#St. Robert Southwell

[stjohncapistrano67]

[signum-crucis]

Nativity -- Lorenzo Lotto (1523)

A Child My Choice by St Robert Southwell SJ

Let folly praise that fancy loves, I praise and love that Child Whose heart no thought, whose tongue no word, whose hand no deed defiled.

I praise Him most, I love Him best, all praise and love is His; While Him I love, in Him I live, and cannot live amiss.

Love's sweetest mark, laud's highest theme, man's most desired light, To love Him life, to leave Him death, to live in Him delight.

He mine by gift, I His by debt, thus each to other due; First friend He was, best friend He is, all times will try Him true.

Though young, yet wise; though small, yet strong; though man, yet God He is: As wise, He knows; as strong, He can; as God, He loves to bless.

His knowledge rules, His strength defends, His love doth cherish all; His birth our joy, His life our light, His death our end of thrall.

Alas! He weeps, He sighs, He pants, yet do His angels sing; Out of His tears, His sighs and throbs, doth bud a joyful spring.

Almighty Babe, whose tender arms can force all foes to fly, Correct my faults, protect my life, direct me when I die!

[tinyshe]

The Douai Martyrs is a name applied by the Catholic Church to 158 Catholic priests trained in the English College at Douai, France, who were executed by the English state between 1577 and 1680.[2]

History

Having completed their training at Douai, many returned to England and Wales with the intent to minister to the Catholic population. Under the Jesuits, etc. Act 1584 the presence of a priest within the realm was considered high treason. Missionaries from Douai were looked upon as a papal agents intent on overthrowing the queen. Many were arrested under charges of treason and conspiracy, resulting in torture and execution. In total, 158 members of Douai College were martyred between the years 1577 and 1680.[1] The first was Cuthbert Mayne, executed at Launceston, Cornwall on the 29 November 1577. [3] The last was Thomas Thwing, hanged, drawn, and quartered at York in October 1680.[4] Each time the news of another execution reached the College, a Solemn Mass of thanksgiving was sung.

Many people risked their lives during this period by assisting them, which was also prohibited under the Act. A number of the "seminary priests" from Douai were executed at a three-sided gallows at Tyburn near the present-day Marble Arch. A plaque to the "Catholic martyrs" executed at Tyburn in the period 1535 - 1681 is located at 8 Hyde Park Place, the site of Tyburn convent.[5]

They were beatified between 1886, 1929 and 1987, and only 20 were canonized in 1970. Today, British Catholic dioceses celebrate their feast day on 29 October.[1]

