BL. JOHN THULIS, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 18 MARCH

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MARCH

Saints celebrated on the 18th of March

WELCOME!

BLESSED JOHN THULIS, PRIEST AND MARTYR 

⬅️ The 85 Martyrs of England and Wales

Blessed John Thulis (Thules) was an English martyr. He was born at Upholland, Lancashire, probably about 1568; he suffered at Lancaster, March 18, 1615 or 1616. 

He arrived at the English College, Reims, May 25, 1583, and received tonsure from Cardinal Guise on September 23 following. He left for Rome, March 27, 1590, where he was ordained priest, and was sent on the mission in April 1592. 

HE WAS SENT ON THE MISSION

He seems to have been a prisoner at Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, when he signed the letter of November 8, 1598, in favour of the institution of the archpriest, and the letter of November 17, 1600, against it. 

LOCKED UP FOR BEING CATHOLIC CHRISTIANS, THEY MANAGED TO ESCAPE

Later he laboured in Lancashire, where he was arrested by William, fifteenth earl of Derby, and was committed to Lancaster Castle, where his fellow-martyr Roger Wrenno, a weaver, was confined. They managed to escape one evening just before the Lent assizes, but were recaptured the next day. After that he was imprisoned with thieves, four of whom he converted. These were executed with the martyrs. 

"IF YOU HAD SEEN THAT WHICH I HAVE JUST NOW SEEN..."

Thulis suffered after three thieves. His quarters were set up at Lancaster, Preston, Wigan, and Warrington. Wrenno was hanged next, and, the rope breaking, he was once more offered his life for conformity, but ran swiftly to the ladder and climbed it as fast as he could, saying to the sheriff, who remonstrated, “If you had seen that which I have just now seen, you would be as much in haste to die as I am now.” 

THE METRICAL POEM

A curious metrical account of their martyrdom, as well as portions of a poem composed by Thulis, are printed by Father Pollen in his “Acts of the English Martyrs”. 

Source: Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913. "Venerable" in the original text has been substituted with "blessed". This holy martyr was beatified in 1987.

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that we who know how courageously your holy martyr John confessed the faith, may experience his goodness as he intercedes for us with you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.