Feast of St. Nicholas Owen

Today is also the feast of St. Nicholas Owen, one of the 40 English Martyrs, who did so much to keep the Faith alive in England after Henry VIII.  I just read an account of his life in the book, Secret Places, Hidden Sanctuaries, which is an interesting book and contained a fascinating section on this saint and his role building the "priest holes."  Here is a short excerpt of his life taken from American Catholic.  What makes his story all the more remarkable was his diminutive physical stature complicated by a hernia.

Born at Oxford, this humble artisan saved the lives of many priests and laypersons in England during the penal times (1559-1829), when a series of statutes punished Catholics for the practice of their faith. Over a period of about 20 years he used his skills to build secret hiding places for priests throughout the country. His work, which he did completely by himself as both architect and builder, was so good that time and time again priests in hiding were undetected by raiding parties. He was a genius at finding, and creating, places of safety: subterranean passages, small spaces between walls, impenetrable recesses. At one point he was even able to mastermind the escape of two Jesuits from the Tower of London. Whenever Nicholas set out to design such hiding places, he began by receiving the Holy Eucharist, and he would turn to God in prayer throughout the long, dangerous construction process.

After many years at his unusual task, he entered the Society of Jesus and served as a lay brother although—for very good reasons—his connection with the Jesuits was kept secret.

After a number of narrow escapes, he himself was finally caught in 1594. Despite protracted torture, he refused to disclose the names of other Catholics. After being released following the payment of a ransom, "Little John" went back to his work. He was arrested again in 1606. This time he was subjected to horrible tortures, suffering an agonizing death. The jailers tried suggesting that he had confessed and committed suicide, but his heroism and sufferings soon were widely known.

He was canonized in 1970 as one of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales.

Feast of St. Nicholas Owen

Today is also the feast of St. Nicholas Owen, one of the 40 English Martyrs, who did so much to keep the Faith alive in England after Henry VIII.  I just read an account of his life in the book, Secret Places, Hidden Sanctuaries, which is an interesting book and contained a fascinating section on this saint and his role building the "priest holes."  Here is a short excerpt of his life taken from American Catholic.  What makes his story all the more remarkable was his diminutive physical stature complicated by a hernia.

Born at Oxford, this humble artisan saved the lives of many priests and laypersons in England during the penal times (1559-1829), when a series of statutes punished Catholics for the practice of their faith. Over a period of about 20 years he used his skills to build secret hiding places for priests throughout the country. His work, which he did completely by himself as both architect and builder, was so good that time and time again priests in hiding were undetected by raiding parties. He was a genius at finding, and creating, places of safety: subterranean passages, small spaces between walls, impenetrable recesses. At one point he was even able to mastermind the escape of two Jesuits from the Tower of London. Whenever Nicholas set out to design such hiding places, he began by receiving the Holy Eucharist, and he would turn to God in prayer throughout the long, dangerous construction process.

After many years at his unusual task, he entered the Society of Jesus and served as a lay brother although—for very good reasons—his connection with the Jesuits was kept secret.

After a number of narrow escapes, he himself was finally caught in 1594. Despite protracted torture, he refused to disclose the names of other Catholics. After being released following the payment of a ransom, "Little John" went back to his work. He was arrested again in 1606. This time he was subjected to horrible tortures, suffering an agonizing death. The jailers tried suggesting that he had confessed and committed suicide, but his heroism and sufferings soon were widely known.

He was canonized in 1970 as one of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales.

Memorial of Blessed Clemens August Cardinal von Galen

Today is the memorial for Blessed Clemens August Cardinal von Galen, who was a member of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and of Malta.  Joanna Bogle wrote this bio on him in Women for Faith and Family.

This month marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of a German bishop whose name became well known to American and British people in World War II, and was much admired, especially by Catholics. In the post-war years he was forgotten, and has only recently returned to prominence.

He is Bishop Clemens-August von Galen, known as the “Lion of Münster”, and the reason he has recently returned to prominence is that he has now been beatified. I was present for his beatification in Rome in 2005 — and I believe that his story should be better known, as his life and message have an important significance for us today.

Born on March 16, 1878 into an ancient aristocratic family, Bishop (later Cardinal) von Galen would become the best-known of the German churchmen speaking out against the Nazis. He had spent the first years of his priesthood working among the poor in Berlin in the 1920s, and on his appointment as Bishop of Münster he became known for his personal austerity of life and his vigorous commitment to the needs of his diocese.

In the war years, he would become the leading German speaker and campaigner against the hideous Nazi euthanasia program, which saw men, women, and children in mental hospitals or long-term institutions taken away and killed.

