the other side of the large column, the figure of Salome shows a platter with John´s head to Herod, who is terrified. The rest of the painting to the left shows the banquet, which the painter depicts with innumerable figures, in the manner of a court celebration. The left end of the painting includes various portraits of contemporaneous figures, including Emperor Fernando II and Imperial General Wallenstein. The figures´ strong expressionism and the singularity of this highly horizontal composition are this work´s salient characteristics. As is a taste for precisely rendered details, sumptuousness, and a use of light that was customary in the works of this artist. In 1746, this work was in Queen Isabel Farnesio´s collection at La Granja Palace.

Image source/public domain

You will have to click on one of those links to see the detail, especially the Prado's site. The way the artist updated Herod's banquet to show all the contemporary detail of luxury and worldly splendor made the viewer at that time part of the story. The Emperor Fernando II and General Wallenstein were among those Herod could not disappoint, having sworn to do whatever Herodias' daughter asked in exchange for her dancing for him and his guests. The contrast between St. John the Baptist's exsanguinated, half-naked body (and his executioner's) and the sumptuous clothing of the guests is most effective.

Today is the Feast of the Passion of St. John the Baptist (which I remember being called the Beheading of St. John the Baptist). As the great forerunner of Our Savior, St. John suffered martyrdom for the sake of the holiness of marriage, denying that Herod could commit adultery with impunity.

In 1529, John Fisher, the Bishop of Rochester, started making comparisons between his own stand in the Convocation of Bishops, at the Legatine Court, and as one of Queen Katherine of Aragon's counselors, to uphold the validity of her marriage to Henry VIII--and of the pope's authority to declare a sacramental marriage valid--to St. John the Baptist's.

From the Catholic Encyclopedia: "When the question of Henry's divorce from Queen Catherine arose, Fisher became the Queen's chief supporter and most trusted counsellor. In this capacity he appeared on the Queen's behalf in the legates' court, where he startled his hearers by the directness of his language and most of all by declaring that, like St. John the Baptist, he was ready to die on behalf of the indissolubility of marriage. This statement was reported to Henry VIII, who was so enraged by it that he himself composed a long Latin address to the legates in answer to the bishop's speech. Fisher's copy of this still exists, with his manuscript annotations in the margin which show how little he feared the royal anger."

Also today: Blessed Richard Hurst.

St. John the Baptist, pray for us!

St. John Fisher, pray for us!

Blessed Richard Hurst, pray for us!

Mother and Son: Saints Monica and Augustine

For the first time since 2015, we'll be celebrating the memorials of St. Monica and St. Augustine one after the other. In 2016, her memorial occurred on Saturday, but his on Sunday; in 2017, her memorial was on Sunday and his on Monday. This year, they will both be celebrated at daily Mass. Today is her feast day.

Ary Sheffer's painting shows the two saints in that ecstasy St. Augustine describes in the tenth chapter of book nine in the Confessions:

23. As the day now approached on which she was to depart this life -- a day which thou knewest, but which we did not -- it happened (though I believe it was by thy secret ways arranged) that she and I stood alone, leaning in a certain window from which the garden of the house we occupied at Ostia could be seen. Here in this place, removed from the crowd, we were resting ourselves for the voyage after the fatigues of a long journey.

We were conversing alone very pleasantly and "forgetting those things which are past, and reaching forward toward those things which are future." We were in the present -- and in the presence of Truth (which thou art) -- discussing together what is the nature of the eternal life of the saints: which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man. We opened wide the mouth of our heart, thirsting for those supernal streams of thy fountain, "the fountain of life" which is with thee, that we might be sprinkled with its waters according to our capacity and might in some measure weigh the truth of so profound a mystery.

24. And when our conversation had brought us to the point where the very highest of physical sense and the most intense illumination of physical light seemed, in comparison with the sweetness of that life to come, not worthy of comparison, nor even of mention, we lifted ourselves with a more ardent love toward the Selfsame, and we gradually passed through all the levels of bodily objects, and even through the heaven itself, where the sun and moon and stars shine on the earth. Indeed, we soared higher yet by an inner musing, speaking and marveling at thy works.

And we came at last to our own minds and went beyond them, that we might climb as high as that region of unfailing plenty where thou feedest Israel forever with the food of truth, where life is that Wisdom by whom all things are made, both which have been and which are to be. Wisdom is not made, but is as she has been and forever shall be; for "to have been" and "to be hereafter" do not apply to her, but only "to be," because she is eternal and "to have been" and "to be hereafter" are not eternal.

And while we were thus speaking and straining after her, we just barely touched her with the whole effort of our hearts. Then with a sigh, leaving the first fruits of the Spirit bound to that ecstasy, we returned to the sounds of our own tongue, where the spoken word had both beginning and end. But what is like to thy Word, our Lord, who remaineth in himself without becoming old, and "makes all things new"?

According to this site, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood took some interest in Scheffer's works:

Of Protestant Dutch origin, the French painter came to Paris in 1811. He was to have a brilliant career as the drawing teacher of King Louis-Philippe’s children.

When he arrived in Paris he joined Pierre Guérin’s (1774-1833) workshop. He proved very gifted and was able to work in different fields, such as landscapes painted “sur le motif” (from nature), historical scenes in the Romantic style, religious subjects, for which he is very well-known : “Saint-Augustine with his mother, Saint Monica”. He made many copies of this in 1849 and 1855. . .

. . . After being much esteemed by the British Pre-Raphaelites, he sank into obscurity but nowadays is considered a major player in the Romantic movement. . . .

I can see how his subject matter, paintings that depict scenes from Dante's Divine Comedy and Goethe's Faust, the religious images of King St. Louis, etc., would have attracted the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. But his style, so classical and more like Ingres, would not have appealed to them.

"At Heart a Roman Catholic": Bishop Thomas Thirlby

According to the Westminster Abbey website, Thomas Thirlby has an unusual claim to fame: he was for the time the first and the only CHURCH OF ENGLAND bishop of Westminster:

Thomas Thirlby (c.1500-1570) was consecrated the first and only Bishop of the new short-lived diocese of Westminster in December 1540 (created once the Benedictine monastery of Westminster Abbey was dissolved by Henry VIII). No memorial exists for him in the Abbey but his supposed coat of arms appears in modern glass in the Chapter House (it seems that these were actually the arms of Thorley and had mistakenly been assigned to Thomas by an earlier writer). He died at Lambeth Palace on 26 August 1570 and was buried in the parish church nearby. He was born in Cambridge, a son of John, town clerk, and his wife Joan (Campion). His early patrons were said to have been Anne Boleyn's family. Some of the other posts he held were rector of Ribchester in Lancashire, chaplain to Henry VIII, archdeacon of Ely, prebendary of Salisbury cathedral, canon of St Stephen's Westminster and Dean of the Chapel Royal.

After the restoration of the Catholic Hierarchy in 1850, Westminster became the leading Catholic diocese of England and there have been many Cardinal Archbishops and many auxiliary bishops of Westminster since then.

