BL. EVERALD HANSE, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 31 JULY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JULY

Saints celebrated on the 31st of July

WELCOME!

BLESSED EVERALD HANSE, PRIEST AND MARTYR 

⬅️ Forty Martyrs of England and Wales

Blessed Everald Hanse, Martyr, was born in Northamptonshire, educated at Cambridge, and his brother William, who had become a priest in April, 1579 tried to convert him, but in vain until a sharp attack of illness made him enter into himself. 

HIS FOREIGN SHOES GAVE HIM AWAY

He then went over to Reims (1580-1581), was ordained, and returned but his ministry was very short. In July he was visiting in disguise some Catholic prisoners in the Marshalsea, when the keeper noticed that his shoes were of a foreign make. He was closely examined, and his priesthood was discovered. 

HE SAID HE BELIEVED THAT THE POPE HAD THE SAME AUTHORITY NOW AS HE HAD A HUNDRED YEARS AGO

As yet there was no law against priests, and to satisfy the hypocritical professions of the persecutors, it was necessary to find some treason of which he was guilty. He was asked in court at the Newgate Sessions, what he thought of the pope's authority, and on his admitting that he believed him "to have the same authority now as he had a hundred years before", his words were at once written down as his indictment, and when he was further asked whether he wished others to believe as he did, he said "I would have all to believe the Catholic faith as I do." A second count was then added that he desired to make others also traitors like himself. 

"O HAPPY DAY!"

He was at once found guilty of "persuasion" (high treason). He was therefore in due course sentenced and executed at Tyburn on July 31, 1581. 

The martyr's last words were "O happy day!" and his constancy throughout "was a matter of great edification to the good". 

From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that we who know how courageously your holy martyr Everald confessed the faith, may experience his goodness as he intercedes for us with you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.