The Church had started denouncing the persecution of the Jews as far back as 1933 when Cardinal Michael Faulhaber of Munich preached strongly against the Nazi anti-Jewish campaigns that were then starting. And in 1938, when synagogues were being attacked, the Chief Rabbi of Munich asked Cardinal Faulhaber for help, and he sent a truck to take the Torah scrolls and other precious objects to safety before a mob could reach the building. When this became known, a Nazi crowd gathered outside the cardinal’s residence, shrieking “Out with Faulhaber, the friend of Jews!”

In a pastoral letter in Lent 1934, Bishop von Galen forcibly denounced the National Socialist ideology as being heathen and offensive to God, and in a sermon two years later he spoke of people who had been killed for opposing Nazis: “There are in Germany today new graves containing the ashes of those on whom the German people look as martyrs”.

The Nazis were now beginning to close down Catholic organizations and to impose Nazi ideology in schools.

In January 1937 Bishop von Galen was among a group of German bishops who went to Rome to help prepare what became a crucial papal letter to the German people, Mit Brennender Sorge (“with burning anxiety”), begging them to turn away from National Socialism. [The letter, issued by Pope Pius XI in March 1937, is accessible on the Vatican web site. — Ed.]

But these actions were to no avail and the Nazi war machine rolled on. In 1941, the first hints emerged of the euthanasia program. It was the killing of the mentally ill and disabled that preceded the Nazis’ mass slaughter of Jewish people through which, eventually, millions would die. And the official National Socialist Government line was being imposed everywhere.

In his dramatic sermon at Saint Lambert’s Church in the summer of 1941, Bishop von Galen set the scene: “Religion has been banned from the schools, our organizations have been suppressed, and now Catholic kindergartens are about to be abolished — there is a deep-seated hatred of Christianity which they are determined to destroy”.

The killing of mentally handicapped people was now being authorized: “And why?” asked the bishop: “Because, in the judgement of some official, they have been deemed ‘unworthy to live’, because they are classed as ‘unproductive members of the national community.’ The judgement is that they can no longer produce any goods, they are like an old piece of machinery which no longer works…. If it is once admitted that men have the right to kill ‘unproductive’ fellow-men — even though it is at present only applied to poor and defenseless mentally ill patients — then the way is open to the murder of all unproductive men and women….”

Three major sermons by Bishop von Galen, all denouncing euthanasia and arbitrary arrests and killings, reached the Western Allies, were reprinted and dropped into Germany by the RAF and were mentioned in broadcasts from London. His language had been strong: “A curse on men and on the German people if we break the holy Commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’! Woe to us if we not only license this heinous offense but allow it to be committed with impunity”.

The bishop was placed under house arrest and only the Nazis’ fear of a major uprising in Westphalia if he were made into a martyr prevented his being taken to Dachau. Several hundred German priests were already in the concentration camp there and most would die before the end of the war: twenty-four priests from Bishop von Galen’s own diocese were arrested and he knew that it was because of his own activities rather than just their own that they had been made victims. Extraordinarily, because of the furor caused by Bishop von Galen’s sermons, the euthanasia program in Westphalia was stopped for a time.

The city of Münster was very heavily bombed and the cathedral and the bishop’s residence were largely destroyed. Like many others, he was homeless and had to find shelter outside the city, but was still under watch from the authorities.

At the end of the war, the bishop was honored by the Church by being made a cardinal, in what was widely seen as a gesture of goodwill towards the defeated Germans who were by then hungry and broken in the ruins of their destroyed cities. His health was by now poor and he lived only a month after going to Rome to receive the honor from Pope Pius XII in 1946. He was buried in his ruined cathedral.

The Blessed Cardinal von Galen’s legacy of courage and faith continues. Today one of his great-nieces runs a major German pro-life organization. Especially since his beatification in 2005, he is recognized as an inspiration to all who speak out in defense of the value of human life — a message badly needed as the threat of euthanasia looms again in our culture.

Memorial of Blessed Clemens August Cardinal von Galen

Today is the memorial for Blessed Clemens August Cardinal von Galen, who was a member of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and of Malta.  Joanna Bogle wrote this bio on him in Women for Faith and Family.

This month marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of a German bishop whose name became well known to American and British people in World War II, and was much admired, especially by Catholics. In the post-war years he was forgotten, and has only recently returned to prominence.

He is Bishop Clemens-August von Galen, known as the “Lion of Münster”, and the reason he has recently returned to prominence is that he has now been beatified. I was present for his beatification in Rome in 2005 — and I believe that his story should be better known, as his life and message have an important significance for us today.