According to his Dictionary of National Biography entry by Thompson Cooper, Bishop Thomas Thirlby was "at heart a Roman Catholic" and therefore reluctantly served Edward VI, enthusiastically served Mary I, and refused to serve Elizabeth I:

On the assembling of Queen Elizabeth's first parliament Thirlby sent his proxy, he being then absent on his embassy in France. On 17 April 1559 the bill for restoring ecclesiastical jurisdiction to the crown was committed to him and other peers. He opposed this measure on the third reading. He also dissented from the bill for uniformity of common prayer (cf. Zurich Letters, i. 20). He refused to take the oath of supremacy, and for this reason he and Archbishop Heath were deposed from their sees on 5 July 1559 at the lord-treasurer's house in Broad Street.

According to Bentham, Thirlby was a considerable benefactor to the see of Ely because by his interest he procured from the crown for himself and his successors the patronage of the prebends in the cathedral; but Dr. Cox, his immediate successor, asserted that although Thirlby received 500l. from Bishop Goodrich's executors for dilapidations, he left his houses, bridges, lodes, rivers, causeways, and banks, in great ruin and decay, and spoiled the see of a stock of one thousand marks, which his predecessors had enjoyed since the reign of Edward III. He also alleged that Thirlby never came into his diocese (Strype, Annals of the Reformation, ii. 580).

After his deprivation Thirlby had his liberty for some time, but in consequence of his persisting in preaching against the Reformation, he was on 3 June 1560 committed to the Tower, and on 25 Feb. 1560–1 he was excommunicated (Strype, ib. i. 142). In September 1563 he was removed from the Tower on account of the plague to Archbishop [Matthew] Parker's house at Beaksbourne (Parker Correspondence, pp. 122, 192, 195, 203, 215, 217). In June 1564 he was transferred to Lambeth Palace, and Parker, who is said to have treated Thirlby with great courtesy and respect, even permitted him to lodge for some time at the house of one Mrs. Blackwell in Blackfriars. He died in Lambeth Palace on 26 Aug. 1570. He was buried on the 28th in the chancel of Lambeth church, under a stone with a brief Latin inscription in brass (Stow, Survey of London, ed. Strype, App. p. 85). In making a grave for the burial of Archbishop Cornwallis in March 1783, the body of Bishop Thirlby was discovered in his coffin, in a great measure undecayed, as was the clothing. The corpse had a cap on its head and a hat under its arm (Lodge, Illustrations of British History, ed. 1838, i. 73 n.) His portrait is in the print of the delivery of the charter of Bridewell.

Blessed Dominic Barberi and England

I'll be speaking to Annie Mitchell on the Son Rise Morning Show this morning in anticipation of the memorial of Blessed Dominic Barberi (observed in England). Listen live about 7:35 a.m. Central/8:35 a.m. Eastern: the Son Rise Morning Show will repeat the segment during the EWTN hour on Monday, August 27.

Although Blessed Dominic is best known for receiving Blessed John Henry Newman into the Catholic Church on October 8, 1854, there is much more to this holy man, whose cause for canonization is very active in the Archdiocese of Birmingham, England and in the Passionist Order:

The first thing to highlight is that he was born in Italy during Napoleonic rule, meaning that he grew up in milieu of anti-clericalism and irreligion. His large peasant family placed him with an uncle to live and work as a shepherd. Young Dominic became attracted to the Passionist Order and joined them as a novice in 1814, after restrictions against religious orders were removed. He took the name in religion of Dominic of the Mother of God.

Secondly, although his English language skills were never that strong (which probably gave some the impression he was not that bright), he was a tremendous theologian and scholar for the Passionist order. He was entrusted with greater and greater responsibility in their schools.

Thirdly, he received a special call to serve the people of England and receive converts. He waited for years to begin a mission in England and finally went to England in 1841. I believe he heard that call because John Henry Newman would need him soon. As Newman was living in Littlemore after the suppression of the Oxford Movement he was as he said on his deathbed as an Anglican--but he was not yet ready to recover and become a Catholic. The example of Father Barbari, enduring ridicule for his poor English, being stoned in the streets and yet persevering to bring Christ to the people--leading the Corpus Christi processions in England in spite of the danger--impressed Newman. 

As he had written, "If they [Catholic religious] want to convert England let them go barefooted into our manufacturing towns-let them preach to the people like St. Francis Xavier-let them be pelted and trampled on-and I will admit that they can do what we cannot…What a day it will be when God will make arise among their Communion saintly men such as Bernard and the Borromeo’s…The English will never be favorably inclined to a party of conspirators and instigators; only faith and sanctity are irresistible.” Since Father Barberi offered exactly that witness to Newman, he chose him as the Catholic priest to receive him into the Church.

Father Barberi said,  "What a spectacle it was for me to see Newman at my feet! All that I have suffered since I left Italy has been well compensated by this event. I hope the effects of such a conversion may be great." In Littlemore, the Catholic church is dedicated to Blessed Dominic Barberi.

Beyond this great event, Father Dominic worked very hard while in England, establishing churches, preaching and teaching. He suffered a heart attack and died in Reading on August 27, 1849. He is buried in St. Anne's church, St. Helens, Merseyside, alongside Father Ignatius Spencer, an Anglican convert and Passionist, and Elizabeth Prout, another Anglican convert and the foundress of the Institute of the Holy Family. You can watch this interesting interview of Blessed Dominic, portrayed by Kevin O'Brien on EWTN's The Journey Home.

Bishop Robert Sherborne, RIP

Robert Sherborne or Shirbun, later the Bishop of Chichester, was born in around 1440 and rose quickly through the clerical ranks and in royal service after his education at Winchester College and Oxford:

On 1 May 1488 he received the prebend of Langford Manor in Lincoln Cathedral, which he exchanged for Milton Manor in the same cathedral on 27 Nov. 1493, but again exchanged to Langford on 29 Aug. 1494. On 26 Aug. 1489 he was given the prebend of Wildland in St. Paul's Cathedral, and he also held a canonry at Wells, which he resigned in 1493. On 2 Nov. in that year he was made prebendary of Holywell or Finsbury in St. Paul's Cathedral, and in 1496 he became archdeacon of Buckinghamshire (13 Feb.), of Huntingdon and of Taunton (16 Dec.). In July of the same year he was sent as envoy to the pope with the intimation of Henry VII's willingness to join the holy league, which aimed at keeping the French out of Italy (Rymer, xii. 639); in his letter to the Duke of Milan requesting a free passage for Sherborne, Henry describes him as his secretary (Cal. Venetian State Papers, i. 691, 712, 722). In 1498 he was appointed to levy fines on those of the clergy who had abetted Perkin Warbeck, and in the following year he was made dean of St. Paul's. In August 1500 he was employed in examining adherents of Warbeck (ib. xii. 766). 

Sherborne was involved with the future Henry VIII's marital affairs from the beginning:

He was apparently ambassador at Rome in 1502, and while there was instructed to go to the pope with the Spanish ambassador, announce Prince Arthur's death, and request a dispensation for the marriage of Prince Henry with Catherine of Aragon (Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, iv. 5467). On 4 May 1503 he was appointed commissioner to treat with Scotland concerning Margaret's dowry, and in 1504 was sent to Julius II to congratulate him on his election as pope.

