May the Fourth Be With You: The Feast of the ALL the Martyrs of England and Wales

Today, in the dioceses of England and in the Anglican Ordinariates, the Church celebrates the Martyrs of England and Wales on the anniversary of the Protomartyrs, the three Carthusian Priors (Saint John Houghton, Saint Robert Lawrence, and Saint Augustine Webster), Blessed John Haile, the parish vicar from Isleworth, and Saint Richard Reynolds, from the Brigittine House of Syon, brutally executed on May 4, 1535 by being hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn Tree. This feast was celebrated on October 25 after Pope St. Paul VI canonized the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales on that date in 1970, but it was moved to May 4 on the Vatican approved the revised Liturgical Calendar for England and Wales in 2010. In the dioceses of Wales, the feast of the Welsh Martyrs and Companions (the English martyrs) is celebrated on October 25.

According to a previously available article from the UK Catholic Herald cited here, today's feast includes all the martyrs:

The feast of the English Martyrs is celebrated on May 4. The 40 martyrs canonised under Paul VI in 1973 (sic: 1970), previously celebrated on October 25, are celebrated with the 85 beatified Martyrs of the Reformation and the other martyrs of the 16th and 17th century. The feast coincides with the Church of England celebration of English saints and martyrs of the Reformation. . . .

The "other martyrs of the 16th and 17th centuries" include those beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1886 and 1895 and by Pope Pius XI in 1929 who have not been canonized and also those declared venerable by Pope  Leo XIII in 1886:

• In 1886, Pope Leo XIII beatified 54 martyrs, including Thomas More and Bishop John Fisher and 11 others who were canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI;
• In 1886, Pope Leo also declared 29 English Catholic martyrs to be Venerable (several of these martyrs had died in chains, that is, is prison or because of their treatment in prison);
• In 1895, Pope Leo XIII beatified nine more martyrs;
• In 1929, Pope Pius XI beatified 136 additional martyrs, 29 of whom were later canonized.

Just to complete the sequence of dates:

• In 1935, Pope Pius XI canonized John Cardinal Fisher and Thomas
• In 1970, Pope Paul VI canonized the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales
• In 1987, Pope John Paul II beatified the 85 Martyrs of England and Wales (which did not include any of those declared Venerable in 1886)

These martyrs suffered for different reasons:

The Supremacy martyrs died because they would not swear Henry VIII's Oath of Supremacy and Oath of Succession, which both denied the spiritual, moral, and ecclesiastical authority of the Pope. The Recusant martyrs died during the reigns of Elizabeth I, James I and Charles I because they continued to practice their Catholic faith in England as missionary priests and/or laity in spite of the recusancy and penal laws against them. Some of the early Recusant martyrs (like Saint Edmund Campion and companions) were tried for fictitious plots, anticipating the next group. Finally, the Popish Plot martyrs were executed in the miscarriage of justice called the Popish Plot. Accused of conspiring in a non-existent plot, their Catholicism condemned them: the priests were sometimes found guilty of their priestly presence in England under Elizabethan statutes when no involvement in the Plot could be found.

This blog is replete with the stories of the martyrs! I've discussed their lives and deaths on the Son Rise Morning show for years too!

The Catholic Culture website also has an excellent gathering of resources for today's feast, including the Collect:

God, all-powerful Father, you strengthen our faith and take away our weakness. Let the prayers and example of the Blessed Martyrs of England and Wales help us to share in the passion and resurrection of Christ and bring us to eternal joy with all your saints. Amen.

Holy Martyrs of England and Wales, pray for us!

May the Fourth Be With You, Today AND Tomorrow!

I will be on the Son Rise Morning Show this morning to discuss the feast of the English Martyrs about 7:50 a.m. Eastern Time (6:50 a.m. Central), in anticipation of the May 4th feast, observed in England. Anna Mitchell will rebroadcast our interview tomorrow morning during the EWTN hour (from 6:00 to 7:00 a.m. Eastern/5:00 to 6:00 a.m. Central).

There still seems to be some confusion about when this feast is celebrated: October 25 or May 4. The root of the confusion is that originally, when Pope Paul VI canonized the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, the feast was on October 25, the date of their canonization--but it has never been celebrated on the universal Roman Calendar for all Catholics. Then in 2010, the Vatican approved changes to the Liturgical Calendar for the U.K., as this article from The Catholic Herald archives notes:

The feast of the English Martyrs is celebrated on May 4. The 40 martyrs canonised under Paul VI in 1973 (sic), previously celebrated on October 25, are celebrated with the 85 beatified Martyrs of the Reformation and the other martyrs of the 16th and 17th century. The feast coincides with the Church of England celebration of English saints and martyrs of the Reformation.