Born on March 16, 1878 into an ancient aristocratic family, Bishop (later Cardinal) von Galen would become the best-known of the German churchmen speaking out against the Nazis. He had spent the first years of his priesthood working among the poor in Berlin in the 1920s, and on his appointment as Bishop of Münster he became known for his personal austerity of life and his vigorous commitment to the needs of his diocese.

In the war years, he would become the leading German speaker and campaigner against the hideous Nazi euthanasia program, which saw men, women, and children in mental hospitals or long-term institutions taken away and killed.

The Church had started denouncing the persecution of the Jews as far back as 1933 when Cardinal Michael Faulhaber of Munich preached strongly against the Nazi anti-Jewish campaigns that were then starting. And in 1938, when synagogues were being attacked, the Chief Rabbi of Munich asked Cardinal Faulhaber for help, and he sent a truck to take the Torah scrolls and other precious objects to safety before a mob could reach the building. When this became known, a Nazi crowd gathered outside the cardinal’s residence, shrieking “Out with Faulhaber, the friend of Jews!”

In a pastoral letter in Lent 1934, Bishop von Galen forcibly denounced the National Socialist ideology as being heathen and offensive to God, and in a sermon two years later he spoke of people who had been killed for opposing Nazis: “There are in Germany today new graves containing the ashes of those on whom the German people look as martyrs”.

The Nazis were now beginning to close down Catholic organizations and to impose Nazi ideology in schools.

In January 1937 Bishop von Galen was among a group of German bishops who went to Rome to help prepare what became a crucial papal letter to the German people, Mit Brennender Sorge (“with burning anxiety”), begging them to turn away from National Socialism. [The letter, issued by Pope Pius XI in March 1937, is accessible on the Vatican web site. — Ed.]

But these actions were to no avail and the Nazi war machine rolled on. In 1941, the first hints emerged of the euthanasia program. It was the killing of the mentally ill and disabled that preceded the Nazis’ mass slaughter of Jewish people through which, eventually, millions would die. And the official National Socialist Government line was being imposed everywhere.

In his dramatic sermon at Saint Lambert’s Church in the summer of 1941, Bishop von Galen set the scene: “Religion has been banned from the schools, our organizations have been suppressed, and now Catholic kindergartens are about to be abolished — there is a deep-seated hatred of Christianity which they are determined to destroy”.

The killing of mentally handicapped people was now being authorized: “And why?” asked the bishop: “Because, in the judgement of some official, they have been deemed ‘unworthy to live’, because they are classed as ‘unproductive members of the national community.’ The judgement is that they can no longer produce any goods, they are like an old piece of machinery which no longer works…. If it is once admitted that men have the right to kill ‘unproductive’ fellow-men — even though it is at present only applied to poor and defenseless mentally ill patients — then the way is open to the murder of all unproductive men and women….”

Three major sermons by Bishop von Galen, all denouncing euthanasia and arbitrary arrests and killings, reached the Western Allies, were reprinted and dropped into Germany by the RAF and were mentioned in broadcasts from London. His language had been strong: “A curse on men and on the German people if we break the holy Commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’! Woe to us if we not only license this heinous offense but allow it to be committed with impunity”.

The bishop was placed under house arrest and only the Nazis’ fear of a major uprising in Westphalia if he were made into a martyr prevented his being taken to Dachau. Several hundred German priests were already in the concentration camp there and most would die before the end of the war: twenty-four priests from Bishop von Galen’s own diocese were arrested and he knew that it was because of his own activities rather than just their own that they had been made victims. Extraordinarily, because of the furor caused by Bishop von Galen’s sermons, the euthanasia program in Westphalia was stopped for a time.

The city of Münster was very heavily bombed and the cathedral and the bishop’s residence were largely destroyed. Like many others, he was homeless and had to find shelter outside the city, but was still under watch from the authorities.

At the end of the war, the bishop was honored by the Church by being made a cardinal, in what was widely seen as a gesture of goodwill towards the defeated Germans who were by then hungry and broken in the ruins of their destroyed cities. His health was by now poor and he lived only a month after going to Rome to receive the honor from Pope Pius XII in 1946. He was buried in his ruined cathedral.

The Blessed Cardinal von Galen’s legacy of courage and faith continues. Today one of his great-nieces runs a major German pro-life organization. Especially since his beatification in 2005, he is recognized as an inspiration to all who speak out in defense of the value of human life — a message badly needed as the threat of euthanasia looms again in our culture.

