From Today 's Office of Readings

Judith 8:25-27 Douay-Rheims

25 Were destroyed by the destroyer, and perished by serpents.

26 As for us therefore let us not revenge ourselves for these things which we suffer.

27 But esteeming these very punishments to be less than our sins deserve, let us believe that these scourges of the Lord, with which like servants we are chastised, have happened for our amendment, and not for our destruction.

People ask me, "Why do we have to live in these hard times?"

Now, as a Boomer, I have parents who lived through World War II. My dad is a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge. That war created extremely hard times.

For awhile, we all witnessed, at least in the West, times of peace, despite the Cold War and various smaller wars here and there. But, the sins of abortion, euthanasia, and sodomy cry out to a God, Who is Purity and Innocence Himself, as seen in Christ, as well as shared attributes in the Trinity.

This Holy God sends trials, such as the serpents in the desert, whose bites were healed through the intercession of Moses, a sign revealing the coming Savior Who would save us from sin through His Passion and Death. 

Numbers 21:9 Douay-Rheims

9 Moses therefore made a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: which when they that were bitten looked upon, they were healed.

Christians suffer as well as those who live in sin and turn away from God. But, we, too, need to be punished in order to see our sins, know ourselves, and come to God in humility.

If one accepts suffering as deserved, which it is, these times become days of grace, not merely hard times.

The Four Angels of the Euphrates

This week, the words from the last book of the Bible seem more real than in recent times past.

The word "sorceries" in this translation is "witchcraft" in some others.

The basic demon behind Masonry is witchcraft, and there are many popular forms of witchcraft in the world today--many. Do not pretend that people are making bad, evil choices against God daily.

Call people in your families to repentance now. The time is short. The angels described are avenging angels.  In Europe, such as in France, there are stained glass windows of the Four Angels of the Euphrates. Look closely at the wording of this passage from today's Divine Office. Look closely. The angels are unbound, loosened by the Heavenly Angels to accomplish God's wrath against evil.

Pray, become perfect, be obedient to the rules and laws of Holy Mother Church, turn to Mary, Our Mother. Instruct the ignorant and do penance for those who seem hard-hearted. Pray for the grace of final perseverance. Pray for me that I can live in a place where I can get to daily Mass.

Pray for our good priests and seminarians, who will face those who hate Christ and His Church.

Revelation 9:13-21Douay-Rheims 

13 And the sixth angel sounded the trumpet: and I heard a voice from the four horns of the great altar, which is before the eyes of God,

14 Saying to the sixth angel, who had the trumpet: Loose the four angels, who are bound in the great river Euphrates.

15 And the four angels were loosed, who were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year: for to kill the third part of men.

16 And the number of the army of horsemen was twenty thousand times ten thousand. And I heard the number of them.

17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision: and they that sat on them, had breastplates of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone, and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions: and from their mouths proceeded fire, and smoke, and brimstone.

18 And by these three plagues was slain the third part of men, by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths, and in their tails. For, their tails are like to serpents, and have heads: and with them they hurt.

20 And the rest of the men, who were not slain by these plagues, did not do penance from the works of their hands, that they should not adore devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:

21 Neither did they penance from their murders, nor from their sorceries, nor from their fornication, nor from their thefts.

From the Acts Today

"Tomb of Saint John the Apostle" by Me, but logged in at en.wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - 

That day a severe persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him.3 But Saul was ravaging the church by entering house after house; dragging off both men and women, he committed them to prison.

"Simone Cantarini - São João Batista em Meditação" by Simone Cantarini - Scanned from Boletim do Instituto de História da Arte do MASP (1997). Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - 

Today, we read in Acts 8:1-8 of the outbreak of persecution against the Catholics immediately after the martyrdom of St. Stephen. Jerusalem, of course, was the center of the persecution at this time. It seems that only a few disciples and the apostles remained in Jerusalem. It is at this time that St. John would have taken Our Lady Mary out of Jerusalem to Ephesus, the third largest city in Roman Asia Minor, with a population, perhaps, of about 45,000 to 56,000, close to the population of Biloxi, Mississippi and smaller than Maple Grove, Minnesota. Ephesus would have been a good place to go as it was large enough to hide in and close enough to get to easily, most likely by ship. 

