We beseech Thee, almighty God, grant that we who celebrate the heavenly birth of the blessed English Cistercian Martyrs, may be strengthened by their intercession in the love of Thy Name.
Under King Henry VIIIs order, many Cistercian monks were cruelly
put to death for Catholic faith, the some may argue about pretexts. In the
months of March and May 1537, died for the Catholic faithDom John Harrison,
Abbot of Kirkstead, with Dom Richard Wade, Dom William Small and Dom Henry
Jenkinson;
Dom John Paslew, Abbot of Whalley, with Dom William Haydock and Dom
Richard Eastgate.
The Abbot of Fountains
and a monk of Louth Park.
In 1538, these Cistercians were martyred:
Dom Robert
Hobbes, Abbot of Woburn,
with Dom Rudolph Barnes and Dom Laurence Blunham.
The Church also acknowledges
as authentic confessors of the faith: Dom Thomas Mudd, monk of Jervaulx,
who died on September 7, 1583;
Dom John Almond, who died on April 18, 1585;
Dom
Gilbert Browne, the last Abbot of Sweetheart, who died on March 14, 1612.
