Saints celebrated on the 7th of July
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.
BLESSED RALPH MILNER, MARTYR
[Blessed] Ralph Milner, layman and martyr, was born at Flacsted, Hants, England, early in the sixteenth century; suffered at Winchester, July 7, 1591.
The greater part of his life was probably passed in his native village, where, being practically illiterate, he supported his wife and eight children by manual labour.
MANUAL LABOUR
He was brought up an Anglican, but, struck by the contrast between the lives of Catholics and Protestants of his acquaintance, he determined to embrace the old religion, and, after the usual course of instruction, was received into the Church.
ON THE VERY DAY OF HIS FIRST COMMUNION HE WAS ARRESTED
On the very day of his first Communion, however, he was arrested for changing his religion and committed to Winchester jail.
Here his good behaviour during the years of his imprisonment won him the jailer's confidence to such a degree that he was frequently allowed out on parole, and was even trusted with the keys of the prison.
HIS VALUABLE SERVICE TO OTHER CATHOLIC PRISONERS
This enabled him to render valuable service to the other Catholic prisoners and to introduce priests to administer the sacraments. Soon, extending the sphere of his charitable activity, he acted as escort first to Father Thomas Stanney, and later to his successor at Winchester, Father Roger Dicconson, conducting them to the different villages to minister to the spiritual needs of the scattered and persecuted flock.
Finally seized with Father Dicconson, Milner was with him placed under close confinement in Winchester jail - pending the approaching sessions.
HE REFUSED "TO EMBRACE A COUNSEL SO DISAGREEABLE TO THE MAXIMS OF THE GOSPEL"
Probably moved with compassion for the aged man, the judge urged Milner to attend even once the Protestant church and thus escape the gallows. The latter refused, however, "to embrace a counsel so disagreeable to the maxims of the Gospel," and began immediately to prepare for death.
Every effort was made to persuade him to change his purpose and renounce the Faith, and, when he was approaching the gallows with Father Dicconson, his children were conducted to him in the hope that he might even then relent.
HE MET HIS DEATH WITH THE UTMOST COURAGE AND CALM
Unshaken in his resolution, Milner gave his children his last blessing, declared that "he could wish them no greater happiness than to die for the like cause," and then met his death with the utmost courage and calm.
(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913)
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