Bl Alexander Crow

Bl Anthony Middleton

Bl Antony Page

Bl Christopher Bales

Bl Christopher Buxton

Bl Christopher Robinson

Bl Christopher Wharton

Bl Edmund Catherick

Bl Edmund Duke

Bl Edmund Sykes

Bl Edward Bamber

Bl Edward Burden

Bl Edward James

Bl Edward Jones

Bl Edward Osbaldeston

Bl Edward Stransham

Bl Edward Thwing

Bl Edward Waterson

Bl Everald Hanse

Bl Francis Ingleby

Bl Francis Page

Bl George Beesley

Bl George Gervase

Bl George Haydock

Bl George Napper

Bl George Nichols

Bl Henry Heath

Bl Hugh Green

Bl Hugh More

Bl Hugh Taylor

Bl James Claxton

Bl James Fenn

Bl James Thompson

Bl John Adams

Bl John Amias

Bl John Bodey

Bl John Cornelius

Bl John Duckett

Bl John Hambley

Bl John Hogg

Bl John Ingram

Bl John Lockwood

Bl John Lowe

Bl John Munden

Bl John Nelson

Bl John Nutter

Bl John Pibush

Bl John Robinson

Bl John Sandys

Bl John Shert

Bl John Slade

Bl John Sugar

Bl John Thules

Bl Joseph Lambton

Bl Lawrence Richardson

Bl Mark Barkworth

Bl Matthew Flathers

Bl Montfort Scott

Bl Nicholas Garlick

Bl Nicholas Postgate

Bl Nicholas Woodfen

Bl Peter Snow

Bl Ralph Crockett

Bl Richard Hill

Bl Richard Holiday

Bl Richard Kirkman

Bl Richard Newport

Bl Richard Sergeant

Bl Richard Simpson

Bl Richard Thirkeld

Bl Richard Yaxley

Bl Robert Anderton

Bl Robert Dalby

Bl Robert Dibdale

Bl Robert Drury

Bl Robert Johnson

Bl Robert Ludlam

Bl Robert Nutter

Bl Robert Sutton

Bl Robert Thorpe

Bl Robert Wilcox

Bl Roger Cadwallador

Bl Roger Filcock

Bl Stephen Rowsham

Bl Thomas Alfield

Bl Thomas Atkinson

Bl Thomas Belson

Bl Thomas Cottam

Bl Thomas Maxfield

Bl Thomas Palaser

Bl Thomas Pilchard

Bl Thomas Pormort

Bl Thomas Reynolds

Bl Thomas Sherwood

Bl Thomas Somers

Bl Thomas Sprott

Bl Thomas Thwing

Bl Thomas Tunstal

Bl Thurstan Hunt

Bl William Andleby

Bl William Davies

Bl William Filby

Bl William Harrington

Bl William Hart

Bl William Hartley

Bl William Lacey

Bl William Marsden

Bl William Patenson

Bl William Southerne

Bl William Spenser

Bl William Thomson

Bl William Ward

Bl William Way

St Alban Bartholomew Roe

St Alexander Briant

St Ambrose Edward Barlow

St Cuthbert Mayne

St Edmund Arrowsmith

St Edmund Campion

St Edmund Gennings

St Eustace White

St Henry Morse

St Henry Walpole

St John Almond

St John Boste

St John Kemble

St John Payne

St John Southworth

St John Wall

St Luke Kirby

St Ralph Sherwin

St Robert Southwell

Ven Edward Morgan

Ven Thomas Tichborne

Bl Alexander Rawlins

Bl Edward Campion

Francis Dickinson

James Bird

James Harrison

John Finglow

John Goodman

John Hewitt

Matthias Harrison

Miles Gerard

St Polydore Plasden

Richard Horner

Robert Leigh

Robert Morton

Robert Watkinson

Roger Dickinson

Bl Thomas Felton

Bl Thomas Ford

Thomas Hemerford

Thomas Holford

William Dean

William Freeman

Bl William Gunter

Bl William Richardson

[+]

[fideidefenswhore]

Courtenay was easily snared, for it was possible for the Queen to accuse him of treasonable negligence in failing to prevent Wyatt's hordes from entering London. This was rather unfair, since Courtenay had received no training in the martial arts, but it served to put him safely behind bars. On 12 February, half an hour after Lady Jane's head had fallen in the straw, Courtenay was brought through the privy gate beneath St Thomas's Tower into the Tower of London, where he was given his old room in the Bell Tower. Soon afterwards he underwent five examinations by Sir Robert Southwell on behalf of the Council, and was also brought face to face with Wyatt, but all he would admit was that a servant of his had gone to France without his permission. After his arrest, his mother, the Marchioness of Exeter, was banished from court, and on 3 March, Courtenay himself was moved to St. Thomas's Tower.

The Children of Henry VIII (Guy, John)

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (February 21)

Saint Robert Southwell, SJ (c. 1561 – 21 February 1595), an English Roman Catholic Jesuit priest, is one of the 40 martyrs of England & Wales murdered during the English anti-Catholic Reformation.

Robert was born in Norfolk, the youngest of eight children in a well-to-do family with Catholic sympathies in the midst of the anti-Catholic sentiment started by the Anglican reformation.

In 1576, he was sent to France to study with the Jesuits at the English college at Douai.

After completing his education, he requested to join the Society of Jesus but was rejected because he was too young.

Moreover, the Jesuit seminary was temporarily closed because of the growing confrontations between French and Spanish forces.

