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Today is the great Feast of the Martyr's of England and Wales. In the times we live we especially need their intercession and example to guide and inspire us to deeper courage and faithfulness.
I am sure that St. John Houghton must have interceded for my family over the years!
You see, I grew up in a family of convinced Protestants. We thought of the Catholic Church as, at the very best, an idolatrous and un-Biblical monstrosity...Â
A series of Providential events, circumstances and encounters caused my Dad to re-evaluate the truth claims of Catholicism. He eventually converted to the Catholic Faith at Christmas 1989. Mum followed at Christmas 1990. At Easter 1993, by an outpouring of God's Grace, I was also received into the Catholic Church.
As I described recently; we all came home to the Faith at English Martyr's parish on Merseyside. We were each received by the remarkable Canon Michael Culhane (R.I.P.).Â
My middle name is John and our family name is Houghton. Nevertheless we had never heard of St. John Houghton until we saw his name listed in the martyrology on the walls inside English Martyr's Church.Â
My nephew and God-son is also called John Houghton. The rest of this blog-post is dedicated to him.
St. John Houghton was born in 1486 and went on to become the Prior of London Charterhouse.
He resisted the lust and power-seeking of King Henry XIII by refusing to admit the falsehood that the king's marriage was invalid. For this loyalty to Christ and the Sacrament of Marriage he was imprisoned for a period in the Tower of London. Â
The king next tried to remove the rights of the Church and the Papacy by establishing himself as head of the Church in England. To this end he forced Church leaders to sign the Act of Supremacy in 1534.
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The response of St. John should be an example to us in our own present day as the British Government increasingly imposes anti-Christian laws, opposed to the Natural and Divine Laws, prior to demanding our meek collusion.
When presented with the king’s demands St. John Fisher and his whole community of monks prayed for three days. On the final day they celebrated a Mass of the Holy Spirit. During Mass, at the elevation of the Blessed Sacrament, the whole community unanimously experienced the Holy Spirit blowing through the chapel and giving them the courage to resist the evil and unjust assertions of the king.
Notice here; they did not resist evil by their own powers but by the power of God received in prayer and especially through Jesus Christ in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
On this day - the 4th May - in 1535 St. John and three others were drawn to Tyburn gallows on hurdles. The great St. Thomas More saw them from his cell window in the tower and remarked to his daughter, 'Look Meg, these blessed Fathers be now going to their deaths as cheerfully as bridegrooms to their marriage!'Â
Why did they die? It is because they loved Jesus Christ and His Church so much that their consciences would choose death rather than betrayal of the source of all goodness. Such a heroic response can only come by cooperating prayerfully with the Grace of the Holy Spirit.
John was hung and then taken down from the gallows before he died in order to suffer the dreadful cruelty of being quartered...
The executioner tore open his chest and dragged out his heart. St. John, looking at his wounded heart exclaimed, 'O Jesu, what wouldst Thou do with this heart of mine?'Â Â
It is a question we would all do well to ask.Â
In 2010 British Catholics live in very grave times with the prospect of further darkness to descend. Yet the English Martyr's and their witness encourage us to hope. They remind us that, although this life is a good gift from God; still there is so much more to come for those who accept it as a passing gift and as the means of working out their eternal salvation with the aid of His Grace.
Holy Martyrs of England and Wales - Ora pro nobis!
