Tag: 40martyrsofenglandandwales

Posted in MORNING Prayers, QUOTES of the SAINTS, SAINT of the DAY

Thought for the Day – 19 July

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 19 July

Today is the Feast of St John Plessington, one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, he was imprisoned for two months and then hung, drawn and quartered on 19 July 1679. Here are the words of the speech the saint gave before his martyrdom:

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Stained glass window in St Winifrede’s Church Holywell depicting St John Plessington ministering to a kneeling woman and below with a group at his execution.

The scaffold speech of Fr John Plessington

The Scaffold Speech Page 1
The Scaffold Speech Page 2

Dear Countrymen.

I am here to be executed, neither for Theft, Murder, nor anything against the Law of God, nor any fact or Doctrine inconsistent with Monarchy or Civil Government. I suppose several now present heard my trial the last Assizes and can testify that nothing was laid to my charge but Priesthood and I am sure that you will find that Priesthood is neither against the Law of God nor Monarchy, or Civil Government. If you will consider either the Old or New Testament (for it is the Basis of Religion […], St Paul tells us in Hebrews 7:12 that the Priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change of the Law, and consequently the Priesthood being abolished, the Law and Religion is quite gone.

But I know it will be said that a Priest ordained by authority derived from the See of Rome is by the Law of Nation to die as a Traitor, but if that be so what must become of all the Clergymen or England, for the first Protestant Bishops had their Ordination from those of the Church of Rome, or none at all, as appears by their own writers, so that Ordination comes derivatively to those now living.

As in the Primitive times, Christians were esteemed Traitors and suffered as such by National Law, so are the Priests of the Roman Church here esteemed, and suffer such.   But as Christianity then was not against the law of God, Monarchy or Civil Policy, so now there is not any one Point of the Roman Catholic Faith (of which Faith I am) that is inconsistent therewith, as is evident by induction in each several point.

That the Pope hath power to depose or give licence to Murder Princes is no point of our Belief.    And I protest in the sight of God and the Court of Heaven that I am absolutely innocent of the Plot so much discoursed of, and abhor such bloody and damnable designs.   And although it be Nine Weeks since I was sentenced to die, there is not anything of that laid to my charge, so that I may take comfort in St. Peter’s words, 1 Peter 14-16, “Let none of you suffer as a Murderer, or as a Thief, or as an Evil doer, or as a Busy Body in other men’s matters, yet if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed or Sorry”. I have deserved a worse death, for though I have been a faithful and true Subject to my King, I have been a grievous sinner against God;  [others would have lived] in a greater perfection [than] I have done had they received so many favours and graces from him as I have.

But as there was never sinner who truly repented and heartily called to Jesus for mercy, to whom he did not show mercy, so I hope by the merits of His Passion, He will have mercy on me, who am heartily sorry that ever I offended him.

Bear witness, good hearers, that I profess that I undoubtedly and firmly believe all the Articles of the Roman Catholic Faith, and for the truth of any of them (by the assistance of God) I am willing to die, and I had rather die than doubt of any Point of Faith, taught by our Holy Mother the Roman Catholic Church.

In what condition Margaret Plat one of the chiefest witnesses against me was before and after she was with me, let her nearest relations declare.   George Massey, another witness, swore falsely when he swore I gave him the Sacrament, and said Mass at the time and place he mentioned, and [I] verily think that he never spoke to me, or I to him, or saw each other but at the Assizes week. The third witness, Robert Wood, was suddenly killed but of the Dead why should I speak? These were all the witnesses against me, unless those that only declared what they heard from others.   I heartily and freely forgive all that have been or are any way instrumental to my Death, and heartily desire that those that are living may heartily repent.

God bless the King and the Royal Family and grant his Majesty a prosperous Reign here and a crown of glory hereafter, God grant peace to the Subjects and that they live and die in true Faith, Hope, and Charity.  

That which remains is that I recommend my self to the mercy of Jesus, by whose merits, I hope for mercy.    O Jesus, be to me a Jesus.

FINIS

And we too, recommend ourselves to the mercy of Jesus, now and at the hour of our death, amen.    St John Plessington, pray for us!

i recommend myself to the mercy of jesus - st john plessington

 

Posted in MORNING Prayers, QUOTES of the SAINTS, SAINT of the DAY

Quote/s of the Day – 19 July

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 19 July

“But I know it will be said that a Priest ordained by authority derived from the See of Rome is by the Law of Nation to die as a Traitor but if that be so, what must become of all the Clergymen or England, for the first Protestant Bishops had their Ordination from those of the Church of Rome….?”

