Monday, 28 November 2016

Tyburn Martyrs for December - Mother Adele Garnier, the Last Tyburn Martyr

TYBURN MARTYRS IN DECEMBER
MOTHER ADELE GARNIER - THE LAST TYBURN MARTYR
 
 
SAINT POLYDORE PLASDEN WAS EXECUTED AT TYBURN ON 10TH DECEMBER 1591
DEFENDER OF THE EUCHARIST - CATHOLIC PRIEST - ENGLISH MARTYR
 
Saint John Almond - executed at Tyburn 5th December 1612
Saint Alexander Briant - executed at Tyburn 1st December 1581
Saint Edmund Campion - executed at Tyburn 1st December 1581
Saint Ralph Sherwin - executed at Tyburn 1st December 1581
Saint John Robert - executed at Tyburn 10th December 1610
Saint Polydore Plasden - executed at Tyburn 10th December 1591
 
Mother Adele Garnier called the Mass 'the SUN of my life'.
 
We have held the Convent of Tyburn in London close to our hearts during our years of producing films for our apostolate 'Mary's Dowry Productions', and have a special love for the Servant of God, Mother Adele Garnier.
Mary's Dowry Productions film apostolate was founded through our devotion to Saint Philip Howard, an English Martyr, which led to the discovery of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales and all of our heroic English Martyrs, especially those who gave their lives at Tyburn, London.
We produce our films with a prayerful, spiritual approach, as 'homilies' on the life of each Saint or English Martyr for use especially as visual aids and encounters.
We receive the Tyburn Nuns calendar each November for the following year as well as newsletter updates. In the Christmas newsletter which arrived today we were inspired by the following article:
 
 
"The mystery of Christian MARTYRDOM, is inherent in MONTMARTRE, but the blood of the TYBURN MARTYRS in LONDON, England, who while yet alive, had their HEARTS torn from their breasts for the LOVE of the SACRIFICE of the HOLY MASS, and for the UNITY of the CHURCH, was also the final grace of sacrificial LOVE that MARIE ADELE GARNIER lived out during the last twenty-three years of her life to save and preserve for HOLY CHURCH the little Religious Community God had called her to found on the Hill of Montmatre, in France.
The suffering manner of life and her sacrificial death did not escape the eye of the Church, for one of the most eminent Cardinals at the time of her Passover from this mortal life proclaimed to her religious community that she MARIE ADELE GARNIER was indeed, "the LAST TYBURN MARTYR"." - Tyburn Mission Newsletter, Christmas 2016
 
We love the connection that Mother Adele Garnier has with the Tyburn Martyrs and her title 'the LAST TYBURN MARTYR'. Having read her biography we are especially drawn to her example and devotion. We highly recommend it!
 

Saint Edmund Campion was executed at Tyburn on December 1st 1581, ten years before Saint Polydore Plasden, both priests who gave their lives for the LOVE of the SACRIFICE of the HOLY MASS and for the UNITY of the CHURCH.
 
"The coming of Jesus gives us the right to ask for everything and to hope for everything." - Servant of God, Mother Adele Garnier.
 
We especially remember the Martyrs of Tyburn in December.
Our short films are filled with the spirit of the Martyrs and are a unique way to spend half an hour or an hour in prayerful meditation with these great heroes of the Faith in England.
Find our more:
 
and
 
 
Saint Alexander Briant's sacrifice remembered on DVD at:
and
 

Wednesday, 23 November 2016

Saint John Southworth - Westminster's Priest

Saint John Southworth

Saint John Southworth came from a Lancashire family. He lived at Samlesbury Hall.
Saint John Southworth was born in 1592. His life was filled with grace and guidance during a time of danger and persecution for England's recusant Catholics.
In 1618, Saint John Southworth was ordained a Roman Catholic priest at the English College, Douai (Douay) in Northern France. He was determined to minister the Catholic Faith to the persecuted people of England despite the threat of imprisonment for Catholic priests.
After returning to England, Father Southworth was arrested and condemned to death in Lancashire in 1626, and imprisoned first in Lancaster Castle, and afterwards in the Clink Prison, London.


Saint John Southworth ministering to a plague victim
© 2014 Mary's Dowry Productions
 
On 11 April, 1630, he and other priests were delivered to the French Ambassador for transportation abroad, but in 1636, he was released from the Gatehouse, Westminster, and lived at Clerkenwell. From there Saint John Southworth frequently visited the plague-stricken dwellings of Westminster to administer the sacraments and comfort the sick and the dying. This he did with Saint Henry Morse, a fellow priest, risking their lives to bring the outlawed Catholic Sacraments to the sick and dying.
 
Fr. Henry Morse and Fr. John Southworth
© 2012 Mary's Dowry Productions
 
In 1637, Saint John Southworth was been based in Westminster. He and Saint Henry Morse wrote a letter to the Catholics of England, asking for their assistance. Finally, he was arrested on 28 November, before being again sent to the Gatehouse. From there he was transferred to the Clink and, in 1640, was brought before the Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical. On 16 July, St. John Southworth was again freed and daringly continued to assist the persecuted Catholics, despite the continued threat to his own life. By 2 December he was once more imprisoned in the Gatehouse by the anti-Catholic government. After his final apprehension on 19 June 1654, Saint John Southworth was tried at the Old Bailey, where he insisted on pleading guilty to being a priest. He was condemned to be hung, drawn and quartered at the infamous Tyburn gallows in London.
 
St. John Southworth in prison
© 2014 Mary's Dowry Productions
 
His death was a brave witness to the Catholic Faith and the holy Catholic priesthood.
The Spanish ambassador bought Saint John Southworth's body from the executioner and, in 1655, returned it to Douai after the body had been sewn together and embalmed. It was taken from England.
When England and France went to war in 1793 St John Southworth's body was buried in an unmarked grave below the college for its protection. The grave was discovered in 1927 and his remains were returned to England. In 1930, his major relics - the only complete body of a Reformation martyr - were brought to Westminster Cathedral, where a shrine was prepared for them.
 
St. John Southworth's body in Westminstr Cathedral
© 2014 Mary's Dowry Productions
 
 
Saint John Southworth was beatified in 1929 and was canonised in 1970 by Pope Paul VI, as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. St John Southworth's feast day is 27 June, which is observed as a Solemnity at the Cathedral.
 
Our film about Saint John Southworth captures his spirit of prayer and sacrifice during a time of danger, persecution and mission in 17th Century England.
This is an informative yet spiritual way to spend half an hour absorbed in the mission and message of one of England's inspiring Catholic priests.
 
Available on DVD through AMAZON and
 
 
Visit Westminster Cathedral to pray before the relic of this wonderful English Martyr.