But in a show of his conviction, he set off on foot to Rome to make his case for becoming a Jesuit in 1578.

After being admitted to the probation house of Sant' Andrea on 17 October 1578, and after the completion of the novitiate, Southwell began studies in philosophy and theology at the Jesuit College in Rome.

He was then ordained in 1584.

That same year, Queen Elizabeth I had passed an edict establishing the death penalty for any British Catholic priest or religious who joined a religious order abroad to remain in England longer than forty days.

Two years later, Southwell requested to be sent back to England as a clandestine Jesuit missionary with Henry Garnet.

Southwell preached and ministered successfully for six years, publishing Catholic catechism and writing spiritual poetry that would make him one of the most important Baroque English poets.

But the Queen's chief priest-hunter, Richard Topcliffe, pressured a young Catholic woman he had raped to betray Southwell.

Once captured, he was initially jailed in Topcliffe's personal prison and tortured 13 different times, trying to get him to name Catholic families involved in the clandestine Catholic mission.

Fr. Robert did not betray a single name.

Transferred to the infamous Tower of London, Southwell endured cold and solitude for two and a half years, reading the Bible, the works of St. Bernard, and praying the Breviary.

During that time, he also wrote the most important portion of his poetry.

In 1595, Southwell was finally put on trial accused of treason.

During the trial, he admitted being a Jesuit to minister to Catholics but strongly denied ever being involved in “designs or plots against the queen or kingdom."

After the predictable guilty verdict, he was sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered.

On 21 February 1595, in Tyburn, the Jesuit was allowed to address the crowd about his mission as a Catholic priest.

He pronounced the words of Psalm 30 prayed in Complines: in manus tuas commendabo spiritum meum (Into your hands i commend my spirit) and made the sign of the cross.

After he was hanged and his severed head presented to the crowd, the traditional shout of “traitor” was replaced by utter silence.

Soon after his martyrdom, his body of poetry started to circulate in manuscripts among Catholics.

In 1595, his “St. Peter's Complaint” and other poems were printed.

By 1636, 14 editions had been printed and other collections of poems, including “Mary Magdalen's Funeral Tears” and "Maeoniae."

He was beatified by Pope Pius XI on 15 December 1929. He was canonized by Pope Paul VI on 25 October 1970, as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

Many critics believe that the poem that expresses the best of his dramatic message to his fellow persecuted Catholics in England is “Life is But Losse,” which he wrote in prison:

By force I live, in will I wish to dye;

In playnte I passe the length of lingring dayes;

Free would my soule from mortall body flye,

And tredd the track of death's desyred waies:

Life is but losse where death is deemed gaine,

And loathed pleasures breed displeasinge payne.

.....

Come, cruell death, why lingrest thou so longe?

What doth withould thy dynte from fatall stroke?

Nowe prest I am, alas! thou dost me wronge,

To lett me live, more anger to provoke:

Thy right is had when thou hast stopt my breathe,

Why shouldst thoue stay to worke my dooble deathe?

.....

Avaunt, O viper! I thy spite defye:

There is a God that overrules thy force,

Who can thy weapons to His will applie,

And shorten or prolonge our brittle course.

I on His mercy, not thy might, relye;

To Him I live, for Him I hope to die.

—

Full version

[silvestromedia]

https://www.indcatholicnews.com/saint/57

St Robert Southwell

[fewwordsmanyriddles]

God gave Himself to you; give yourself to God.

—St. Robert Southwell

[a-path-beyond84]

The path to Heaven is narrow, rough and full of wearisome and trying ascents, nor can it be trodden without great toil; and therefore wrong is their way, gross their error, and assured their ruin who, after the testimony of so many thousands of saints, will not learn where to settle their footing.

