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How we should Declare our Needs to Christ and Ask Thine Grace [III]
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Rich
Jun 28, 2023, 4:02:52 AM6/28/23
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How we should Declare our Needs to Christ and Ask Thine Grace [III]
Oh, that Thou would set me wholly afire by Thine presence, and change
me into Yourself, that I might be made one spirit with Thee (I Cor.
6:17) by the grace of inward vision, and by the fusion of ardent love.
Do not send me away hungry and thirsty, but deal with me in Thine
mercy, as Thou hast dealt so marvellously with Thine Saints. How
wonderful it would be, were I wholly on fire with Thee and dead to
self, for Thee, 0 Lord, are the Fire unquenchable (Lev. 6:13) that
burns for ever; Thou art the Love that purifies the heart and lights
the mind.
--Thomas à Kempis--Imitation of Christ Book 4 Ch. 16
<<>><<>><<>>
June 28th - St. John Southworth, Martyr
(1592 – 1654)
INTEREST in Bl. John Southworth was quickened by the discovery of his
remains at Douai in 1927, and by their enshrining in the chapel of St
George and the English Martyrs in Westminster cathedral.
Queen Elizabeth I of England was determined to replace the old
(Catholic) religion with her state church. She tried at first to do
this without bloodshed. But by 1585 a rising number of English
Catholic priests trained and ordained on the European continent were
crossing the Channel, and secretly ministering to English Catholics in
disguise and at grave risk. In that year, therefore, Elizabeth signed
a law branding as treasonable any priest who dared to come back to
England. The law was later extended to all who assisted such priests.
It was this anti-priest legislation that created the largest number of
English Catholic martyrs. The penalty for treason was hanging, but the
hanged person was ordered cut down before death and disemboweled. His
head was then cut off and his body quartered. Naturally, the British
government saw to it that the remains were destroyed. It would not do
to let Catholics have relics. Father John Southworth was one of the
later victims of this gruesome law.
John came from Lancashire, in northwest England. He belonged to a
Catholic family that chose to pay heavy fines rather than give up its
faith. When twenty-one, Southworth went to French Flanders to study
for the priesthood at the English seminary at Douai. Ordained in 1618,
Father Southworth spent the years 1619-1624 in England; passed
1624-1625 back at Douai; then re-crossed the Channel and spent five
years in his native shire. In 1627 he was arrested and imprisoned in
the castle at Lancaster.
Father Edmund Arrowsmith was arrested along with him. Arrowsmith was
condemned to death. From his prison window Southworth absolved this
fellow priest as he saw him being taken off to the scaffold. Edmund
Arrowsmith and Father John were to be canonized together in 1970.
However, the time for martyrdom had not yet come for Southworth.
Though condemned to death, he was finally reprieved.
Since these missionaries had to live a shadowy existence, it is
usually hard to keep track of their movements. The next time we hear
about him he is again in jail, a prison called “The Clink,” across the
river from London Then he was ordered out of the country. Whether he
left or not at that time, he was to spend the rest of his life at
priestly work in the London area.
The years 1636-1637 saw a great epidemic of the bubonic plague.
Epidemics were very hard on Catholics. The law excluded them from
medical aid. St. John and St. Henry Morse, another secular priest, now
did heroic work aiding the plague-stricken. John was still officially
in jail, but an exception was made. In June 1637 he was released from
prison, but was jailed again the following November for three more
years. Between 1640 and 1654 he was again working “underground.”
The Puritan Civil War of 1642-1646 resulted finally in the execution
of King Charles I, but the Puritans did not change the law regarding
Catholic priests. In 1654, Father Southworth, while in bed, was seized
by a law officer. The point at issue was whether he had performed any
priestly functions since his earlier reprieve.
By 1654, English officialdom was losing its interest in executing
Catholics. When Southworth was tried for treason, not only the foreign
ambassadors but the very judges urged him to plead “not guilty.”
No, he said, to plead “not guilty” would seem like disavowing his
priesthood, which he would not do for the world. So he was condemned
to hang at Tyburn gallows simply on the basis of his own admission
that he had continued his priestly work. At his execution on June 28,
1654, he was “drawn and quartered.” The Spanish ambassador bought his
corpse and took it back to Douai for burial.
The French Revolution reached Douai in 1793. To protect his relics,
four Douai seminarians reburied him an unmarked grave. The grave was
rediscovered in 1927, and the body returned to England – the only
complete remains of any of the English martyrs. Upon Southworth’s
beatification in 1929, his relics were enshrined in London’s Catholic
cathedral in Westminster. Their “priestly” secular priest is therefore
entombed in the center of the city in which he had courageously
administered the sacraments and nursed the plague-ridden.
Everything that is known concerning Bl. John seems to have been
brought together in the volume published in 1930 by Fr A. B. Purdie,
The Life of Bl. John Southworth. See also Challoner, MMP., pp.
504-510.
Saint Quote
The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one
thinks about reforming himself.
--St. Peter of Alcantara
Bible Quote:
Let him decline from evil, and do good: let him seek after peace and
pursue it: Because the eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and his
ears unto their prayers: but the countenance of the Lord upon them
that do evil things. (1 Peter 3:11-12) DRB
<><><><>
May the Heart of Jesus be the King of My Heart!
By St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
May Your Heart dwell
always, in our hearts!
May Your Blood ever flow,
in the veins of our souls!
O Sun of our hearts,
You give life to all things,
by the rays of Your goodness!
I will not go, until Your Heart
has strengthened me,
O Lord Jesus!