“Bear witness, good hearers, that I profess that I undoubtedly and firmly believe all the Articles of the Roman Catholic Faith and for the truth of any of them (by the assistance of God) I am willing to die and I had rather die than doubt of any Point of Faith, taught by our Holy Mother the Roman Catholic Church.”

St John Plessington
Martyred because he was a Priest by Elizabeth I of England

and I had rather die - st john plessington

Posted in MORNING Prayers, SAINT of the DAY

One Minute Reflection – 19 July

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 19 July

For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also…Hebrews 7:12

REFLECTION – ” If you will consider either the Old or New Testament (for it is the Basis of Religion […], St Paul tells us in Hebrews 7:12 that the Priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change of the Law and consequently the Priesthood being abolished, the Law and Religion is quite gone.”…….St John Plessington

st Paull tells us in hebrews 7 12-st john plessington

PRAYER – Holy God, help us to pray continually for our priests, to respect them and consider them as representatives of You. Grant that the law of our lands may never regard them as men of God and of the law. St John Plessington, you were martyred because you were a priest of God, please pray for all our priests and for us, amen.

st john plessington - pray for us

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 19 July – St John Plessington

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Saint of the Day – 19 July – St John Plessington – Priest and Martyr – also known as  John Plesington, William Scarisbrick, William Pleasington.   Additional Memorial – 25 October as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales – (c 1637 at Dimples Hall, Lancashire, England – hanged, drawn and quartered on 19 July 1679 at Barrows Hill, Boughton, England).   He was buried in the local cemetery of Burton, England.   He was beatified in 1929 by Pope Pius XI  and canonised on 25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI.

st john plessington BIG

He was born at Dimples Hall, Garstang, Lancashire, the son of Robert Plessington, a Royalist Roman Catholic and Alice Rawstone, a family thus persecuted for both their religious and political beliefs.

He was educated by the Jesuits at Scarisbrick Hall, then at the Royal College of Saint Alban at Valladolid, Spain and then at Saint Omer Seminary in France.   He was ordained in Segovia, Spain, on 25 March 1662.   He returned to England in 1663 ministering to covert Catholics in the areas of Holywell and Cheshire, often hiding under the name John Scarisbrick.   He was also tutor at Puddington Old Hall near Chester.   Upon arrest in Chester during the Popish Plot scare caused by Titus Oates, he was imprisoned for two months and then hanged, drawn and quartered for the crime of being a Catholic priest.

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40 martyrs
No 8 is our Saint today St John Plessington

english martyrs

It would be another 200 years until the bones were found in a trunk in the Old Star Inn in the village of Holywell close to St Winefride’s Well, a medieval pilgrimage site visited by Henry V after Agincourt, and where John Plessington himself had ministered during his lifetime.

It was known that the building had doubled as a secret headquarters for the Jesuits, and the obvious signs of violent death made it seem likely that the bones were those of murdered Catholics.   They were taken to the nearby St Bueno’s Jesuit retreat house at nearby Tremeirchion and venerated as those unknown martyrs until recently but went largely forgotten to the wider world.
At the time, no-one considered the possibility they could be those of John Plessington, not least because there was already a grave thought to have been his in the village of Burton on the Wirral.   It was not until 1962, as moves were afoot to canonise the executed priest, that it was exhumed and remains removed for study by experts at Liverpool University but found to be those of a younger man and therefore ruled out.
Then more recently, after the bones had been returned to Holywell, a group of forensic pathologists were asked to investigate them.
They singled out a portion of skull with a large hole apparently cut from inside – consistent with having been impaled on a spike after the person was beheaded.
It matched vertebrae from a neck which they concluded appeared to have been hacked off and a section of leg which linked to bone from a pelvis also bearing the marks of being cut.
Together, the report concluded, the presence of what appeared to be one of the quarters of a body and the fact that had been preserved in a Catholic context, as well as date of the clothing they were wrapped in meant they were almost certainly those of an executed priest.

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St Winefride’s Well in Holywell, Flintshire
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The Skull believed to be that of St John Plessington

St John Plessington’s close connection with the area, the date of his death and the mystery over his supposed grave now point to the possibility that the remains are his.
Bishop Davis is hoping to raise tens of thousands of pounds for new research including DNA testing which could connect them to a lock of hair which has also attributed to St John Plessington.
“By his faithfulness to the point of death, St John Plessington stands out as the great witness to the priestly life and mission in Shrewsbury Diocese,” said the bishop.
“As one of England’s 40 martyrs he points to the long continuity of our Catholic faith and our unswerving loyalty to the See of Peter.
“If funds could be found to identify and authenticate his relics it would allow our connection to his heroic ministry and martyrdom to become visible and tangible in a new way for generations to come.”