St. Robert Southwell

[anastpaul]

Quote/s of the Day – 21 February – St Robert Southwell

Quote/s of the Day – 21 February – St Robert Southwell

Quote/s of the Day – 21 February – St Robert Southwell SJ (1561-1595) “We … are under an obligationto be the light of the worldby the modesty of our behaviour,the fervour of our charity,the innocence of our livesand the example of our virtues.Thus shall we be ableto raise the lowered prestigeof the Catholic Churchand, to build up again,the ruins that others by their vices have caused.Others, by…

[stevhep]

The Assumption of our Lady

(After the poetry of St Robert Southwell SJ)

Gemm to her worth, spouse to her love ascendes, Prince to her throne, queene to her heavenly Kinge, Whose court with solemne pompe on her attends, And quires of saintes with greeting notes do singe

King's daughter, all glorious within, Pure gold in heart and mind and spirit, Mirror of perfection, free from sin, Mother whose love is without limit, Now, at last, you are come to that place, The Beatific Vision, God's face.

Enoch and Elijah do you greet, Your Son, the Great king, does you embrace, Once more you and Gabriel do meet, Again he will name you 'Full of Grace.' Cherubim and Seraphim rejoice, To songs of delight the choirs give voice.

Gem to her worth, spouse to her love ascends, Prince to her throne, Queen to her heavenly King, Great Power with High Principality contends, The most beautiful praises of this Virgin to sing. Her Sorrows are ended, Her real Joys begun, All that she has she owes to Jesus her Son.

[lawrenceop]

HOMILY for Christ the King (EF)

Col 1:12-20; John 18:33-37

Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the canonisation in 1970 of the forty martyrs of England and Wales by Pope St Paul VI, in St Peter’s Basilica. Today, we recall the heroic sacrifice and brave witness to the truth of forty of our countrymen, from the Prior of the London Charterhouse, St John Houghton, executed at Tyburn in 1535, to the Welsh Jesuit St David Lewis, executed in 1679. Over the course almost 150 years, hundreds of faithful Catholics from every walk of life in English society were executed by the State, martyred for their refusal to allow the State to interfere with the fundamental rights of the Church.

For as Pope Pius XI said in 1925 when he instituted today’s annual feast of Christ the King: “[The Church] has a natural and inalienable right to perfect freedom and immunity from the power of the state; and that in fulfilling the task committed to her by God of teaching, ruling, and guiding to eternal bliss those who belong to the kingdom of Christ, she cannot be subject to any external power.” (Quas primas, 31) The Church and her bishops may, of course, prudently choose to co-operate with the State, but only if this does not hinder the mission and raison d’être of the Church, which is to lead souls to Christ through the preaching of the Gospel in its fullness, and through the faithful administration of the Sacraments of salvation.

For, beautiful and valuable and precious though our life and our friendships in this present lifetime are, today’s feast, and the deaths of the martyrs remind us of an often forgotten truth in our secularised world. We live, ultimately, not for this life and its joys and pleasures, but rather, all of this present life, whether it be long or short, is a preparation for the life of the world to come; this life on earth is that short time given to us in God’s providence during which we learn to forsake sin and, by the grace of Christ, we hope to increase in charity, so that we can become true citizens of God’s heavenly Kingdom. So, on the wall of his cell in the Tower of London St Philip Howard scratched these words: “Quanto plus afflictionis pro Christo in hoc saeculo, tanto plus gloriae in futuro”; ‘The more suffering for Christ in this life, the more glory in heaven’. Fittingly then, in 2020, on this feast day of Christ the King, do we recall the witness of these faithful servants of Jesus Christ who would deny their worldly earthly kings rather to forsake Christ the true and universal King. Hence St Thomas More famously said that he died “the king’s good servant, but God’s first.”

The Church, therefore, must always point beyond this world, and call humanity to serve God’s kingdom, to repent of sin and prideful error, and so to be saved by Christ the King. Thus, commenting on today’s Gospel, Pope Pius XI said: “Before the Roman magistrate [Christ] declared that his kingdom was not of this world. The gospels present this kingdom as one which men prepare to enter by penance, and cannot actually enter except by faith and by baptism, which, though an external rite, signifies and produces an interior regeneration. This kingdom is opposed to none other than to that of Satan and to the power of darkness. It demands of its subjects a spirit of detachment from riches and earthly things, and a spirit of gentleness. They must hunger and thirst after justice, and more than this, they must deny themselves and carry the cross.” (Quas primas, 15)

