On October 25, 1970, Pope Paul VI canonized 40 saints of England and Wales. During the November 1969 deliberations, Dr. Michael Ramsey, archbishop of Canterbury, said the proposed canonization might rekindle animosity, which is detrimental to ecumenism efforts.
However, reactions from both Anglican, Catholics and lay people did not support his claim. Eighty-five percent of the huge number of materials established clear historical situations that the 40 blessed martyrs deserved to be canonized.
Likewise, 40 cardinals of the Roman Curia and from other countries took part in the Consistory and judged the cause of 33 priests and seven laymen favorably.
The 33 religious men consisted of 13 secular priests, 10 Jesuits, three Benedictines, three Carthusians, two Franciscans and one each of Brigittine and Augustian.
The canonization brought to a total 284 beatified or canonized martyrs during the English Reformation. Among the 40 saints was Saint Polydore Plasden whose feast day is December 10.
Reign of two queens
The Church of England broke away from the Roman Catholic Church during the English Reformation. When Queen Mary I ascended to the throne in 1553, she reconciled England with the pope. Her reign ensued 283 Protestants burned at stake for heresy. “Bloody Mary” died in November 1558.
Elizabeth, her half-sister, the daughter of King Henry VIII and Ann Boleyn, succeeded Mary I. Queen Elizabeth reigned from November 17, 1558, to 1603.
Determined to “rule by good counsel,” she convened a group of trusted advisers. The Act of Supremacy of May 8, 1559, accorded her the title, Supreme Governor of the English Protestant Church of England, and required all public officials to swear oath of loyalty to the queen. Since the Act did not indicate the direction of the church, there was difficulty stopping support for Catholics.
During the first decade of her reign, according to some historians, the Catholics did not suffer much despite their antagonistic attitude toward “Good Queen Bess.”
Reigning on high
Queen Elzabeth’s antagonistic attitude toward Catholics started when Pope Pius V issued Regnans in Excelsis (Reigning on High). The Papal Bull (papal decree) called Elizabeth the “false Queen of England and the servant of crime.” The Bull, likewise, released all her subjects from any allegiance to her. The February 25, 1570, Bull called the queen as heretic, and excommunicated anyone who obeyed her orders.
The queen considered the Catholics as a major threat and started to issue anti-Catholic decrees. Attendance and celebration of Catholic Mass and all forms of religious practices were considered illegal.
All sacramental, or sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments, were banned. Nonattendance at the Church of England and educating children with teachers not licensed by the Anglican diocesan bishop were considered crimes.
Getting ordained overseas was punishable by death. In 1585 all Catholic priests were driven out of England. So, the Catholic church went underground.
Mass at Gray Inn Fields
Polydore Plasden, a great patron of the Blessed Sacrament, was born in 1563. He learned how to play musical instruments in his father’s horner shop in London. He studied in the English College of Reims, where he met Edmund Jennings, a thoughtful, serious fellow who converted to Catholicism at 16. Faith in God was their favorite topic of conversation.
After their ordination they returned to England, went on separate ways to evangelize, hear their confessions and counsel people to be faithful to God, despite threats to life. Swithum Wells, a protestant schoolmaster who converted to the faith, was a constant supporter in their religious pursuits to convert their countrymen to the Catholic faith. A member of the cultured Elizabethan Society, he was a traveled man known for sports and hunting.
After the November 28, 1570, meeting at Gray Inn Fields, the home of Wells, it was agreed that Jennings would officiate the Mass. Fr. Eustace White of Lincolnshire, who was disowned by his father when he converted to Catholicism, would be with the group.
John Mason, a convert, was assigned to be at the door of the room. Sydney Hodgson, a lawyer and a convert, too, was to assist Mason.
Tortured, executed
During the consecration, loud knocks at the door startled the group. Hodgson blocked the door. The priests made sure no fragments of the Eucharist were left for desecration.
Plasden left the room and talked with Richard Topcliffe, the queen’s chief enforcer of law against Catholicism and torture master. Plasden assured him that they would all surrender after the Mass.
Arrested, they were all thrown in the dungeon and tortured. Their lives would be spared if they request for clemency and deny their faith. However, no one was willing to do so. At the time of the execution, on December 10, 1591, Plasden acknowledged Elizabeth as the lawful queen, would “defend to his best of his powers against enemies, but he opted to forfeit a thousand lives than deny or fight against his religion.” He was hanged at Tyburn until he died.
Jennings was dragged along the streets of London after his heart was removed. He was hanged at Gray Inn where he celebrated Mass. Although Wells was not present during the Mass, he boldly declared he wished he was. On the way to the gallows, he saw a friend in the crowd—“Farewell my dear. Too, to our hunting parties.”
Stripped of his clothes as he suffered the bitter cold, Wells told Topcliffe: “Hurry up please, Mr. Topcliffe. Are you not ashamed to make a poor old man suffer in his shirt in this cold?”
At the scaffold, he said, “I pray God to make you a Paul of Saul, a bloody persecutor, one of the Catholic Church’s children.” His wife, Alice, was reprieved and died in prison in 1602.
Pope Paul VI cited the ecumenical value of the cause for canonization. The L’Observatore Romano on October 29, 1970, said “not only Christian,” religion is still exposed to persecution in the world, but also because of the prevalence of materialism and naturalism, which “threaten to destroy the spiritual heritage of our civilization.”
The 40 saints were commemorated by the Catholic Church on October 25, which is also the feast of Saint Crispin and Crispinian, but are now celebrated with the 284 canonized or beatified martyrs of English Reformation on May 4.
In the Wales Catholic Church, October 25 is kept as the feast of the six Welsh martyrs and their 34 companions who were martyred on December 10, 1591.
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Santiago is a former regional director of the Department of Education National Capital Region. She is currently a faculty member of Mater Redemptoris Collegium in Calauan, Laguna, and of Mater Redemptoris College in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija.