Blessed William Lacey, was a martyr of England and a priest. Born in Horton, West Riding, Yorkshire, he married a widow and both his step-sons became Jesuits.
He distinguished himself as a lawyer and as an ardent Catholic, using his house as a refuge for the much-oppressed Catholics of the time, being one of those gentlemen whose house was open to priests that came from the colleges abroad. Having been advised by them that he could not in good conscience attend Protestant churches, his absence was noted and he was forced to give up his position. He was subject to repeated fines, until he had to leave his home and stay with friends, but never long in one place. For fourteen years he suffered persecution for his faith, which included imprisonment at Hull. After the death of his wife, he went abroad and arrived at Reims, 22 June 1580. On 25 September following he went on to Pont-à-Mousson, and thence to Rome, where he obtained a dispensation. The dispensation was necessary as Lacy had been married twice.
He arrived at Douai in 1577 and, after the transference of the English College to Reims, was ordained priest on Holy Saturday, 1579. On his return to England in August he seems to have found a refuge with Robert Dymoke, hereditary Champion of England (d. in Lincoln gaol for his faith, 11 Sept 1580), at Scrivelsby, Lincolnshire. He was eventually arrested, 8 August, 1582. After condemnation the two martyrs shared one cell in a turret till 10 August, when Blessed Richard was moved to an underground dungeon.
York’s ‘Tyburn’ at Knavesmire, where the martyrs were executed
He was executed at Knavesmaire, just outside of York with Blessed Richard Kirkman. They are both members of the 158 Douai Martyrs.
My son, my son, remember eternal life; look up to Heaven and see the One Who reigns there; life is not taken from thee, it is exchanged for a better one.
St Andrew of Fiesole St Anthusa of Seleucia St Antoninus of Rome St Arnulf of Eynesbury St Athanasius of Tarsus Bl Bernard Perani St Dalmau Llebaría Torné St Epictetus of Ostia St Ethelgitha of Northumbria St Fabrician of Toledo St Felix of Ostia
Blessed Giacomo/James Bianconi OP (1220–1301) Confessor, Priest and Friar of the Order of Preachers, Spiritual Advisor, founder and restorer of Convents and Churches. Pope Urban VIII Beatified the Blessed Giacomo in 1641.
St Joan Farriol Sabaté
St John Kemble (1599 – 1679) Martyr, Priest. Ordained in 1625, he returned to Monmouthshire and served more than 50 years as an itinerant Priest, winning admirers even among Protestants. After being dragged on a hurdle to Widemarsh Common, Kemble declared on the scaffold that he died for the religion that had made this country Christian and that he forgave all his enemies. He was then obliged to encourage the executioner, who had no stomach for his task.
St John Wall St Josep Roselló Sans St Julio Melgar Salgado St Maprilis of Ostia St Martial of Ostia St Maurus of Rheims St Narciso de Esténaga y Echevarría St Philibert of Toledo Bl Richard Kirkman St Saturninus of Ostia Bl Simeon Lukach St Sigfrid of Wearmouth St Symphorian of Autun
Blessed Timoteo da Monticchio OFM (1444-1503) Priest of the Order of the Friars Minor, he was endowed with mystical gifts, especially of the Blessed Virgin and of St Francis of Assisi. On 10 March 1870, his Beatification was confirmed by Pope Pius IX. His body is incorrupt.
St Thomas Percy St Timothy of Rome Bl William Lacey
Our Morning Offering – 22 August – Month and Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Octave Day of the Assumption)
O Immaculate Heart of Mary By St Gertrude the Great (1256-1302)
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, I have nothing in myself to offer thee which is worthy of thee but what thankgiving I ought I to pay thee, for all the favours which thou hast obtained for me from the Heart of Jesus! What reparation ought I to make thee for all my tepidity, in thy service! I desire to return thee love for love, the only good which I possess, is the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which thou, thyself hast given me. I offer thee this Treasure of Infinite Price, I cannot do more and thou dost not deserve less, at my hand but, receiving from me, this Gift most Precious in thy sight, be pleased, I beseech thee, to accept too, my poor heart, which I here offer to thee and I shall be forever blessed. Amen.
One Minute Reflection – 22 August – Month and Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Octave Day of the Assumption) – Readings: Heb 4:16, Ps 44:2, Sir 24:23-31, John 19:25-27
At that time, there were standing by the Cross of Jesus, His Mother, and His Mother’s sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen. When Jesus, therefore, saw His Mother and the disciple standing by, whom He loved, He said to His Mother, Woman, behold your son. Then He said to the disciple, Behold, your mother. And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
John 19:25-27
REFLECTION – There are two martyrdom species: one manifest, the other secret; One visible, the other hidden; One in the flesh, the other in the heart. The martyrdom of the heart goes beyond the torments of the flesh.
So the glorious virgin triumphed in this kind of suffering, all the more glorious as it was closer when, attached to the adorable cross of the Lord's passion, she drew from the chalice, she drinks of His passion, watered in the torrent of pain, she could endure a pain forever unparalleled. She runs following Jesus not only with the smell of her perfumes, but in the abundance of her pain; Not only in the joy of consolations, but also in the overflow of suffering. Mother, she saw her son, the real Solomon, with the tiara of which she had crowned him and, herself crowned with a crown of affliction, she was following Him.
She was standing with the cross to consider the very soft head of her son, anoint of oil with her companions, struck with a reed and crowned with thorns. She saw the most beautiful of the children of men who no longer had neither radiance or beauty. She saw despised and restored to the last rank He who is exalted above all peoples. She saw the saint of saints crucified with the scoundrels and the impious. She saw the eyes of this sublime man lowering himself, and the head of the one who supports the universe to lean, tilted on his shoulders, the very serene face of God wither, and vanish the beauty of his face.
St Amadeus of Lausanne
PRAYER – Almighty, everlasting God, Who in the Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, prepared a dwelling place worthy of the Holy Spirit, graciously grant, that we, who are devoutly keeping the Feast of her Immaculate Heart, may be able to live according to Thy Heart.Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen
Quote/s of the Day – 22 August – Month and Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Octave Day of the Assumption)
“In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.”
“Let us decide to become one, with all the faithful, in offering the prayers and actions and sufferings of each day to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of His Mother Mary. We shall certainly receive showers of graces, both for ourselves and for the salvation of the souls of our neighbours.”
Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)
Prayer to the Two Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary
O Heart of Jesus pierced for our sins and giving us Your Mother on Calvary! O Heart of Mary pierced by sorrow and sharing in the sufferings of your divine Son for our redemption! O sacred union of these Two Hearts! Praised be the God of Love who united them together! May we unite our hearts and every heart so that all hearts may live in unity and in imitation of that sacred unity which exists in these Two Hearts. Triumph, O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary! Reign, O Most Sacred Heart of Jesus! – in our hearts, in our homes and families, in the hearts of those who as yet do not know You and in all nations of the world. Establish in the hearts of all mankind the sovereign triumph and reign of your Two Hearts so that the earth may resound from pole to pole with one cry: Blessed forever be the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary! Obtain for me a greater purity of heart and a fervent love of the spiritual life. May all my actions be done for the greater glory of God in unions with the divine heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Hear and answer our prayers and intentions according to Your most merciful will. Amen
Our Lord Jesus Christ, Teacher of the Devotion to the Admirable Heart of Mary, Part One
WE HAVE every reason to consider the adorable Heart of Jesus as the second foundation of the devotion to the admirable Heart of Mary. The supremely ardent love for the Heart of His dearest Mother, burning in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, makes Him the herald of this devotion, which He teaches to us both by word and example.
Would you know how the Only-begotten Son of God, who is also the Son of Mary, exhorts us to venerate His glorious Mother’s loving Heart? Listen to what He revealed in 1300 to St. Mechtilde, one of the most glorious daughters of St. Benedict, whose writings have been approved by learned and devout doctors. One day during Advent, as the Saint sought to salute the Mother of God in a most pleasing manner, Our Lord Himself deigned to instruct her as follows:
“Thou shalt salute my holy Mother’s virginal Heart as an ocean replete with heavenly grace and a treasure filled with myriad blessings for mankind.
“Thou shalt honor it as the purest Heart after mine own because she was the first to take the vow of chastity.
“Thou shalt hail it as the humblest Heart of any simple creature, for her humility drew me from my Father’s bosom and rendered her worthy to conceive me in her chaste womb by the power of the Holy Ghost.
“Thou shalt reverence her Heart as supremely devout and most ardent in its desire for my Incarnation and birth on earth, because the fervor of her desires and of her longing attracted me to her and became the cause of man’s salvation.
“Thou shalt honor her Heart as most glowingly inflamed with love for God and man. Thou shalt salute it as the wisest and most prudent, for she kept in her Heart the memory of each event of my childhood, youth and adult life and made a most holy use of this remembrance.
“Thou shalt greet her Heart as the most faithful, for she not only consented to permit me, her only Son, to be sacrificed, but she also offered me to my Eternal Father as a sacrifice for the redemption of the world.
“Thou shalt salute her Heart as the most vigilant and most zealous for the interests of the nascent Church, for the care she took to pray unceasingly could not be disregarded.
“Thou shalt glorify her Heart as raised to the highest degree of uninterrupted contemplation, for no tongue can worthily speak of the graces and favors that men owe to the power of her intercession.”
I have always been and shall forever be the most singular object of all the affections of her Holy Heart, as she herself has always been and will forever be, after my Eternal Father, the first object of my love. All who truly love me must, therefore, be particularly zealous in honoring and teaching others to honor the Heart that I love more and that gives me greater glory and love than the hearts of all the angels and men together.
I have given my Mother’s Heart to you as a divine Sun to enlighten you through the darkness of the world, to warm you in the frosts of mortal life, to gladden and to comfort you in the sorrows, pains and miseries of earth, and to vivify and strengthen you against the decline and weakness of human frailty. I have given her Heart to you as a beautiful mirror, into which you should often gaze in order to see the stains that tarnish your souls, so that you may cleanse them. With the aid of this celestial mirror, you should array your souls with becoming ornaments that they may become pleasing in the sight of my divine majesty.
I have given her Heart to you as a heavenly chronicle and book of life, that you may study its pages unceasingly, and learn to know perfectly and to love ardently the ravishing beauty of those Christian virtues whose faithful practice gives eternal life. But what you should learn above all from this book are the marvellous merits of holy humility and the means to practice it, so as to crush in your hearts the cursed serpent of pride and vanity that wreaks such havoc, not only in the souls of children of perdition, but in my own children’s hearts as well.
I have given the Heart of my incomparable Mother to you as a holy Rule that will enable you to become saints, if you faithfully observe it.
I have given her Heart to you as a precious vessel, filled with manna from heaven and the nectar of paradise, to nourish your hearts with the meat of the angels, even in this world, and so to inebriate them with heavenly wine, that the things of the earth and time may be forgotten entirely and the sole delight of your hearts rest in those things which are heavenly and eternal.
AnaStpaul 
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