The forty martyrs who we especially remember today exemplify the ultimate self-denial and carrying of the Cross that is demanded of us Christians. This group of English and Welsh Martyrs, just a small representation of the hundreds executed during the so-called Reformation, is composed of 13 diocesan priests (or secular clergy), 3 Benedictines, 3 Carthusians, 1 Brigittine, 2 Franciscans, 1 Augustinian, 10 Jesuits and 7 members of the laity, including 3 mothers. And all of them sacrificed everything for the sake of the Holy Mass and the Sacraments; for the unity of Christ’s Church in communion with the Pope; for the sake of the sacred Priesthood through whom we receive the Sacraments; and for the sake of Christ’s teaching on the sanctity of marriage and family life. Therefore, in our times and in our country, we honour these holy men and women, and we show ourselves to be their friends, if we love what they love. So, let us love the Mass and the one holy Catholic and apostolic Church; love the Holy Father and pray for him; love your clergy, pray for them and uphold them with care and help; love your husband, your wife, and as a family bear witness to the love and joy of the Gospel. For as Pope Francis says: “The triune God is a communion of love, and the family is its living reflection.” (Amoris lætitia, 11) The Christian family, therefore, bears witness as a vestige of the Holy Trinity; the presence of the loving God at work among us, extending the reign of Christ one household at a time. Therefore, enthrone Christ in your homes, in your families, and in your own hearts.

What does this entail? Pope Pius XI said, Jesus Christ “must reign in our minds, which should assent with perfect submission and firm belief to revealed truths and to the doctrines of Christ. He must reign in our wills, which should obey the laws and precepts of God. He must reign in our hearts, which should spurn natural desires and love God above all things, and cleave to him alone. He must reign in our bodies and in our members, which should serve as instruments for the interior sanctification of our souls”. The forty martyrs, again, demonstrate the consequence of being given over to the reign of Christ: we would be willing to die for the truths of the Gospel; willing to give up sin and to behave and act in ways that please God; willing to work and suffer in order to uphold the Kingdom of God in our world, while labouring to defeat the lies and falsehoods of the Enemy. However, it is most noteworthy in the accounts of their lives and their final words that the forty martyrs of England and Wales did all this without rancour or bitterness or anger or hatred. Instead, they spoke with humour, serenity, and humility, always acting with charity. For this is the genuine sign that Christ is their King. Let it be so for each of us too, especially in these difficult and polarised times. Hence Pope Pius XI said: “in a spirit of holy joy [let us] give ample testimony of [our] obedience and subjection to Christ.” For, as Pope Francis says, “we all have to let the joy of faith slowly revive as a quiet yet firm trust, even amid the greatest distress.” (Evangelii gaudium, 6) It is a joy that flows from a childlike confidence and trust in God’s love, in the victory of the Risen Lord Jesus; a joy that springs from a firm faith in divine Providence.  

This is the joy of the martyr, of the subjects of Christ the King, for they know that, at the end, all of creation, all human history, all time and creatures shall fall “under the dominion of Christ. [And] in him is the salvation of the individual, in him is the salvation of society.” (Quas primas, 18) Hence Pope Pius XI, reflecting on the set-backs and seeming defeats that the Church has endured, and on the crises caused by persecutions and martyrdoms, gave witness to his trust in God’s Providence and his Kingship. He said: “the admirable wisdom of the Providence of God, who, ever bringing good out of evil, has from time to time suffered the faith and piety of men to grow weak, and allowed Catholic truth to be attacked by false doctrines, but always with the result that truth has afterwards shone out with greater splendour, and that men's faith, aroused from its lethargy, has shown itself more vigorous than before.” (Quas primas, 22)

My brothers and sisters, such is the time we live in: we witness the daily rise of anti-clericalism, the burning of churches and the destruction of Christian statues and images; doctrinal confusion and laxity, and the corruption of morals in every strata of society, and so on. And yet, with great confidence in the triumph of Gospel truth; with faith in the victory of the Lamb that was slain (as we recalled in today’s Officium); and with hope in the universal Kingship of Jesus Christ over the hearts of men and women, we can repeat in our time these words of St Robert Southwell, the Jesuit priest who was caught ministering in London. Shortly before his martyrdom at Tyburn he said: “It seems to me that I see the beginning of a religious life in England, of which we now sow in seeds of tears, that others hereafter may with joy carry in sheaves.”

