Off to Australia today - the feast of St Matilda!

St Matilda - not known for her waltzing

I find this rather droll, that today of all days, when we start our journey to Australia, it should coincide with the feast of St Matilda.

Of course, St M had nothing to do with Australia, she was born in Germany in the late 9th century and married Henry the Fowler, son of the Duke of Saxony.
She was, by all accounts, a charitable soul who stayed close to the seat of power after her husband's death (he had then succeeded to his father's Dukedom).

So, my prayers will have to be directed to Australia's dedicated patron saints; first and foremost, Our Lady Help of Christians and then, to a lesser degree, St Therese de Lisieux, St Francis Xavier and, of course, the great St Mary McKillop.

Of course, I shall say a prayer to St Matilda also, it would be churlish not to.
And yes, I do know that a 'matilda' is a traveller's bag.

Blogging will be a little sporadic from now until 16th April when we shall be back in Blighty.
But there will be one last post in a few hours, an extract of a rather good medieval story about a monk and Our Lady.

After that, watch out for occasional posts from Linen on the Eucalypts!

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

On this great feast of Fatima....

'The Miracle of the Sun'



Make a note of this prayer

If you have a need in this life, if you have a problem concerning yourself or others, if you have a yearning for the abolition of the abortion laws, a desire for world peace, if you are sick or if your children have abandoned the faith, if your soul is in mortal danger – say this prayer – and say it for Thirty Days

Why?

Because it’s The Thirty Days Prayer to Our Lady.

My own Mother said this prayer every day of her adult life, so that all of her seven children would keep the faith…and they did!

Ever glorious and blessed Mary,

Queen of Virgins,

Mother of Mercy,

hope and comfort of dejected and desolate souls,

through that sword of sorrow

which pierced thy tender heart

whilst thine only Son,

Christ Jesus, our Lord,

suffered death and ignominy on the cross;

through that filial tenderness

and pure love He had for thee,

grieving in thy grief,

whilst from His cross He recommended thee

to the care and protection

of His beloved disciple, St. John,

take pity,  I beseech thee,

on my poverty and necessities;

have compassion on my anxieties and cares;

assist and comfort me

in all my infirmities and miseries,

of every kind whatsoever.

Thou art the Mother of Mercies,

the sweet comforter

and only refuge of the needy and the orphan,

of the desolate and afflicted.

Cast, therefore,

an eye of pity on a miserable,

forlorn child of Eve,

and hear my prayer;

for since,

in just punishment of my sins,

I find myself encompassed by a multitude of evils,

and oppressed with much anguish of spirit,

wither can I fly for more secure shelter,

O amiable Mother of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,

than under the wings of thy maternal protection?

Attend, therefore,

I beseech thee,

with an ear of pity and compassion,

to my humble and earnest request.

I ask it,

through the bowels of mercy of thy dear Son;

Through that love and condescension wherewith

He embraced our nature, when,

in compliance with the divine Will,

thou gavest thy consent, and whom,

after the expiration of nine months

thou didst bring forth

from the chaste enclosure of thy womb,

to visit the world,

and bless it with His presence.

I ask it,

through that anguish of mind

wherewith thy beloved Son,

our dear Saviour,

was overwhelmed on the Mount of Olives,

when He besought His eternal Father

to remove from Him, if possible,

the bitter chalice of His future passion.

I ask it,

through the threefold repetition

of His prayers in the garden,

whence afterwards,

with dolorous steps and mournful tears,

thou didst accompany Him to the doleful theatre

of His death and sufferings.

I ask it,

through the welts and bruises of His virginal flesh,

occasioned by the cords and whips

wherewith He was bound and scourged,

when stripped of His seamless garment,

for which His executioners afterwards cast lots.

I ask it,

through the scoffs and ignominies

by which He was insulted;

the false accusations and unjust sentence

by which He was condemned to death,

and which He bore with heavenly patience.

I ask it,

through His bitter tears and bloody sweat;

His silence and resignation;

His sadness and grief of heart.

I ask it,

through the blood which trickled

from His royal and Sacred Head,

when struck with the sceptre of a reed

and pierced with His crown of thorns.

