Inspiration from Jesuit Martyrs

Painting in the Chapel of the Venerable English College, Rome

Hello, dear friends! If you're following me on instagram -- @rosemary.writer, you saw a reel today from the chapel at the Venerable English College at Rome. This huge, gorgeous painting hangs in the sanctuary. 

The college was founded in the late sixteenth century as a seminary to train priests for England and Wales, because they couldn’t have their own seminaries due to the Elizabethan persecution. St. Robert Southwell, the poet, was educated here.

It became known as the "Venerable" English College because of the many alumni who were martyred or tortured, imprisoned and exiled for the Faith. 

The age of the martyrs was 1581–1679. 44 students were martyred for the Faith, and 130 suffered imprisonment and exile. This is why it is called the Venerable English College.

The College's first martyr was St. Ralph Sherwin. "His name stands first in the famous Liber Ruber (a list of students who took the missionary oath in Rome before returning to England), where he is recorded as saying that he was ready, 'today rather than tomorrow, at a sign from his superiors to go into England for the helping of souls'." (found online)

After four months in his mission in England, he was captured, and then tortured and killed at Tyburn on December 1, 1581. Many others followed. It became the custom for a student from this college to preach before the Pope every St. Stephen's Day (feast of the first Christian martyr) on the topic of Martyrdom. 

St. Philip Neri, who lived across the way from the college would greet the students saying, "Hail, Flowers of the Marytrs!"

The painting shown above is referred to as "The Marytrs' Picture". It was painted by Durante Alberti in 1580. In the lower left forefront, we see two early English martyrs, St. Thomas Beckett on the left, and St. Edmund, King of East Anglia, on the right. A cherub is holding up the college motto, "I have come to bring fire to the earth."

You'll notice that Our Lord is *not* hanging on the Cross, though we can tell He's been crucified. Someone referred to it as "another Pieta" because it is God the Father, holding the Body of His Crucified Son. Alberti painted the Precious Blood falling from His Side onto England on the globe. What a beautiful image!

As I mentioned on Instagram, whenever the instructors and seminarians received notification that one of their alumni had been martyred, they would gather before this painting, and sing the "Te Deum" in thanksgiving. 

Above the painting is the gallery filled with frescoes of Niccolo Circignani, showing the history of the Catholic Church in England from the very beginning, through the stories of the college students who were martyred during the Elizabethan persecution.

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Here is a list of the martyrs (not including those who were imprisoned, tortured, and/or exiled) that are honored as alumni of the Venerable English College at Rome. We prayed it as a litany while we were there....

·        Ralph Sherwin, 1581

·        Thomas Cottam, 1582

·        Luke Kirby, 1582

·         John Shert, 1582

·       William Lacey, 1582

·        William Hart, 1583

·        John Munden, 1584

·        Thomas Hemerford, 1584

·        George Haydock, 1584

·        John Lowe, 1586

·        Christopher Buxton, 1588

·        Edward James, 1588

·        Richard Leigh, 1588

·        Robert Morton, 1588

·        Edmund Duke, 1590

·        Christopher Bales, 1590

·        Polydore Plasden, 1591

·        Eustace White, 1591

·        Joseph Lambton, 1592

·        Thomas Pormort, 1592

·        John Cornelius S.J., 1594

·        John Ingram, 1594

·        Edward Thwing, 1594

·        Robert Southwell S.J., 1595

·        Henry Walpole S.J., 1595

·        Robert Middleton, 1601

·        Thomas Tichborne, 1602

·        Robert Watkinson, 1602

·        Edward Oldcorne, 1606

·        John Almond, 1612

·        Richard Smith, 1612

·        John Thules, 1616

·        John Lockwood, 1642

·        Edward Morgan, 1642

·        Brian Tansfield S.J., 1643

·        Henry Morse S.J., 1645

·        John Woodcock O.F.M., 1646

·        Edward Mico S.J., 1678

·        Anthony Turner S.J., 1679

·        David Lewis S.J., 1679

·        John Wall O.F.M., 1679

 

Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us!

 

The Pieta, by Michelangelo. Picture taken at St. Peter's Basilica, July 31, 2023

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Today the Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. I'd never had a devotion to Our Lady under this title, until I attended a parish by this name in Phoenix, Arizona, and the priest taught us about it. The seven sorrows of Our Lady, all found in Scripture, are: he Prophecy of Simeon, the Flight into Egypt, the Loss of Jesus in the Temple, the Meeting on the Way to Calvary, the Death of Jesus, the Piercing of His Side and the Taking Down from the Cross, and the Burial of Jesus. 

Under this good priest's guidance, I realized that Our Lady's Sorrows all relate to her motherhood. If you are a mother, you can comprehend a little sliver of what she is going through on these seven occasions. When our mother-hearts are aching, she understands. We can ask her to intercede with her Divine Son for us.

"Oh Mother, for the love of this Son, accept me for thy servant, and pray to Him for me." ~ St. Alphonsus de Ligouri

A witty mother once said, "Yes, but she only had one Child, and He was perfect!" Yes, but on the Cross, that One Son gave her all the rest of us as her unruly, disobedient children, and her heart bleeds for all of us. "Behold thy Mother," He said to John, and to her, "Behold thy son."

I remember reading that St. Dismas was the first spiritual child she helped to save. She had just been given to us as our mother, and she prayed fervently for the dying Dismas. Her loving prayers for his salvation merited for him the words,

"This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise." Oh, may she pray for us so that we may hear those words someday too!!!