This Morning on the Son Rise Morning Show: Saints Roberts and Almond

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 Roberts, OSB and Saint John Almond.

Please listen live here on the Sacred Heart Radio website; the podcast will be archived here; the segment will be repeated on Friday next week during the EWTN hour of the Son Rise Morning Show (from 6:00 to 7:00 a.m. Eastern/5:00 to 6:00 a.m. Central).

If you read my preview post thoroughly, you may have noticed that during one of his longer exiles from England, Saint John Roberts, OSB, founded a Benedictine Monastery at Douai, the home of many English Catholics in exile at the time. Douai, in Flanders, was invaded by the forces of the French Revolution; the monks at the abbey returned to England in 1795, eventually founding the Abbey of Saint Gregory the Great in 1876 and opening a school for boys. The abbey church was designated a minor basilica and the scholarly monks of Downside, including Dom David Knowles and Dom Hubert van Zeller made the abbey a center of Catholic revival and Benedictine learning in England.

Sadly, because of verified accusations of sexual abuse of boys, the monks have stopped managing and teaching at the school and are leaving Downside. They announced their decision in late August this year:

The separation of Downside Abbey and Downside School in September 2019 has enabled the Monastic Community to concentrate on discerning their future. They have now unanimously decided to make a new start and to seek a new place to live. To lead them in the renewal of their monastic vocation and in their search for a new home, they have elected Dom Nicholas Wetz as their Abbot.

The last six years have given the Downside Community time to reflect with sorrow on failures in the care for children entrusted to them and to discern the Community’s future. With smaller numbers and changing circumstances, the current monastery buildings are no longer suitable.

One of the great issues at the trials of both Roberts and Almond was the contested authorities of the king and the pope in religious but also secular matters, particularly whether or not the pope had the authority--not necessarily the power--to depose a monarch if the pope judged the monarch's rule a danger to the practice of the Catholic faith in a country. St. Robert Bellarmine thought the pope had such authority, upholding the pope's indirect power in secular affairs. George Abbott in 1610 and John King in 1612, both the Bishop of London at the time, took the lead in questioning Saints John Roberts and Saint John Almond, respectively, on this issue. Both priests were urged to take King James I's Oath of Allegiance, but refused to do so.

Saint John Roberts, pray for us!

Saint John Almond, pray for us!