ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST
Saints celebrated on the 7th 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. EDWARD BAMBER, PRIEST AND MARTYR
Blessed Edward Bamber (alias Reading),Priest and martyr, was born at the Moor, Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire; he was executed at Lancaster August 7, 1646.
Educated at the English College, Valladolid, he was ordained and sent to England.
ON LANDING AT DOVER, HE KNELT DOWN TO THANK GOD
On landing at Dover, he knelt down to thank God, which act, observed by the Governor of the Castle, was the cause of his apprehension and banishment.
He returned again, and was soon afterwards apprehended near Standish, Lancashire; he had probably been chaplain at Standish Hall.
HE MANAGED TO ESCAPE FROM THE OLD-GREEN-MAN INN, HIS KEEPERS BEING DRUNK
On his way to Lancaster Castle he was lodged at the Old-Green-Man Inn near Claughton-on-Brock, and thence managed to escape, his keepers being drunk.
He was found wandering in the fields by one Mr Singleton of Broughton Tower (who had been warned in a dream to help him), and was assisted and sheltered by him.
HE WAS COMMITTED TO LANCASTER CASTLE
Arrested the third time, he was committed to Lancaster Castle, where he remained in close confinement for three years, once escaping, but recaptured.
At his trial with two other priests, Whitaker and Woodcock, two apostates witnessed against him that he had administered the sacraments, and he was condemned to die.
HE SUFFERED WITH GREAT CONSTANCY
He suffered with great constancy, reconciling to the Church a felon executed with him, and encouraging his fellow-martyrs to die bravely.
His conduct so enraged the persecutors that they urged the executioner to butcher him in a more than usually cruel and savage manner. An ode composed on his death is still extant.
(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913 - 📷 Lancaster Castle)
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