As part of our preparation for Pope Benedict's visit to Britain in 2010 we are publishing each week selected quotes from English saints and spiritual writers. The aim is to show the ancient history of Christianity in this land and why England was regarded as the 'chosen race'. Note that quotes are not in chronoligical order. If you have a comment or a suggestion please contact us!
Cardinal John Henry Newman - soon to be beatified by Pope Benedict
"God has created me to do him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. I have my mission; I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I have a part in a great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do His work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments and serve Him in my calling". (Meditations & Devotions)
Everyone will have heard of 'The Dream of Gerontius', a profoundly spiritual oratorio by Sir Edward Elgar, in which a Christian man faces his death. But did you know it is based on a poem by Cardinal Newman? The full text of the libretto of The Dream of Gerontius can be viewed online.
The completed Dream of Gerontius, as Elgar wrote afterwards, was "the best of me".
"I think Gerontius is one of the greatest oratorios ever written," says Boughton. "It's so powerful that it moves me to tears every time. If that's how one goes to meet one's maker, then that's fine with me."
(see also Dominic Barberi, below)
St Alban
The first British martyr. Bede suggests he was a convert to Christianity. Alban received a fugitive cleric and put on his garment and cloak and delivered himself up to be killed instead of the priest. He was executed by decapitation (the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles places his death in AD 283). When the judge delivered his sentence, Alban declared:
"I worship and adore the true and living God who created all things."
O Merciful God,Let the glorious intercession of Thy saints assist us;
Particularly the most blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Thy only-begotten Son,
And thy holy apostles, Peter and Paul,
To whose patronage we humbly recommend this country.
Be mindful of our fathers,Eleutherius, Celestine and Gregory,
Bishops of the Holy City;
Of Augustine, Columba and Aidan,
Who delivered to us inviolate the faith of the holy Roman Church.
Remember our holy martyrs, who shed their blood for Christ;
Especially our first martyr,Saint Alban, and thy most glorious bishop,Saint Thomas of Canterbury.
Remember all those holy confessors, bishops and kings,
All those holy monks and hermits,
All those holy virgins and widows Who made this once an Island of Saints,
Illustrious by their glorious merits and virtues.
Let not their memory perish from before thee, O Lord,
But let their supplication enter daily into Thy sight;
And do Thou, who didst so often spare Thy sinful people for the sake
of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, now also,
Moved by the prayers of our fathers, reigning with thee,
Have mercy upon us, save Thy people and bless Thine inheritance;
And suffer not those souls to perish,
Which Thy Son hath redeemed with His most Precious Blood,
Who liveth and reigneth with Thee,
World without end.
Amen.
St Philip Howard
One of the Forty Martyrs of England & Wales, 13th Earl of Arundel. Philip was put on trial and falsly charged with praying for a Spanish victory during the Spanish Armada. He was sentenced to death but died of disease. He was just 39 when he died in 1595 having spent the last 11 years of his life in the Tower of London. You can still see the following inscription he wrote in his cell:
'The more affliction we endure for Christ in this world, the more glory we shall obtain with Christ in the next.'
Julian of Norwich
Acknowledged as one of the greatest English mystics (1342-1416 ?), Julian was an anchoress or a hermit. She probably was called Julian because her hermitage was attached to the church of that name in Norwich. She wrote the following on prayer:-
"Pray inwardly, even if you do not enjoy it. It does good, though you feel nothing. Yes, even though you think you are doing nothing.
Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance. It is laying hold of His willingness. This is our Lord's will, ... that our prayer and our trust be, alike, large. For if we do not trust as much as we pray, we fail in full worship to our Lord in our prayer; and also we hinder and hurt ourselves. The reason is that we do not know truly that our Lord is the ground from which our prayer springeth; nor do we know that it is given us by his grace and his love. If we knew this, it would make us trust to have of our Lord's gifts all that we desire. For I am sure that no man asketh mercy and grace with sincerity, without mercy and grace being given to him first".
Julian is quoted by T.S. Eliot in the Four Quartets:
Whatever we inherit from the fortunate
We have taken from the defeated
What they had to leave us—a symbol:
A symbol perfected in death.
