The Battle of Bosworth Field Fought Again

It's the Plantagenets against the Tudors again: Richard III vs. Henry VII. This blog post from History Today sums up the debate pretty well.

The discovery of the remains of Richard III is an archaeological find of the highest importance and the University of Leicester richly deserves its moment of glory. Much less deserving is the Richard III Society, who, predictably, are proclaiming the find as vindication of their long campaign to rehabilitate their hero. It is nothing of the sort.

For years the Society has protested that the idea of Richard as a hunchback with one shoulder higher than the other was pure propaganda by the Tudors. We now see that the Tudor propagandists (and indeed Sir Laurence Olivier) were entirely right: Richard had severe distortion of the spine and a shoulder markedly higher than the other. Tudors 1; Ricardians nil.

The Society has long claimed that the famous portrait of Richard III in the National Portrait Gallery is a piece of wicked Tudor propaganda designed to make him look evil. The reconstruction of Richard's face from his skull shows that the portrait is in fact a remarkably good likeness. Tudors 2; Ricardians nil.

The Society is always claiming that Richard was a popular, much-loved King. The bones cannot be expected to prove this one way or the other, but the evidence of a knife thrust into his corpse's backside does not appear to suggest that Richard's passing was mourned by those on the scene: it contrasts sharply, for example, with the reverence with which Charles I's body was treated after his execution. Not conclusive, I grant you, but judging strictly on the evidence of the bones: Tudors 3; Ricardians nil. [I think this is rather weak: Richard III was killed on the field of battle with emotions running high; Charles I was beheaded in an orderly, public, "legal" execution.]

Philippa Langley of the Richard III Society said on seeing the face, "It doesn't look like the face of a tyrant. I'm sorry but it doesn't." Well, I'm sorry, but my first thought on seeing the face was that I have never seen such ruthlessness in a human face in my life. We'll call that one a draw.
History Today also provides a summary of Richard III's life and reign with this interesting conclusion (different author than above, of course):

Richard might have been an excellent king if he had won the battle of Bosworth. Victory in battle would have vindicated him in the eyes of many and delivered God’s favourable verdict on the usurpation. His intelligence, vigour and vision might well have delivered a period of good rule. Instead, he died ‘fighting manfully in the thickest press of his enemies’, within yards of his nemesis, Henry Tudor. We can never know whether Edward V might have been a strong ruler, but the likelihood is that a power struggle would have ensued and the spectre of civil war would have been raised again. Richard’s character, and the trajectory of power he had experienced, made subjection and obedience to those he considered his inferiors impossible. The usurpation guaranteed the preservation of strong central authority, but it was the Tudors who benefited from it. The Yorkist achievement, in making royal administration more accountable and effective, did survive Richard’s death, even if the dynasty itself was all but destroyed.

But there are more debates occasioned by the identification of Richard III's body: where should Richard III be buried: York or Leicester? (That seems to be settled.) With what service: Catholic or Anglican? Surely, Catholic, since that is what he was. And can we dig up the bones of the Princes in the Tower buried at Westminster Abbey to figure out who killed them: Richard III or Henry VII? No, says the Abbey. The reputations of Shakespeare and St. Thomas More are also up for debate, ala Josephine Tey.

Out of all this debate, I'd say the most constructive thing is that it proves how important history is, how essential the past is to today as the battle of Bosworth Field rages on. We are still examining the structures of power, of religion, of truth and propaganda in the 15th and 16th centuries in the 21st: we want to know what is good, true and beautiful in the past and in the present. Truth, goodness, and beauty matter. We want to find them and be able to proclaim them. May I suggest that we are currently looking at the wrong grave? We should be looking at the Empty Tomb and the Resurrection of the One, Jesus, Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, in Whom Truth, Beauty and Goodness meet! Amen.

Erastianism and Marriage in the Church of England

The Church of England's official prayer book and liturgy contains this commentary on and definition of marriage and its purposes, as written in the Book of Common Prayer:

Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this Congregation, to join together this man and this woman in holy Matrimony; which is an honourable estate, instituted of God in the time of man's innocency, signifying unto us the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his Church; which holy estate Christ adorned and beautified with his presence, and first miracle that he wrought, in Cana of Galilee; and is commended of Saint Paul to be honourable among all men: and therefore is not by any to be enterprised, nor taken in hand, unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly, to satisfy men's carnal lusts and appetites, like brute beasts that have no understanding; but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly, and in the fear of God; duly considering the causes for which Matrimony was ordained.

