ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN FEBRUARY
Saints celebrated on the 27th of February
SAINT ANNE LINE, MARTYR
[In England and Wales, St Anne Line is commemorated in the Liturgy on
- May 4 - English Martyrs, Collective Feast Day; and
- August 30 - SS. Margaret Clitherow, Anne Line, and Margaret Ward, Martyrs]
Saint Anne Line [Lyne] was an English martyr; she died on February 27, 1601. She was the daughter of William Heigham of Dunmow, Essex, a gentleman of means and an ardent Calvinist, and when she and her brother announced their intention of becoming Catholics both were disowned and disinherited.
HER HUSBAND WAS APPREHENDED FOR ATTENDING MASS
Anne married Roger Line, a convert like herself, and shortly after their marriage he was apprehended for attending Mass. After a brief confinement he was released and permitted to go into exile in Flanders, where he died in 1594.
SHE WAS PLACED IN CHARGE
When Father John Gerard established a house of refuge for priests in London, Mrs Line was placed in charge.
SHE REMOVED TO ANOTHER HOUSE
After Father Gerard’s escape from the Tower in 1597, as the authorities were beginning to suspect her assistance, she removed to another house, which she made a rallying point for neighbouring Catholics.
THE ALTAR WAS THE EVIDENCE
On Candlemas Day, 1601, Father Francis Page, S.J. was about to celebrate Mass in her apartments, when priest-catchers broke into the rooms. Father Page quickly unvested, and mingled with the others, but the altar prepared for the ceremony was all the evidence needed for the arrest of Mrs Line.
HER TRIAL
She was tried at the Old Bailey February 26, 1601, and indicted under the Act of 27 Eliz. for harbouring a priest, though this could not be proved. The next day [27th February] she was led to the gallows, and bravely proclaiming her faith, achieved the martyrdom for which she had prayed. Her fate was shared by two priests, Mark Barkworth, O.S.B., and Roger Filcock, S.J., who were executed at the same time.
FR FILCOCK
Roger Filcock had long been Mrs Line’s friend and frequently her confessor. Entering the English College at Reims in 1588, he was sent with the others in 1590 to colonise the seminary of St Albans at Valladolid, and, after completing his course there, was ordained and sent on the English mission. Father Garnett kept him on probation for two years to try his mettle before admitting him to the Society of Jesus, and finding him zealous and brave, finally allowed him to enter. He was just about to cross to the Continent for his novitiate when he was arrested on suspicion of being a priest and executed after a travesty of a trial.
(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913)
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