Then he got a little too ambitious:

Early in 1505 Sherborne was made bishop of St. David's by a papal bull which he himself forged (Letters and Papers of Henry VII, ed. Gairdner, i. 246, ii. 169, 335, 337); the temporalities were restored on 12 April, and when the forgery was discovered Henry VII wrote to the Pope asking that Sherborne might be leniently treated (ib.). He does not seem to have been punished, and on 18 Sept. 1508 he was papally provided to the see of Chichester, the temporalities being restored on 13 Dec. On 23 July 1518 he met Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio [q. v.] at Deal on his arrival in England to urge Henry VIII to join in a crusade against the Turks. In May 1522 he accompanied Thomas Grey, second marquis of Dorset [q. v.], to Calais to meet Charles V and conduct him to London. In April 1525 he was commissioned by Wolsey to visit the Premonstratensian monastery at Bigham and examine into the scandals there. In the same year he sent Wolsey books for his new college at Oxford, of which he was in other ways a benefactor (Letters and Papers, iv. 1708, 2340).

Then he worked on Henry VIII's Great Matter:

In September 1528 he again met Campeggio on his arrival to try the divorce of Catherine of Aragon. He acquiesced in the Reformation, but probably with secret reluctance. He signed the letter of the lords spiritual and temporal to Clement VII on 13 July 1530 begging him to grant Henry's desire for a divorce, and pointing out the evils of delay. In 1532 accusations against him were laid before Cromwell, but he was able to clear himself, and on 26 Feb. 1534–5 he renounced the jurisdiction of the pope. On Sunday 13 June following he preached ‘the Word of God’ in his cathedral, promulgating the king's commands as to his supremacy of the church, but asked to be relieved of further proceedings in the matter, owing to age and feeble health. 

Sherborne seems to have been a good company man and I can't find any reason for the author of his biography to have thought there was any reluctance, even secret reluctance. But something must have triggered those accusations to Cromwell. Perhaps he commented once that it was rather strange that Henry VIII wanted to undo what his father Henry VII had done working with the Pope. Here's an interesting overview of how the Catholic bishops of England renounced their loyalty to the universal Church and the Papacy.

Maybe he said something about protecting the shrine of St. Richard of Chichester?

One of Thomas Cromwell's officials visited Sherborne:

He was examined by Richard Layton [q. v.], the visitor of the monasteries, on 1 Oct. 1535; and early in June 1536 resigned his bishopric, to which Henry wished to appoint Richard Sampson [q. v.] He died in the following August. His will, dated 2 Aug., was proved on 24 Nov. At Chichester he kept a state second only in magnificence to that of Henry and Wolsey, and he left property worth nearly 1,500l. He founded the prebends of Bursalis, Exceit, Bargham, and Wyndham, to be held by alumni of New College or Winchester College (cf. Laud, Works, v. 485–6). He also founded about 1520 a grammar school at Rolleston, Staffordshire (Shaw, Staffordshire, i. 34).

Among his interesting legacies are the Lambert Barnard panels in Chichester Cathedral:

Lambert Barnard (1485 - 1567) was a local, early Tudor painter whose close twenty year collaboration with his patron Bishop Sherburne resulted in the creation of an exceptional and unique group of Tudor paintings.

The paintings are built in panels (14ft x 32ft) which are made from individual vertical oak panels being joined together with hessian and chalk glue. Due to their size and rarity they are among the most important surviving examples of Tudor painting in the Country.

The paintings represent an extraordinary piece of political theatre and propaganda. They offer us a rare opportunity to imagine how Henry VIII may have been seen by the ordinary people. . . .

More detail here.

Image credit: Bishop Sherborne's tomb in Chichester Cathedral.

Image credit: Panel painting by Lambert Barnard for Chichester Cathedral; depicts the event in 686 when King Cædwalla issued a charter confirming the rights and territories previously given to Wilfrid by King Aethelwealh and the estate of the Hundred of Pagham. Note: the man in white looking over the left shoulder of the king is believed to be a self-portrait of Barnard.

Cistercian Martyrs of England

According to the blog of Silverstream Priory in County Meath, Ireland, St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Cistercian order recognizes these English Reformation martyrs:

From the Romano–Cistercian Martyrology:
In England, in the sixteenth century, the passion of a number of Cistercian monks cruelly put to death for different pretexts by order of King Henry VIII.
In the months of March and May 1537, died for the Catholic faith:
— the Lord Abbot of Kirkstead, Dom John Harrison and his brethren Dom Richard Wade, Dom William Small, and Dom Henry Jenkinson;
— the Lord Abbot of Whalley, Dom John Paslew and his brethren, Dom William Haydock and Dom Richard Eastgate.
Also died: the Lord Abbot of Fountains and a monk of Louth Park.
In the following year 1538, were martyred:
— the Lord Abbot of Woburn, Dom Robert Hobbes and the monks Dom Rudolph Barnes and Dom Laurence Blunham.
Recognized as authentic confessors of the faith:
Dom Thomas Mudd, monk of Jervaulx, who died on September 7, 1583;
Dom John Almond, who died on April 18, 1585,
and Dom Gilbert Browne, the last Abbot of Sweet Heart (Dulce Cor), who died on March 14, 1612.

The Catholic Encyclopedia provides some detail about the history of St. Bernard's order in England: 

St. Stephen Harding, third Abbot of Cîteaux (1109-33), was an Englishman and his influence in the early organization of the Cistercian Order had been very great. It was natural therefore that, when, after the coming of St. Bernard and his companions in 1113, foundations began to multiply, the project of sending a colony of monks to England should find favourable consideration. In Nov., 1128, with the aid of William Giffard, Bishop of Winchester, a settlement was made at Waverly near Farnham in Surrey. Five houses were founded from here before 1152 and some of them had themselves produced offshoots. But it was in the north that the order assumed its most active developments in the twelfth century. William, an English monk of great virtue, was sent from Clairvaux by St. Bernard in 1131, and a small property was given to the newcomers by Walter Espec "in a place of horror and dreary solitude" at Rivaulx in Yorkshire, with the hearty support of Thurston, Archbishop of York. By 1143 three hundred monks had entered there, including the famous St. Ælred, known for his eloquence as the St. Bernard of England. Among the offshoots of Rivaulx were Melrose and Revesby. Still more famous was Fountains near Ripon. The foundation was made in 1132 by a section of the monks from the great Benedictine house of St. Mary's, York, who desired to lead a more austere life. After many struggles and great hardships, St. Bernard agreed to send them a monk from Clairvaux to instruct them, and in the end they prospered exceedingly. The great beauty of the ruins excites wonder even today, and before 1152 Fountains had many offshoots, of which Newminster and Meaux are the most famous. Another great reinforcement to the order was the accession of the houses of the Savigny foundation, which were incorporated with the Cistercians, at the instance of Eugenius III, in 1138. Thirteen English abbeys, of which the most famous were Furness and Jervaulx, thus adopted the Cistercian rule. By the year 1152 there were fifty-four Cistercian monasteries in England, some few of which, like the beautiful Abbey of Tintern on the Wye, had been founded directly from the Continent. Architecturally speaking the Cistercian monasteries and churches, owing to their pure style, may be counted among the most beautiful relics of the Middle Ages. To the wool and cloth trade, which was especially fostered by the Cistercians, England was largely indebted for the beginnings of her commercial prosperity.

