ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST
Saints celebrated on the 22nd 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. WILLIAM LACY, PRIEST AND MARTYR
Born at “Hanton”, Yorkshire (probably Houghton or Tosside, West Riding); suffered at York, August 22, 1582. He married a widow, named Cresswell, whose sons, Arthur and Joseph, became Jesuits.
Little is related of his family by his biographers. He had a brother Ralph of Preston in Amounderness, a sister Barbara, and nephews (apparently her sons) Robert and William.
He held a position of emolument under the Crown, possibly as coroner, till about 1565. After fourteen years’ persecution for his faith, which included imprisonment at Hull, and after the death of his wife, he went abroad and arrived at Reims, June 22, 1580.
HE BECAME A PRIEST
On September 25 following he went on to Pont-a-Mousson, and thence to Rome, where, after obtaining a dispensation, he became a priest. The dispensation was necessary before ordination, as Lacy had been married twice, once to a widow.
HE WAS ARRESTED AFTER A MASS SAID BY THOMAS BELL
He was arrested after a Mass said by Thomas Bell, afterwards an apostate, in York Castle, July 22, 1582. He suffered great hardships, being loaded with heavy irons, confined in an underground dungeon, and subjected to numerous examinations. He was arraigned on August 11. With him suffered Blessed Richard Kirkman, born at Addingham, in the West Riding. He arrived at Douai in 1577 and, after the transference of the English College to Reims, was ordained priest on Holy Saturday, 1579.
On his return to England in August he seems to have found a refuge with Robert Dymoke, hereditary Champion of England (died in Lincoln gaol for his faith, September 11, 1580), at Scrivelsby, Lincolnshire. He was eventually arrested, August 8, 1582, by Francis Wortley, J.P.
THEY SHARED ONE CELL IN A TURRET
After condemnation the two martyrs shared one cell in a turret till August 10, when Blessed Richard was removed to an underground dungeon. Blessed William was martyred on August 22.
(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913 - 📷 York Minster)
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