I ask it,

through the excruciating torments He suffered,

when His hands and feet were fastened

with gross nails to the tree of the cross.

I ask it,

through His vehement thirst,

and bitter potion of vinegar and gall.

I ask it,

through His dereliction on the cross

when He exclaimed,

"My God! my God! why hast Thou forsaken me?"

I ask it,

through His mercy extended to the good thief,

and through His recommending

His precious soul and spirit

into the hands of His eternal Father

before He expired, saying, "It is consummated."

I ask it,

through the blood mixed with water,

which issued from His Sacred Side

when pierced with a lance,

and whence a flood of grace

and mercy has flowed to us.

I ask it,

through His immaculate life,

bitter passion and ignominious death on the cross,

at which nature itself was thrown into convulsions,

by the bursting of rocks,

rending of the veil of the Temple,

the earthquake,

and the darkness of the sun and moon.

I ask it,

through His descent into hell,

where He confronted the Saints

of the old law with His presence,

and led the captivity captive.

I ask it,

through His glorious victory over death,

when He arose again to life on the third day,

and through the joy

which His appearance for forty days after gave thee,

His blessed Mother,

His Apostles,

and the rest of His Disciples;

when in thine and their presence

He miraculously ascended into heaven.

I ask it,

through the grace of the Holy Spirit,

infused into the hearts of His Disciples,

when He descended upon them

in the form of fiery tongues,

and by which they were inspired with zeal

in the conversion of the world,

when they went to preach the gospel.

I ask it,

through the awful appearance of thy Son,

at the last dreadful day,

when He shall come to judge

the living and the dead,

and the world, by fire.

I ask it,

through the compassion He bore thee in His life,

and the unspeakable joy

thou didst feel at thine assumption into heaven,

where thou art eternally absorbed

in the sweet contemplation of His divine perfections.

O glorious and ever blessed Virgin!

comfort the heart of thy supplicant,

by obtaining for me,

(Mention your prayer intention here...)

And as I am persuaded my Divine Saviour

doth honour thee as His beloved Mother,

to whom He refuses nothing,

because thou asketh nothing contrary to His honour,

so let me speedily experience

the efficacy of thy powerful intercession,

according to the tenderness of thy maternal affection,

and His filial loving heart,

who mercifully granteth the requests

and complieth with the desires

of those that love and fear Him.

Wherefore, O most blessed Virgin,

beside the object of my present petition,

and whatever else I may stand in need of,

obtain for me also of thy dear Son,

our Lord and our God,

a lively faith,

firm hope,

perfect charity,

true contrition of heart,

unfeigned tears of compunction,

sincere confession,

condign satisfaction,

abstinence from sin,

love of God and my neighbour,

contempt of the world,

patience to suffer affronts

and ignominies, nay, even,

if necessary,

an opprobrious death itself,

for love of thy Son,

our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Obtain likewise for me,

O sacred Mother of God,

perseverance in good works,

performance of good resolutions,

mortification of self-will,

a pious conversation through life,

and, at my last moments,

strong and sincere repentance,

accompanied by such a lively

and attentive presence of mind,

as may enable me to receive the last Sacrament

of the Church worthily,

and die in thy friendship and favour.

Lastly, obtain through thy Son,

I beseech thee,

for the souls of my parents,

brethren,

relatives and benefactors,

both living and dead,

life everlasting,

from the only Giver of every good and perfect gift,

the Lord God Almighty,

to Whom be all power now and forever.

Amen.

Feast of St Bruno.....

Patron Saint of exorcists and....pipe smokers!

A day of sparse posting coming up as I was foolish enough to visit
The Muniment Room and have now contracted the first known case of eflu!
Thank you Ttony, I shall bear 'my mother of all sore throats' and aching limbs with the same constancy and forbearance as you! Where's that brandy?


DAVID CAMERON CAN'T ADD UP OR SUBTRACT!

A Reluctant Sinner has a good post on this topic, namely, David Cameron coming out fully in favour of homosexual marriage at the Tory Party Conference (as well as a wall of silence from the you know who's).

I began by liking Cameron but, as each day goes by, I like him less and less. This latest pronouncement has really pushed me into the red zone ie active dislike.