May the Heart of Jesus
be the King of my heart!
Blessed be God.
Amen
Oh, that Thou would set me wholly afire by Thine presence, and change
me into Yourself, that I might be made one spirit with Thee (I Cor.
6:17) by the grace of inward vision, and by the fusion of ardent love.
Do not send me away hungry and thirsty, but deal with me in Thine
mercy, as Thou hast dealt so marvellously with Thine Saints. How
wonderful it would be, were I wholly on fire with Thee and dead to
self, for Thee, 0 Lord, are the Fire unquenchable (Lev. 6:13) that
burns for ever; Thou art the Love that purifies the heart and lights
the mind.
--Thomas à Kempis--Imitation of Christ Book 4 Ch. 16
<<>><<>><<>>
June 28th - St. John Southworth, Martyr
(1592 – 1654)
INTEREST in Bl. John Southworth was quickened by the discovery of his
remains at Douai in 1927, and by their enshrining in the chapel of St
George and the English Martyrs in Westminster cathedral.
Queen Elizabeth I of England was determined to replace the old
(Catholic) religion with her state church. She tried at first to do
this without bloodshed. But by 1585 a rising number of English
Catholic priests trained and ordained on the European continent were
crossing the Channel, and secretly ministering to English Catholics in
disguise and at grave risk. In that year, therefore, Elizabeth signed
a law branding as treasonable any priest who dared to come back to
England. The law was later extended to all who assisted such priests.
It was this anti-priest legislation that created the largest number of
English Catholic martyrs. The penalty for treason was hanging, but the
hanged person was ordered cut down before death and disemboweled. His
head was then cut off and his body quartered. Naturally, the British
government saw to it that the remains were destroyed. It would not do
to let Catholics have relics. Father John Southworth was one of the
later victims of this gruesome law.
John came from Lancashire, in northwest England. He belonged to a
Catholic family that chose to pay heavy fines rather than give up its
faith. When twenty-one, Southworth went to French Flanders to study
for the priesthood at the English seminary at Douai. Ordained in 1618,
Father Southworth spent the years 1619-1624 in England; passed
1624-1625 back at Douai; then re-crossed the Channel and spent five
years in his native shire. In 1627 he was arrested and imprisoned in
the castle at Lancaster.
Father Edmund Arrowsmith was arrested along with him. Arrowsmith was
condemned to death. From his prison window Southworth absolved this
fellow priest as he saw him being taken off to the scaffold. Edmund
Arrowsmith and Father John were to be canonized together in 1970.
However, the time for martyrdom had not yet come for Southworth.
Though condemned to death, he was finally reprieved.
Since these missionaries had to live a shadowy existence, it is
usually hard to keep track of their movements. The next time we hear
about him he is again in jail, a prison called “The Clink,” across the
river from London Then he was ordered out of the country. Whether he
left or not at that time, he was to spend the rest of his life at
priestly work in the London area.
The years 1636-1637 saw a great epidemic of the bubonic plague.
Epidemics were very hard on Catholics. The law excluded them from
medical aid. St. John and St. Henry Morse, another secular priest, now
did heroic work aiding the plague-stricken. John was still officially
in jail, but an exception was made. In June 1637 he was released from
prison, but was jailed again the following November for three more
years. Between 1640 and 1654 he was again working “underground.”
The Puritan Civil War of 1642-1646 resulted finally in the execution
of King Charles I, but the Puritans did not change the law regarding
Catholic priests. In 1654, Father Southworth, while in bed, was seized
by a law officer. The point at issue was whether he had performed any
priestly functions since his earlier reprieve.
By 1654, English officialdom was losing its interest in executing
Catholics. When Southworth was tried for treason, not only the foreign
ambassadors but the very judges urged him to plead “not guilty.”
No, he said, to plead “not guilty” would seem like disavowing his
priesthood, which he would not do for the world. So he was condemned
to hang at Tyburn gallows simply on the basis of his own admission
that he had continued his priestly work. At his execution on June 28,
1654, he was “drawn and quartered.” The Spanish ambassador bought his
corpse and took it back to Douai for burial.
The French Revolution reached Douai in 1793. To protect his relics,
four Douai seminarians reburied him an unmarked grave. The grave was
rediscovered in 1927, and the body returned to England – the only
complete remains of any of the English martyrs. Upon Southworth’s
beatification in 1929, his relics were enshrined in London’s Catholic
cathedral in Westminster. Their “priestly” secular priest is therefore
entombed in the center of the city in which he had courageously
administered the sacraments and nursed the plague-ridden.
Everything that is known concerning Bl. John seems to have been
brought together in the volume published in 1930 by Fr A. B. Purdie,
The Life of Bl. John Southworth. See also Challoner, MMP., pp.
504-510.
Saint Quote
The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one
thinks about reforming himself.
--St. Peter of Alcantara
Bible Quote:
Let him decline from evil, and do good: let him seek after peace and
pursue it: Because the eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and his
ears unto their prayers: but the countenance of the Lord upon them
that do evil things. (1 Peter 3:11-12) DRB
<><><><>
May the Heart of Jesus be the King of My Heart!
By St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
May Your Heart dwell
always, in our hearts!
May Your Blood ever flow,
in the veins of our souls!
O Sun of our hearts,
You give life to all things,
by the rays of Your goodness!
I will not go, until Your Heart
has strengthened me,
O Lord Jesus!
May the Heart of Jesus
be the King of my heart!
Blessed be God.
Amen
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