Defenders of the Faith in Word and Deed by Connor Charles P

Author:Connor, Charles, P [Connor, Charles, P]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spiritual & Religion
ISBN: 9780898709681
Published: 2016-01-05T16:00:00+00:00

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The English Catholic Martyrs:

Defenders in the Sixteenth Century

English martryology consists of many others who defended the faith by the witness of their lives. These men and women lived in various periods of British history, but were particularly numerous during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603). One such group, the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, are especially remembered for the heroism of their lives and the unambiguous statement of faith seen in their deaths.1

They were canonized by His Holiness Pope Paul VI on October 25, 1970. In an address to a consistory of the College of Cardinals, the Holy Father gave his reasons for raising them to the altars of sainthood. These people had lived in times of great religious turmoil, but it was not the Church’s intention to relive such controversy or reopen old wounds. Rather, the joy of canonization should provide opportunity for all Christians to reflect on the past and ask God’s pardon for mutual misunderstanding and hostility:

Whereas four hundred years ago this slaying of brother by brother could be conceived as an action pleasing to God, today, under the inspiration of God’s grace, all men of good will are rightly horrified by such attitudes. They are fully determined that those who bear the name of Christ, the Prince of Peace, and the Shepherd of Souls, shall never again be permitted to be corrupted by such violence, or defiled by such bloodshed.2

At the same time the Holy Father reminded the entire Catholic world that these martyrs

are a shining example of that genuine faith, which will have nothing to do with ambiguity or false compromise in whatever is held as sacred: a faith that is never afraid to declare its convictions. Such a faith is a necessary condition of all true and fruitful ecumenical dialogue.3

The Forty Martyrs were arrested, tried, convicted, sentenced, and put to death under the terms of three very broad, all-encompassing pieces of legislation, which allowed such leeway that there was not a situation that could not be held up as a violation of one of them. The Treason Act of 1352 had been passed during the reign of Edward III. By the time of the Reformation it still defined treason as plotting or attempting to kill or dethrone the monarch or one of his descendants. An Act to Retain the Queen’s Majesty’s Subjects in Their Due Obedience was of more recent vintage, having passed in 1581; returning to the Church of Rome or being the cause of others’ return constituted high treason. In addition, it defined the meaning of seditious words directed against the monarch. Finally, there was An Act against Jesuits, Seminary Priests and such other Disobedient Persons, which can trace its origins to June 24, 1559. Coming into effect in 1585, this law declared that any Catholic priest ordained abroad who later entered the realm was guilty of high treason; any who harbored or assisted such priests had committed a felony. Captured priests were to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, while lay people aiding or abetting them were to be hanged.

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