May the joy of acknowledging Christ as King reign now in our hearts, and may God’s all powerful grace convert the hearts of our England and Wales, and all nations. As we prayed in today’s Collect, may “all the families of nations… be brought under the sweet yoke of [Christ’s] rule.” Amen!

[canonizedandotherwise]

Litany of the Saints and Blessed of the Society of Jesus

(in an expanded form of that used first by Jesuits in the concentration camp at Dachau)

Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy, Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy. Christ, hear us, Christ, graciously hear us.

God, our Father in heaven, Have mercy on us. God the Son, Redeemer of the World, Have mercy on us. God the Holy Spirit, Have mercy on us. Holy Trinity, one God, Have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, Mother of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Pray for us. Holy Mary, Mother and Queen of our Society, Pray for us. Holy Virgin of Montserrat, Pray for us. Our Lady of the Way, Pray for us.

Holy Father Ignatius, Pray for us. St. Francis Xavier, first companion and missionary, Pray for us. St. Francis Borgia, model of renunciation, Pray for us. St. Stanislaus Kostka, model and patron of novices, Pray for us. Sts. Edmund Campion, Robert Southwell and companions, martyrs of Christ in England, Pray for us. St. Aloysius Gonzaga and St. John Berchmans, models and patrons of our scholastics, Pray for us. Sts. Paul Miki, James Kisai and John Soan de Goto, martyrs of Christ in Japan, Pray for us. St. Peter Canisius and St. Robert Bellarmine, doctors of the church, Pray for us. St. John Ogilvie, martyr of Christ in Scotland, Pray for us. Sts. Bernardine Realino, John Francis Regis and Francis Jerome, missioners to people in town and country, Pray for us. St. Alphonsus Rodriguez, model and patron of our brothers, Pray for us. Sts. Melchior Grodziecki and Stephen Pongrácz, martyrs of Christ in Košice, Pray for us. Sts. Roch Gonzalez, Alphonsus Rodriguez and John del Castillo, martyrs of Christ in Paraguay, Pray for us. Sts. John de Brébeuf, Isaac Jogues and companions, martyrs of Christ in North America, Pray for us. St. Peter Claver, defender of the slaves in South America, Pray for us. St. Andrew Bobola, martyr of Christ in Poland, Pray for us. St. John de Brito, martyr of Christ in India, Pray for us. St. Claude La Columbière, faithful friend and apostle of the Sacred Heart, Pray for us. St. Joseph Pignatelli, hallowed link of the old and the restored Society, Pray for us. Sts. Leo Mangin and companions, martyrs of Christ in China, Pray for us. St. Joseph Rubio, apostle of Madrid, Pray for us. St. Peter Faber, first companion and apostle of the Spiritual Exercises, Pray for us. St. Joseph de Anchieta, apostle of Brazil, Pray for us. St. James Berthieu, martyr of Christ in Madagascar, Pray for us. St. Alberto Hurtado, agent of social change in Chile, Pray for us.