The last Cistercian monastery in England to be suppressed was Meaux Abbey in Yorkshire in December, 1539, ending more than 400 years of St. Bernard's order in England. More about the suppression of the Cistercians here.

Image credit: Bernard of Clairvaux, true effigy by Georg Andreas Wasshuber (1650–1732)

The Princess Mary Refuses to Conform

How appropriate and timely for a Sunday! The Princess Mary stood up to her brother and his minions adamantly when they tried to force her to give up attending the Catholic Mass in her household during August 1551. As this biography by Jean Marie Stone published in 1901 and based on primary sources describes the growing pressure on Henry VIII's eldest daughter, it began in March that year and increased through the spring and summer.

The law of Uniformity once passed, Edward’s ministers could only justify it by carrying it out logically; but in thus doing they cut through marrow and bone, and the acts of the Privy Council show the drastic nature of their dealings with the disobedient. On the 19th March, Sergeant Morgan had been summoned before the Council for hearing Mass at St. John’s, in the Lady Mary’s house, two or three days previously, “and not being able to excuse himself, because that, being a learned man, he should give so ill an example to others, he was committed to the Fleet prison”.[275]

On the 24th, Sir Anthony Browne was examined as to whether he had of late heard any Mass or not, when he answered, “that indeed twice or thrice at the New Hall; and once at Romford, as my Lady Mary was coming hither about ten days past, he had heard Mass. Which being considered as a notable ill example, was thought requisite to be corrected, and therefore he was committed to the Fleet.”[276]

On the same day, Rochester, Comptroller of Mary’s household, was interrogated as to “how many ordinary chaplains her Grace had”. He answered that she had four, namely Drs. Mallet, Hopton, Barker and Ricardes. But it was not until August that definite steps were taken to coerce the Princess into subjection. The story of the proceedings as it is told in the Acts of the Privy Council is dramatic.[277]

The English envoys having signified to the Emperor the ultimatum of Edward’s government on the 9th August, on the 15th, three of Mary’s servants, Rochester, Waldegrave and Sir Francis Englefield appeared before the Council, and were commanded on their return home, to call Mary’s chaplains together, and to inhibit them from further saying Mass in her house, or in any other place, contrary to the King’s laws, under pain of the King’s high indignation and displeasure. As Rochester made many excuses “to avoid the report of this matter unto her Grace and the execution thereof in her house, he was finally commanded on his allegiance to see it performed, and in case her Grace should dismiss him, and the rest out of her service, upon the receipt of this message (as he pretended she would) then was he and the rest commanded on the King’s Majesty’s behalf, neither to avoid her service nor to depart from her house, but to see this order prescribed unto them fulfilled until they should have further commandment from hence”.[278]

On August 19, 1551 Mary wrote to her half-brother Edward and emphasized that she had understood that she would be exempt from the Act of Uniformity, especially after the Holy Roman Emperor had threatened England with war if she were forced to conform:

They were then dismissed, and returned to Mary, but were summoned to appear again on the 24th, to give an account of their doings. In the meanwhile, the Princess wrote the following letter to Edward, which was perhaps more forcible than anything she had hitherto said in her defence:—

“My duty most humbly remembered unto your Majesty. It may please the same to be advertised, that I have by my servants received your most honourable letter, the contents whereof do not a little trouble me, and so much the more for that any of my servants should move or attempt me in matters touching my soul, which I think the meanest subjects within your realm could evil bear at their servants’ hands; having for my part utterly refused heretofore to talk with them in such matters, and of all other persons least regarded them therein; to whom I have declared what I think, as she which trusted that your Majesty would have suffered me, your poor humble sister and beadswoman, to have used the accustomed Mass, which the King your father and mine, with all his predecessors evermore used; wherein also I have been brought up from my youth, and thereunto my conscience doth not only bind me, which by no means will suffer me to think one thing and do another, but also the promise made to the Emperor, by your Majesty’s Council, was an assurance to me, that in so doing I should not offend the laws, although they seem now to qualify and deny the thing. And at my last waiting upon your Majesty, I was so bold to declare my mind and conscience to the same, and desired your Highness rather than you should constrain me to leave the Mass, to take my life, whereunto your Majesty made me a very gentle answer. And now I beseech your Highness to give me leave to write what I think touching your Majesty’s letters. Indeed they be signed with your own hand, and nevertheless in my opinion not your Majesty’s in effect, because it is well known (as heretofore I have declared in the presence of your Highness) that although our Lord be praised, your Majesty hath far more knowledge, and greater gifts than others of your years, yet it is not possible that your Highness can at these years be a judge in matters of religion. And therefore I take it, that the matter in your letter proceedeth from such as do wish these things to take place, which be most agreeable to themselves, by whose doings (your Majesty not offended) I intend not to rule my conscience. And thus, without molesting your Highness any further, I humbly beseech the same, ever for God’s sake to bear with me as you have done, and not to think that by my doings or ensample any inconvenience might grow to your Majesty, or your realm; for I use it not after any such sort, putting no doubt but in time to come, whether I live or die, your Majesty shall perceive mine intent is grounded upon a true love towards you, whose royal estate I beseech Almighty God long to continue, which is and shall be my daily prayer, according to my duty. And after pardon craved of your Majesty, for these rude and bold letters, if neither at my humble suit, nor for regard of the promise made to the Emperor, your Highness will suffer and bear with me as you have done, till your Majesty may be a judge herein yourself, and right understand their proceedings (of which your goodness yet I despair not) otherwise rather than offend God and my conscience, I offer my body at your will, and death shall be more welcome than life with a troubled conscience.

“Most humbly beseeching your Majesty to pardon my slowness in answering your letters, for my old disease would not suffer me to write any sooner. And thus I pray Almighty God to keep your Majesty in all virtue and honour, with good health and long life to his pleasure.

“From my poor house at Copped Hall, the xix of August.

“Your Majesty’s most humble sister,

“Marye.”[279]

The Princess Mary was able to outlast the rule of Edward Seymour, the Duke of Somerset, who was executed at the end of 1551. She was stronger against her half-brother Edward on the matter of attending the Holy Mass than she had been against her father on the matter of signing a document acknowledging Henry VIII's supremacy over the Church, her parents' invalid marriage, and her own illegitimacy in June of 1536. The Duke of Norfolk had, however, threatened to "beat her and knock her head so violently against the wall, that they would make it as soft as baked apples". Dealing with her powerful father was different than responding to her half-brother, who was still a minor, his reign administered by councilors and the protector, Somerset.

The National Archives has posted images of the report of those sent to confront Mary at Copped Hall in Essex (previously the property of Walsham Abbey) after she wrote the letter. She told them she would rather die than replace the Holy Mass with services from the Book of Common Prayer!