Call me a cynic but he only has to count up the number of Catholics in the UK (c. 5 million) and then tot up the number of homosexuals (a staggering estimate of 3.6 million) - subtract one sum from the other and, bingo!
He is going to lose the majority Catholic vote. Not too hard David?

But then, am I being something of an idealist? Won't many younger Cafe Catholics (or Canteen Catholics) - see Ben Trovato's post on http://ccfather.blogspot.com/  - see nothing wrong in homosexuals marrying?

So where can I go to, electorally speaking. I had half a mind to join the Liberal Democrats (I'm told that's all you need, half a mind!).
I certainly could never vote for Red Miliband...so you had better get cracking  Greg Beaman....... http://abriefencounter.blogspot.com/2011/09/catholic-political-party-for-england_13.html#

The Feast of St Francis of Assisi!

No, this is not some obscure traditionalist grace before meals but a meal involving French people enjoying one of their greatest delicacies, Ortolan, a small finch like bird that, to my certain knowledge does not provide a pandemic threat of crop destruction or  disease carrying world population decimation.

It is, allegedly, scrumptious delicious and this is the time of year when, in one or two places in France, they still eat the little bird.
Ahem, pause while we all ritualise the phrase 'garlic eating etc'.

So delicious is this little bundle of feathers that the French eat it with napkins over their heads (not serviettes, please note, they are all busy on the sanctuary).

This may strike you as an unusually obsessive anti-social way of carrying on but then, I can recall some dinner parties when such a disguise would have provided light relief from chatting to one's neighbour!

However, back to the point. Here we are on the feast of this great saint, lover of all things four footed, feathered, finned or furry, and we are all (or a large proportion of us) going to tuck into steaks, chops, lamb shanks, sausages, liver, chitterlings (don't ask), sweetbreads (definitely don't ask) and other choice cuts of various types of animals. And you call yourselves Catholics?

The answer is, of course, each to his own. Almighty God gave us the world that we live in and its creatures for us to decently manage as best we can.
If you wish to eat parsnips for the rest of your life - fine. Equally, if you wish to dine on anything that kicks and squeals (with the exception of the poor ortolan) then that is fine also.

I am sure that St Francis, while sticking to his frugal repast of roots and leaves, would not begrudge his fellow man a few mouthfuls of mammal or fish, even if he had just held an intelligent conversation with one!

So - a Happy Feastday to one and all and here is the prayer attributed to St Francis............................

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.


O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

---

The voice crying in the wilderness

Today's feast...the beheading of St John the Baptist

                                       

“Be consoled, be consoled, O my people!” says your God.
 Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call out to her! For her malice has reached its end. Her iniquity has been forgiven. She has received double for all her sins from the hand of the Lord.
 The voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight the paths of our God, in a solitary place.
 Every valley will be exalted, and every mountain and hill will be brought low. And the crooked will be straightened, and the uneven will become level ways.
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed. And all flesh together will see that the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

                          St John the Baptist, Martyr - Ora pro nobis

A saint for our times - Maximilian Kolbe, Martyr

Today is the feastday of this great saint who died for love behind the barbed wire of a modern hell, Auschwitz.

This video clip tells his story far more effectively than my words would,

                             

                                  St Maximilian Kolbe Ora pro nobis!

“Courage, my sons. Don’t you see that we are leaving on a mission? They pay our fare in the bargain. What a piece of good luck! The thing to do now is to pray well in order to win as many souls as possible. Let us, then, tell the Blessed Virgin that we are content, and that she can do with us anything she wishes” (Maximilian Mary Kolbe, when first arrested).

Prisoner's Prayer to Saint Maximilian Kolbe

O Prisoner-Saint of Auschwitz,
help me in my plight
Introduce me to Mary, the Immaculata,
Mother of God. She prayed for Jesus in
a Jerusalem jail. She prayed for you
in a Nazi prison camp. Ask her to comfort
me in my confinement. May she teach me
always to be good.
If I am lonely, may she say "God is here."
If I feel hate, may she say "God is love."
If I am tempted, may she say "God is pure."
If I sin, may she say "God is mercy."
If I am in darkness, may she say "God is light."
If I am unjustly condemned, may she say "God is truth."
If I have pain in soul or body, may she say "God is peace."
If I lose hope, may she say: "God is with you all days, and so am I."
Amen.