~First, It was ordained for the procreation of children, to be brought up in the fear and nurture of the Lord, and to the praise of his holy Name.

~Secondly, It was ordained for a remedy against sin, and to avoid fornication; that such persons as have not the gift of continency might marry, and keep themselves undefiled members of Christ's body.

~Thirdly, It was ordained for the mutual society, help, and comfort, that the one ought to have of the other, both in prosperity and adversity. Into which holy estate these two persons present come now to be joined. Therefore if any man can shew any just cause, why they may not lawfully be joined together, let him now speak, or else hereafter for ever hold his peace.

But now, as Father Dwight Longenecker states, the British Parliament has redefined marriage, superceding the authority of the Church of England's doctrine and order. This is the crucial issue for the authority of the Church of England--the reason Pusey, Newman, and Keble started writing Tracts and preaching sermons in Oxford. Whence its authority to teach as Christ's Church--from Jesus or from the State? Who is Head of the Church of England: Jesus or the monarch? Does the Church of England lead the State and the national culture or does the State and the national culture lead the Church of England? Are the teachings and discipline of the Church determined by divine or Erastian authority, based on revelation or on political trends? Those were exactly the issues that inspired the Oxford Movement. As John Henry Newman worked to substantiate the via media of the Anglican Church with apostolic and catholic authority, he found himself unable to find solid ground; thus his conversion to Catholicism in 1845.

Does Parliament subsequently to the passage of this law direct the Church of England to rewrite the Book of Common Prayer and this scriptural explanation and definition of Matrimony (marriage) cited above? Does English society achieve the parity and equality it desires if the Church of England has two different services: one according to the biblical faith of the Book of Common Prayer as currently published and one according to Parliamentary definition of marriage as a commitment? It's an Erastian knot that's impossible to untie--unless the official ties between the Church and the State are cut?

Blessed Pius IX and England

Today is the feast of Blessed Pope Pius IX (Pio Nono), the second longest reigning Pope in the history of the Catholic Church--St. Peter is the longest. He came to the Papacy at a crucial time in the 19th century and contributed a great deal to the transformation of the Papacy--bowing to the loss of the Papal States in the wake of Italian nationalism--into a more spiritual and moral guide for the world. His long reign is controversial, of course, as he began in a more "liberal" spirit and ended in a most "conservative" position regarding the interaction between the Church and the modern spirit of democracy, etc. He battled the Kulterkampf of Bismarck's Germany and established many dioceses and archdioceses in the United States of America.

During his reign, he proclaimed the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1854 and the First Vatican Council proclaimed the Doctrine of Papal Infallibility in 1870. In 1850, Pope Pius IX issued the Papal Bull "Universalis Ecclesiae" on September 29, restoring the English Catholic hierarchy, much to the displeasure of Queen Victoria and her government. This was a real test of the toleration of Catholics just established in 1829 with Catholic Emancipation, and the English government failed the test.

More on Blessed Pope Pius IX here.

More about the Newman School of Catholic Thought

After my post on Father Ian Ker's upcoming visit to Wichita for the Cardinal Newman Week lecture at Newman University, I wanted to share more about the Newman School of Catholic Thought. These conferences, held at the Newman Centers at Wichita State University and Pittsburg State University during the 1970's and then revived at WSU during the 1990's, and now moribund.

The first Newman School of Catholic Thought I attended had been organized by St. Paul's Parish-Newman Center chaplain Father Joseph Gorentz. He was not able to be there, however, because he was hospitalized with brain cancer. It was held in January of 1979 and Bishop David Maloney from the Diocese of Wichita spoke briefly at the beginning of the five days of conferences by four great speakers. Father Stephen Almagno, Mr. Lyman Stebbins, founder of Catholics United for the Faith, Dr. John Crosby, then at the University of Dallas--these three presented on aspects of Newman's life and works; Father Charles Taylor spoke about the Newman Center movement in the United States.

Those five days were probably the most formative of my life, setting me in the direction of trying to obtain the best liberal arts education possible at a secular university without a theology department (pace Newman's Idea of a University model), informing my dedication to studying Church history and understanding Church doctrine and dogma to be faithful to it, and sparking my  interest in the English Reformation. From those January 1979 days to the upcoming Cardinal Newman Week lecture, I've attended many presentations about Blessed John Henry Newman--and given a few myself.