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
By the purification of the motive
In the ground of our beseeching
Further reading: an excellent outline of her contribution on Wiki
Passages from the Venerable Bede on the conversion of England - the arrival of missionaries in Kent sent by Gregory the Great (AD 597):-
When Augustine had sat down, pursuant to the king's commands, and preached to him and his attendants there present the word of life, the king answered thus: " Your words and promises are very fair, but they are new to us and of uncertain import, and I cannot approve of them so far as to forsake that which I have so long followed with the whole English nation. But because you are come from far into my kingdom, and, as I conceive, are desirous to impart to us those things which you believe to be true and most beneficial, we will not molest you, but give you favorable entertainment and take care to supply you with the necessary sustenance; nor do we forbid you to preach and gain as many as you can to your religion."
Accordingly, he permitted them to reside in the city of Canterbury, which was the metropolis of all his dominions, and pursuant of his promise, besides allowing them sustenance, did not refuse them the liberty to preach. . . .
As soon as they entered the dwelling place assigned them, they began to imitate the course of life practiced in the primitive church : applying themselves to frequent prayer, watching, and fasting; preaching the word of life to as many as they could; despising all worldly things, as not belonging to them; receiving only their necessary food from those they taught; living in all respects conformably to what they prescribed to others, and being always disposed to suffer any adversity, and even to die for that truth which they preached. In short, several believed and were baptized, admiring the simplicity of their innocent life and the sweetness of their heavenly doctrine.
Another writing from Bede on the subject of death:
"We seem to give them back to you, O God, who gave them first to us. Yet as you did not lose them in giving, so we do not lose them by their return. Not as the world gives do you give. What you give you do not take away. For what is yours is also ours. We are yours and life is eternal. And love is immortal, and death is only a horizon, and a horizon is but the limit to our sight".
Blessed Dominic Barberi was born in Italy in 1792 and died in Reading, England in 1849. He was beatified by Pope Paul VI in 1963. He is known as 'The Apostle of England'. He received John Henry Newman (later Cardinal) into the Church.
J. Brodrick S.J. in his work on the 'Second Spring' of Catholicism in England, says of Father Dominic's arrival;
"The second spring did not begin when Newman was converted nor when the hierarchy was restored. It began on a bleak October day of 1841, when a little Italian priest in comical attire shuffled down a ship's gangway at Folkstone."
One day Dominic was being persued down the street by a Protestant cleric denouncing transubstatiation. Dominic turned and said, "Jesus proclaimed over the consecrated elements that this was his body, but you say it isn't! I prefer to trust in the words of Christ".
Newman writes of him:-
From the Apologia
On October the 8th I wrote to a number of friends the following letter:—
“Littlemore, October 8th, 1845. I am this night expecting Father Dominic, the Passionist, who, from his youth, has been led to have distinct and direct thoughts, first of the countries of the North, then of England. After thirty years’ (almost) waiting, he was without his own act sent here. But he has had little to do with conversions. I saw him here for a few minutes on St. John Baptist’s day last year. He is a simple, holy man; and withal gifted with remarkable powers. He does not know of my intention; but I mean to ask of him admission into the one Fold of Christ …”
St Edmund Campion
England has produced countless martyrs for the Catholic faith, most of them during cruel persecution at the Reformation. If you weren't put to death for being a Catholic, you suffered fines or imprisonment. St Edmund Campion is one of the 40 martyrs of England and Wales and joins the illustrious company of the Carthusian martyrs and Sts John Fisher and Thomas More. I am so very proud (John in England speaking) that my family can trace our roots to St John Rigby! During the Reformation 85 men and women (some priests) were put to death on false and dubious claims of treason - see Wiki for further details.
Committed to the Tower of London, he was questioned in the presence of Queen Elizabeth, who asked him if he acknowledged her to be the true Queen of England. He replied in the affirmative, and she offered him wealth and dignities, but on condition of rejecting his Catholic faith, which he refused to accept. He was kept a long time in prison and reputedly racked twice. Despite the effect of a false rumour of retraction and a forged confession, his adversaries summoned him to four public conferences (September 1, 18, 23 and 27, 1581). Although still suffering from his ill treatment, and allowed neither time nor books for preparation, he reportedly conducted himself so easily and readily that he won the admiration of most of the audience. Tortured again on October 31, he was indicted at Westminster on a charge of having conspired, along with others, in Rome and Reims to raise a sedition in the realm and dethrone the Queen.