Irish Bishop dies for the faith!

A great Bishop and a great Irishman to boot; St Oliver Plunkett, the last martyr to receive his crown on Tyburn tree. Born of a noble Irish family (we are all descended from Kings!) he travelled to Rome to spend some years with the priests of San Girolamo della Carita before entering Holy Orders.
.
When sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered he replied: "Deo gratias"

Inspire our Bishops!

He was finally appointed, by Pope Clement IX, as Archbishop to the See of Armagh back in his native land. Taking up his appointment he found things in a state of disarray; priests causing scandal, laity doing as they pleased and religious orders running loose, literally. St Oliver came down on them like a ton of bricks and, of course, a wave of resentment entered his episcopal affairs.

In England and Wales the Oates plot was still claiming victims to the lies and subterfuges of Protestant activists and the Irish malcontents denounced Archbishop Plunkett under the umbrella of this foul lie. He was accused of aiding the raising of 70,000 Irishmen to fight against England in alliance with the French - quite an emotive and potent lie. The holy man claimed honestly, in his defence, that he lived in a humble thatched hovel and had never even countenanced such a move.
He was, of course, condemned to death and then languished in Newgate Jail in London, far from his friends and relations as the song goes. He prayed and meditated continuously and fasted for four or five days of the week, no mean feat in prison where the rations were meagre to begin with. Outwardly, the Archbishop was serene and calm, living the life of Christ.

Then, on 1st July 1681, he went to the scaffold to be first hanged until semi conscious, then cut down and his body cavity sliced into and his organs removed and then divided into four parts whilst still conscious.
The last Catholic to die for the faith in England.

His head is in St Peter's Church, Drogheda while most of the remainder of his body is preserved at Downside Abbey in Somerset.

  ST OLIVER PLUNKETT - INSPIRE OUR BISHOPS - ORA PRO NOBIS!

BODY OF CHRIST

St Ambrose

"You say perhaps, 'This is ordinary bread'. But this bread is bread before the sacramental words; directly the consecration occurs the bread is changed into the Body of Christ. We must therefore prove this. How can what is bread become the Body of Christ?

By what words is the consecration effected and whose words are they?

They are the words of the Lord Jesus. Indeed all the rest that is said before is said by the priest: praise is offered to God, prayers are made for the people, for kings and for all others. But when it comes to effecting this wonderful sacrament the priest no longer uses his own words but those of Christ.

It is Christ's word, therefore, that effects this sacrament."

4th Century

Sing forth, O Sion, sweetly sing
The praises of thy Shepherd-King,
In hymns and canticles divine;
Dare all thou canst, thou hast no song
Worthy his praises to prolong,
So far surpassing powers like thine.

To-day no theme of common praise
Forms the sweet burden of thy lays –
The living, life-dispensing food –
That food which at the sacred board
Unto the brethren twelve our Lord
His parting legacy bestowed.

Then be the anthem clear and strong,
Thy fullest note, thy sweetest song,
The very music of the breast:
For now shines forth the day sublime
That brings remembrance of the time
When Jesus first his table blessed.

Within our new King's banquet-hall
They meet to keep the festival
That closed the ancient paschal rite:
The old is by the new replaced;
The substance hath the shadow chased;
And rising day dispels the night.

Christ willed what he himself had done
Should be renewed while time should run,
In memory of his parting hour:
Thus, tutored in his school divine,
We consecrate the bread and wine;
And lo – a Host of saving power.

This faith to Christian men is given –
Bread is made flesh by words from heaven:
Into his blood the wine is turned:
What though it baffles nature's powers
Of sense and sight? This faith of ours
Proves more than nature e'er discerned.

Concealed beneath the twofold sign,
Meet symbols of the gifts divine,
There lie the mysteries adored:
The living body is our food;
Our drink the ever-precious blood
In each, one undivided Lord.