These are a significant group of saints in British Catholicism and include St Margaret Clitherow, the butcher’s wife from York who became a Catholic at the age of 18 and was arrested for harbouring a priest. She was crushed to death under a large door loaded with weights. St John Haughton (sic), St Robert Lawrence, St Augustine Webster, and St Richard Reynolds (sic) were Carthusian monks executed at Tyburn on May 4 1535.

St Cuthbert Mayne, another martyr, was a young man from Devon who went to St John’s College, Oxford, in the late 1500s, where he met St Edmund Campion and eventually became a Catholic.

Choosing the date of May 4 was appropriate, since the first martyrs, which also included Blessed John Haile, were executed for refusing to swear to Henry VIII's supremacy over the the Church of England on that date in 1535. 

(To explain the two (sic) notations above: St. Richard Reynolds was not a Carthusian monk, he was from the Briggitine House of Syon; St. John's name is usually spelled Houghton.) 

The "other martyrs of the 16th and 17th centuries" includes those beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1886 and 1895 and by Pope Pius XI in 1929 who have not been canonized and also those declared venerable by Pope  Leo XIII in 1886:

• In 1886, Pope Leo XIII beatified 54 martyrs, including Thomas More and Bishop John Fisher and 11 others who were canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI;
• In 1886, Pope Leo also declared 29 English Catholic martyrs to be Venerable (several of these martyrs had died in chains, that is, is prison or because of their treatment in prison);
• In 1895, Pope Leo XIII beatified nine more martyrs;
• In 1929, Pope Pius XI beatified 136 additional martyrs, 29 of whom were later canonized.

Just to complete the sequence of dates:

• In 1935, Pope Pius XI canonized John Cardinal Fisher and Thomas
• In 1970, Pope Paul VI canonized the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales
• In 1987, Pope John Paul II beatified the 85 Martyrs of England and Wales (which did not include any of those declared Venerable in 1886)

These martyrs suffered for different reasons:

The Supremacy martyrs died because they would not swear Henry VIII's Oath of Supremacy and Oath of Succession, which both denied the spiritual, moral, and ecclesiastical authority of the Pope. The Recusant martyrs died during the reigns of Elizabeth I, James I and Charles I because they continued to practice their Catholic faith in England as missionary priests and/or laity in spite of the recusancy and penal laws against them. Finally, the Popish Plot martyrs were executed in the miscarriage of justice called the Popish Plot. Accused of conspiring in a non-existent plot, their Catholicism condemned them: the priests were sometimes found guilty of their priestly presence in England under Elizabethan statutes when no involvement in the Plot could be found.

Preparation for the Feast of the English Martyrs

Although this Feast is only celebrated in the dioceses of England on the Fourth of May, I always highlight it here and with an interview on the Son Rise Morning Show. Annie Mitchell and I will discuss the protomartyr of all the Reformation martyrs, St. John Houghton, this morning after the 7:45 a.m. Eastern/6:45 a.m. break. That's during the first "local" Ohio/Kentucky hour and then the interview will repeat during the EWTN national broadcast hour on May 4 (6:00 to 7:00 a.m. Eastern/5:00 to 6:00 a.m. Central).

St. John Houghton was the first of the Carthusian martyrs who suffered under Henry VIII, and he was the first of the Catholic martyrs who suffered under the Tudors and Stuarts. Dom David Knowles praises Houghton in his Saints and Scholars: Twenty-Five Medieval Portraits, noting how as the prior of the Charterhouse in London, he formed his community in constancy, fidelity, and particularly, love of the liturgy and liturgical prayer.

It was through the liturgy, specifically a votive Mass of the Holy Spirit, that Houghton decided that he could not accept Henry VIII's efforts to name himself the Vicar of Christ in England. Houghton and the monks fasted and prayed three days and then gathered to celebrate Mass. When Father Houghton elevated the Host, he felt the Holy Spirit's call to remain united with the universal Church, and refuse the Supremacy Oath. As Vincent Cardinal Nichols stated in a 2011 sermon at an evening prayer service offered at the Charterhouse in 2011 when reflecting on this outpouring of the Holy Spirit and where it led them:

It is so fitting that we are reminded of that outpouring of the Holy Spirit during this season of Eastertide. For Our Lord‟s Passion, Death and Resurrection is also the time of the new coming of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus had promised in the Upper Room where he kept his Passover with the Twelve. Jesus, the Christ, consecrated by the Father with the anointing of the Holy Spirit, gave up his spirit on the cross so that risen he may bestow it upon his Apostles. “Receive the Holy Spirit”, he says. Then, just as he himself was sent, so he calls the Apostles to be ministers of, and witnesses to, that peace and reconciliation which are the fruits of the new creation inaugurated by his death and resurrection. This apostolic mission is given its definitive manifestation on the day of Pentecost. Full of the strength of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles go out to fulfil faithfully their vocation, even though in so doing they encountered suffering and death.

