ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN APRIL
Saints celebrated on the 7th of April
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.
ST HENRY WALPOLE, PRIEST AND MARTYR
[Saint Henry Walpole was an] English Jesuit martyr, born at Docking, Norfolk, 1558; he was martyred at York, April 7, 1595.
He was the eldest son of Christopher Walpole, by Margery, heiress of Richard Beckham of Narford, and was educated at Norwich School, Peterhouse, Cambridge, and Gray’s Inn.
A CONVERT
Converted by the death of [Saint] Edmund Campion, he went by way of Rouen and Paris, to Reims, where he arrived on July 7, 1582. On April 28, 1583, he was admitted into the English College, Rome, and in October received minor orders. On February 2, 1584, he became a probationer of the Society, and soon after went to France, where he continued his studies, chiefly at Pont-à-Mousson. He was ordained sub-deacon and deacon at Metz, and priest at Paris, December 17, 1588.
HE WAS AT LAST SENT ON THE MISSION
After acting as chaplain to the Spanish forces in the Netherlands, suffering imprisonment by the English at Flushing in 1589, and being moved about to Brussels, Tournai, Bruges, and Spain, he was at last sent on the mission in 1590.
HIS TRIAL AND MARTYR'S CROWN
He was arrested landing at Flamborough, and imprisoned at York. The following February he was sent to the Tower, where he was frequently and severely racked. He remained there until, in the spring of 1595, he was sent back to York for trial.
FR ALEXANDER RAWLINS
With him suffered Alexander Rawlins, of the Diocese of Gloucester. After being twice imprisoned at Newgate for religion in 1586, Rawlins arrived at Reims, December 23, 1589; he was ordained subdeacon at Laon, September 23, 1589, deacon and priest at Soissons, in March 1590, was sent on the mission the following April 9, and landed at Whitby.
(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913. The "Venerable" in the original article has been changed to "Saint" afterwards. St Henry was beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1929 and canonised by Pope Paul IV in 1970.)
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