Not he that eateth it divides
The sacred food, which whole abides
Unbroken still, nor knows decay;
Be one, or be a thousand fed,
They eat alike that living bread
Which, still received, ne'er wastes away.

The good, the guilty share therein,
With sure increase of grace or sin.
The ghostly life, or ghostly death:
Death to the guilty; to the good
Immortal life. See how one food
Man's joy or woe accomplisheth.

We break the Sacrament; but bold
And firm thy faith shall keep its hold;
Deem not the whole doth more enfold
Than in the fractured part resides:
Deem not that Christ doth broken lie;
'Tis but the sight that meets the eye;
The hidden deep reality
In all its fulness still abides.

Behold the bread of angels, sent
For pilgrims in their banishment,
The bread for God's true children meant,
That may not unto dogs be given;
Oft in the olden types foreshowed;
In Isaac on the altar bowed,
And in the ancient paschal food,
And in the manna sent from heaven.

Come then, good Shepherd, bread divine,
Still show to us thy mercy sign;
Oh, feed us still, still keep us thine;
So we may see thy glories shine
In fields of immortality;

O thou, the wisest, mightiest, best,
Our present good, our future rest,
Come, make us each thy chosen guest,
Co-heirs of thine, and comrades blest
With saints whose dwelling is with thee.
Amen. Alleluia.

Thomas Tichborne, priest and martyr

Tyburn was busy on April 20th 1602. At least three great priests won their crowns that day; Fr Thomas Tichborne, Fr Robert Watkinson and Fr Francis Page.

Father Tichborne belonged to an old Hampshire Catholic family and went to Rheims to study in 1584 and then on to Rome in 1587.
Returning to England to take up his priestly duties he was quickly arrested and thrown into prison.
A daring rescue by Thomas Hackshot and Fr Tichborne's cousin, Nicholas, resulted in an attack on his jailer as he was transferring the prisoner. The jailer was knocked to the ground and Fr Tichborne was freed.
Both Thomas Hackshot and Nicholas Tichborne were soon apprehended and endured unspeakable tortures before being executed on 20th August 1601.

Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, Chideock Dorset

Fr Tichborne remained at large until he met an apostate priest by the name of Atkinson in the street. Recognising him, Atkinson shouted out: "Stop the priest" to which Fr Tichborne responded with absolute truth and aplomb: "I am no more a priest than yourself".

On 20th April 1602 he suffered hanging drawing and quartering at Tyburn with his two brother priests.
Fr Atkinson was able to celebrate Mass in his cell on the day of execution and eyewitnesses state that about his head shone a 'bright light like a ray of glory'. This lasted from the consecration until communion.

MARTYRS OF ENGLAND AND WALES ORA PRO NOBIS

Would you eat a spider for Christ?

That may count as an attention grabbing headline but it does refer to today's feast, that of St Richard of Chichester and my patron saint, of course, not that I stand a chance of anything in the way of a celeb. as it all goes in the direction of 'Mother' today! And quite right too.



Not many Bishops could swallow a spider!

 St Richard, according to legend, was celebrating Holy Mass when, at the point of him consuming the chalice containing the Precious Blood, a large and somewhat hirsute spider fell from the ceiling into the chalice. Now this is the dilemma that those in favour of communion under both kinds may have to face. What to do in the event of a spillage or, in this instance, a spider falling into the chalice. There is no way that you may remove the Sacred Species from carpet fibres and certainly no way that you could extract a spider without profaning the same Species.
St Richard, of course, being a man of decisive and correct action, did not hesitate for one split second; he proceeded to consume the Blood of Our Lord, spider and all! What a man!
Now I have eaten ants, bees, grasshoppers and scorpions (anyone travelling to China will have done the same) but I am very grateful that a spider en croute was never dished up before me, I would have had to demur.

Prayer of St Richard.....

Thanks be to you, our Lord Jesus Christ,
for all the benefits which you have given us,
for all the pains and insults which you have borne for us.
Most merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother,
may we know you more clearly,
love you more dearly,
and follow you more nearly,
day by day.
Amen.



Catholic Emancipation and the feast that followed

I am sorry to impose this on you in the season of Lent but this is a feast too good to hang on to....I have to share it!

