Mementoes of the English Martyrs and Confessors : for Every Day in the Year

COLL. CHRISTI RC6IS \ BIB, MAJ. TOWiTON W^s- * MEMENTOES OF THE ENGLISH MARTYRS AND CONFESSORS il obstat GULIELMUS CANONICUS GILDEA, D.D. Censor Dcputatus Imprimatur EDMUNDUS CANONICUS SURMONT Vicarius Generalis WESTMONASTERII die 17 Martii 1910 "SALVETE FLORES MARTYRUM" St, Philifi blessing the future martyrs MEMENTOES OF THE ENGLISH MARTYRS AND CONFESSORS e EVERY DAY IN THE YEAR 1910 BY HENRY SEBASTIAN BOWDEN OF THE ORATORY "Mementote praepositorum vestrorum, qui vobis locuti sunt vcrbum Dei : quorum intuentes exitum conversatioiiis, iniitamini fidem." HEB. xiii. 7. COLLCNmSTIREGIS v BIB. MAJ. BURNS & GATES 28 ORCHARD STREET LONDON, W. 1910 900 7 PREFACE As a daily remembrance of our forefathers in the faith, these selections have been made from the records of their lives and times, and also from their writings. While the fullest and most important biographies are naturally predomi- nant/the list is, it is hoped, fairly representative. In these pages are included not only those whom the Church has declared to be "Venerable" or "Blessed," but also various others of either sex, conspicuous as witnesses to the faith, or for their zeal in its behalf. Such characteristic incidents have also been added as may fill up the por traiture of the period. The claims of the martyrs on our devotion need hardly be expressed. If the Apostle of every country is specially venerated as the means by which the faith was first received, what honour is due to this goodly company of our own race and speech which at so great a cost preserved the faith for us ? Its members are our patrons, then, by the double tie of nature and "to grace. "Look," says the Prophet, the rock whence you are hewn, to the hole of the pit whence you were dug out." And our fore- PREFACE fathers in the faith are indeed "exceedingly " " honourable." Fisher, the Saintly Cardinal ; Chancellor the More, the illustrious ; Campion, "golden-mouthed" ; Southwell, the priest poet; last of the Margaret Pole, the Plantagenets ; in the alone" Margaret Clitheroe, "winepress ; the Ralph Milner, sturdy yeoman ; Philip of Howard, the victim Herodias ; Swithin Wells, " " the a hunter before the Lord ; Horner, tailor,, with his vestments of salvation ; Mason, the last in not least in serving-man ; Plunket, time, dignity or holiness. All these high or humble, with the sons of SS. Augustine, Benedict, Bridget, Bruno, Francis, Ignatius, and the crowd of secular priests, bear the same palm and shine with the same aureole, for they con fessed una voce the same faith and sealed it with their blood, and for this land of ours. But for their willing sacrifices, this country might have been as frozen in heresy as Norway or Sweden and other northern lands. The period dealt with is full of instruction. It opens with the greed, lust, and despotism of VIII. in the of Henry , triumphant suppression the monasteries, the divorce of Catherine and the Oath of Supremacy. We note next the beginning of the new religion, the brief restora tion of the faith under Mary, then Protestantism established in blood under Elizabeth. Amidst the later persecutions, none appear more mali cious than that of the Commonwealth ; for the Puritans, like the Nonconformists of to-day, pro claimed liberty of conscience, and with that cry on their lips put Catholics to death solely for vi PREFACE their faith. In contrast with the false brethren and apostates, with the time-servers and the traitors of every kind alas, too often found and against the growing domination of heretics and tyrants, the martyrs stand out as the champions of faith and freedom, and of freedom for the faith. Considering the ubiquity and cunning of both private informers and Government spies, it may seem strange how the missionaries found even a temporary shelter on landing in England, but this was supplied to them by the Catholic laity without thought of personal risk. Harbouring priests was always regarded as felony and often punished by death, yet the cottages and shops of the poorer classes and the country-houses of the gentry were ever open to the missioner. Without the welcome hospitality and services of the laity, the work of the Apostolate would have been practically impossible. It is curious to note how the fire of persecu tion strengthened men s souls. " In Henry VIII s time," writes a missionary priest, "the whole Kingdom, with all its Bishops and learned men, abjured the faith at the word of the tyrant. But now in his daughter s time boys and women boldly profess the faith before the judge, and refuse to make the slightest concession even at the risk of death." It must be remembered, however, that many took the oath under Henry without realising the nature or consequences of their act. For, save in the matter of the King s Supremacy, a tenet which was differently inter preted, the