If it weren't the first Sunday of Advent
and if the US calendar observed the feasts of these wonderful martyrs, today would be the feast of St. Edmund Campion , St. Alexander Briant , St. Nicholas Owen , St. Thomas Garnet , Blessed John Beche, Blessed Ralph Ashley, and Blessed Richard Langley. All of these have today as their feast, though the canonized ones are included in the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales are honored with that group on October 25.
In honor of this almost-feast day, here is an excerpt from the magnificent biography Edmund Campion, by Evelyn Waugh. This is the statement of St. Edmund Campion, upon being declared guilty of the 'treason' of being a Catholic priest.
WARNING ! EXPLICIT DESCRIPTION OF MARTYRDOM INCLUDED.
" 'It was not our death that ever we feared. But we knew that we were not lords of our own lives, and therefore for want of answer would not be guilty of our deaths. The only thing that we have now to say is, that if our religion do make us traitors, we are worthy to be condemned; but otherwise we are, and have been, as good subjects as ever the Queen had.
In condemning us you condemn all your own ancestors-all the ancient priests, bishops and kings-all that once was the glory of England, the island of saints and the most devoted child of the See of Peter. For what have we taught, however you may qualify it with the odious name of treason, that they did not uniformly teach ? To be condemned with these lights-not of England only, but of the world-by their degenerate descendants, is both gladness and glory to us.
God lives; posterity will live; their judgement is not so liable to corruption as that of those who are now going to sentence us to death.'
The Lord Chief Justice answered: ' You must go to the place from whence you came, there to remain until ye shall be drawn upon hurdles to the place of execution, and there be hanged and let down alive, and your privy parts cut off, and your entrails taken out and burnt in your sight; then your heads to be cut off and your bodies divided into four parts, to be disposed of at her Majesty's pleasure. And may God have mercy on your souls.'
As the Lord Chief Justice's final commendation sounded, with peculiar irony, throughout Westminster Hall, the condemned men broke into the words of the Te Deum , and were led back in triumph to their several prisons."
and if the US calendar observed the feasts of these wonderful martyrs, today would be the feast of St. Edmund Campion , St. Alexander Briant , St. Nicholas Owen , St. Thomas Garnet , Blessed John Beche, Blessed Ralph Ashley, and Blessed Richard Langley. All of these have today as their feast, though the canonized ones are included in the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales are honored with that group on October 25.
In honor of this almost-feast day, here is an excerpt from the magnificent biography Edmund Campion, by Evelyn Waugh. This is the statement of St. Edmund Campion, upon being declared guilty of the 'treason' of being a Catholic priest.
WARNING ! EXPLICIT DESCRIPTION OF MARTYRDOM INCLUDED.
" 'It was not our death that ever we feared. But we knew that we were not lords of our own lives, and therefore for want of answer would not be guilty of our deaths. The only thing that we have now to say is, that if our religion do make us traitors, we are worthy to be condemned; but otherwise we are, and have been, as good subjects as ever the Queen had.
In condemning us you condemn all your own ancestors-all the ancient priests, bishops and kings-all that once was the glory of England, the island of saints and the most devoted child of the See of Peter. For what have we taught, however you may qualify it with the odious name of treason, that they did not uniformly teach ? To be condemned with these lights-not of England only, but of the world-by their degenerate descendants, is both gladness and glory to us.
God lives; posterity will live; their judgement is not so liable to corruption as that of those who are now going to sentence us to death.'
The Lord Chief Justice answered: ' You must go to the place from whence you came, there to remain until ye shall be drawn upon hurdles to the place of execution, and there be hanged and let down alive, and your privy parts cut off, and your entrails taken out and burnt in your sight; then your heads to be cut off and your bodies divided into four parts, to be disposed of at her Majesty's pleasure. And may God have mercy on your souls.'
As the Lord Chief Justice's final commendation sounded, with peculiar irony, throughout Westminster Hall, the condemned men broke into the words of the Te Deum , and were led back in triumph to their several prisons."
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