I don't often quote chunks of Vatican Information Service news briefings. Anyone who's online can get them and have a daily digest on what's going on in the Vatican as well as reading the wise words of the Holy Father. However, these few lines stood out to me on today's news release. These words were taken from Pope Benedict's homily, transmitted by satellite from the Vatican, to thousands of faithful gathered on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec, for the closing Mass of the 49th International Eucharistic Congress. They sum up perfectly what the Eucharist means:
"The Eucharist is our most precious treasure. ... It is the Sacrament par excellence ... It contains all the mystery of our salvation, it is the source and the summit of the activity and the life of the Church...
"The Eucharist is not a meal among friends. It is a mystery of alliance. We are called to enter this mystery of alliance, conforming our everyday lives to the gift received in the Eucharist."
Monday, 23 June 2008
Westminster Cathedral's first parish priest
On Saturday I was in London and went to the Saturday evening Vigil Mass at Westminster Cathedral. A large part of Fr Michael Archer's homily was dedicated to Saint John Southworth, effectively the cathedral parish's first parish priest. His feastday will be celebrated this Friday. In my ongoing series on the 40 martyrs, I've already posted on St John. Fr Archer spoke passionately about him, emphasising his witness to Christ even to his last breath on the gallows. He emphasised that St John would have walked the streets of London that we walk today, even the area that the marvellous Byzantine-style Cathedral now stands. Fr Archer told the congregation about how the martyr's body was discovered in France and its journey back to Westminster Cathedral, where it now lays in a see through case in the Chapel of St George and the English Martyrs. It lays in a glass cabinet, with St John wearing red vestments. His body was so disfigured after his hanging, drawing and quartering his head is a gold mask and his hands are represented by a gold shape as well.
After Mass, it was very moving to see lots of people - young and old, both parishioners and visitors - go to look at St John's body, light candles beside it and venerate the martyr by kissing the cabinet. Although a lot of people know that the courageous martyr lies in the church, it's incredible what a simple but powerful homily on one of our own saints can do to increase the veneration of them, especially when they have links to a particular parish. One can only pray that local areas with a special connection to one or more of the martyrs makes a big deal of them.
Thursday, 12 June 2008
40 Martyr Reflections: Saint Henry Walpole
Famous multi-millionaire footballer David Beckham captained his country again against Trinidad and Tobago recently. The Real Madrid midfielder is seen by society as a great model for young children, especially those mad about soccer. But it is the son of another Beckham, Margery to be precise, who is unquestionably one of the greatest role models young people today could have. This is despite the man in question barely being known.
Beckham was Saint Henry Walpole’s mother’s maiden name. Henry was born in 1558 to Christopher and Margery. He was the eldest of a large family of boys from Docking, in Norfolk. Henry was educated at Norwich Grammar School, founded by Edward VI. After graduating from Gonville College, Cambridge, he entered Gray’s Inn to study law. This is one of the four Inns of Court around the Royal Courts of Justice in London to which barristers belong and where they are called to the bar. The Inns of Court at that time were reported to be full of papists, meaning that Walpole, a Protestant at this time, would have been closely watched. It is in these circles that he got to know Edmund Campion, the pioneer of the Jesuit mission in England. Henry was impressed by his zeal and preaching. It was the example, and ultimately the brutal martyrdom of Fr Campion that drew Henry to the Catholic faith in the most dramatic fashion.
On December 1 1581, Henry was at Tyburn to witness the grusome hanging, drawing and quartering of Campion. He stood so close to the gallows that he was splattered with some of the martyrs blood during the execution. For the young law student, this seemed to be a direct call from God to walk in his friend’s footsteps. Before converting, he wrote a poem on the "life and death of the most famous clerk and virtuous priest, Edmund Campion". Word spread quickly of the literary work and the authorities began looking for Henry. But the young writer hid himself in Norfolk and eventually made the voyage across to the English College at Rheims, arriving on July 7 1582. He was described on entry as a "discreet, grave and pious man".
He stayed there for a year before being sent to Rome where he entered the Society of Jesus in April 1583. On completion of his studies, Henry was ordained on December 15 1588. Shortly after entering the priesthood, he was appointed to be chaplain to the multi-national force serving under the Prince of Palma in Belgium. He spiritually served many of his fellow countrymen serving as soldiers in Holland. It was during this mission that he fell into the hands of Calvinists who were then fighting against the army. He was imprisoned at Flushing for a year before one of his brother managed to secure his freedom from the prisoner of war camp.
