BLESSED WILLIAM TIRRY

This being St Patrick's Day, I will post on another Irish Martyr, Blessed William Tirry. I am indebted to kee at LITTLE HARE for introducing me to this faithful and brave Irish Augustinian. Thanks, kee, and a Happy St Patrick's Day to you & yours. (I am also indebted to the site, Augustinians of the Midwest. I hope they will forgive me for borrowing from them. I think it is important to spread the word about this great Irish Augustinian Martyr, Blessed William Tirry.)

William Tirry (1608-1654) was martyred because he chose loyalty to God and Church over obedience to civil authority.

William Tirry was born in Cork, Ireland in 1608. His uncle was Bishop of Cork-Cloyne.
William entered the Augustinian Order in Cork. He must have been a promising student, as he was sent for studies in Valladolid, Spain and Paris, France. Following completion of his courses in Paris, he spend five years (1636-1641) in Brussels, Belgium.
He returned to Ireland in 1641. A few years later, when hostilities broke out in Ireland, Augustinian community life became impossible. William went to serve for a time on the staff of his uncle, the Bishop. He was later named Secretary of his Augustinian province.
He was chosen in 1649 as Prior (local superior) of the Augustinian house in Skreen. However, Oliver Cromwell's troops would not permit him to live there.
A law enacted January 6, 1653 declared that any Roman Catholic priest in Ireland was guilty of treason. William and other priests were forced into hiding. Three men betrayed William in return for money. He was arrested March 25, 1654, Holy Thursday, as he was preparing to celebrate Holy Mass.
While awaiting trial, William was imprisoned at Clonmel. Here, his spirit of prayer and penance helped to inspire the other priests who were also incarcerated there.
At his trial, William readily proclaimed his loyalty to the government in civil matters. But, in matters of religion, he declared that he was bound to obey only his conscience, his Augustinian superiors and the Pope. He was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death by hanging.
William was executed May 12, 1654. He was 45. An account told by another friar who had been tried with William gives some details of that day: William, wearing his Augustinian habit, was led to the gallows praying the rosary. He blessed the crowd which had gathered, pardoned his betrayers and affirmed his faith. It was a moving moment for Catholics and Protestants alike.
The body of William was buried on the grounds of the destroyed Augustinian friary at Fethard. His grave was not marked, however, and its exact location is unknown. He, along with 16 other Irish martyrs, was declared Blessed in 1992 by Pope John Paul II.

LINKS TO THIS POST

IRISH MARTYR, ST OLIVER PLUNKETT

AN IRISH FRANCISCAN MARTYR

THE PERJURER TITUS OATES AND EIGHT JESUITS (PART 5)

BLESSED JOHN GAVAN S J

A plot, known as the ‘Oates Plot’ or the ‘Popish Plot’ was conceived in the fertile but warped mind of the malevolent Titus Oates. In August 1678, Oates claimed that a plot to murder the King, bring down the Protestant Establishment and re-establish Catholicism in England was being hatched by Catholics. The Jesuits, according to Oates, were the leaders of this imagined plot. In reality, there was no plot against the Crown or Protestantism. The real plot was the one which Oates was building up against the Jesuits. Before Oates and the bunch of criminals who were his co-conspirators were finally exposed many innocent Catholics had suffered and died. Among those who were put to death for their faith were eight Jesuit priests. The horror began for the Jesuits in January 1679 when Fr William Ireland was executed at Tyburn in London. Another victim was 39 year old Fr John Gavan or Green.

John Gavan was born in London in 1640. The young Gavan went to St Omer and, in 1660, he entered the Jesuits. He was ordained in Rome in 1670. Like all priests who returned to minister in England, Fr Gavan was fully cognisant of the dangers under the severe Penal Laws which existed at that time. Nonetheless, Fr Gavan returned to his homeland in 1671 and commenced his work, chiefly in the Staffordshire area, where he laboured untiringly.

At the height of the Oates Plot, the Government offered a £50 reward for the apprehension of any priest. This lead to a vigorous search for and betrayal of priests, Jesuit and otherwise, up and down the country. In the hope of escaping to the Continent, Fr Gavan made his way to London. Unfortunately, that was not to be and he was apprehended on 23rd January 1679. Along with four other Jesuits, Fr John Gavan was brought to trial at the Old Bailey on 13th June 1679.

