BL. JOHN GAVAN, PRIEST AND MARTYR

BL. JOHN GAVAN, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 20 JUNE

Saints celebrated on the 20th of June

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. JOHN GAVAN, PRIEST AND MARTYR

England’s King Charles II (1660-1685) was well disposed towards the Catholic faith, but anti-Catholic hostility prevailed in the English Parliament.

A GIFTED PREACHER

The Jesuit priest Father John Gavan (1640-1679) a native of London, had served his fellow English Catholics for eight years as a gifted preacher when he was arrested in 1679. He was one of a dozen Catholics falsely accused of plotting against the king. At Father Gavan’s trial, a false witness named Stephen Dugdale testified against the priest.

FALSE WITNESSES

When Father Gavan asked Dugdale to look him in the face, the witness, unnerved, faltered in his speech. After being sentenced to death, Father Gavan was offered pardon if he would admit to the alleged conspiracy, but he answered that “he would not murder his soul to save his body” by making such a false confession.

FATHER SAID THAT HE WOULD NOT MURDER HIS SOUL TO SAVE HIS BODY

At his execution on June 20, 1679, Father Gavan prayed aloud, “I have nothing else to do now, my great God, but cast myself into the arms of your mercy… I hope in you above all things, for your infinite fidelity; and I love you above all things, for your infinite beauty and goodness.”

WELCOME

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BL. LUKE KIRBY, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 30 MAY

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY Saints celebrated on the 30th of May WELCOME! BLESSED LUKE KIRBY, PRIEST AND MARTYR 16th century houses, painted by Auguste Mayer He was born in the bishopric of Durham, according to Raissius ; others say at Richmond, in Yorkshire. He was master of arts in one of our universities; but going abroad to Douay, in Flanders, was received into the English college there, 1576, and made priest in 1577; and the year following sent upon the mission. Where he had not been long before he again went abroad, and travelled to Rome, partly for devotion, and partly for further improvement in learning. Here he remained in the English college till 1580, when he returned into England, and was not long after apprehended: for I find by a printed diary of things transacted in the Tower of London from 1580 till 1585, that on the 5th of December, 1580, Luke Kirby, Thomas Cottam , and other priests, were brought to the Tower from other prisons; and that these two, on the 10th...

BL. RICHARD NEWPORT, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 30 MAY

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY Saints celebrated on the 30th of May WELCOME! BLESSED RICHARD NEWPORT, PRIEST AND MARTYR Richard Newport, alias Smith , was born in Northamptonshire and performed his studies abroad, partly in the college of Rheims (if he be the Richard Smith whom I find in the Douay diary sent to Rome in 1586) and partly in that of Rome, where he was made priest. From thence he was sent upon the English mission, and behaved himself in such a manner as justly to acquire the character of a laborious missionary; being withal remarkably successful in bringing home many strayed sheep to the fold of Christ, to which his apostolical way of living did not a little contribute. He was several times apprehended and cast into prison, and twice banished. His name occurs amongst those who were transported in 1606; at which time, we are told, he took that opportunity of making a pilgrimage to Rome, there to pour forth his prayers at the tombs of the apostles, in behalf of thi...

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