After this experience, he felt a great urge to return to his homeland. But his superiors had other ideas – he was sent to Spain to teach at seminaries. Fr Walpole was vice-rector at Seville and then at Valladolid – a seminary where English students are still sent to train today. He then returned to Flanders to help establish another seminary before finally getting permission to go on the English mission. He sailed off from Dunkirk on a kind of pirate ship. He traveled with his brother – also a priest – and another companion. The vessel ran the risk of being hijacked by pirates and its passengers thrown overboard. But Fr Walpole’s prayers got him safely to the east coast. On a cold, dark winter’s night (December 6 1593) he landed at either Flamborough Head or just down the Holderness coast at Bridlington, both in East Yorkshire. Less than 50 years before, Bridlington manor and priory had been hit by the dissolution of the monasteries.
Barely 24 hours after landing, the group were arrested as suspects and taken to York. Henry freely and proudly admitted to being a priest. He was imprisoned in York until February 1594, when he was sent to London and kept in the Tower of London for a further year. Fr Walpole was tortured 14 times, racked time and time again in attempt to get from him details of alleged plots that Catholics were preparing against the monarch. His graffiti can still be seen in the Salt Tower today. He wrote lengthy letters to a fellow Jesuit at a monastery in Yorkshire about his ordeal. In one of them he said: "…I hope, through the merits of my most sweet Saviour and Lord, that I shall be always ready, whether living or dying, to glorify Him, which will be for my eternal happiness."
Henry was sent back up north to York for trial in Spring 1595. During proceedings, Fr Walpole challenged the notion that he was guilty of treason by being a priest. Using is legal knowledge, he outwitted the judge by exposing a loophole in the law. The judge said: "…a priest who returns from beyond the seas, and does not present himself before a justice within three days to make the usual submission to the Queen’s majesty in matters of religion, shall be deemed a traitor." Henry replied: "Then I am out of the case, who was apprehended before I had been one whole day on English ground."
But, when questioned, Henry admitted he was unaware of the changes in the law or what submissions these required. He turned to the jury, who were directed to find him guilty, and confessed to being a priest. On April 7 1595, he was drawn with Fr Alexander Rawlins to the Knavesmire, just outside York. This was the place where he was to suffer what he had witnessed to Fr Campion – a life changing experience. But this was not a life-ending experience. His witness and suffering made him a martyr – he entered into the Communion of Saints and the promise of salvation. Upon reciting the Our Father and the Angelical Salutation, Fr Walpole was hanged, dismembered, disemboweled and quartered for all to see. His arms, legs and genitals were cut off and committed to the flames. Finally, he was beheaded. Fr Walpole's death was said to be a great boost for Catholicism in the north. The Earl of Huntingdon, known as a great persecutor of northern papists, died shortly afterwards - apparently in great remorse.
Saint Henry Walpole was a convert, a seminarian, a priest, an army chaplain, a seminary vice-rector, a preacher, a lawyer, a poet and a missionary all in his short 37 years. For those praying earnestly for the conversion of a friend or relative, Saint Henry is your man. He had the most dramatic conversion experience – being splattered with the blood of a martyr. Saint Henry also brings great strength and comfort to seminarians and college rectors. He is an ideal saint to pray to for the success of the English seminaries both home and abroad in fostering courageous, orthodox and pious men capable of converting a secular country. In these worrying days of pernicious laws curbing the Catholic Church’s role in public life and attacking the sanctity of human life, lawyer Saint Henry is who we should pray to for Catholic lawyers who challenge, and who no doubt will continue, to contest laws that are an ass.
Beckham was Saint Henry Walpole’s mother’s maiden name. Henry was born in 1558 to Christopher and Margery. He was the eldest of a large family of boys from Docking, in Norfolk. Henry was educated at Norwich Grammar School, founded by Edward VI. After graduating from Gonville College, Cambridge, he entered Gray’s Inn to study law. This is one of the four Inns of Court around the Royal Courts of Justice in London to which barristers belong and where they are called to the bar. The Inns of Court at that time were reported to be full of papists, meaning that Walpole, a Protestant at this time, would have been closely watched. It is in these circles that he got to know Edmund Campion, the pioneer of the Jesuit mission in England. Henry was impressed by his zeal and preaching. It was the example, and ultimately the brutal martyrdom of Fr Campion that drew Henry to the Catholic faith in the most dramatic fashion.
