Could we rustle up 40 martyrs for England and Wales today?

I mean, could we? Are there forty men and women out there who would step up to the mark and say in ringing tones:

"I am a Catholic true to the teachings of Jesus Christ and I oppose all that the secular world is trying to force on me.
I oppose Mass in its vernacular, freestyle version as displayed by so many priests, I oppose the killing of infants in the womb and the sick and elderly in their beds, I oppose all sins of the flesh which society is fixated with today, namely, gluttony, homosexuality, adultery, paedophilia and so on; I oppose experiments on the human body and all moves to detract from the Christian family and its values.
I abhor the blasphemies and sacrileges which the world commits upon all that is sacred and holy and I maintain that the Catholic Faith is the one true faith and the Mystical Body of Christ.
I hold true to belief in the sacred species and to the promise of the cross, that is, redemption and eternal life for those who die in God's grace".

Are there forty brave souls who would state this or similar?
In the full knowledge that the next step would be a severe racking in Wormwood Scrubs or Belmarsh in an effort to get you to recant.
Then would come a public trial with all its lies and deceits.

And, finally, you would be placed on a hurdle, strapped down and positioned so that your head was beneath the tail of the horse and, therefore, liable to receive all the ordure that an hour long journey would bring.

Could you really face the humiliation of being dragged along Oxford Street, through the crowds of shoppers, past John Lewis's, past Selfridges until, at last you come to Marble Arch and Tyburn's Tree?

Now comes the final pain and indignity, you have a noose placed about your head and you know that you are about to be hanged until semi conscious and then your body will be violated by the knife and the saw and your heart plucked out before your very eyes.

Are there forty men and women out there that would face up to what our blessed martyrs faced?

I know a few priests who have the courage but I think we would struggle to make forty.

Today is the Feast of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales - remember them and have recourse to them, we need their support today!

Thirty four came from England and six from Wales

LITANY OF THE FORTY MARTYRS OF ENGLAND AND WALES

Lord have mercy on us, Christ have mercy on us. Lord have mercy on us. Christ hear us.

Christ graciously hear us.
God the Father, Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, Have mercy on us.
Mary, Queen of Apostles, Pray for us.
Mary, Queen of Martyrs, Pray for us.
St John Houghton, Pray for us.
St Richard Reynolds, Pray for us.
St Augustine Webster, Pray for us.
St Robert Lawrence, Pray for us.
St John Stone, Pray for us.
St Cuthbert Mayne, Pray for us.
St Edmund Campion, Pray for us.
St Ralph Sherwin, Pray for us.
St Alexander Briant, Pray for us.
St John Payne, Pray for us.
St Luke Kirby, Pray for us.
St Richard Gwyn, Pray for us.
St Margaret Clitherow, Pray for us.
St Margaret Ward, Pray for us.
St Edmund Gennings, Pray for us.
St Swithun Wells, Pray for us.
St Polydore Plasden, Pray for us.
St Eustace White, Pray for us.
St John Boste, Pray for us.
St Robert Southwell, Pray for us.
St Henry Walpole, Pray for us.
St Philip Howard, Pray for us.
St John Jones, Pray for us.
St John Rigby, Pray for us.
St Anne Line, Pray for us.
St Nicholas Owen, Pray for us.
St Thomas Garnet, Pray for us.
St John Roberts, Pray for us.
St John Almond, Pray for us.
St Edmund Arrowsmith, Pray for us.
St Ambrose Barlow, Pray for us.
St Alban Roe, Pray for us.
St Henry Morse, Pray for us.
St John Southworth, Pray for us.
St John Plessington, Pray for us.
St Philip Evans, Pray for us.
St John Lloyd, Pray for us.
St John Wall, Pray for us.
St John Kemble, Pray for us.
St David Lewis, Pray for us.
Let us pray. Oh God, in whom there is no change or shadow of alteration, you gave courage to the Holy Martyrs. Grant unto us, we beseech you, through their intercession, the grace to always value the Holy Mass. May we be strengthened to serve you in imitation of the courage of these Holy Martyrs. We ask this through Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, forever. Amen.

Prayer from The Last Welsh Martyr blog