St. John had to have some income of substance to take Mary up to Ephesus and make a home for her. Ephesus is one of the seven churches in the book of Revelation, and St. Paul was there for two years between 52-54. Tradition notes that Mary died and was assumed into heaven at about the age of 63. If she was 18 at the time of Christ's birth, for example, Mary would have left this earth in the year 45, seven years before St. Paul's stay, and only 12 years after the Ascension. She would have, then, lived in Ephesus for those 12 years. We know that St. John lived to be old, as his last work was written about 100, making him, at least in his late 80s or early 90s, as tradition has it that he was a young man of less than 20 when he was called to follow Christ. Again, tradition has passed down the fact that he died about the year 100.

"Rubens apostel johannes grt" by Peter Paul Rubens - http://www.artbible.info/art/topics/rubens-apostles-series. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons -

The scattering of the Catholics spread the Gospel, so that eventually, even the apostles moved to other lands. All were martyred except for St. John, who endured the Cross with Christ on Gethsemane and was, therefore, spared martyrdom. That Mary was safe in the care of the resourceful St. John, not only a mystic and evangelist, but a resourceful protector, reveals that God chose a good man to take care of His Mother, Mary.

My little chapel here is called St. Mary of the Angels and Martyrs at Ephesus. However, God has not given me a young John to help me in my exile. I note today that there are few if no places to run and hide now in this world, if persecution is worldwide for Christians. 

We cannot invite non-Christians to Church? Why? Persecution Watch.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3026259/Devout-Christian-NHS-worker-launches-appeal-suspended-inviting-Muslim-colleague-church.html

Miss Wasteney will be represented in court by human rights barrister Paul Diamond, and her appeal is supported by the Christian Legal Centre, according to The Sunday Times. 

Chief executive of the centre Andrea Williams told the paper: ‘Persecution starts with marginalisation.

‘Where countries let go of a cohesive Christian world view you get chaos and marginalisation.

‘We are letting go of what has given us our freedom.’

Violent attempts to revise history

Numerous historic buildings and archaeological locations, including all six UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Syria, have been damaged.

http://www.spyghana.com/is-brings-down-syrias-historical-virgin-mary-church/

On Female Religious Vocations

In the United States, unlike Europe, only a handful of contemplative, traditional nuns exist today.

I can only think of four convents, or rather monasteries, as these contemplative places are truly called, which I can recommend.

The problem centers on the American Catholic preoccupation with action. The active orders, such as the excellent Dominican Sisters of Mary, the Mother of the Eucharist, have more popularity in the States than contemplative ones. Another great active order is the Sisters of Life, from New York, which are partly contemplative.

But, what is sorely missing on this continent are the religious orders which pray and work within the confines of the monastic rule, such as the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles.

St. Faustina had a vision concerning the need for the sacrifices and prayers of the contemplative orders. After this snippet, I shall explain what I am doing.

"During the renewal of the vows, I saw the Lord Jesus on the Epistle side (of the altar), wearing a white garment with a golden belt and holding a terrible sword in His hand. This lasted until the moment when the sisters began to renew their vows. Then I saw a resplendence beyond compare and, in front of this brilliance, a white cloud in the shape of a scale. Then Jesus approached and put the sword on one side of the scale, and it fell heavily towards the ground until it was about to touch it. Just then the sisters finished renewing their vows. Then I saw Angels who took something from each of the sisters and placed it in a golden vessel on the other side of the scale, it immediately out weighed and raised up the side on which the sword had been laid. At that moment, a flame issued forth from the thurible, and it reached all the way to the brilliance. Then I heard a voice coming from the brilliance: "Put the sword back in its place; the sacrifice is greater."

It is becoming clearer daily to me now that I have this humble and sadly under-furnished chapel here, that my daily monastic life in the world is exactly what God wants for me. This daily prayer and work combination, very Benedictine, of course, has been shown to me to be a great need on the scales of sacrifice noted above.

Now, vows constitute a much more powerful spiritual power than my small actions daily, as I have made no vows. Yet, daily, even hourly, a cloud has lifted, a cloud of doubt, being replaced by a calm light of assurance that something good is coming out of my decision to pursue monasticism in the world, in a very small manner.