faith was left intact. Under Eliza- vii PREFACE beth, however, Protestantism undisguised was introduced, and the whole Marian Episcopacy, with one exception, died in prison rather than conform. The Bishops then suffered for their religion alone, and their civil loyalty was never ques tioned. The martyrs, however, were tried and condemned on the charge of treason treason meaning any resistance to the Crown or State in the matter of religion and for their resistance, that is, for their faith, they died. Those, like BB. Felton, Storey, Woodhouse, who refused to acknowledge Elizabeth as Queen, because de posed by the Pope, won their crowns not as rebels or conspirators, but as champions of the Pope s authority, refusing the Oath of Supre macy, on declining by apostasy to save their lives. Loyalty to the lawful authority of the Crown was ever a first principle with Catholics. " " The Pilgrimage of Grace" and the Northern Rising," both undertaken to restore the old religion, were heralded by explicit declarations of loyalty to the reigning monarchs. Revolu tion was scouted as the offspring and badge of heresy. Thus B. Edward Powel challenged the apostate Barnes to show that the ancient creed had ever produced sedition or rebellion. In the Armada crisis Catholics, grievously as they had suffered, came forward, with a Howard at their head, to defend throne and country. Under Charles I., thirty years later, Catholics formed a fourth or even a third of the Royalist Army. When, then, Gregory XIII in 1580 exempted Catholics from the obligation of the Bull of viii PREFACE Excommunication, we find priests and laity alike declaring Elizabeth de juro et de facto their Queen, for, apart from the Bull, she was the rightful successor to Mary, and in posses sion. The loyalty of the martyrs was indeed emphatic and outspoken. "God bless and save "Preserve her," her from her enemies," was their constant prayer on the scaffold. Ven. R. Drury and the twelve other appellant priests declared in their testimonial that they were as ready to shed their blood in defence of Queen and country as they would be in behalf of the lawful authority of the Church. Yet, notwith standing all this,for priest or layman, high or low, recusancy was treason, treason meant death, and the appellants suffered with the rest. The Church then was in the Catacombs. Her sanctuaries violated, her Liturgy and solemn offices silenced, the Holy Sacrifice offered only in secret and at the risk of life. Still her Divine Notes shone clearly in the darkness. Though black, she was beautiful. The penalty of joining her Communion was probably death, yet out of two hundred and sixty-five declared Blessed or Venerable from Elizabeth till Charles II, 1577 to 1681, fifty were converts from Conformity or Protestant ism. Of these fifty, thirty were of the Uni versity of Oxford, nine from that of Cambridge. Amongst them Fellows of Colleges like Cam pion and Hartley (S. John s), Sherwin (Exeter), Munden (New), Forde (Trinity), Richardson Pilchard (Brasenose), (Balliol) ; noted school masters like Shert and Cottam ; holders of rich ix PREFACE benefices like Sutton, Vicar of Lutterworth,, Hanse, promoted to a wealthy living by the of University Cambridge ; librarians, Heath, Corpus Christi, Cambridge, men known for scholarship, learning, and position, and held in such account by the enemies of the faith, that honours, preferments, even bishoprics, were offered them as a bribe for apostasy. It seemed the hour of Antichrist, and the whole world seated in wickedness, yet the hand of the Lord was not shortened that it could not save, nor His ear heavy that it could not hear. Even in these short extracts some of the martyrs characteristics are clearly apparent. The grace of their bearing in youth, Briant, the beautiful Oxford their in vene boy ; dignity rable old age, Lockwood, fourscore and seven, apologising for his slowness in mounting the ladder their and cheerful ; bright courage, Cadwallador, the clatter of his fetters, his " little bells of " their gold ; ready wit, Anderton, Pope Joan, and Queen Elizabeth ; their silence under torture when speech meant, not apostasy, but only danger to a friend, Sherwin and Briant their theo ; accurately logical replies to their tormentors, Almond, the hidden Roberts, Plessington, Barlow ; heroism of the devout women, Margaret Ward. Then the matchless melody and stateliness of their diction : what classic examples may be met with in More s prayer in the Tower, Campion s defence on his trial, or as a tribute of filial piety, Hart s letters to his Protestant x PREFACE " " mother, or his clarion call Stand fast ! to the Catholic prisoners, or the sacred verses of Southwell, the first religious poet of his time, while the ditties of William Blundell present a striking instance of rugged but devotional phrase.

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