Memory of England's martyrs lives strong in Rome
“O English hearts what heart can know, how spent with labour long ago, was England’s Church that bore you?”
(PerMariam) — At the start of December every year in Rome, English seminarians unite themselves to their martyred predecessors as they celebrate the feast of the young priests who died for the Catholic faith in their homeland.
Imagine a group of young men so enamored with love of God that when they hear news of the torture and death of one of their companions at the hands of anti-Catholic forces, their first thought is to rush to the chapel and give glory to God. Such was the case for the students at the Venerable English College in Rome during the days of the Protestant Reformation and the bloody persecution waged against the Catholic Church in England.
“O English hearts what heart can know, how spent with labour long ago, was England’s Church that bore you?,” begins the college hymn.
Founded in 1579, the seminary known then as the English College was modeled after that at Douai in France, where young English men were training as priests prior to heading back to their native land to spread the Catholic faith.
It saw its first alumni martyr, St Ralph Sherwin, just a few years later in 1581. In total 44 men with links to the College were martyred at the hands of the English authorities between 1581 and 1679 – a part of the College’s history which remains very much front and center to this day.
Paintings of the seminary martyrs adorn the walls, and every man’s signature is contained in the famous Liber Ruber, or red book. It was in this tome that the seminarians and priests signed the Missionary Oath, pledging to return to England and work for the Church.
St. Ralph Sherwin’s name is the first recorded, along with his promise to return “hodie quam cras,” today rather than tomorrow.
That tradition remains alive even today, although the oath’s formula is somewhat altered, but each seminarian still signs the Liber Ruber marking his presence amongst those saintly men who have gone before him.
Another very tangible link for current students to their martyred fathers in the Faith is the martyrs painting, completed in 1583 by Durante Alberti. It depicts the deceased Christ having been taken off the Cross, being held in the arms of God the Father.
Beneath the Divine Corpse is an open arched gateway – the northern gate out of Rome through which every priest made their way as they journeyed back to England. The college patrons – Saints Thomas of Canterbury and King Edmund – point towards the gate, directing students towards their priestly vocation in England.
When College students received word that one of their companions had died for the Faith, they would immediately rush to the chapel and sing the Te Deum beneath the image. Thus rejoicing before God, the College gave first-hand witness to the fact that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.
This tradition continues still to this day on the feast of St. Ralph Sherwin, on December 1, marked by the College as “Martyr’s day.”
Born in 1550 in Derbyshire, Sherwin was ordained in Douai in 1577 but then shortly after came to Rome where he was a key figure in the nascent English College
In April 1580 he and 14 companions – including St. Edmund Campion – left Rome for England. Along the way they spent some days in Milan with St. Charles Borromeo, who was particularly impressed by the zeal and fervor of the young clerics.
Shortly after arriving back home he was arrested in November 1580 and taken to the Tower of London for torture and interrogation – all before any trial.
The young priest was offered the chance to attend a Protestant service in order to end the torture and even bribed with the position of a Protestant bishopric if he were to reject Catholicism, both of which he denied.
After more than a year languishing in the cells and even converting some of the guards there, Sherwin was brought to trial along with St. Edmund Campion in late 1581 and sentenced to death on the charge of conspiracy.
One of the last letters written by the priest to a friend bore the line “God grant us humility, that we following His footsteps may obtain the victory.”
On December 1, Sherwin, Campion and Fr. Alexander Briant were taken to Tyburn Hill in London to be hung, drawn and quartered. Campion was executed first, and when the executioner tried to convince Sherwin to abandon his faith the priest kissed the executioner’s arms as they were covered in the blood of the martyred Campion.
He died with the words “Jesu, Jesu, Jesu, esto mihi Jesus!” on his lips.
The memory of these martyrs of the Venerable English College is sacred and highlights the firm conviction and trust in God which was so vibrant.
Quoting the words of St. John Henry Newman, the Rector of the Beda Seminary Canon Marcus Holden commented in his feast day homily:
“And in that day of trial and desolation for England, when hearts were pierced through and through with Mary’s woe at the crucifixion of Thy body mystical, was not every tear that flowed, and every drop of blood that was shed, the seeds of a future harvest - when they who sowed in sorrow were to reap in joy?”
He warned of the more subtle attacks on Catholicism in current times, saying:
The old threats sought to take bodies from souls; the new spectre seeks to drain the soul itself. The martyrs resisted pressures to conform; we contend with the heavy shadow of unbelief itself — a secularism that offers nothing, gives nothing, and leaves nothing. They laboured to strengthen the already-baptised; we labour to awaken faith where it has been long extinguished.
“Once our mission was primarily for England; now it stretches across the world,” he added. “But the promise, the heart, the fire are the same. “Ignem veni mittere in terram” — “I came to cast fire upon the earth.”
God give us the grace to respond with even a fraction of the zeal of these shining martyrs....