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Mary Jean Stone or Jean Mary Stone was:

Born at Brighton, Sussex, in 1853; died at Battle, Sussex, 3 May, 1908. She was educated at a Calvinist school in Paris and at Aschaffenburg in Germany, where she acquired an intimate knowledge of French, German, and Italian. In Germany Miss Stone was brought into touch with the Catholic religion, and exchanged Protestantism for the "free atmosphere", as she expressed it, of the Catholic Church. She was received into the Church by Monsignor Ketteler, then Bishop of Mainz. Her historical studies, for which, perhaps, she is best known to the public, were, on her return to England, encouraged by the fathers of the Society of Jesus. Her talent and painstaking method of research earned for her a speedy recognition in her "Mary the First, Queen of England" (1901). This is a study of the unhappy queen which takes first rank amongst historical monographs. Miss Stone also wrote "Faithful unto Death", a study of the martyrs of the Order of St. Francis during the Reformation period (1892); "Eleanor Leslie", a memoir of a notable Scottish convert to the Church (1898); "Reformation and Renaissance", a group of studies on the periods indicated (1904); "Studies from Court and Cloister", reprinted essays, of which perhaps the most interesting are those on "Margaret Tudor", "Sir Henry Bedingfeld", and a "Missing Page from the Idylls of the King" (1905); "The Church in English History", a higher textbook for teachers of history (1907). Her "Cardinal Pole", begun for the St. Nicholas Series, was interrupted by her death. She was a frequent contributor to the greater periodicals, the "Dublin Review", "Month", "Blackwood's", "Cornhill", etc., and contributed several articles to THE CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA.

The Inaugural Florovsky Week Evaluation

Director Doctor Erin Doom reports on the Florovsky Week held last month:

I'VE SAID it before and I’ll say it again: “The inaugural Florovsky Week was glorious!” It was a great success, far exceeding my hopes and expectations. But it wasn’t perfect.

As for its success, it was remarkable to see how much in common Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants actually have…if they return to the Fathers. And this is precisely what the plenary speakers did (Hans Boersma – Protestant; Kenneth Howell – Catholic; and Bradley Nassif – Orthodox) as they explored the key question posed for the event: “Justification by Faith Alone?” And they all found the same emphasis of participation in Christ, or deification, as the Orthodox put it. Heeding Florovsky’s call to return to the Fathers as a way to overcome division thus proved to be an effective proposal. And it was amazing to experience it. If you missed it, you don’t want to repeat that mistake next year. You can go ahead and put it down on your calendar: June 4-8, 2019 on “The Patristic View of Church Authority: Bible, Pope or Conciliarity?”

When Doctor Doom discusses the imperfection of the week, he focuses on the thing I noticed too--we never really discussed, nor did anyone cogently defend, Martin Luther's doctrine of "Justification by Faith Alone"--in fact, we hardly mentioned it:

As for its imperfections, the key question that was posed was never actually addressed. So while it was remarkable to see the united understanding of salvation as participation in Christ, that emphasis distracted us from the question of justification. I think there are two ways to look at this failure. On the one hand, it’s really not such a failure. The speakers heeded the admonition to return to the Fathers. And they just didn’t find much on the issue of justification. Instead, they found participation, union, and deification. And I mostly agree with all three speakers who indicated that this pre-Reformation emphasis on participation might be the way to get past the dividing issue of justification. But on the other hand, the question of justification was a real question during the period of reformations. . . .

Please read the rest there. Among the main speakers, Hans Boersma, an Anglican, who was the designated Protestant speaker, focused on what he termed "participation"; there were Protestant speakers in the breakout session too, but none of their abstracts indicated that they discussed or defended Luther's doctrine of Justification by Faith Alone. I wonder why.

Newman on the Assumption of the BVM

From his Discourses to Mixed Congregations: "Discourse 18. On the Fitness of the Glories of Mary":

. . . it is a great evidence of truth, in the case of revealed teaching, that it is so consistent, that it so hangs together, that one thing springs out of another, that each part requires and is required by the rest.

This great principle, which is exemplified so variously in the structure and history of Catholic doctrine, which will receive more and more illustrations the more carefully and minutely we examine the subject, is brought before us especially at this season, when we are celebrating the Assumption of our Blessed Lady, the Mother of God, into heaven. We receive it on the belief of ages; but, viewed in the light of reason, it is the fitness of this termination of her earthly course which so persuasively recommends it to our minds: we feel it "ought" to be; that it "becomes" her Lord and Son thus to provide for one who was so singular and special, both in herself and her relations to Him. We find that it is simply in harmony with the substance and main outlines of the doctrine of the Incarnation, and that without it Catholic teaching would have a character of incompleteness, and would disappoint our pious expectations.

Let us direct our thoughts to this subject today, my brethren; and with a view of helping you to do so, I will first state what the Church has taught and defined from the first ages concerning the Blessed Virgin, and then you will see how naturally the devotion which her children show her, and the praises with which they honour her, follow from it.

Now, as you know, it has been held from the first, and defined from an early age, that Mary is the Mother of God. She is not merely the Mother of our Lord's manhood, or of our Lord's body, but she is to be considered the Mother of the Word Himself, the Word incarnate. God, in the person of the Word, the Second Person of the All-glorious Trinity, humbled Himself to become her Son. Non horruisti Virginis uterum, as the Church sings, "Thou didst not disdain the Virgin's womb". He took the substance of His human flesh from her, and clothed in it He lay within her; and He bore it about with Him after birth, as a sort of badge and witness that He, though God, was hers. He was nursed and tended by her; He was suckled by her; He lay in her arms. As time went on, He ministered to her, and obeyed her. He lived with her for thirty years, in one house, with an uninterrupted intercourse, and with only the saintly Joseph to share it with Him. She was the witness of His growth, of His joys, of His sorrows, of His prayers; she was blest with His smile, with the touch of His hand, with the whisper of His affection, with the expression of His thoughts and His feelings, for that length of time. Now, my brethren, what ought she to be, what is it becoming that she should be, who was so favoured? . . .

But in a festive season, my dear brethren, I must not weary you with argument, when we should offer specially to the Blessed Virgin the homage of our love and loyalty; yet, let me finish as I have begun;—I will be brief, but bear with me if I view her bright Assumption, as I have viewed her immaculate purity, rather as a point of doctrine than as a theme for devotion.

It was surely fitting then, it was becoming, that she should be taken up into heaven and not lie in the grave till Christ's second coming, who had passed a life of sanctity and of miracle such as hers. All the works of God are in a beautiful harmony; they are carried on to the end as they begin. This is the difficulty which men of the world find in believing miracles at all; they think these break the order and consistency of God's visible word, not knowing that they do but subserve a higher order of things, and introduce a supernatural perfection. . . .

Who can conceive, my brethren, that God should so repay the debt, which He condescended to owe to His Mother, for the elements of His human body, as to allow the flesh and blood from which it was taken to moulder in the grave? Do the sons of men thus deal with their mothers? do they not nourish and sustain them in their feebleness, and keep them in life while they are able? Or who can conceive that that virginal frame, which never sinned, was to undergo the death of a sinner? Why should she share the curse of Adam, who had no share in his fall? . . . 