Two high school friends (who were attending the University of Kansas) and I went to Pittsburg, Kansas for a Newman School of Catholic Thought at the St. Pius X Newman Center there one summer a couple of years later, and then the Newman Schools endured a hiatus for a time. When I worked at the Gerber Institute for Catholic Studies at then Kansas Newman College, I helped organize a Newman School in 1997 with Dean Hudson, the Visiting Chair of the Institute, and David B. Warner, then with the Denver Archdiocese (who has since died). Perhaps the Newman School of Catholic Thought will revive again at WSU!

Supremacy and Survival On "Goodreads"

I just noticed a couple of reviews by Goodreads readers of Supremacy and Survival: How Catholics Endured the English Reformation! I really appreciate the one by Holly because I think she highlighted one aspect I tried to maintain even in a book admittedly written with sympathy for the Catholic cause and experience: fairness and objectivity.

Essentially covers the English Reformation. Most amazing element of this book is how much time and how many events were covered in such a short book! Not a rush, but extremely readable and she addresses the problem of keeping people and events straight by offering two different types of references in the front of the book, as well as suggested further reading. A great introduction to a complex but essential time in history. Mann definitely sypathizes (sic) with the Catholics here but never once does she delve into making Protestants mosters (sic) but treats every one with objective respect while also clearing up some people history has tended to treat unfairly and she explains why. One thing I was surprised to read was her account of the Puritans and Cromwell's stint as Protector. Ms. Mann goes a step further and sweeps briefly through Catholicism up to now in England. I was surprised to learn how unfairly English subjects were treated by choosing to be Catholic up till the Catholic relief act which only happened mid-19th century! In short a great read!

Another reader, Kevin de Ataide, posted this succinct opinion (both he and Holly gave my book 4 stars!):

Short and easy-to-read religious history of the last five centuries in England, stretching over the Tudor, Stuart and Hanoverian dynasties and dealing with the changing fate of Christians, and particularly Catholics, in England. Well recommended for a quick overview of the English Reformation (which was quite different from its counterpart on the Continent) and its lasting effects.

Father Ian Ker in Wichita!

Newman scholar and Chesterton biographer Father Ian Ker will present the keynote address during the annual Cardinal Newman Week celebrations at Newman University on February 19! His topic will be "The Genius of John Henry Newman".

I am looking forward to seeing Father Ker again, as he has visited Wichita before (in the last century). He was the keynote speaker at a Newman School of Catholic Thought at St. Paul's Parish-Newman Center at Wichita State University  in February, 1992 based on his book Newman and the Fullness of Christianity and he led a day of recollection at the Spiritual Life Center on Newman's spirituality based on his book Healing the Wound of Humanity in October, 1993.

Of course, Father Ker is best known as the definitive biographer of Blessed John Henry Newman, and he has also written a massive biography of G.K. Chesterton. When he spoke at the Newman School of Catholic Thought (NSCT) in 1992, a conference sponsored by the Newman Center at Wichita State when now Bishop James T. Conley was pastor and chaplain, there were two other speakers--Professors Ralph McInerny and Janet Smith. (The 1993 NSCT featured Donald De Marco, Katherine Tillman of Notre Dame and John Crosby, the founder and director of the Dietrich von Hildebrand Legacy Project, but also a Newman scholar.) I looked at my notes from both the 1992 and 1993 NSCT conferences and the 1992 spirituality meeting, and they were all great presentations. I look forward to seeing and hearing Father Ker in two weeks!

UPDATE: Unfortunately, this event has been cancelled due to Father Ian Ker's illness.

Churches and Beauty: Two Books

I attended a reading and book signing for Jay M. Price at Eighth Day Books last week. He is:

A native of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Jay M. Price directs the Public History Program at Wichita State University. His publications include Gateways to the Southwest: The Story of Arizona State Parks, Wichita, 1860-1930, Wichita's Legacy of Flight, and El Dorado!: Legacy of an Oil Boom. He and his students recently completed a history of the Cherokee Outlet Land Rush of 1893. He recently worked with a local public television station to turn his history of the El Dorado oil boom into a documentary. His other writings include works on local history, the history of tourism, regional identity, and American sacred architecture. A member of the Kansas Humanities Council speakers bureau and board of trustees, he has delivered the talks, "Reading Roadside Kansas," and "Sacred Landscapes of Kansas." Currently, his main project is "Temples for a Modern God," a study of mid-twentieth century sacred architecture.

