A CHRISTMAS CHUCKLE

This very short video was sent to me by my friend, Carole.  It gave us a good laugh and, in the current Covid situation, I firmly believe that a good laugh is what we all need.  Enjoy!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE

ON THIS DAY, 342 YEARS AGO

On 19 December 1678, 342 years ago today, the Jesuit College of St Francis Xavier at the Cwm, on the Monmouthshire Hereford border, was raided .  An order had been sent from the House of Lords on 7 December to Bishop Herbert Croft of Hereford to “find out the truth of the matter of fact concerning the said place called Combe, and to give this house a full account.”

THE SITE OF THE CWM

Bishop Croft organized the raid which was carried out by Captain John Scudamore. Captain Scudamore was energetically assisted by fanatical anti-Catholics, John Arnold and Charles Price.

ST DAVID LEWIS

Fr David Lewis was Superior of the Cwm and realizing the danger, he had the College evacuated and the priests had removed or hidden as much property as possible.  The community was dispersed and the priests found shelter where they could.  Some were sheltered in the homes of local Catholics while others had to fend for themselves, sheltering in woods, barns or even pig stys.

They were dark days indeed and, for the priests of the Cwm, they were about to become darker.

THE SACK OF THE JESUIT COLLEGE

Welsh Benedictine Martyr, St John Roberts, whose feast we celebrate today, was born at Trawsfynydd, Merionethshire, in 1577.  He was the first prior of Douai.   He was sent on the English Mission in December 1602 and arrived in England in April 1603, the first monastic to enter England since the Reformation.  

ST JOHN ROBERTS, OSB

Dom John Roberts was executed at Tyburn on 10 December  1610.  On Sunday, 25 October 1970, Pope Paul VI canonised forty men and women who had surrendered their lives for their Catholic faith.  They are known collectively as The Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. St John Roberts is numbered among the Forty.

SITE OF TYBURN TREE, LONDON

ST JOHN ROBERTS, PRAY FOR US

QUEEN OF MARTYRS, PRAY FOR US