 |
| Saint Henry Morse, Pray For Us ! |
⛪ Memorial :
• 1 February • 25 October as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales • 29 October as one of the Martyrs of Douai
⛪ Born : 1549 at Brome, Suffolk, England
⛪ Died : Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered on 1 February 1645 at Tyburn, London, England
Henry Morse, born in Brome, Suffolk, England, in 1595, was raised a Protestant. He enrolled as a law student in London’s Inns of Court. While there, however, he decided to join the Catholic Church. Crossing the English Channel, he went to Douai, France, which was then an English Catholic center. Once received into the Church, he decided to study for the priesthood, and made his studies first at Douai, then at the English College in Rome. Although ordained in Rome as a secular priest, he secured permission from the Father General of the Jesuits to be admitted to the Society of Jesus once he got back to England.
Father Morse had scarcely landed in Britain and been accepted as a Jesuit candidate when he was arrested and imprisoned in York Castle. He had not yet had time to make the novitiate required of those who aspired to Jesuit vows. Providentially, however, he found another Jesuit imprisoned in York Castle. This Father Robinson supervised his novitiate in prison! Therefore, when his three-year term was up, he emerged a full-fledged junior member of the Society.
Banished to the Continent on his release, Father Morse spent some time as a chaplain to English soldiers who served the King of Spain in the Low Countries. Then in 1633 he returned to England secretly, using the name “Cuthbert Claxton,” and he spent the next four years ministering in London.
Now, in 1636-1637 the dread “Black Plague” again became epidemic in London. Morse was kept doubly busy taking care of bodies as well as souls. He made up a list of 400 infected families, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, whom he regularly visited. He himself caught the disease three times, but each time he recovered. His zeal and thoughtfulness were deeply appreciated and nearly 100 families on his list eventually asked to be reconciled to the Catholic Church.
Unfortunately, the police also learned about Morse’s activities, and arrested him on February 27, 1636. The charges were that he was a priest and that he had “perverted” several hundred of “His Majesty’s Protestant subjects.” Put on trial, he was acquitted of the second charge but not of the first. However, he was bailed out through the intervention of Charles I’s Catholic wife, Queen Henrietta Maria. Then, in 1641, the king was forced to decree the exile of all Catholic priests. Father Henry, unwilling to embarrass his bail bondsmen, returned to Flanders and resumed his work as chaplain of the English soldiers there.
In 1643 Father Morse’s Jesuit superiors sent him back to the mission, this time in northern England. Arrested 18 months later, he escaped with the aid of the Catholic wife of one of his captors, but after six weeks he was caught again and sent to London. Tried once more, he was sentenced to death in accord with the law that forbade exiled priests to return to Britain.
On the day of his execution, February 1, 1645, Father Morse was able to celebrate Mass. Then four horses were harnessed to the wicker hurdle on which he was dragged to the gallows that stood on Tyburn Hill. As usual, there was a crowd of the curious on hand to see the show. But also in attendance, to pay their respects, were the French ambassador and his suite, the Spanish and Portuguese ambassadors, and the Flemish Count of Egmont.
As was customary, the condemned priest was allowed to make some final remarks. He declared that he was being executed solely for his religion. He denied any connection with conspiracies against the king, and declared (which was certainly true) that he had labored solely for the welfare of his fellow citizens.
Only after he was dead was Father Morse’s body disemboweled and cut into four parts. Egmont and the French ambassador had their retainers dip handkerchiefs in the martyr’s blood. Later on, these relics were the occasion of cures.
A priest of truly Christian dignity and zeal, Father Henry Morse of the Society of Jesus was canonized in 1970.
Source : Father Robert F. McNamara