A few people bought his book, which is rather expensive, being published by Oxford University Press--but he has also authored books about Kansas for Arcadia Publishing like this one about Wichita.

Temples for a Modern God: Religious Architecture in Postwar America (published by OUP) by Jay M. Price (Wichita State University)

  Temples for a Modern God is one of the first major studies of American religious architecture in the postwar period, and it reveals the diverse and complicated set of issues that emerged just as one of the nation's biggest building booms unfolded. Jay Price tells the story of how a movement consisting of denominational architectural bureaus, freelance consultants, architects, professional and religious organizations, religious building journals, professional conferences, artistic studios, and specialized businesses came to have a profound influence on the nature of sacred space. Debates over architectural style coincided with equally significant changes in worship practice. Meanwhile, suburbanization and the baby boom required a new type of worship facility, one that had to attract members and serve a social role as much as honor the Divine. Price uses religious architecture to explore how Mainline Protestantism, Catholicism, Judaism, and other traditions moved beyond their ethnic, regional, and cultural enclaves to create a built environment that was simultaneously intertwined with technology and social change, yet rooted in a fluid and shifting sense of tradition. Price argues that these structures, as often mocked as loved, were physical embodiments of a significant, if underappreciated, era in American religious history.  

Features:
~The first major treatment of religious architecture in postwar America
~Deals with mid-level and vernacular construction projects as well as the more famous post-war churches
~Compares mainline Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish construction as well as the contributions of Eastern Orthodoxy, Latter-day Saints, Evangelicals, Muslims, Buddhists, and other traditions

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1: The Search for a Better Church Building
Chapter 2: The Postwar House of Worship
Chapter 3: Postwar Religious Building: A Negotiated
Chapter 4: Making a Modern Church Still Look Like a Church
Chapter 5: "Let's Stop Building Cathedrals"
Conclusion: An Unappreciated Legacy
Bibliography

Professor Price is an excellent presenter, with a slide show of pictures from many churches, some even in Wichita. His discussion of Catholic church architecture, particularly as it reflected changes in the liturgy after the Second Vatican Council, was enlightening and well presented. The suburban setting of churches and houses of worships for all the different religious communities effected several changes--because the churches needed parking lots! He also showed how consultants and marketing affected the building of new churches. In addition to the slide show he had some books and magazines from the '50s and '60s, including a magazine all about maintaining the physical plant of the church and school, with advertisements for everything from restroom stalls to floor cleaning/buffing machines--not to mention religious statues and candles!

Earlier that week I heard Duncan G. Stroik on the Son Rise Morning Show, speaking about the revival of beauty in churches being built today. His book is The Church Building as a Sacred Place: Beauty, Transcendence, and the Eternal:

How can we recover a sense of the sacred in liturgy and architecture? Why was it lost in the twentieth century? What signs of hope exist for the future? In his new book, The Church Building as a Sacred Place: Beauty, Transcendence, and the Eternal, Duncan G. Stroik, Professor of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame, answers these questions with wisdom gained from two decades of teaching, writing, and practicing architecture in service to the Church.

Writing to architects, artists, pastors, and all who see the urgent need for renewal, Stroik begins this compilation of essays by reemphasizing the nature and purpose of the church building. He then considers how the Classical Tradition can inform contemporary churches, analyzes the impact Modernist philosophy has had on architecture, and concludes by looking forward to renaissance and renewal. Along the way he gives principles of design, myths of contemporary sacred architecture, advice for priests, and explanations of the theology of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. Photographs and drawings of exemplary historic and contemporary churches fill the pages of this instructive and inspiring work.

Two interesting books on modern church architecture and its role in our worship. Bon dimanche!

Another Tudor Portrait Discovery

Thanks to Elena Maria Vidal at Tea at Trianon:

Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon are once more side by side and at Lambeth Palace, of all places. Apparently many people thought for years and years that the above painting was supposed to be Katherine Parr, although the clothes are obviously from decades before Henry married her. I knew it was Katherine of Aragon. 

The Mail online summarizes the discovery:

For years it was assumed by staff at Lambeth Palace that the oil painting hanging in a private sitting room was of Catherine Parr, Henry VIII's sixth wife.

But when experts from the National Portrait Gallery went to the Palace - the official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury - to research a portrait of an earlier archbishop, they were able to shed new light on the matter.