Also, here are some meditations on titles of Mary from Newman's Meditations and Devotions. Remember that Newman was writing and meditating upon Mary's Assumption more than one hundred years before Pope Pius XII defined the doctrine of the Assumption on November 1, 1950 in the Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus!

The Future Pope Pius VII

Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti, the future Pope Pius VII, was born on August 14, 1742. He joined the Benedictine order when he was 14 years old and made his final vows on August 20, 1758, taking the name Gregory or Gregorio. He was ordained a priest on September 21, 1765. The Catholic Encyclopedia describes the circumstances of his papal election:

According to an ordinance issued by Pius VI, 13 Nov., 1798, the city where the largest number of cardinals was to be found at the time of his death was to be the scene of the subsequent election. In conformity with these instructions the cardinals met in conclave, after his death (29 Aug., 1799), in the Benedictine monastery of San Giorgio at Venice. The place was agreeable to the emperor, who bore the expense of the election. Thirty-four cardinals were in attendance on the opening day, 30 Nov., 1799; to these was added a few days later Cardinal Herzan, who acted simultaneously as imperial commissioner. It was not long before the election of Cardinal Bellisomi seemed assured. He was, however, unacceptable to the Austrian party, who favoured Cardinal Mattei. As neither candidate could secure a sufficient number of votes, a third name, that of Cardinal Gerdil, was proposed, but his election was vetoed by Austria. At last, after the conclave had lasted three months, some of the neutral cardinals, including Maury, suggested Chiaramonti as a suitable candidate and, with the tactful support of the secretary of the conclave, Ercole Consalvi, he was elected. The new pope was crowned as Pius VII on 21 March, 1800, at Venice. He then left this city in an Austrian vessel for Rome, where he made his solemn entry on 3 July, amid the universal joy of the populace. Of all-important consequence for his reign was the elevation on 11 Aug., 1800, of Ercole Consalvi, one of the greatest statesmen of the nineteenth century, to the college of cardinals and to the office of secretary of state. Consalvi retained to the end the confidence of the pope, although the conflict with Napoleon forced him out of office for several years.

One of the Cardinals at this election was Henry Benedict Cardinal Stuart, Bonnie Prince Charlie's brother.

Like his predecessor, Pope Pius VI, Pius VII endured exile from Rome during Napoleon I's reign. Consalvi successfully negotiated the Concordat of 1801 with Napoleon, re-establishing some of the Catholic Church's rights in France. Pope Pius VII was present at Napoleon and Josephine's coronations in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris in 1804. When France occupied and annexed Rome, Pius was sent to Savona on the coast of Italy.

From Pope Benedict XVI's homily during a visit to Savona, Italy in 2008:

It is a pilgrimage that is also a memory and a tribute to my Venerable Predecessor Pius VII, whose dramatic experience is indissolubly linked to this City and its Marian Shrine. Two centuries later, I come to renew the expression of gratitude of the Holy See and of the entire Church for the faith, love and courage with which your fellow citizens supported the Pope under house arrest in this City, imposed upon him by Napoleon Bonaparte. Many testimonies of the manifestations of solidarity for the Pontiff, sometimes even at personal risk, have been preserved. They are events that the people of Savona can well be proud to commemorate today. As your Bishop rightly observed, through the power of the Holy Spirit, that dark page of Europe's history has become rich in graces and teachings for our day too. It teaches us courage in facing the challenges of the world: materialism, relativism, secularism without ever yielding to compromises, ready to pay in person while remaining faithful to the Lord and his Church. The example of serene firmness set by Pope Pius VII invites us to keep our trust in God unaltered in trials, aware that although he permits the Church to experience difficult moments he never abandons us. The episode the Great Pontiff went through in your land invites us always to trust in the intercession and motherly assistance of Mary Most Holy.

From 1809 to 1814, Pope Pius VII was held prisoner at Fontainebleau. When Napoleon fell, he returned to Rome. Pius began the process of restoring the Jesuits; he established several new dioceses in the United States; and he worked to restore Rome after the French occupation. He died on August 20, 1823 after a fall, breaking his hip. He died on the 65th anniversary of his profession as a Benedictine monk.

Pope Benedict XVI named him a Servant of God in 2007.

Ursula Pole Stafford, RIP

Ursula Pole Stafford's mother, brother, father-in-law, and one of her sons lost their heads during the reigns of Henry VIII and Mary I. One of her daughters found favor with Elizabeth I. Ursula died on August 12, 1570. Her mother was Blessed Margaret Pole, the Countess of Salisbury (executed on 27 May 1541); her eldest brother was Henry Pole, First Baron Montagu (executed on 9 January 1539); her father-in-law was Edward Stafford, Third Duke of Buckingham (executed on 17 May 1521); her son was Thomas Stafford (executed on 28 May 1557). Her daughter Dorothy married another Stafford--her distant cousin William, Mary Boleyn's widower--and served as Elizabeth I's Mistress of the Robes, an important role in the Queen's household. Dorothy and her family were staunch Protestants and went into exile during Queen Mary I's reign.

Historian Conor Byrne comments on her family's fortunes and her survival, dying of natural causes with her head still on:

In the space of two years, Ursula had lost both her mother and her eldest brother. It was fortunate for her that her brother Geoffrey was pardoned and managed to escape abroad; notwithstanding this fortune, Ursula surely experienced considerable grief and emotional turmoil. The impact of knowing that her mother had been brutally massacred in the most appalling of circumstances can only be imagined. Luckily, Ursula managed to escape the bloodbath of the Pole family.

Ursula died on 12 August 1570. Her life had been eventful, but she managed to keep her head at a time when Tudor fear and paranoia was rife. She enjoyed greater fortune in the reign of Edward VI, when her husband was promoted to the barony, and as aforementioned her daughter was warmly received at the court of Elizabeth I. Ursula seems to have died in obscure circumstances. We cannot even be sure of where she was buried. She is one of the forgotten royal women of Tudor England, a Yorkist lady perhaps regarded by some as the rightful princess of England.

It's not clear whether or not Ursula remained true to her mother's religion (not to mention her brother Reginald Cardinal Pole, the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury). This blog comments that her husband reverted to Catholicism during Mary I's reign. Their son Thomas's rebellion against Mary was based on his concerns about the queen marrying Philip of Spain and belief that he had a better claim to the throne, through his mother being the heir of the Plantagenet Duke of Clarence. Her daughter Dorothy and other children appear to have conformed to the established church--did she, out of expediency?

Note that she died two days before what would have been her mother's 97th birthday (August 14, 1473)!

Suppression of the Observant Friars, 1534

The Observant Friars of Greenwich were the parish priests for Henry VIII's family: their church was the site of his baptism (perhaps), his wedding to Catherine of Aragon in 1509, and both Mary and Elizabeth were baptized there. Before his Great Matter dominated their relationship, Henry VIII admired the Observant Franciscans of Greenwich. According to British History Online:

Henry VIII, in 1513, wrote from his palace of Greenwich to Leo X that he could not sufficiently commend the Observant Friars' strict adherence to poverty, their sincerity, charity and devotion. No Order battled more assiduously against vice, and none were more active in keeping Christ's fold.

