Still standing.
Blessed William Horne.
This morning I was reading about the Carthusian martyrs, particularly Blessed William Horne and his companions. William shares his feast day with St. John Vianney, who at one time wanted to leave Ars to become a Carthusian himself. Brother William was one of ten Carhusians who refused to take the anti-papal Oath of Supremacy - this after twenty other Carthusians did sign it. The ten monks were arrested eleven days later, chained in a standing position, and left to starve to death. After four months, they all died, except for Brother William. No one knows why, but he was kept alive and spent nearly three more years in prison - obviously not still chained in a standing position. Continually refusing to sign the oath, William, wearing his Carthusian habit was hanged, drawn and quartered on August 4, 1540.
“Even the elect…”
Twenty out of thirty Carthusians signed the oath. Carthusians, considered one of the holiest orders in the Church; a monastic life with emphasis on prayer, recollection, penance, and so on, was sometimes considered a veritable preparation for martyrdom, if not a sort of bloodless martyrdom. Scary thought isn’t it - understandable of course - but to think such holy giants as Carthusians would refuse to die for Christ.
“So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.” - 1 Corinthians 10:12
For years and years monastic life, along with any strict-observant religious life seemed to me to be the bastion of holiness and mysticism. I so often regarded enclosed religious as living saints - and I’m certain many of them are. Nevertheless, there has always been an element of unreality in my esteem, some might call it “magical thinking” - I think of it as “mystical thinking” or “fantasy”. Actually, it boils down to idealism - very human idealism. It goes along with our holy-card piety, our longing for religious in habits - walking through Romanesque cloisters with their hoods up. Although we often need such icons at various stages of our life to stimulate and encourage us spiritually, holiness does not consist in these things.
“Take no man for an example, revere him not, for the devil will show you his faults.” - St. John of the Cross
You see, as the psalmist tells us, “God remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14) - something we fallen human beings forget or let ourselves get into denial about - thus resorting to an idealism which can perhaps border on idolatry. Lay people, as St. Teresa always repeated, place extremely high expectations upon religious, and very often, what would pass unnoticed in secular life as a fault, is seen as scandalous when it comes to religious life. Human activity and behavior continues, whether in a monastery or convent, or in a family, a parish, a school, or amongst friends. God knows this - and yet we so easily expect perfection from others, while we remain quite content in our own imperfection.
Keeping our eyes fixed on Christ rather than the weaknesses of others.
It seems to me what is very important for us to understand, which very proud people like myself must continually strive to do (or else learn it the hard way through repeated falls from grace, various sufferings, or even through dark nights of depression and failure), - is to begin to realize - and accept - that we are all extremely frail human beings and capable of betraying Christ - even if we are the last one standing.
Still standing.
Imagine Brother William, imprisoned for three more years, just for remaining faithful to the pope, and dying such a horrible death - for something considered socially irrelevant in 16th century London. How easily he could have fallen, had he not humbly placed all of his trust in Christ, depending upon him alone, knowing nothing could separate him from Christ’s love. With Christ, the martyrs inspire and perfect our faith- but our hope and faith and love must be placed in Christ our God alone. The martyrs and saints inspire, but God alone perfects.
“Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.” - Psalm 73: 23-26
August 3rd, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Starting with the divorce of Henry VIII and the subsequent suppression of Carthusians and other religious, followed by the French Revolution, then the Bolshevik, Mexican, Italian and Spanish revolutions, then the 1960s American Social revolution we have seen the monastic and eremetical religious all but exterminated.
Without them the Enemy now has turned against the Family: no-fault divorce, civil marriage, Contraception, abortion, euthanasia, “gay marriage”. The religious and Ordained first, the famiy next, then the leavings for the pickings, that’s us.
It is not too long before parents who object to the pro-gay diversity education in public schools have their children taken or worse. Seen as unfit parents teaching their children hatred these parents will stand to lose everything in the onward march against Christian civilization progresses in the name of “Freedom”.