First, the portrait was in a frame that pre-dated the rotund monarch's sixth wife, second; her clothes were from an earlier period, and third, well, the woman also bore a startling resemblance to Henry's first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

Tests soon showed that they were right, and now the gallery has hung the portrait of the devoutly Catholic queen rather mischievously, side by side with a portrait of Henry, whose desperation to divorce her was the catalyst for England's schism with the Catholic church.

The 'exciting discovery' about the picture was made when researchers from the National Portrait Gallery went to Lambeth Palace to find out more about William Warham, the Archbishop of Canterbury who married Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, in 1509.

The researchers, who were working on a project called Making Art In Tudor Britain, noticed the painting on the wall of a private sitting room, where it has hung since at least the 19th century but probably longer, under the assumption it depicted Catherine Parr.

The paper even includes this biographical sketch of Queen Katherine of Aragon:

DEVOTED TIL THE END: THE FIRST WIFE OF KING HENRY VIII

Henry VIII's first wife was the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon, who had been previously been married to his older brother Arthur.

When Arthur died, six months after their marriage, his younger brother Henry married her in 1509 and Catherine was crowned Queen of England in a joint coronation ceremony with her husband.

Shortly after their marriage Catherine became pregnant but gave birth to a stillborn daughter in January 1510. A subsequent pregnancy resulted in the birth of Prince Henry in 1511 and there were great celebrations, but he died aged 52 days.

Catherine then had a miscarriage, followed by another short-lived son, but in February 1516, she gave birth to a healthy daughter, Mary, and the child lived.

Henry still loved his wife but became frustrated by the lack of a male heir and took several mistresses, among them Mary Boleyn, sister of Anne.

Anne refused to become Henry's mistress but he pursued her until she succumbed, as his desperation for a son grew.

His worry was all the greater because he had read in Leviticus that if a man married his brother's wife, they would remain childless. Despite having a daughter, Henry still felt himself 'childless' for not having a son.

The King petitioned the Pope for his marriage to be annulled and when Catherine - a devout Catholic - heard of this, she was so upset that she, too, directly appealed to the Pope on her side.

Catherine's argument was that as she and Arthur had never consummated their marriage, they were not truly husband and wife.

The argument and machinations continued for six years and things came to a head in 1533 when Anne Boleyn became pregnant and Henry decided that the only way to marry her would be to reject the power of the Pope in England and have Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, annul the marriage.

Catherine had to renounce her title as Queen and be known as the Princess Dowager of Wales, which she rejected for the rest of her life.

Catherine and her daughter Mary were separated and she was forced to leave the royal court, living in dank manor houses and castles with just a handful of servants. She was said to suffer ill-health but never complained, and spent much of her time praying.

Catherine and Henry's daughter became Queen Mary I of England in 1553 and was known for her brutal persecution of Protestants - earning her the nickname 'Bloody Mary'.

"Henry and Catherine Reunited"--with Anne Boleyn nearby-- is on display in Room 1 of the National Portrait Gallery.

Candlemas, 1601 in London

On Candlemas, February 2, 1601, Jesuit priest, Father Francis Page, was celebrating Mass for the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple at the safe house in London run by Anne Line.

Father John Gerard, SJ, author of the memoir Autobiography of a Hunted Priest had asked the widowed Catholic convert to be the housekeeper for the Catholic priests staying in London. On that day, the safe house proved to be none too safe, as pursuivants entered the house as Mass was in progress. Father Page was able to discard his vestments and mingle with the congregation, but Anne Line was not able to escape.

Since she was the keeper of the house, and the pursuivants had found an altar, vestments, and all the altar vessels for the celebration of Catholic Mass, Anne Line was arrested.

She was held and tried and executed for harboring and assisting priests on February 27, 1601. One of the priests executed that day after her at Tyburn, Blessed Roger Filcock, had once been a guest in the safe house. Father Francis Page was eventually captured and executed on April 20, 1602. St. Anne Line is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970. Blessed Roger Filcock (and his companion on the way to Tyburn, Blessed Mark Barkworth) were beatified by Blessed John Paul II in 1987 among the 85 Martyrs of England and Wales, and Blessed Francis Page was beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1929, among 136 martyrs of England and Wales.

St. Henry Morse, SJ--February 1, 1645

Philip Caraman, SJ wrote a life of today's English Catholic Martyr titled Henry Morse: Priest of the Plague. The Jesuit Curia in Rome provides this biography:

Henry Morse (1595-1645) was five times arrested for being Catholic and four times was released or escaped. His ability to get out of prison meant that he had a much longer ministry career than most Jesuits in England.

