ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MARCH
Saints celebrated on the 23rd of March
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. EDMUND SYKES, PRIEST AND MARTYR
[Blessed] Edmund Sykes was born at Leeds. He was a student at the College at Reims where he was ordained February 21, 1581, and sent to the English Mission on June 5 following.
HE LABOURED IN HIS NATIVE YORKSHIRE
He laboured in his native Yorkshire with such zeal and sacrifice, that his strength failed. Arthur Webster, an apostate, took advantage of his illness to betray him, and he was committed to the York Kidcot by the Council of the North. In his weakness he consented to be present at the heretical service but he refused to repeat the act and remained a prisoner.
THEY HAD TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF HIS WEAKNESS DUE TO ILL HEALTH
After confinement for about six months, he was again brought before the Council and sentenced to banishment. On August 23, 1585, he was transferred to the Castle of Kingston-upon-Hull, and within a week shipped beyond the seas.
HE MEANT TO ATONE FOR HIS LAPSE
He made his way to Rome, where he was entertained at the English College for nine days from April 15, 1586, his purpose being to atone for his lapse by the pilgrimage, and he also entertained some thoughts of entering religion.
HE WAS BETRAYED BY HIS BROTHER
There he understood that it was God’s will that he should return to the English mission, and reaching Reims on June 10, he left again for England. After about six months he was betrayed by his brother, to whose house in Wath he had resorted, and was sent a close prisoner to York Castle by the Council.
THE DEATH SENTENCE FOR BEING A CATHOLIC PRIEST
He was arraigned at the Lent Assizes, condemned as a traitor on the score of his priesthood, and on March 23, 1586–1587 was drawn on the hurdle from the castle yard to York Tyburn, where he suffered the death penalty.
(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913)
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