One person in a remote neighborhood with the grace of God, the rule of discipline, and the sacrifice of a desired life for one of obscurity and no comforts, can change an neighborhood, an area, souls. I am being encouraged,

One woman said to me the other day after we prayed together briefly that she wishes she could join me, as the experience of prayer was like being in a monastery. However, she has six children and this was a mere respite for her.

This little chapel is that respite, this little cell in the world. 

I pray that young women answer the call to the contemplative life. Christ needs such women to balance the judgement on the one side of the scales.

Who knows? If enough young women responded, maybe the coming tribulation could be lessened, or even avoided.

Parents, encourage your daughters to think and visit these orders of contemplation. The Church and society need contemplatives more than ever today.

Please pray about helping me outfit this little chapel. I still need a real altar, linens, and kneelers, as well as a standing crucifix and tall candlesticks, as the candlesticks I am using are borrowed. The owner of the house has given me permission to "go for it", meaning she likes the idea of a chapel in her empty house. Someone will sell me a portable altar at a reduced price, with linens, but I have no money for this.

I have many icons now, and will be getting some smallish statues soon from a reader. 

Remember the chapel, St. Mary of the Angels and Martyrs, in Ephesus in your prayers.

Repost for Good Friday

Thursday, 11 April 2013

NO MORE HIDING PLACES?: On Being a Recusant Catholic or Conscientious Christian from Another Denomination in 2013

Posted by Supertradmum

Where are the hiding places? 

LifeSiteNews in the article I just noted in the last post, also refers to two other cases where those who have had religious convictions against gay marriage have been persecuted. Fines are persecutions. Ask the descendants of the once wealthy Recusant families in England. 

However many families, including the Mores, the Ropers, the Throckmortons, the Selbys, the Bounts, the Arundels (for centuries), and perhaps even the Shakespeares were fined over and over and over. From 1581, one sees this in the annals. Many families fled to France. Some were torn to pieces as sides were taken, such as in the Throckmorton Family. Some came to the States and Canada, such as the family noted below in the note. There are few, if any, hiding places NOW.