All you Saints of the Society of Jesus, Pray for us. Blessed Ignatius de Azevedo and companions, martyred while sailing for Brazil, Pray for us. Bl. Thomas Woodhouse, Ralph Ashley and companions, martyrs of Christ in England, Pray for us. Bl. Rudolph Acquaviva, Francis Aranha and companions, martyrs of Christ in India, Pray for us. Bl. James Salès and William Saultemouche, martyrs of the Eucharist in France, Pray for us. Bl. Charles Spinola, Sebastian Kimura and companions, martyrs of Christ in Japan, Pray for us. Bl. Dominic Collins, martyr of Christ in Ireland, Pray for us. Bl. Diego Luis de San Vitores, martyr of Christ in Micronesia, Pray for us. Bl. Julian Maunoir and Anthony Baldinucci, zealous preachers of God’s Word, Pray for us. Bl. James Bonnaud and companions, martyrs of Christ in France, Pray for us. Bl. John Beyzym, servant of Lepers in Madagascar, Pray for us. Bl. Miguel Pro, martyr of Christ in Mexico, Pray for us. Bl. Francis Garate, humble doorkeeper who found God in all things, Pray for us. Bl. Rupert Mayer, apostle of Munich and fearless witness of truth, Pray for us. Bl. Tomás Sitjar Fortiá and companions, martyrs of Christ in Valencia, Pray for us.

All you Blessed of the Society of Jesus, Pray for us.

Jesuit saints

Fathers and Brothers, Scholastics and Novices of the Society who have preceded us in the service of the Lord, Pray for us.

Let us pray:

Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, though we are sinners, you have called us to be his companions and to engage in the crucial struggle of our time, the struggle for faith, justice and love. Bring to completion in us the work you began in Ignatius and so many of his followers. Place us with your Son, as you placed them, and take us under the banner of the Cross to serve him alone and his Church. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

[maddie-grove]

Little Book Review: Mischief and Mercy

Author: Jean McClung.

Publication Date: 1993.

Genre: Folklore/religion.

Premise: In twelve short stories, Jean McClung relates tales of Catholic saints from Mary Magdalene to Jean Vianney. Plus, a bonus story for Jesus!

Thoughts: To this day, I’m not sure if this book was a gift from my moderately devout Methodist mother, who wanted to be supportive of my brief but intense sixth-grade-girl fascination with Joan of Arc, or my more seriously devout Catholic paternal grandmother, who generally left the subject of religion alone with me but was jazzed about said Joan of Arc phase.* Either way, I don’t think the woman who gave me this book knew about all the sex, violence, and frank discussion of upsetting topics within its pages. Luckily, sixth-grade Emily was a hardy creature, ready to read about incest and torture and serial killers without batting an eye.

This is a unique book, obviously very personal to its author, who is (was?) primarily a Texas physician, not an author, and religious but not in the most traditional sense. It’s rare to find a book that’s such a labor of love and, while it’s not always artful, it’s nearly always interesting. McClung introduces each story with a personal anecdote, some of which have stuck with me for years. (Notably, she has a funny-sad riff about the resemblance of the Holy Family to her clients when she was a social worker: “What do you mean, you’re not homeless? Lady, you just had a baby in a barn.”) I skipped some of the stories that seemed less exciting as a kid, but this time I read them all, and some of the new-to-me ones were terrific.

The stories fall into the following tiers:

Great Tier: “Amadour and Veronica: His Own Account of the True Image” (a beautiful story about an evolving marriage), “Valentine: Valentine’s House” (an equally beautiful story about St. Valentine converting to Christianity out of politeness and performing forbidden marriages), and “Saint Nicholas of Myra: Voyages into the Snow Country” (an unexpectedly terrific story about Santa Claus dissociating during the First Council of Nicaea--possibly my favorite).

Very Good Tier: “Paul the Simple: the Haunted Inn” (a spooky and creative story about a desert hermit who escapes a cosmic horror of an inn), “Dymphna and Gerebernus: The Legend of Saint Dymphna” (a straightforward but moving story of an Irish princess who ran away from her predatory father and the origins of the unusual mental-health practices in the Belgian village of Geel), and “Gilles de Rais and Joan of Arc: Little Key, Set Me Free” (a shocker about a kid who escapes the serial killer Gilles de Rais with the help of the departed Joan of Arc). These stories were all really effective, but not as deep or moving as the “great” ones.

Pretty Good Tier: “Mary Magdalene: And Did Those Feet in Ancient Times” (a young man in first-century Gaul recalls how Mary Magdalene and her siblings visited him as a child), “Robert Southwell: An Undiscovered Letter from Robert Southwell, S.J.” (some formless but sharply written musings from a sixteenth-century Catholic martyr), and “Judas: the Mystery of the Missing Matzoh” (Jesus goes all Ashton Kutcher at the Last Supper). These were all fun, but lacked a little complexity or structure.