From the beginning, however, the Friars sided with Catherine of Aragon in opposing Henry VIII's attempts to have his marriage to her declared null. They were vocal in their opposition, using the pulpit at Sunday Mass, even, to descry Henry's marital ambitions to replace their queen (who might have been a third order Franciscan) with Anne Boleyn. In 1534, things came to a head:

Henry probably hoped to bend the friars to his will at this time. He gave them an alms of 10 marks; (fn. 47) the Princess Elizabeth was christened in the church with great pomp 10 September, (fn. 48) and the minister, warden, and friars of Greenwich begged for the king's pardon 21 December. [1533](fn. 49) But on 13 April, 1534, a royal commission was issued to the provincial priors of the Austin and Black Friars to visit all the friars' houses and bind every friar by oath to acknowledge the king as supreme head of the church and repudiate the pope's authority. (fn. 50) On 14 June Roland Lee and Thomas Bedyll, acting on instructions from the commissioners, visited Richmond, and induced the friars there to entrust their case to four ' discreets' or representatives, who should attend the visitors the next day at Greenwich. On 15 June the visitors tried to induce the Greenwich friars to adopt the same procedure, 'specially to the intent that if the discreets should refuse to consent, it were better after our minds to strain a few than a multitude.' The friars, however, 'stiffly affirmed that where the matter concerned particularly every one of their souls, they would answer particularly every man for himself.' After further discussion, the visitors were compelled to examine each friar separately, and each refused to accept the articles, especially that which denied the papal authority. In answer to all the arguments of the visitors they declared that 'they had professed St. Francis' religion, and in the observance thereof they would live and die.' (fn. 51)

On 17 June two cart-loads of friars drove through London to the Tower, (fn. 52) and it is possible that some of the Greenwich Observants were among them. On or before 11 August the friars were expelled from their convent (fn. 53) (though they seem to have made some kind of submission (fn. 54) ) and distributed in different places, generally in houses of the Grey Friars, where, wrote Chapuys to Charles V, 'they were locked up in chains and treated worse than they could be in prison.' (fn. 55) Some, such as John Forest, were actually in prison in London. (fn. 56) Two of them, inclosed in a poor lodging at the Grey Friars, Stamford, and treated as prisoners, were 'in meetly good case as the world at this time requireth,' and sent to London for their little belongings, including a new Psalter, a pair of socks, a penner and inkhorn. (fn. 57) But the severity of their treatment is shown by the fact that out of 140 Observant Friars thirty-one soon died, (fn. 58) and this does not account for all the deaths. Thomas Bourchier, who was a member of the Greenwich friary in the reign of Mary, gives details of several martyrdoms which probably belong to this time, though the writer assigns them to 1537. (fn. 59) On 19 July Anthony Brookby, formerly of Magdalen College, Oxford, a distinguished scholar, who had been imprisoned and tortured to such an extent that ' for twenty-five days he could not turn in bed or lift his hands to his mouth,' was strangled with his own cord. (fn. 60) On 27 July Thomas Cortt, who had been imprisoned for a sermon against the king in the church of St. Lawrence, London, died in Newgate. (fn. 61) On 3 August Thomas Belchiam, a young priest, who had composed a book against the king, one copy of which he left in the hands of his brethren at Greenwich, died of starvation in Newgate. (fn. 62) No mention of these three friars occurs in extant contemporary authorities, but Bourchier's account representing the tradition of the Order is probably substantially correct, though the names may be misspelt.

It's always sad to read about the religious orders acting against each other--those who were willing to take the oaths and conform to Henry VIII's demands were willing to do his bidding against those were ready to stand against him.--and then it's ironic when you recognize that their compliance did nothing to save their orders in England after 1536. More about the Franciscans in England here.

An Early Elizabethan Era Martyr, Blessed John Felton

Dom Bede Camm wrote about the first group of Catholic martyrs of the English Reformation beatified by Pope Leo XIII. He discussed the offenses of four of the early Elizabethan martyrs (John Felton, John Storey, Father Thomas Woodhouse, and Thomas Percy, the Earl of Northumberland), noting that each of them had offended Elizabeth I in connection with her temporal power:

Coming now to Felton, Storey, Woodhouse, Percy, whose deaths were connected in one way or another with the Rising or the excommunication, we see that their causes involve many more problems than the lives of the other martyrs do. One might, for instance, discuss their patriotism in so far as they championed the old order, which was being subverted by a monstrous exercise of royal tyranny. One might draw out parallels between them and others, such as Hampden, who are commonly belauded as champions of popular resistance to the encroachments of the Crown, and the comparison would be greatly in favour of the Catholics. But here we are only concerned with the precise question of their martyrdom. Were they executed out of the motive of hatred of the Faith? Were they persecuted for professing the Faith, or for performing some act intimately connected with that profession ? On these points, too, this group of martyrs is somewhat exceptional.

For, whereas all the other martyrs were conspicuous for their inoffensiveness, these four had annoyed the Queen or opposed her titles or temporal claims. If we take a partial view of their cases, and fix our eyes exclusively on their abnormal features, we may feel a doubt about their claim to the honours of martyrdom. But it is needless to say that such a way of looking at them would not only be quite unfair, it would misrepresent the facts. We cannot arrive at the truth without considering the cases in their surroundings ; we must consider these executions as parts of a cruel persecution?

Speaking of Blessed John Felton, Dom Camm comments:

In Felton's case, if we regard nothing but the fact of his having set up the Bull of Deposition, we might remain uncertain about his claim to martyrdom. It is not everyone who meets his death while executing the sentences of an ecclesiastical court who is a martyr, for such sentences may and do provoke many passions besides hatred of the Faith. Even Catholic princes who would on no account have tampered with the faith or discipline of the Church, have been known to execute Papal messengers who brought them notice of excommunication, and yet no one pretends that such messengers deserve to be canonized as martyrs. But if we enlarge our view, and regard the whole of the circumstances of Felton's case, we at once see how different his was from that just described. He was not executed by a Catholic unwilling to tamper with the liberties of the Church, but by a persecutor of the Church eager to extinguish every single one of its liberties. Nor did either side regard the exercise of Papal authority in question as an issue unconnected with the continuance of the old Faith in this country. It seemed to be the only remedy in that desperate struggle. Felton took what seemed the last chance "to secure that the Pope's Apostolic voice should be heard, and his Apostolic judgment made known among his English flock. Death endured for that cause was true martyrdom."

As the Dictionary of National Biography describes him, Felton was a

catholic (sic) layman, [and] was descended from an ancient family in Norfolk. He was a gentleman of large property, and resided at Bermondsey Abbey, near Southwark, Surrey. His wife had been maid of honour to Queen Mary, who just before her death recommended her to Queen Elizabeth. Indeed, Elizabeth held her in great respect, for they had been friends and companions in childhood, and on this account Mrs. Felton was favoured with a special grant to keep a priest in her house. When Pius V published the bull of excommunication and deprivation against Elizabeth, Felton obtained copies of it from the Spanish ambassador's chaplain, who immediately left the kingdom. Felton published the bull in this country by affixing a copy to the gates of the Bishop of London's palace between two and three o'clock of the morning of 15 May 1570. The government, surprised at and alarmed by this daring deed, at once ordered a general search to be made in all suspected places, and another copy of the bull was discovered in the chambers of a student of Lincoln's Inn, who confessed, when put to the rack, that he had received it from Felton. The next day the lord mayor, the lord chief justice, and the two sheriffs of London, with five hundred halberdiers, surrounded Bermondsey Abbey early in the morning. Felton, guessing their errand, opened the doors and gave himself into their custody, frankly admitting that he had set up the bull. He was conveyed to the Tower, where he was placed on the rack, but he resolutely refused to make any further confession.