Recusancy. After 1581, recusancy became an indictable offence, so recusants often appear in quarter sessions records and the fines levied were recorded in the pipe rolls. After 1592 a separate series of rolls, the recusant rolls was created for this purpose which continues until 1691. The pipe rolls also contain the accounts of fines and forfeitures of lands collected under the recusancy acts. Pipe and recusancy rolls are available for viewing at TNA. In 1581, the fine for missing an Anglican service was raised to twenty pounds per month. Also, in that year, a treasonable offence resulting in death was committed by anyone converting to Catholicism or attempting to convert others to the religion. In addition, a fine of 100 marks and a year in prison was imposed on those hearing mass. The details of criminal proceeding and fines levied should be contained within quarter session records. An Act of 1581 also forbade the Catholic education of children. Notice the last sentence. Parents were no longer allowed to raise their children in the Catholic Faith. Are you paying attention? More on the flower fines from another angle. FromLifeSiteNews. There are more links. The combination of legalizing same-sex “marriage” and odious “anti-discrimination” laws have faithful Christians saying their freedom of religion is being violated. And the court cases are piling up. An appeals court in New Mexico found a Christian couple, Elaine and Jonathan Huguenin, guilty of “discrimination” for refusing to photograph a homosexual “wedding.” They were ordered to pay more than $6,600 in fines after denying their services. Canadian homosexual activists demanded “born again Christian” florist Kimberly Evans of New Brunswick be taken to court for refusing to sell flowers for a gay “wedding.” Victoria Childress of Des Moines also faced threats of legal action for refusing to bake a cake for a homosexual ceremony on the grounds that it violated her Christian faith. More on the Recusancy Laws can be found here. I have taken a few of the laws and copied these. 1592 The first separate recusant rolls were compiled consisting mainly of Catholics and lasted up to 1691 (previously recusancy was recorded in the pipe rolls). The rolls recorded the punishments and fines of those who refused to conform to the Anglican doctrine. Memoranda Rolls 1217-1835: includes records of seizure of recusants' lands. 1593 Catholics were obliged to obtain permission to travel beyond five miles from their homes and those absent from home for more than three months were to leave the country. Another Act of the same year ordered that people of the age of 16 who refused to attend an Anglican service were to be imprisoned. Catholics had to worship in isolated places 1606 The Oath of Allegiance was introduced, denying the authority of the Pope and those that refused to swear the oath were liable to be imprisoned. Convicted recusants were ordered to receive Anglican communion once a year or face a fine or seizure of their property. Recusants were also barred from office and professions including the military. Informers were paid £50 for revealing a priest saying mass or persons attending mass. All the restrictions applied to a Protestant who married a Catholic wife. 1625 Catholics forced to pay a double rate of taxation. Tax records can be found in Lay Subsidy Rolls and Catholics and other nonconformists should be recognisable as they paid a double rate. 1661 Clarendon Code 1661-1665. Four Acts passed designed to emasculate the power of nonconformists. Corporation Act. (1661). Catholics and other nonconformists were excluded from official posts unless they took the sacrament of holy communion at an Anglican service. 1662 Act of Conformity. The Act excluded Catholics from holding church office. 1662 Conventicle Act. Made meetings for Catholic and nonconformist worship illegal, even in private houses, where more than four outsiders were present 1665 The Five-Mile Act. Nonconformist and Catholic ministers were forbidden to live or visit within five miles of a town or any other place where they had preached. 1672 Declaration of Indulgence. The Penal Laws against Catholics were relaxed. 1673 Test Act. The strength of anti-Catholic feeling led parliament to order the enforcement of the recusancy laws and pass the Test Act in retaliation against the Declaration of Indulgence. The Act required all those taking up an official post, civil or military, to take the oath and to submit a sacrament certificate that they had taken Anglican communion. Between 1689 and 1702, the requirement to take the oaths and test was extended to beneficed clergy, members of the universities, lawyers, schoolteachers and preachers. The declarations can be found in TNA. 1676 A proclamation ordered a survey of every recusant aged 16 and over. The names were handed to the local Justice of the Peace who called on those named to take the oath or be jailed. 1678 The Popish Plot. A fictitious plot made up by Titus Oates which alleged that Catholics were planning to assassinate King Charles II and bring the Catholic Duke of York to the throne. Estreats Rolls held at TNA hold information on fines imposed on Catholics following the alleged plot. The Estreats Rolls contain valuable genealogical information on those accused of recusancy in the local courts. They will include the recusant's name, parish, rank or occupation and the fine levied. http://hutchinsonfamilyhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/hutchinson-family-were-catholic.html 1689 The Bill of Rights excluded Catholics from the royal succession. New oaths of supremacy and allegiance were passed and measures were introduced to restrict the freedom of movement of Catholics. The Toleration Act of 1689 eased some restrictions, but the specific acts under the Clarendon Code were not repealed until the 19th century. 1692 Following the double rate of taxation Catholics were forced to pay in 1625, Catholics were obliged to pay double land tax. Catholics and other nonconformist entries should be recognisable amongst the land tax records as they paid double the rate of others. 1699 Recusants were barred from purchasing or inheriting land and any Catholics found practicing their religion could be jailed for life. 1702 The Security of Succession Act. The Act introduced an oath whereby all officials had to deny the right of the son of the exiled James II to succeed to the throne. Some returns of Catholics taking oaths are held by TNA as well as certificates of those who refused to take the oath. 1714 Security of the Sovereign Act. TNA holds certificates of those who refused to take the oath. 1715 Catholics were blamed collectively for the Jacobite rebellion. As a result, everyone over the age of 18 was compelled to swear an Oath of Allegiance. Lists of those who refused to take the oath are normally available at county record offices. 1716 Catholics were required to enrol documents such as wills and conveyances that involved the transfer of property and details can be found in close rolls held by TNA. 1723 Following the Jacobite rebellion of 1715, Catholics refusing to take the oaths of loyalty were required to register their names and estates at quarter sessions or face the seizure of their property. The returns describe the estates in detail, giving precise locations and dimensions of lands. The Forfeited Estates Commission was responsible for overseeing the seizure of the estates and details can be found in the close rolls held at TNA. Resucant Thomas Throckmorton's Tomb

Note from The Bell-Wether-The Green Wood

For only the second time in my adult life, I missed Holy Thursday Mass. However, I am going into a silent retreat tonight which will end Easter morning. Not the same as being with my people, but....