The occasion? Following the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 Sir Robert Throckmorton, a noted and prominent Catholic of Coughton Court, Warwickshire, became, in 1831, the first Catholic since the Reformation, to sign the Oath of Allegiance and to take his seat in the House of Commons as a Member of Parliament.

If ever an event called for a feast it was this one. It might be worth recounting just what Catholics had to put up with since the 17th Century. We were not allowed to vote, our churches could not be built near a main road but had to be accommodated down a side street, our land ownership attracted higher taxes than our Protestant countrymen and if anyone took a fancy to our horses, they could claim them as their own and we would have to hand them over without a quibble. The horse was, of course, more vital than a car in today's world so imagine someone walking up to you today and laying hold of the keys to your beloved BMW or Fiesta. You might be more than a little miffed!

So small wonder that the Throckmorton family rejoiced at this post Emancipation progress and invited the great and the good to join with them in a feast. The dining room at Coughton accommodates around twenty people, sadly, I have no information as to whom they were.

For the trenchermen amongst you, here is the menu of the day:-

Feast to celebrate Sir Robert Throckmorton’s

appointment in 1831 as the first Catholic Member

of Parliament since the Reformation

FIRST COURSE

Asparagus Soup

Oxtail Soup

Salmon with lobster sauce

Fried filleted Soles

MAIN COURSE

Lamb cutlets and Cucumber

Fricandeau of Veal

Lobster Pudding

Stewed Mushrooms

Saddle of Lamb

Braised Ham

Roast Veal

Vegetables

PUDDINGS

Charlotte Russe

Almond Cheesecake

Gooseberry Tart

Vanilla Cream

Ices

This all has a very solid 19^th Century English cooking ring about it, nothing to excite the appetite too much in modern terms but, of course, at a time when there was no artificial refrigeration, the provision of ices (and fish) must have been quite challenging.

Hail Holy Joseph Hail!

From roma aeterna

	Hail, holy Joseph, hail! Chaste spouse of Mary, hail! Pure as the lily flower In Eden's peaceful vale! Hail, holy Joseph, hail! You were God's chosen one: To you the Word made flesh Was subject as a Son.
	Hail, holy Joseph, hail! O friend of angels, hail! Assist the hearts that faint And guide the steps that fail. Hail, holy Joseph, hail! Pricne of the house of God, May His best graces be By your dear hands bestowed.
	Hail, holy Joseph, hail! Teach us our flesh to tame. And, Mary, keep the hearts That honor Joseph's name; He loved you with a love Of holy purity: We pray that we may be As pure in love as he.

This great saint and patron of the Church is an inspiration to all fathers (especially) and also those who seek a new home.

Litany of St. Joseph  V/ Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy. V/ Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy. V/ Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy. V/ Jesus, hear us. R/ Jesus, graciously hear us. V/ God, the Father of Heaven, R/ have mercy on us. V/ God, the Son, Redeemer of the world, R/ have mercy on us. V/ God, the Holy Spirit, R/ have mercy on us. V/ Holy Trinity, One God, R/ have mercy on us.  R/for ff: pray for us. Holy Mary, St. Joseph, Renowned offspring of David, Light of Patriarchs, Spouse of the Mother of God, Chaste guardian of the Virgin, Foster father of the Son of God, Diligent protector of Christ, Head of the Holy Family, Joseph most just, Joseph most chaste, Joseph most prudent, Joseph most strong, Joseph most obedient, Joseph most faithful, Mirror of patience, Lover of poverty, Model of artisans, Glory of home life, Guardian of virgins, Pillar of families, Solace of the wretched, Hope of the sick, Patron of the dying, Terror of demons, Protector of Holy Church, Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, R/ spare us, O Lord. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, R/ graciously hear us, O Lord. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. R/ have mercy on us. He made him the lord of his household. R/ And prince over all his possessions.  Let us pray. O God, in your ineffable providence you were pleased to choose Blessed Joseph to be the spouse of your most holy Mother; grant, we beg you, that we may be worthy to have him for our intercessor in heaven whom on earth we venerate as our Protector: You who live and reign forever and ever. R/ Amen.