Campion was sentenced to death as a traitor. He answered: "In condemning us, you condemn all your own ancestors, all our ancient bishops and kings, all that was once the glory of England -- the island of saints, and the most devoted child of the See of Peter." He received the death sentence with the Te Deum laudamus. After spending his last days in prayer he was led with two companions to Tyburn and hanged, drawn and quartered on December 1, 1581, aged 41.
"And touching our Society, be it known to you that we have made a league - all the Jesuits in the world - cheerfully to carry the cross you shall lay upon us, and never to despair your recovery, while we have a man left to enjoy your Tyburn, or to be racked with your torments or consumed with your prisons. The expense is reckoned, the enterprise is begun; it is of God, it cannot be withstood. So the faith was planted; so it must be restored."
See also the whole of "Campion's Brag"
St Richard of Chichester (1197-1253) and Bishop of Chichester in Sussex. Reformed the morals of his clergy. Most famous for the prayer attributed to him on his deathbed:-
Thanks be to Thee, my Lord Jesus Christ
For all the benefits Thou hast given me,
For all the pains and insults Thou hast borne for me.
O most merciful Redeemer, friend and brother,
May I know Thee more clearly,
Love Thee more dearly,
Follow Thee more nearly.In seeking your vocation, use this prayer every day!
Fr Ignatius Spencer (1779-1864) - son of 2nd Earl Spencer. An ordained Protestant Minister who converted to Catholicism, and whose descendents include the late Princess of Wales (Diana) and Princes William and Harry. Fr Spencer wrote the following from the English College in Rome after ordination as a subdeacon. In England it is still against the law for the sovereign to be a Catholic and Catholic Bishops are excluded from the House of Lords!
"The next minute led me to the reflection; Have I any right to stand in that pulpit, being once convinced that the Church is heretical to which it belongs? Am I safe in exposing myself to the danger which may attend one day’s travelling, while I turn my back on the Church of God, which now calls me to unite myself to her for ever? I said to Phillipps, if this step is right for me to take next week, it is my duty to take it now. My resolution is made; to-morrow I wilt be received into the Church, We lost no time in dispatching a messenger to my father, to inform him of this unexpected event: as I was forming my last resolution, the thought of him came across me: will it not be said, that I endanger his very life by so sudden and severe a shock? ought I not, in deference and in tenderness towards him, at least, to go home and break it gently to him? The words of our Lord rose before me, and answered all my doubts: “He that hateth not father and mother, and brothers, and sisters, and houses, and lands, and his own life, too, cannot be my disciple:’ To thee Lord, then, I trusted for the support and comfort of my dear father under the trial; which in obedience to his call, I was about to inflict upon him. I had no further anxiety to disturb me: God alone knows the peace and joy with which I laid me down that night to rest. The next day, at nine o’clock, the Church received me for her child.
To this account given of my conversion, I need only add that I am now in theEnglish College at Rome, studying for holy orders; and have already received the order of subdeacon. I had inquired after the truth, not only for my own sake, but for that of others, who already were looking or might hereafter look up to me for instruction; and my first wish, when the knowledge of it broke upon my mind, was to communicate to others what I had discovered, and persuade them to follow it with me. I proposed myself, therefore, to the Catholic Vicar Apostolic of the district in which I resided, as desirous of ordination, and would willingly have entered immediately on the work of a missionary. I was soon convinced, however, that God required of me to submit implicitly to the judgment of my superiors, and to leave myself at their disposal. In obedience to them I am in my present situation, where every new enquiry in which the course of my studies lends me, and every conversation I have with my Protestant brethren, whom I occasionally meet in this place, assure me more and more that if there is a true religion upon earth, it is the Catholic Church, and that in joining that Church I have done what, if I live according to its holy precepts, insures to me in this life the possession of true peace of heart, and will lead to eternal happiness in the next".
>> next page (includes St Thomas More)