That same Holy Spirit came upon the Carthusian martyrs whom we commemorate today. The gift of the Holy Spirit moved them to be reconciled with God and with one another. That soft murmur carried sweetly and strongly, to their inner ear, the very word of God: “Fear not: for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name; you are mine”; I will be with you through river and fire to bring you to the glory for which I have created you. Yes, a gentle breath convincing them utterly that the fiery trial ahead would make them nothing less than partakers in Christ‟s sufferings - thus something in which to rejoice! And it was “the spirit of glory and of God” resting upon them which enabled this brave brotherhood to believe unswervingly that “when [Christ‟s] glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” The sound from Heaven heard just after the consecration of the Mass was indeed the promise of future glory: a sure hope on which to draw during their courageous witness to the truth of God and His holy Church.

The painting, which shows St. John Houghton offering his heart to Jesus, is by Francisco de Zurbarán, who fulfilled several commissions for the Carthusians. Houghton's last words were "Jesus, Jesus, what will you do with my heart?" before the executioner cut it out of his chest.

St. John Houghton, pray for us!

Holy Martyrs of England, Pray for Us!

Today is the great feast honoring all of the Catholic Martyrs of the English Reformation: those canonized by Popes Paul VI and Pius XII and those beatified by Popes John Paul II, Pius XI, and Leo XIII. This feast was moved to this date in 2000 with new liturgical calendars for the dioceses of England and Wales approved by the Vatican; then in 2010 it was elevated to a Feast (not just a Memorial). 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 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.

In Wales, the English martyrs share a Feast on October 25: The Six Welsh Martyrs and Companions: St John Jones, St Philip Evans & St John Lloyd, St David Lewis, St Richard Gwyn, St John Roberts, and The English Martyrs.

On May 4, 1535, the protomartyrs of this remarkable group of men and women suffered at Tyburn: St. John Houghton, St. Augustine Webster, St. Robert Lawrence, Blessed John Haile, and St. Richard Reynolds, were brutally executed at Tyburn before a crowd of Court witnesses. Some sources even suggest that Henry VIII was there in disguise. Drawn on hurdles from the Tower of London (whence St. Thomas More saw them depart), they were hung and quartered while still alive.

St. Richard Reynolds Catholic College gave me permission to use the photo ("copyright St Richard Reynolds Catholic College") of a new portrait of their patron saint:

The painting . . . was specially commissioned by the Chairman of the Governing Body, Andrew Cole, for the Official Opening of St Richard Reynolds Catholic College on 19th September 2013. The artist is Jared Gilbey. St Richard Reynolds is shown wearing the habit of the Order of the Most Holy Saviour, he holds the book of Psalms in his left hand and a palm reed in his right hand, a symbol of his martyrdom. To his right are the Carthusian priors and Blessed John Hailes, behind them is the Tyburn Tree; to his left, Queen Birgita of Sweden (St Birgitta of Sweden) who founded the Order. To the lefft and right of the base of the painting can be found Syon Abbey which he entered in 1513 and The Tower of London where he was held until his execution. At the top left and right are Henry VIII who sigend his death warrant and his Chancellor, Thomas Cromwell who prepared the case against him. In a scroll above his head is a verse from Psalm 27 which Richard Reynolds quoted in his trial, Credo videre bona domini in terra viventium (I believe to see the good things of the Lord). It is from this verse that the College motto is derived; Videte bona Domini (See the good things of the Lord).

The Catholic Compass, the blog of the Catholic Truth Society, posted reflections on individual English and Welsh martyrs since the 13th of April, including this prayer, by Father John Hogan:

To you, Holy Martyrs of England and Wales, we commend our prayers and our needs in these difficult times. As you laid down your lives for Christ and His Church, we ask that we may emulate your sacrifice in our daily lives, living as true and humble disciples of Christ.

May His Gospel so penetrate our minds and hearts that we may become what He urges us to be: salt of the earth and light of the world, making Him present through holy lives to the men and women of our time. Sustain us with your loving presence, be our companions on our earthly journey.

Defend us in moments of trial, console us in sorrows and remind us of that joy which Christ implants into the souls of His devoted servants. Intercede that we may truly be servants of mercy and reconciliation. Watch over us and guide us in our Christian lives so one day we may merit to be with you in the Kingdom of our Heavenly Father. Amen.

All you Holy Martyrs of England and Wales, pray for us.
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray
Almighty God, who in our country [England and Wales] raised up martyrs from every walk of life to vindicate the authority of your Church in teaching and worship, grant through their intercession, we pray, that all our people may be gathered once again to celebrate the same sacraments under the one Shepherd, Jesus Christ your Son. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.

Anna Mitchell confirmed with me that my interview for this Feast will broadcast at 6;45 a.m. Eastern time/5:45 a.m. Central time this morning on the EWTN hour of the Son Rise Morning Show--what she calls "the primo spot"!