When I ponder on the reasons why I could not get to church today, one thing stuck in my mind.

As usual, I experience something harsh before my fellow brothers and sisters in order to warn them.

In the not too distant future, many of us, perhaps the majority, may not have access to the Triduum. If you do now, take advantage of this great grace.

Many enemies both outside and inside the Church bear upon our daily lives, but this situation will come to a crisis soon.

No priests, or only disobedient ones, no bishops, or only disobedient ones, no sacraments...and so on, will be the norm in many dioceses.

So, tonight, as I begin a time of solitary prayer, I am reminded of the recusants in my beloved England, who did not have the Mass or sacraments except on rare occasions.

Pray for yourselves...Christ's warning to the Women of Jerusalem echo tonight. The Jews and Romans used the green wood to fashion Jesus' Cross...when things are going well, this is how some people act. What will happen in times of great tribulation?

Luke 23

26 As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27 A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. 28 But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the days are surely coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’ 30 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ 31 For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Caught Up in Chaos

So many Catholics do not see what is happening. I am aware of much more persecution of the Church in so-called civilized nations which I am not free to share on this blog.

But, let me share this. We are all going to be caught up in chaos just by being Catholics.

Whether we desire to suffer or not, this type of suffering will happen soon.

Even peripherally, some of us will be involved in the persecution of others who have been more public, more brave than we are.

Do not kid yourselves on this subject of being involved because you are Catholic.

All Catholics will soon have to make serious decisions about their Faith.

In the past two days, two things have happened in European countries which have seriously impinged on the ability of priests to preach the Gospel and the truth of the Catholic Church.

Some lay people have chosen to back down from confrontations which others have brought into their worlds. Some Catholics want the Church to change teachings in order to avoid confrontations with national governments. They are afraid. To compromise seems a good to these people who cannot see how these compromises their very salvation.

I try and tell people this protection because of compromise will not happen, but people are becoming so afraid, they are being encouraged into believing safety is in cooperating with evil. I understand this fear and instability. I have known that as a blogger I am more vulnerable than most Catholics. All Catholic bloggers will fact the decision as to whether to continue or not in the face of growing opposition to the topics we cover. But, all educators and preachers are vulnerable. Very....

One must balance prudence with ministry. This takes prayer and discernment.

To think that Catholics will be able to avoid chaos and the result of chaos is naive.

As I have written before, when nations become paranoid, they look for scapegoats. Read my series earlier this year marked in the tags about Rome, February 24.

The Christians in Rome lived very low-key lives. Yet, they became seen as a great threat to the government which demanded that all people conform to the state religion.

The state religion of the West is now gross secularism, which denies both natural law and absolute truth. Those of us who know the truth are seen as threats to those supporting the institutionalized denial of God's law and man's real nature. The soul is being denied. When that happens in law, chaos will follow.

Families will be affected as individuals are affected. Religious brothers and sisters will be affected, as well as priests and bishops.

The greatest persecution of Catholics the world has ever seen, including that of the old Soviet Union and China, will come upon us all.

Support those who have the freedom to write, make videos, make television shows, etc. Support your Catholic bloggers. Some groups will be able to continue longer than others, but one reason God put me here is to see the army of the enemy pushing towards the trenches. The language of warfare is the necessary vocabulary for the spiritual warfare we are seeing increasing in both Europe and America.

Take advantage of the freedom we know and now have for a short while.

You will not have such clear teaching as you have had to date in the future. Pray for me and some others who are facing the world alone without a community. We are moving rapidly into dangerous times, and you all need to seek community.

I have already been affected personally, and things will get worse. Pray for me to find that community where God wants me to be very quiet and pray. The days for blogging are numbered, believe me. Today and yesterday, I had personal warnings of this reality.

I may have to tell you one day very quickly that the blog is ending. Do not be surprised by this.

The two virtues one must develop at this time are prudence and wisdom.

Pray for those in yourself and in me.

STM

A Reminder

I wrote about this several times in the past three years....