He began his studies at Cambridge then took up the study of law at Barnard's Inn, London; at the same time he became increasingly dissatisfied with the established religion and more convinced of the truth of the Catholic faith. He was received into the Catholic church at the English College at Douai, Flanders, and then returned to England to prepare to enter the seminary that autumn. Port authorities in England asked him to take the oath of allegiance acknowledging the king's supremacy in religious matters. The recent convert refused to do so and was arrested the first time. He was imprisoned four years before being set free in 1618 when the king released hundreds of religious dissenters and exiled them to France. Morse first went to Douai but the English College had too many students, so he was sent to Rome, where studied theology and was ordained in 1623.

Before Morse left Rome, he met the Jesuit superior general and asked to be admitted into the Society; the general said Morse would be admitted as soon as he returned to England. He probably entered the Jesuits in 1624, and spent his novitiate period doing pastoral work in the Newcastle area in northern England. After 18 months of traveling from station to station, he was due to make the month-long Spiritual Exercises to complete his novitiate. He was supposed to do so at Watten, Flanders; but the ship he boarded to take him there was halted in the mouth of the Tyne River so soldiers could search for a priest, possibly disguised as a foreign merchant. They discovered Father Morse instead, although he carried only a rosary. He was arrested the second time and sent to Newcastle's prison. Soon another Jesuit was imprisoned, Father John Robinson, a classmate from Rome, who was on his way to take Morse's place. Both ended up at York Castle, where Robinson directed Morse in the retreat which completed his novitiate. Morse spent three years in prison before he was released and banned from the land. The young Jesuit returned to Flanders and served as chaplain to the English soldiers serving in the Spanish army then in Flanders. He had to give up this work when his health broke; then he became assistant to the novice master.

In 1633 he was again assigned to England to work at the parish of St. Giles in a poor district outside London. While he was there, the city was ravaged by a plague. Several isolated cases were discovered in late 1635, but by mid-April both city and suburbs were afflicted by the dread disease. Morse threw himself into caring for the sick, in the classic Jesuit fashion. He found medicine for the sick, took viaticum to the dying and prepared the dead for burial. His reward for this selfless service was to be arrested a third time when a priest-hunter recognized him and incarcerated him in Newgate Prison. On April 22 he came to trial and ably defended himself, but was convicted anyway although sentence was never passed. He was released on June 17 because of the intervention of Queen Henrietta Maria in recognition of his service to plague victims. He briefly returned to pastoral work, but could no longer move about safely so he returned to the continent and again became chaplain to the soldiers.

He was again assigned to England in 1643, but sent to Cumberland where he was less well-known. This strategy worked for 18 months until he accidentally walked into a group of soldiers late one night. They suspected he was a priest because he was travelling alone, so they arrested him and held him overnight in the home of a local official. Fortunately, the official's wife was Catholic and she helped the Jesuit escape. For six weeks he enjoyed freedom, but then had the extreme bad fortune to knock on a door seeking directions when he was lost. The man who opened the door happened to be one of the soldiers who had recently apprehended him and remembered him well.

There would be no fifth escape. He was moved from local jails to London's Newgate Prison in January 1645 and tried in Old Bailey; his very presence in England proved him guilty of violating the law by coming back after he had been banished. He was quickly found guilty of high treason and condemned to death. Early in the morning of his last day, he celebrated Mass and then was dragged to Tyburn to be executed. He stood on a cart under the gallows and was left hanging when the cart moved away. After he was dead, his body was torn open, his heart removed and his entrails burned. His head was exposed on London bridge and the four sections of his quartered body were mounted on the city's four gates.
His life and death--or the life and death of some of the other English Catholic martyrs, like St. Edmund Campion, especially--should be the subject of a great adventure movie. It would be good to balance out the anti-Catholic offenses of the Cate Blanchett Elizabeth movies, with the murderous Jesuit. Depicting early modern Cambridge, Douai, Rome, St. Giles, and London would be a great challenge, of course! But can't you see the scene of Father Morse knocking at the door and the soldier who'd arrested him opening the door? Imagine him standing in the cart at Tyburn, rope around his neck, saying these words:

"I am come hither to die for my religion. . . . I have a secret which highly concerns His Majesty and Parliament to know. The kingdom of England will never be truly blessed until it returns to the Catholic faith and its subjects are all united in one belief under the Bishop of Rome. . . . I pray my death may be some kind of atonement for the sins of this kingdom."