On December 1 1581, Henry was at Tyburn to witness the grusome hanging, drawing and quartering of Campion. He stood so close to the gallows that he was splattered with some of the martyrs blood during the execution. For the young law student, this seemed to be a direct call from God to walk in his friend’s footsteps. Before converting, he wrote a poem on the "life and death of the most famous clerk and virtuous priest, Edmund Campion". Word spread quickly of the literary work and the authorities began looking for Henry. But the young writer hid himself in Norfolk and eventually made the voyage across to the English College at Rheims, arriving on July 7 1582. He was described on entry as a "discreet, grave and pious man".
He stayed there for a year before being sent to Rome where he entered the Society of Jesus in April 1583. On completion of his studies, Henry was ordained on December 15 1588. Shortly after entering the priesthood, he was appointed to be chaplain to the multi-national force serving under the Prince of Palma in Belgium. He spiritually served many of his fellow countrymen serving as soldiers in Holland. It was during this mission that he fell into the hands of Calvinists who were then fighting against the army. He was imprisoned at Flushing for a year before one of his brother managed to secure his freedom from the prisoner of war camp.
After this experience, he felt a great urge to return to his homeland. But his superiors had other ideas – he was sent to Spain to teach at seminaries. Fr Walpole was vice-rector at Seville and then at Valladolid – a seminary where English students are still sent to train today. He then returned to Flanders to help establish another seminary before finally getting permission to go on the English mission. He sailed off from Dunkirk on a kind of pirate ship. He traveled with his brother – also a priest – and another companion. The vessel ran the risk of being hijacked by pirates and its passengers thrown overboard. But Fr Walpole’s prayers got him safely to the east coast. On a cold, dark winter’s night (December 6 1593) he landed at either Flamborough Head or just down the Holderness coast at Bridlington, both in East Yorkshire. Less than 50 years before, Bridlington manor and priory had been hit by the dissolution of the monasteries.
Barely 24 hours after landing, the group were arrested as suspects and taken to York. Henry freely and proudly admitted to being a priest. He was imprisoned in York until February 1594, when he was sent to London and kept in the Tower of London for a further year. Fr Walpole was tortured 14 times, racked time and time again in attempt to get from him details of alleged plots that Catholics were preparing against the monarch. His graffiti can still be seen in the Salt Tower today. He wrote lengthy letters to a fellow Jesuit at a monastery in Yorkshire about his ordeal. In one of them he said: "…I hope, through the merits of my most sweet Saviour and Lord, that I shall be always ready, whether living or dying, to glorify Him, which will be for my eternal happiness."
Henry was sent back up north to York for trial in Spring 1595. During proceedings, Fr Walpole challenged the notion that he was guilty of treason by being a priest. Using is legal knowledge, he outwitted the judge by exposing a loophole in the law. The judge said: "…a priest who returns from beyond the seas, and does not present himself before a justice within three days to make the usual submission to the Queen’s majesty in matters of religion, shall be deemed a traitor." Henry replied: "Then I am out of the case, who was apprehended before I had been one whole day on English ground."
But, when questioned, Henry admitted he was unaware of the changes in the law or what submissions these required. He turned to the jury, who were directed to find him guilty, and confessed to being a priest. On April 7 1595, he was drawn with Fr Alexander Rawlins to the Knavesmire, just outside York. This was the place where he was to suffer what he had witnessed to Fr Campion – a life changing experience. But this was not a life-ending experience. His witness and suffering made him a martyr – he entered into the Communion of Saints and the promise of salvation. Upon reciting the Our Father and the Angelical Salutation, Fr Walpole was hanged, dismembered, disemboweled and quartered for all to see. His arms, legs and genitals were cut off and committed to the flames. Finally, he was beheaded. Fr Walpole's death was said to be a great boost for Catholicism in the north. The Earl of Huntingdon, known as a great persecutor of northern papists, died shortly afterwards - apparently in great remorse.
Saint Henry Walpole was a convert, a seminarian, a priest, an army chaplain, a seminary vice-rector, a preacher, a lawyer, a poet and a missionary all in his short 37 years. For those praying earnestly for the conversion of a friend or relative, Saint Henry is your man. He had the most dramatic conversion experience – being splattered with the blood of a martyr. Saint Henry also brings great strength and comfort to seminarians and college rectors. He is an ideal saint to pray to for the success of the English seminaries both home and abroad in fostering courageous, orthodox and pious men capable of converting a secular country. In these worrying days of pernicious laws curbing the Catholic Church’s role in public life and attacking the sanctity of human life, lawyer Saint Henry is who we should pray to for Catholic lawyers who challenge, and who no doubt will continue, to contest laws that are an ass.
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