Saints celebrated on the 14th 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 RICHARD LANGHORNE, MARTYR
[Blessed] Richard Langhorne was an English martyr; he was born about 1635 and died at Tyburn, July 14, 1679.
He was the third son of William Langhorne of the Inner Temple, by Lettice, daughter of Eustace Needham of Little Wymondley, Herts. He was admitted to the Inner Temple in November, 1646, and called to the bar in 1654.
HE WAS CALLED TO THE BAR IN 1654
He married a Protestant lady, Dorothy, daughter of Thomas Legatt of Havering, Essex, and lived at Shire Lane, to the right of Temple Bar. His chambers were in Middle Temple Lane.
HE WAS KEPT IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT
He was arrested on June 15, 1667, in connection with the great fire [of London, 1666]. Arrested a second time on October 7, 1678, and committed to Newgate without any previous examination, he was kept in solitary confinement for eight months.
"I AM DESIROUS TO BE WITH MY JESUS"
On June 14, 1679, he was brought to the bar at the Old Bailey; Oates, Dugdale, Bedloe, and Prance gave evidence against him, and he was found guilty. He was offered a pardon, if he would confess his guilt and also make a disclosure of the property of the Jesuits with which he had become acquainted in his professional capacity.
This last he did - probably with the consent of his fellow-prisoner, the provincial, Father Whitbread - but, as he persisted in declaring his ignorance of any conspiracy, he was executed. His last words were to the hangman: "I am desirous to be with my Jesus. I am ready and you need stay no longer for me."
(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913)
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