On Humility in the Sight of God [II]

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On Humility in the Sight of God [II]

It is Thy love that achieves this, freely guiding and supporting me in
my many needs, guarding me from grievous perils, and, as I may
truthfully confess, rescuing me from evils without number. And whereas
by perverse self-love I had lost myself, (John 12:25) now by lovingly
seeking Thee alone, I have found both myself and Thee; for by that
love I have humbled myself to utter nothingness. Dearest Lord, Thou
dealeth with me above my deserts, and above all I dare hope or pray
for.
--Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3, Ch 8

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August 8th - Bl. John Felton, Martyr

On Feb. 25, 1569-70, Pope St. Pius V published a bull, "Regnans in
excelis ", directed against Queen Elizabeth, who was at the time
ostensibly a Catholic. By it she was declared excommunicate, deprived
of the kingdom which she ruled and all her subjects discharged from
their allegiance, because she claimed headship of the Church in
England, sheltered heretics, oppressed Catholics, and coerced her
subjects into heresy and repudiation of the Holy See, contrary to her
coronation oath. On the following May 25 citizens of London woke up to
find a copy of this bull of excommunication of their sovereign
fastened to the door of the bishop of London's house, adjoining St.
Paul's cathedral; it had been put there late on the previous night by
Mr John Felton, a gentleman of a Norfolk family who lived in
Southwark.

It was not long before it was discovered who had done the deed.
Searchers in the chambers of a well-known Catholic lawyer in Lincoln's
Inn found a copy of the bull, arrested the lawyer, and racked him,
whereupon he confessed that he had it from Felton. He was at once
seized at Bermondsey, but, although he at once admitted what he had
done, he was not brought to trial for three months; he was kept in
prison, Newgate and the Tower, and three times racked, in the hope
that he would confess to some political intrigue with the Spaniards.
But there had been none on his part: he published the bull as a
legitimate pontifical censure for the queen's religious offences.
When brought to trial at the Guildhall on August 4 he pleaded guilty
and openly declared the supremacy of the Holy See. Four days later he
was dragged to St. Paul's churchyard; the scaffold was set up opposite
the door on which the bull had been posted, and at the sight of the
barbarous paraphernalia of execution the martyr was seized with a
violent spasm of fear. By an effort of will more violent he overcame
it: he pointed at the bishop's door, saying, "the supreme pontiff's
letters against the pretended queen were by me exhibited there. Now I
am ready to die for the Catholic faith"; to that queen, as a token of
good-will, he sent a valuable ring off his finger; then he knelt and
said the Miserere, commended his soul to God, and was cast off. The
executioner would in pity have let him hang, but the sheriff ordered
that he be cut down alive, and as his heart was torn out, Mrs
Salisbury, his daughter, heard him utter the name of Jesus twice.

The wife of Bl. John Felton had been a personal friend of the queen,
who after her husband's death licensed her to have a priest as
chaplain in her house: there are few enough acts of this sort to
Elizabeth's credit to make this one worth recording, and the
circumstance doubtless had its effect in determining the career of the
son, Bl. Thomas Felton, then a babe of two, who 18 years later
followed his father to martyrdom.

John was equivalently beatified in the decree of 1886. There is no
need here to discuss the question of the bull "Regnans in excelsis";
Bl. John suffered for publishing a canonical act of the Holy See
against a supporter of heresy and a persecutor, who proceeded against
him for supporting papal ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Whether that act
was opportune or justifiable under the circumstances is beside the
point. Popes, even when they are saints, as Pius V was, are not
immune from errors of judgement, and it is now the general opinion of
Catholics that "Regnans in excelsis" was a belated attempt to exercise
a deposing power already in fact a dead letter. For the rest, we have
the words of another Pope Pius, to the Academy of the Catholic
Religion in 1871 "Though certain popes have sometimes exercised this
deposing power in extreme cases, they did so in accordance with the
public law of the time and by the agreement of Christian nations,
whose reverence for the pope as the supreme judge for Christ extended
to his passing even civil judgement on princes and nations. But the
present state of affairs is entirely different...No one now thinks any
more of the right of deposing princes which the Holy See formerly
exercised; and the Supreme Pontiff even less than anyone?"

A full account is given in B. Camm, LEM., vol. ii (1905), pp.1-13 cf.


Saint Quote:
"From contemplation of the Passion the soul will receive a new
compassion, a new love, new consolations, and consequently, as it
were, a new state of soul, which seems to be a presage and share of
eternal glory."
--Saint Bonaventure.

Bible Quotes:
"I say to you that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one
sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not
penance" (Luke 15:7)


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Bl. Rupert Mayer’s favourite prayer

Lord, let happen whatever you will;
and as you will, so will I walk;
help me only to know your will!
Lord, whenever you will, then is the time;
today and always
Lord, whatever you will, I wish to accept,
and whatever you will for me is gain;
enough that I belong to you.
Lord, because you will it, it is right;
and because you will it, I have courage.
My heart rests safely in your hands!