I first became aware of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales when I was at the Jesuit run Seminary of Campion House, Osterley, in London. There had been a great devotion to the Martyrs there especially since Fr Clement Tiger (always known as Clem Tiger) had been the Rector from 1936-66. He initiated "Campion Day" when all the students would go to Tyburn Convent on the feast of Edmund Campion to celebrate Mass close to the spot of the Tyburn Gallows. He had thousands of copies of the famous painting above printed and wrote extensively about them. When he finally left Osterley he worked on the cause of the 40 Martyrs in the Office of the Vice-Postulation at the Jesuit church of the Immaculate Conception at Farm Street in London.
That tradition of a love of the Martyrs stayed with me and many others over the years. On this fiftieth anniversary of them being raised to the altar, we will thank God for their witness and honour their memory at Masses this weekend. It is, perhaps, an incongruity that the Mass they gave their lives to be able to celebrate has been so curtailed in this Covid year. May they intercede for that Mass to once again flourish in our nation and bring all peoples to God's salvation.
“The expense is reckoned;
The enterprise is begun.
It is of God. It cannot be withstood.
So the Faith was planted, so it must be restored”.
St Edmund Campion
There is some information on each one of them here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2614440/posts
We have the normal full week of Masses and services this week and Sunday Mass at
8.30am and 10am.
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