He was arraigned at Guildhall on 4 Aug. 1570, and on the 8th of the same month was drawn on a sledge to St. Paul's churchyard, where he was hanged in front of the episcopal palace. He said that he gloried in the deed, and proclaimed himself a martyr to the papal supremacy. Though he gave the queen no other title than that of the Pretender, he asked her pardon if he had injured her; and in token that he bore her no malice, he sent her a present, by the Earl of Essex, of a diamond ring, worth 400l., which he drew from his finger. His body was beheaded and quartered, ‘and carried to Newgate to be parboiled, and so set up, as the other rebels were.’

Felton was low of stature, and of a black complexion; naturally of a warm temper, and almost ungovernable where the interest of his religion was concerned. His plate and jewels, valued at 33,000 pounds, were seized for the queen's use. He was beatified by decree of Pope Leo XIII, dated 29 Dec. 1886.

Parker and Jonson

Matthew Parker, the future Archbishop of Canterbury (1559-1575) was born during reign of Henry VII, on August 6, 1504. He attended the University of Cambridge at Corpus Christi college and was influenced by the Cambridge reformers, who were bringing Lutheran ideas of reform to England.

Anne Boleyn appointed Parker her chaplain and also made sure he received other preferments. He survived her fall and execution, and became one of Henry VIII's chaplains. He was a moderate reformer during the reign of Henry VIII; he accepted the more conservative reforms Henry demanded in 1539 and 1540.

When Henry VIII died, Parker got married; under Edward VI he supported the efforts of John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland to continue the reformation. He became friends with Martin Bucer and preached his funeral sermon in 1551. When Mary I came to the throne, Parker lost all his benefices because he was married, but he was otherwise free and did not seek exile. Even though he had been close to Northumberland he was not arrested or harrassed in any way during Mary's reign.

Elizabeth I named him Archbishop of Canterbury in 1559; he was never involved in matters of state and never part of her Privy Counsel. He struggled throughout his tenure to maintain uniformity in the Church of England and against the puritan reformers who wished to eliminate any vestiges of Catholicism in the established Church. For instance, the issue of clerical vestments during Book of Common Prayer services involved Parker in controversy that he thought interferred with the true course of reform.

His friendship with Martin Bucer must have influenced him in this matter, for Bucer tried to stay out of the same type of controversies over vestments and the eucharist during his exile in England. As Pollard wrote of Parker in the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica: "He distrusted popular enthusiasm, and he wrote in horror of the idea that “the people” should be the reformers of the Church. He was not inspiring as a leader of religion; and no dogma, no original theory of church government, no prayer-book, not even a tract or a hymn is associated with his name. The 56 volumes published by the Parker Society include only one by its eponymous hero, and that is a volume of correspondence. He was a disciplinarian, a scholar, a modest and moderate man of genuine piety and irreproachable morals."

Thomas Tallis composed nine psalm tunes for Archbishop Parker's Psalter: Man blest no doubt (Psalm 1); Let God arise in majesty (Psalm 68); Why fum'th in Fight (Psalm 2); O come in one to praise the Lord (Psalm 95); E'en like the hunted hind (Psalm 42); Expend, O Lord, my plaint (Psalm 5); Why brag'st in malice high (Psalm 52); God grant with grace (Psalm 67); Come Holy Ghost, eternal God (Veni Creator). Ralph Vaughn Williams used the psalm tune for "Why Fum'th in Fight" in his "Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis".

Matthew Parker, according to his alma mater, contributed greatly to Anglo-Saxon studies:

A benefactor to the University of Cambridge, Parker's greatest tangible legacy is his library of manuscripts and early printed books entrusted to Corpus Christi College in 1574. He was an avid book collector, salvaging medieval manuscripts dispersed at the dissolution of the monasteries; he was particularly keen to preserve materials relating to Anglo-Saxon England, motivated by his search for evidence of an ancient English-speaking Church independent of Rome. The extraordinary collection of documents that resulted from his efforts is still housed at Corpus Christi College, and consists of items spanning from the sixth-century Gospels of St. Augustine to sixteenth-century records relating to the English Reformation.

There's a website with many scans of materials in the Parker Library.

Ben Jonson, the poet and playwright, died on August 6, 1637. He was born circa June 11, 1572 and for 12 dangerous years, from the time he was imprisoned in 1598 until after King Henry IV of France was assassinated in 1610, Ben Jonson was a Catholic. He paid Recusancy fines, refused to take Communion in the Church of England, and faced accusations of "persuading to popery". Robert S. Miola explores Ben Jonson's conversion and recantation of his conversion in this 2001 article from Renaissance and Reformation. Miola notes that even after he began to take Communion in the Church of England, Jonson remained interested in Catholic theology and doctrine, with many Catholic books in his extensive private library, including Thomas Stapleton's book about St. Thomas the Apostle, St. Thomas a Becket, and Sir Thomas More (Tres Thomae). Jonson often referenced the Blessed Virgin Mary in distinctly Catholic tones and tropes, as in this poem for Queen Henrietta Maria, "An
Epigram to the Queen, Then Lying In" (1630):

Hail Mary, full of grace, it once was said,
And by an angel, to the blessed'st maid,
The mother of our Lord: why may not I
(Without profaneness) yet, a poet, cry
Hail Mary, full of honours, to my queen,
The mother of our prince? When was there seen
(Except the joy that the first Mary brought,
Whereby the safety of mankind was wrought)
So general a gladness to an isle,
To make the hearts of a whole nation smile,
As in this prince? Let it be lawful, so
To compare small with great, as still we owe
Glory to God. Then, hail to Mary! Spring
Of so much safety to the realm, and king.

After suffering a series of strokes, Jonson died on August 6 and was buried in Westminster Abbey on August 9, 1637. His poem "A Hymn to God the Father" is an appropriate remembrance:

Hear me, O God! 

A broken heart 

Is my best part. 

Use still thy rod, 

That I may prove 

Therein thy Love. 

If thou hadst not 

Been stern to me, 

But left me free, 

I had forgot 

Myself and thee. 

For sin's so sweet, 

As minds ill-bent 

Rarely repent, 

Until they meet 

Their punishment. 

Who more can crave 

Than thou hast done? 

That gav'st a Son, 

To free a slave, 

First made of nought; 

With all since bought. 

Sin, Death, and Hell 

His glorious name 

Quite overcame, 

Yet I rebel 

And slight the same. 

But I'll come in 

Before my loss 

Me farther toss, 

As sure to win 

Under His cross.