August 3rd, 2008 at 2:07 pm
A very good post Terry.
Your posts always make me think…
Interestingly William Horne was martyred with Giles Heron who was a son-in-law of St Thomas More. St Thomas’s adopted daughter Mercy Clement (née Giggs) was the heroic woman who saw to the needs of those self same Carthusians during their first weeks in the prison.
I don’t know how to post a link but I wrote a blog post about Mercy Giggs and here is an extract:
Here are two quotes about Margaret ‘Mercy’ Clements:
“Nine of these glorious (Carthusian) brethren, priests and lay-brothers alike, were thrown into the horrible and foetid dungeons of Newgate. There they were deliberately left to perish from hunger, chained to the walls and pillars of their dungeon. For a time these holy Carthusians were kept alive by the charity of Margaret Clements, St Thomas More’s adopted daughter, who came to the prison disguised as a milkmaid, bringing food in her pail, with which she fed them. When, from the king learning that his victims were still alive, Margaret could no longer enter the prison, she contrived by taking some tiles off the roof to let down a basket of food to them But they being able to feed themselves very little, and the gaoler fearing that it should be perceived, refusing to let her come any more, the nine languished and died, one after another.”
“As Margaret Clements lay dying at Mechlin, an exile for the faith, she called her husband and told him that the time for her departure was come, and she might stay no longer, for that there were standing about her bed the blessed martyrs of the London Charterhouse whom she had relieved in prison in England and that were calling on her to come away with them Thus she was escorted by that blessed company to the joys of the heavenly banquet.
*actually I have read that she went into exile twice: one during the reigns of Henry and Edward, and then a second time during the reign of Elizabeth I
August 3rd, 2008 at 2:13 pm
I love this Chesterton quote from Orthodoxy:
“It does not matter (comparatively speaking) how often humanity fails to imitate its ideal; for then all its old failures are fruitful. But it does frightfully matter how often humanity changes its ideal; for then all its old failures are fruitless.”
August 3rd, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Leo - excellent points - thanks much. My thoughts here express my struggle to cope while everything I once found support in is taken away - BTW - that is a good thing.
Kirk - I read about that wonderful woman - thanks for adding that.
SF - That quote surely resonates with me. Thanks.
August 3rd, 2008 at 6:04 pm
T, It is my all time favorite quote and when I get up in the morning I say an abbreviated form of it:
“I refuse to change the ideal.”
August 4th, 2008 at 8:36 am
Dear Mr. Leo, It amazes me that a brilliant man such as yourself , and a fool such as “I” have come to the same conclusions.
I know these things that you say are true .I know it from within my very core, and I have been saying the same things to my family for years only THEY roll their eyes, and mock me. Which in turn hurts my feelings. We actually argue over this stuff.
I have had conversations with people asking them what went wrong in the 60’s what made that decade go so haywire? Now you’ve put that together for me.
I think that
officials at some point will come to collect our children ,because we refuse to conform.
It will be because we refuse to chip them , or vaccinate them with fetal cells, or give them birth control, or for ANY of the hair brain (demonic) ideas that they insist on . They will say that they are “terribly sorry” ,”but it is for the child’s own good”.
I can already feel the hatred, and disgust when I refuse to conform now ,and I am very polite about it when I do. It’s easy now ,but it will get terrible, and in the not too distant future..
Worse yet the people that will turn us in, or come to collect our children for their own good will be our beloved brothers ,and sisters in Christ , Catholics….
I have seen the fury ,and the vengeance of a brilliant man, a doctor ,when I sternly corrected him in front of his colleagues, as he stood over my dying baby. You don’t want to piss these people off. (I was right though,and not as smart as he was, which made matters worse,)
August 5th, 2008 at 7:20 am
all I can say is “Wow!”
August 5th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Perfect post for the year of St. Paul. Persevering until the end is something I always talked about with my dad. Thank goodness he’s in a better position to help me now because if I didn’t have the entire Communion of Saints to help me, I’d be a goner!