ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN FEBRUARY
Saints celebrated on the 27th of February
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. MARK BARKWORTH, PRIEST AND MARTYR
(alias Lambert) Blessed Mark Barkworth, priest and martyr, was born about 1572 in Lincolnshire; he was executed at Tyburn February 27, 1601.
He was educated at Oxford, and converted to the Faith at Douai in 1594, by Father George, a Flemish Jesuit. In 1596 Barkworth went to Rome and thence to Valladolid.
A VISION OF ST BENEDICT
On his way to Spain he is said to have had a vision of St Benedict, who told him he would die a martyr, in the Benedictine habit.
Admitted to the English College, December 16, 1596, he was ordained priest in 1599, and set out for the English Mission together with Ven. Thomas Garnet. On his way he stayed at the Benedictine Abbey of Hyrache in Navarre, where his ardent wish to join the order was granted by his being made an Oblate with the privilege of making profession at the hour of death.
HE WAS ARRESTED ON REACHING ENGLAND
After having escaped great peril at the hands of the heretics of La Rochelle, he was arrested on reaching England and thrown into Newgate, where he lay six months, and was then transferred to Bridewell. Here he wrote an appeal to Cecil, signed “George Barkworth”. At his examinations he behaved with extraordinary fearlessness and frank gaiety. Having been condemned he was thrown into “Limbo”, the horrible underground dungeon at Newgate, where he remained “very cheerful” till his death.
HE SUFFERED AT TYBURN
Barkworth suffered at Tyburn with Ven. Roger Filcock, S.J., and Ven. Anne Lyne. It was the first Tuesday in Lent, a bitterly cold day. He sang, on the way to Tyburn, the Paschal Anthem: “Hæc dies quam, fecit Dominus exultemus et lætemur in ea”. On his arrival he kissed the robe of Mrs Lyne, who was already dead, saying: “Ah, sister, thou hast got the start of us, but we will follow thee as quickly as we may”; and told the people: “I am come here to die, being a Catholic, a priest, and a religious man, belonging to the Order of Saint Benedict; it was by this same order that England was converted”.
"I COME HERE TO DIE, BEING A CATHOLIC, A PRIEST, AND A RELIGIOUS MAN, BELONGING TO THE ORDER OF ST BENEDICT"
He was tall and burly of figure, and cheerful in disposition. He suffered in the Benedictine habit, under which he wore a hair-shirt. It was noticed that his knees were, like St James’, hardened by constant kneeling, and an apprentice in the crowd picking up his legs, after the quartering, called out to them: “Which of you Gospellers can show such a knee?” [Fr Barkworth was beatified by Pope Pius XI December 15, 1929.]
(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913 - "Blessed" added afterwards)
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