Today the Church remembers Blessed Roger Dickenson, Blessed Ralph Milner, & Blessed Lawrence Humphrey. All of them were persecuted by Queen Elizabeth I of England during the persecutions against the Catholic faith.
Blessed Ralph Milner, a farm laborer and father of eight chidren, was brought into the Church by the good example of his neighbors. He was arrested after he made his first Communion. For what crime - being Catholic! However, the jailer liked Blessed Ralph Milner, so he allowed him to move about more freely than the other prisioners. So, Blessed Ralph Milner helped to get supplies to Father Stanney, a Jesuit and Blessed Roger Dickenson, an undercover diocesan priest.
Fr. Roger Dickenson and Ralph Milner were caught and brought to trial. Fr. Dickenson was charged with the crime of being a Catholic priest while Ralph was charged with assisting him in his ministry. The judge wanted to show mercy, so he said to Ralph Milner: "All you have to do is visit a Protestant church, just for a few minutes, to say you have been there. I'll let you go free to be with your family."
He refused the offer to publically deny the Truth of the Catholic faith and even pretend to accept the doctrinal errors of protestant churches. Blessed Milner and Father Dickenson refused to deny the Church - they were excuted on July 7, 1591 in Winchester, England.
Blessed Lawrence Humphrey recently converted to Catholicism because of Father Stanney. He also was martyred - at the age of 21. He was hanged, drawn, and quartered. All there were beatified in 1929.
All three of these men show us the example that we are to live. For they knew the Truth of Christ was only 100% complete in the Catholic faith. For these men were willing to die for Catholicism. It was been persecuted over and over again. But, it has continued to grow! Sacred Scripture comes to mind: "For if this endeavor or this activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself. But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God." (Acts 5: 38b-39a)
Men will not lay down their lives for something that isn't worth dying for. I pray that all non-Catholics see the truth and beauty of the Catholic faith. I ask that all of us, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, pray for the health and intentions of each other.
1 comment(s):
I love my Lives of the Saints and read them faithfully, and it is so wonderful to find them all online. Thank you!
But I see that, in the passion to get this important material online to reach the whole world with ease, LOTS of typos, errors and omissions occured.
I would work for no wage , but just for the love and to show always an always-improving display of the entries.
I am not pointing a finger or insulting: the problem exists NOT at just this site, but at ALL the major Saint sites.
I wish they would all please go through them to plainly list the Who, what ,where , when , how and why. Especially confusing are these errors added to the already-confusing historical conflicts in details.
Patronage is a big issue for me - WHY is one the patron saint of a thing? There is usually a solid reason, but often not mentioned. And sometimes the patronage is entirely omitted.
I study these entries for myself and to share with others, so it would be good to see ALL the basic relevant data. I cannot witness and share with sketchy data.
And nowwwww I return to the corrections I am making at my own site today :-D
Lots of them, since I did all the markup and entries, and some while disabled. Plenty to do !
Thanksomuch
Elle Fagan
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