Okay Tier: “Wenceslas: Good King Wenceslas Went Out” (Wenceslas has some bad sibling rivalry experiences), “Francis and Clare: the First Christmas Pageant” (Francis of Assisi is a Manic Pixie Dream Saint), and “Jean Vianney: Parish Priest and Sometime Deserter from Napoleon’s Grand Army” (a psychic priest gets stressed out). These stories suffer the most from McClung’s occasional artlessness; they all have potential, but have organizational problems.

Bad Tier: “Junípero Serra: In Payment for the Chickens.” I think this story is about colonialism? It’s very muddled and faintly unpleasant, and I’m not sure at all what message it’s trying to convey.

Overall, it’s not the most consistent collection, but it’s always fascinating, with some real gems.

Hot Goodreads Take: Not from Goodreads, but one Amazon reviewer was absolutely appalled that children might read the stories, due to their “dark and twisted” nature. I suppose not all sixth-graders are as hardboiled as I was, but my strongest reaction to these stories was “yeah, that’s pretty messed up. I wonder if we have any Doritos?” 

*The Joan of Arc phase was a little about religion; I was pretty devout back then, albeit in a way that didn’t “count” in the eyes of my evangelical Christian classmates, and I felt some loyalty to my dad’s religion in the face of a bunch of “Catholics aren’t real Christians” nonsense. But mostly it was about a teen girl wearing armor, riding a horse, and telling everyone what to do.

[romancatholicreflectionsblog]

Merry Christmas from RCR/Short Reflection on St. Southwell’s “The Burning Babe,” by Cameron Daly

Merry Christmas to all of our followers and readers, and Happy Birthday to Our Lord Jesus!

Merry Christmas to all our followers and readers, and Happy Birthday to Our Lord Jesus!

I wanted to share with you a short, beautiful poem by St. Robert Southwell, entitled “The Burning Babe” and quoted at length from http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/burningbabe.htm

“As I in hoary winter’s night stood shivering in the snow, Surprised I was with sudden heat which made my heart to glow ; And lifting…

[saintannhawaii-blog]

St. Robert Southwell Feast Day: February 21 Norfolk, England

St. Robert Southwell Feast Day: February 21 Norfolk, England #saintannhawaii #saintannchurch

Robert Southwell was born in 1561 in Norfolk, England.  In due course he went to the Catholic college at Douai in 1580, joining the Society of Jesus. He was a poet and a scholar. His poetry had a profound influence on the moral climate of the age. He soon came to England as a Jesuit missionary, moving from one Catholic family to another, working as a priest. After six years of successful priestly…

[urbanhermit]

St Robert Southwell S.J. (1561-1595) Martyr, Religious Priest, Poet, Hymnodist, Writer, clandestine missionary – Additional Memorials: 25 October as one of the Forty Martyrs of England & Wales and 29 October as one of the Martyrs of Douai. He was born in 1561 in Horsham Saint Faith, Norfolk, England and he was martyred by being hanged, drawn, & quartered on 21 February 1595 (aged 33) in Tyburn, London, England. St Robert was Canonised on 25 October 1970 by Blessed Pope Paul VI. There are two books, prose writings, that Robert Southwell wrote that are worth reading. They are of course written in 16th century English but, powerful, written to encourage his fellow Catholics to remain firm in their faith. The one is called ‘Mary Magdalene’s Funeral Tears’. And the other one is called ‘Epistle of Comfort‘. We would probably call it a letter of encouragement. His poetry – we don’t know exactly when he began to write but it must have been very young because he wrote a great deal of which we have the record and by now the English-speaking world knows Robert Southwell. His two outstanding poems are ‘The Burning Babe’ and ‘The Virgin Mary to Christ On The Cross.’ https://www.instagram.com/p/CaPgRltrtLS/?utm_medium=tumblr