Oxford lecturer strangled in bed

Today is the anniversary of the tragic yet glorious death of Father Anthony Brookby OSF, one time lecturer at Oxford's Magdalen College and one of the few members of the clergy who was not afraid to speak out against the actions of Henry VIII.

                                                                   It would take a brave man to oppose this king

Preaching at St Laurence's Church in London, the Venerable Anthony Brookby, made clear his disgust at the King's proceedings and, as a result was arrested and thrown into what is described as "a loathsome dungeon".
We can only imagine what that meant.
 Frequently, the martyrs were confined in dungeon cells that had hatches at street level and all the ordure of a 16th century London came pouring into their cell.
Damp, dark, foul and rat infested.

This saintly man was then promptly racked to such a degree that most of his joints were dislocated and, as a result, he was totally helpless not being able even to lift hand to mouth.

For twenty five days he was tended by an aged woman who looked to his needs and fed him.

Finally, when the courts realised that he was not capable of a public execution they despatched an executioner to his cell who then barbarously murdered the Venerable Anthony in his bed and with his own Franciscan girdle.

Tyburn actually came to this saint and he died for the faith and won his crown on 19th July 1537


                                Venerable Anthony Brookby - Ora pro nobis


Posted by Richard Colins - Linen on theHedgerow

Welsh Martyr now on DVD

That great producer of DVDs tracing the history of the Faith in England and Wales, 
Mary's Dowry Productions,  has just launched their latest film on the life and death of St Richard Gwyn (1537-1584).


St Richard was a Welsh schoolteacher, husband to Catherine and father of six children, only three of whom, survived him.


He was, by all accounts, something of a character and, when taken in chains to a Protestant service, he rattled them so much that he was quickly transferred to the stocks where a Protestant clergyman taunted him by saying that the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven were no less to him than St Peter.


This resulted in St Richard replying:



"There is this difference, namely, that whereas Peter received the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, the keys you received were obviously those of the beer cellar."


I have only seen a trailer to the production but it appears good and inspirational (as are all MD's productions). 
I would only gently hint at the make-up effects, maybe better wigs might be a good investment, I found St Richard's mass of ginger locks somewhat distracting, a small moan for a great DVD.

Posted by Richard Collins - Linen on the Hedgerow

A great Jesuit - in the days when the Society of Jesus was a great order



                                                                      Fr Henry Morse
                                                                   1st February 1645

I had occasion to visit a Jesuit website this week and was not a little knocked back by the photographs of priests of the order - not a clerical collar in sight!

It seems rather sad that, after receiving the vocational call and undergoing years of study and sacrificing so many of life's comforts, a priest should discard his 'badge of office' to appear as an ordinary layman.

St Henry Morse SJ did not wear a dog collar either but, the times in which he lived were somewhat different, as were the style of clothes worn by a Catholic priest. But I somehow believe that this man, if he lived today, would not walk around wearing a shirt and a tie but the clerical black.

Interestingly, this website carried a history of the order in England and Wales and made much of their priests through the years but one of their greats, Fr Clement Tigar, late of this world and Campion house in Osterley, was missing.

Was it because this quiet man was a traditionalist I wonder?

But back to Fr Morse, born into the Protestant faith in 1595 in rural Suffolk.

What follows now is Fr Morse's statement from the scaffold at Tyburn, uttered as preparations were made for him to be hanged, drawn and quartered on February 1st 1645.

It is a most moving statement and one that, in these troublesome times for the Faith, we can draw a great deal of comfort from:

"I am come hither to die for my religion, for that religion which is professed by the Catholic Roman Church, founded by Christ, established by the Apostles, propagated through all ages by a hierarchy always visible to this day, grounded on the testimonies of Holy Scriptures, upheld by the authority of the Fathers and Councils, out of which, in fine, there can be no hope of salvation.

Time was when I was a Protestant, being then a student of the law in the Inns of Court in town, till, being suspicious of the truth of my religon, I went abroad into Flanders, and upon full conviction I renounced my former errors and was reconciled to the Church of Rome, the mistress of all Churches.

Upon my return to England I was committed to prison for refusing to take the oath of supremacy, and banished.
After even years I returned to England as a priest, and devoted myself to the poor and the plague-stricken".

"No self-glorification here" interrupted the Sheriff,

"I will glory you only in God" continued the martyr, "who has pleased to allow me to seal the Catholic faith with my blood, and I pray that my death may atone for the sins of this nation, for which end and in testimony of the one true Catholic faith confirmed by miracles now as ever, I willing die"

                                   St Henry Morse SJ  - Ora pro nobis!
               And pray also that the Jesuit order returns to its greatness!

Posted by Richard Collins - Linen on the Hedgerow