Check out this link. http://reginamag.com/unknown-catholic-genocide/

Reminder Reposts

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/02/three-re-post-re-posts.html

They Were Catholics

Many years ago, when I wrote a book of historical poetry and monologues on Fountains Abbey, I had access to two libraries' special collections. I also had a Reader's Pass to the British Library.

In these collections, I discovered books of the actual letters of Thomas Cromwell's visitators to the abbeys and monasteries of England and Wales. As the master-mind behind the suppression of the monasteries, Cromwell dictated the rules, organized the men, and oversaw the systematic theft, destruction, and murder of the land, buildings, and inhabitants, not only of Fountains, but the hundred of other holy houses.

Cromwell oversaw and caused the downfall of SS. John Fisher and Thomas More, as well as the persecution of Katherine of Aragon and the death of Anne Boleyn. Cromwell said of the excellent Queen Katherine, (who should be canonized), that "If not for her sex, she could have defied all the heroes of History".  

He master-minded the complete change of the face of English spirituality. At the beginning of his several steps of suppression, there were at least 900 religious houses, including monasteries, priories and convents, involving over 12,000 persons in the land. He was responsible for the destruction of the shrine of Thomas a Becket, among all the other shrines, including Walsingham, the only place where Mary had appeared in England and, like Canterbury, one of the two major pilgrimage sites in England. All these places not only were physically destroyed, but ruined in memory.

At the end of the few years of violence, only a handful of religious houses remained, those which had gone over to Henry, all under the control of Cromwell. The Visitators were led and controlled by a group of commissioners of the Valor Ecclesiaticus, and the later general visitation of 1535, Richard Layton, Thomas Leigh, John ap Rice and John Tregonwell, who "visited" the holy houses themselves and wrote back to Cromwell. One of the Visitators sent to Walshingham was the grandfather of St. Robert Southwell, Sir Richard Southwell, who became wealthy from his part of the theft. John Tregonwell, for example, went to Oxford to force the religious to take the Oath of Supremacy. At first, the suppression was supposedly a commission to collect data on the wealth of the religious houses, but quickly these visitations included the forcing of the oath, and the destruction of the houses.

Cromwell also raised Hugh Latimer and others to positions of great power in the newly formed Anglican "church".  The fact that letters remain testifies to the vast organization which Cromwell establish in order to destroy the Catholic Church.

Reading the actual letters of these men who were sent to Walsingham, Glastonbury, Furness, Buckfast and the long list, including Fountains, chilled my heart. Here is a list of the dissolved monasteries.  Such phrases relating to the monks and priests, such as this one, that they were "sore bent rathre to die then to yelde to  this youre royals style" indicate the great spiritual and physical battles surrounding the dissolution. Such phrases are found in the Original Letters, Three Chapters of Letters and other books complied and edited by such scholars as Ellis, Wright and Thompson, as well as State Papers, Published under the Authority of His Majesty's Commission. There are other compilations as well.

Today, one can estimate that the worth of the land, buildings, altar ware, goods, including sheep and cattle stolen would be over 1.07 billion pounds sterling. Even though the visitators claimed that many of the monks, priests and nuns were evil, some of the letters indicate that the vast majority were good, Godly people. We know this from many sources, that the evils of the monasteries were not only exaggerated, but downright deceitful reports, created in order to suppress the houses and kill the monks, nuns, and laity who were faithful. Most became the great martyrs and homeless of England and Wales--some, like St. John Houghton, killed at Tyburn, and some dying on the roads in ditches and hovels far from their original monasteries. One of the greatest scholars tracing the evils of this time is David Knowles. (I have at least one of his books on this time in a box in Silvis, Illinois).

Blaspheming God and committing the sin of sacrilege, such as at Fountains, when the men threw the Consecrated Hosts, the Body of Christ on the ground and forced their horses to trample God, these men then wrote back to the commissioners and Cromwell as to their "successes". The letters remain as proof of the greatest sins men can commit against Christ Himself in the Eucharist.


Some types of sacrilege cannot be published on this blog.

As a young person, I was shocked to realize that the vast majority of the men involved in violence against God, God's Church, the People of God, had been born and raised Catholic.

