Just a reminder that I'll be on the Son Rise Morning Show at about 7:50 a.m. Eastern/6:50 a.m. Central to continue our series on the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales. Matt Swaim and I will discuss Saint John Payne and Saint Luke Kirby.
Please listen live here; the podcast will be archived here.
As I noted before, Saints Payne and Kirby are the last two saints from the group beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1886. All of the saints canonized from the Elizabethan era in that group, except for Saint Cuthbert Mayne, were found guilty and condemned to the death of traitors in connection with the Rome and Reims Plot, which was an invention of the government. That's why it was so important that these five priests, Campion, Briant, Sherwin, Payne, and Kirby proclaimed their innocence of involvement in any plot against Queen Elizabeth I on the scaffold, and insisted that they were dying because they were Catholic priests. According to the expectations of the period, they were supposed to declare their guilt and the justice of their punishment. These priests refused to do that. They did fulfill the custom of the era by assuring the queen of their prayers and loyalty to her as a secular--not religious--head of state.
The rest of the Elizabethan era martyrs--and half of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales suffered during that reign--were in the 1929 group beatified by Pope Pius XI and they comprise a much more diverse group of priests, laymen, and laywomen. Anna Mitchell and I will begin to discuss those martyrs next Monday.
Saint John Payne, pray for us!
Saint Luke Kirby, pray for us!
No comments:
Post a Comment