Fr Gavan was an erudite and articulate priest and he skilfully defended the group. In this instance, the skill and honesty of the Jesuit were no match for the false witnesses, prejudiced Judge and rigged jury. As was expected, the jury returned a verdict of guilty. Fr John Gavan was martyred at Tyburn on 20th June 1679. His mutilated and quartered remains were claimed by friends and buried in St Giles in the Fields.

LINKS TO THIS POST:

The Perjurer Titus Oates and Eight Jesuits (Part 1)

(Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4)

CAN ANYONE SOLVE THE MYSTERY?

This interesting fragment of stone bears the inscription "DAVID LEWIS 1679". It was found in the churchyard of the Catholic Church in Usk but no one seems to know anything about its history. Knowledge of its age, origin, etc, seems to be lost in the mists of time. The stone, which has a small cross embedded in it, appears to be the remains of some sort of memorial to the martyred Welsh Jesuit. This stone may or may not be of any significance but, since the only purpose of this blog is to make St David Lewis better known, anything that has even a remote connection to our wonderful Saint is worth investigating, in so far as we are able. Not being professional historians or archaeologists, we are at a decided disadvantage. However, we are devoted to St David Lewis so we do our best with our limited talents. Whatever this curious artifact is, it must have a story and, important or not, it would be nice to know that story. Therefore, I am asking if anyone out there in Blog land has any knowledge of this object? I would be more than delighted to hear from you if you do. (FOR A BETTER VIEW OF THE STONE, CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO ENLARGE IT.)

WHY THEY DIED (PART 1)

The Reformation saw much blood spilled (Protestant as well as Catholic) as many brave men and women were martyred for their faith. The purpose of this Blog, LAST WELSH MARTYR, is to promote devotion to the martyred Welsh Jesuit, St David Lewis. In attempting to achieve this aim, we have posted much about St David Lewis, some of his fellow martyrs, and the circumstances of their lives and deaths. We have never really looked at WHY they died so I will endeavour to show briefly the laws and regulations which placed Catholics in such danger. We will begin with the "Marian Priests" and in a future post, move on to the "Seminary Priests", of which St David Lewis was one.

The term, "Marian Priests", is applied to those English priests who were ordained in or before the reign of Queen Mary (1553-1558) and who survived into the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The term is used to distinguish them from "Seminary Priests”, that is, priests ordained at Douai, Rome, or other English seminaries abroad. Shortly after Elizabeth's accession, ordinations ceased altogether in England because of the imprisonment of the surviving bishops. Without the Seminary Priests to take the place of the older priests who were dying off, the Catholic Priesthood would have become extinct in England. Without priests there would be no Mass and eventually, it was planned, the Catholic Faith would die out entirely in England.

There was an important difference between the Marian priests and the Seminary priests in the fact that the Penal legislation of the brutal statute 27 Eliz. c. 2 only applied to the Seminary Priests, who were forbidden to enter or remain in the realm under pain of high treason. The Marian priests came under the earlier statutes, e.g. 1 Elizabeth c. 1, which inflicted penalties on all who maintained the spiritual or ecclesiastical authority of any foreign prelate, or 5 Eliz. c. 1, which made it high treason to maintain the authority of the Bishop of Rome, or to refuse the Oath of Supremacy.

Many Marian Priests accepted, all be it unwillingly, the new state of things under Elizabeth, and some of them were in the habit of celebrating Mass early and then conducting the Church of England service later on Sunday morning. But the number of Marian priests who refused outright to conform was very large.

As years went on, death reduced the number of these faithful priests. However, as late as 1596, there were about fifty of them still working on the English mission. Because of their marginally less severe legal position, they escaped some of the bloody persecution endured by the Seminary priests. Only one Marian Priest, Blessed James Bell, is known to have suffered martyrdom.

In this month of June Catholics traditionally honour the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I found this video on the Apostleship of Prayer site. Although today isn't the feast day of St Justin Martyr (1June is) I think it is appropriate to post this video here. I hope you find it interesting and uplifting.