The Protestant Inquisition in England

One evening in my parish in the 1980`s when the `Spirit of Vatican II` was at its height and catholics prior to Vatican II were the wickedest sect in christendom I had to endure a talk by an invited `convert` on the past misdeeds of the Catholic Church. The Spanish Inquisition, the Crusades, the triumphalistic thinking of Catholics which had caused such things. But in the end he affirmed that the Church has now been purified - by Vatican II. The speaker was quite unaware that he had brought the Protestant version of these events along to the meeting and there just might be another interpretation of History. Certainly in England the way that there is now little talk of the English Martyrs suggests it would seem the Protestant version has trimphed. Here however is the Catholic version. On May 4th 1535 three Carthusian monks and one Bridgenttine monke, all respected in the community for their piety were hanged till partially conscious. Their bellies were then cut open and their intestines ripped out to be tossed on a fire. Their hearts were then ripped out by hand and their heads then cut off. The bodies were then quartered and sent to different parts of England. These were good men, the first of the many, but their crime was that they refused to recognise Henry VIII as head of the English Church. He needed to be head so that he could satisfy his craving for Anne Boleyn. This was to be the fate of many priests and lay people in England who remained faithful to the Supremacy of Peter. Strangely enough under Henry there was no attack on Catholic teaching, doctrine, or practice. Henry had written a book defending these things for which the Pope gave him the title `Defender of the Faith`. But although Henry did not want to Protestantise the Church his associates did. And his nobles wanted the land that the Church owned. Much of the land had been in the past barren but cultivated by Benedictines especially and other orders who were the experts in farming. Swamps were drained by these orders and turned into arable land to grow crops and rear animals. But the greedy Lords wanted them and the Dissolution of the Monasteries began which would leave the poor even more impoverished and lead to the Peasants Revolt since there were no longer alms houses to feed them, a role the monasteries had also filled. The Englilsh Reformation was far from the quiet affair those who triumphed, the Protestants would want us to believe. Elizabeth now totally committed to the Protestant Faith continued to put to death priests who were caught saying Mass and those who sheltered them. People had to attend the Church of England or pay a fine. Toleration was not her favourite subject. Mary, Queen of Scots, was put to death by Elizabeth not because of so called plots but because she was a Catholic and next in line to the English throne. Mary then died truly a martyr for her faith. Another lady put to death for harbouring priest, a common crime, was Margaret Clitherow. Her neighbours refused to testify against her but she was crushed to death at YOrk. A door put on top of ther body and a great weight put on top to crush her bones. Wherever you go in England you are always close to a Catholic martyr. None of these stories appear in Protestant history. But in this ecumencal age why am I raking all this up. Because I want everyone of English blood to know that this was once a Catholic country and the corruption which did bring the Church to its knees in much of Europe was not present in England. We have ancestors who were devout and good people served by good priests. There were many beautiful Abbeys and shrines which the Reformers in their hate destroyed. But your ancestors were English Catholics of whom you should be proud. There was never a need for a Reformation in England. Only the ambition of Henry VIII with a claim of Supremacy which was against all reason made her Protestant. ST Thomas More was the perfect example of a saintly man, as was St John Fisher. Let us pray that England will return to the Faith of her Fathers.