And Then There Were None

So with the promise of an executive order from President Obama, Bart Stupak has delivered over the remaining pro-life Democrats to vote for the healthcare bill.  However as the Curt Jester has observed, are we now to believe that the same president who made it his first action in office to rescind the Mexico City policy which had restricted federal funding of abortion overseas is now going to issue an order preventing federal funding of abortion in this country?  Wanna buy some Enron stock?  Oh well at least Sen. Ben Nelson has some new company. 

And Then There Were None

So with the promise of an executive order from President Obama, Bart Stupak has delivered over the remaining pro-life Democrats to vote for the healthcare bill.  However as the Curt Jester has observed, are we now to believe that the same president who made it his first action in office to rescind the Mexico City policy which had restricted federal funding of abortion overseas is now going to issue an order preventing federal funding of abortion in this country?  Wanna buy some Enron stock?  Oh well at least Sen. Ben Nelson has some new company. 

Modern Martha's - LCWR, CHA, and Network

Fr. Barron in a talk on Three Paths to Holiness explains the Gospel story of Martha and Mary as not merely a contrast between the active and contemplative life as is it commonly understood.  Instead he sees that the rebuke of Martha by Jesus is more than her being active but that her activity is scattered, leaving her anxious and troubled,  lacking Mary's focus on the one thing necessary, porro unum est necessarium, which is obviously Jesus.  

Like Martha it would seem that many of our modern women religious, especially those who belong to the LCWR or involved with groups like the Catholic Health Association and Network are so busy "living the Gospel" in their words, that they have forgotten the,  porro unum est necessarium, Jesus, in their mission.  In the words of St. Augustine in his sermon on this same passage Martha is busy serving, Mary has chosen to be fed.   These women in their worthy desire to minister to others have forgotten that their primary mission is to bring others to Jesus.

But how does one lead to Jesus by causing scandal through public opposition to the U.S. Bishops on the issuse of healthcare.  By supporting a healthcare plan which will ultimately use Federal dollars for abortion even if it initially gets filtered through a complex accounting scheme.

Modern Martha's - LCWR, CHA, and Network

Fr. Barron in a talk on Three Paths to Holiness explains the Gospel story of Martha and Mary as not merely a contrast between the active and contemplative life as is it commonly understood.  Instead he sees that the rebuke of Martha by Jesus is more than her being active but that her activity is scattered, leaving her anxious and troubled,  lacking Mary's focus on the one thing necessary, porro unum est necessarium, which is obviously Jesus.  

Like Martha it would seem that many of our modern women religious, especially those who belong to the LCWR or involved with groups like the Catholic Health Association and Network are so busy "living the Gospel" in their words, that they have forgotten the,  porro unum est necessarium, Jesus, in their mission.  In the words of St. Augustine in his sermon on this same passage Martha is busy serving, Mary has chosen to be fed.   These women in their worthy desire to minister to others have forgotten that their primary mission is to bring others to Jesus.

But how does one lead to Jesus by causing scandal through public opposition to the U.S. Bishops on the issuse of healthcare.  By supporting a healthcare plan which will ultimately use Federal dollars for abortion even if it initially gets filtered through a complex accounting scheme.

5th Station Simon Helps Jesus Carry the Cross

I was reading in a book of meditations today a reflection on the fifth station where Simon helps Jesus carry his cross.  Typically in this station we contemplate the actions of Simon and his inital unwillingness to get involved and how this relates to our own response when asked to carry our crosses.  This reflection offered a different perspective though. Which was not on the reluctance of Simon but rather the failure of anyone in the crowd to go and help Jesus in His obvious struggle.

Does it not seem astonishing that no one out of that crowd, many of whom had been miraculously healed by Him, and who besides still secretly believed in Him, came foward to offer to carry our Lord's cross? Must this not have wounded so tender a heart as that of Jesus; and do not we also wound Him when we refuse to follow Him in the path of suffering and humiliation, out of unfounded fear or human respect? 

5th Station Simon Helps Jesus Carry the Cross

I was reading in a book of meditations today a reflection on the fifth station where Simon helps Jesus carry his cross.  Typically in this station we contemplate the actions of Simon and his inital unwillingness to get involved and how this relates to our own response when asked to carry our crosses.  This reflection offered a different perspective though. Which was not on the reluctance of Simon but rather the failure of anyone in the crowd to go and help Jesus in His obvious struggle.

Does it not seem astonishing that no one out of that crowd, many of whom had been miraculously healed by Him, and who besides still secretly believed in Him, came foward to offer to carry our Lord's cross? Must this not have wounded so tender a heart as that of Jesus; and do not we also wound Him when we refuse to follow Him in the path of suffering and humiliation, out of unfounded fear or human respect?