BL. CHARLES MAHONY, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 12 AUGUST

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST

Saints celebrated on the 12th of August

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

BL. CHARLES MAHONY, PRIEST AND MARTYR 

[Blessed Charles Meehan] was an Irish Franciscan martyr; he was born after 1639; he died at Ruthin, Denbighshire, August 12, 1679. The British Museum has a copy of a single sheet entitled "The Last Speeches of Three Priests that were Executed for Religion, Anno Domini 1679", from which the following transcript is made:

"GOD BLESS OUR KING... AND CONVERT HIM TO THE HOLY CATHOLICK FAITH, AMEN"

"An Account of the words spoken by Mr. Charles Mahony, an Irish Priest of the holy Order of Saint Francis, who was Executed in his Habit at Ruthin in North Wales, August 12, 1679.

Now God Almighty is pleased I should suffer Martyrdom, his Holy Name be praised, since I dye for my Religion. But you have no Right to put me to death in this Country, though I confessed myself to be a Priest, for you seized me as I was going to my Native Country Ireland, being driven at Sea on this Coast, for I never used my Function in England before I was taken, however God forgive you, as I do and shall always pray for you, especially for those that were so good to me in my distress, I pray God bless our King, and defend him from his Enemies, and convert him to the Holy Catholick Faith, Amen. 

His Age was under Forty, He was tryed and Condemned at Denby [i.e. Denbigh] Confessing himself to be a Priest.”

"CONFESSING HIMSELF TO BE A PRIEST"

Bishop Challoner bases his account of our martyr on the above-mentioned single sheet, but appears to have hold access to another authority now lost, for he writes: "He suffered with great constancy, being cut down alive and butchered according to the sentence, as I remember to have read in a manuscript, which I could not since recover." Subsequent writers add nothing to Bishop Challoner’s narrative. 

(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913 - 📷 Ruthin Castle)

➡️ 85 Martyrs of England and Wales