When I first did research into the dissolution, in 1979, I had somewhat of an idea of the horror which blighted the religious landscape of England and Wales. When I had finished my many months, and eventually years, of researching, reading and reflecting, I knew that we would see times like this again. We would witness Catholics destroying the Church of Christ, causing Christ to suffer the pains of Calvary again and again and again.

All these men, who perpetrated the murder of the martyrs and the desecration of the Eucharist had been or were still Catholics.

These men were Catholics who instructed the bullies to take the nuns out of the convents and push them onto the streets and wild roads of all the counties and shires of England and Wales. The bullies were or had been Catholics.

These men were Catholics who became wealthy lords, feasting on the backs of those who had provided livelihoods in farming, the wool trade, and even shoe-making for thousands of lay people, lay people who either lost their jobs, homes, and were separated from families, or who succumbed to the oath. 

These men were Catholics who committed the sins of blasphemy and sacrilege in the name of king, country and even the new false religion, with a new God of hatred and compromise, not the Trinity revealed and revered by those they sent to Tyburn, and other places of death.

These men were Catholics who killed such women as SS. Anne Line, Margaret Clitherow, Blessed Margaret Pole and others.

As I sit in my little "cell" in a country which is fast losing its Catholic identity, I consider the number of Catholics who are aiding this destruction of the Catholic Church from within. I consider the weak and heterodox priests, who have led their sheep into stinking marshes of falsehood, instead of green pastures with fresh water.

I have discovered the lies of some priests giving sinful advice to the laity. Priests and laity are men who are Catholics, creating a mind-set of anti-Catholicism from within the Church, which will end here, in this gorgeous country, with the abandonment and destruction of some of the most beautiful churches in the world,

Those who were Catholics destroyed Fountains. But, they also help to destroy souls. This is happening here. 


These priests are Catholics who preach and encourage not only contraception, but fornication, and even the supposed goodness of homosexual lust.

These men are Catholics who want to sell the beautiful churches, altar ware, vestments, and give the money to the poor, not realizing that it is their duty to clothe the naked and feed the poor. God deserves beauty and honor, and theirs is enough wealth here to keep all the churches and still care for the homeless and unemployed. But, such are the lies of the worldly, those Catholics who hate the Church, hate the Incarnate One, and hate the teachings of the Church.

May God preserve Malta. He did not preserve England and Wales, allowing free will to have supremacy in the mystery of His Divine Providence.

Therefore, we honor Edmund Campion, John Fisher, Thomas More, Oliver Plunkett and the myriad martyrs of England and Wales, the stars in the Church Triumphant,  some tortured, some mutilated, all killed by those who were. at one time in their lives, Catholics.

Further reading on one heroine, Margaret Pole:

Etheldredasplace: Margaret Pole and Perfection

27 May 2014

I think of Blessed Margaret Pole, one of my patrons I have adopted when thinking of confidence. She had to face the fact that she was being persecuted by her godson. Such hard times. Garrigou-Lagrange again:.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Etheldredasplace: A Fictive Monologue of Margaret Pole

27 May 2014

A Fictive Monologue of Margaret Pole. Posted by Supertradmum. I sit and wait for the last call, being told by the jailer that I have one hour of life. What does one think of in one's last hour? I think briefly of my own sins, forgiven, ...

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Etheldredasplace: Naming Children and Margaret Pole

27 May 2014

The must sees today included Blessed Margaret Pole, so my week began with her and ended with her. How is that for synchronicity? How blessed was I to start the week in Sussex where Blessed Margaret's Mass was ...

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Etheldredasplace: Blessed Margaret Pole

28 May 2012

Today, as I am in the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, this is the memorial day of Blessed Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury. She was the last Plantagenet and is a martyr for the faith. She is one of my personal patrons.

Etheldredasplace: "The Last Plantagenet"

28 May 2013

I posted something about this great saint last year. Margaret Pole remains one of the most interesting saints of the horrible purge of Henry VIII, and one of his most famous victims. She was obviously a saint before her ...

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Etheldredasplace: Blessed Margaret Pole

28 May 2012

Today, as I am in the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, this is the memorial day of Blessed Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury. She was the last Plantagenet and is a martyr for the faith. She is one of my personal patrons.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/