Martyrs of England and Wales

The martyrdom of this group is set within the context of England's break with the Roman Catholic Church. In 1534, King Henry VIII had the Act of Supremacy passed, proclaiming himself Supreme Head of the Church of England. Anyone who refused to take the oath of supremacy or to recognize the legitimacy of his marriage to Anne Boleyn was accused of high treason. The members of this group of 54 martyrs courageously refused to renounce their communion with the Apostolic See of Rome. Among them are contemplative religious, notably eighteen monks of the London Charterhouse (including priors John Houghton, Robert Lawrence, and Augustine Webster), executed starting May 4, 1535, at Tyburn; secular priests and Jesuits trained in continental seminaries (such as Douai or Rome) who returned clandestinely to England to administer the sacraments, such as Cuthbert Mayne (the first seminary priest martyred in 1577), Ralph Sherwin, Luke Kirby, or Alexander Briant; and courageous laypeople such as John Felton, executed in 1570 for posting the bull of excommunication of Queen Elizabeth I (Regnans in Excelsis), or Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, beheaded in 1541. Most of these martyrs suffered the terrible ordeal of hanging, drawing, and quartering at Tyburn, or were beheaded at Tower Hill.

After the executions, the memory of these martyrs remained alive within the recusant Catholic community of England and Wales. Their portraits and stories were preserved, notably at the English College in Rome, where Pope Gregory XIII authorized the creation of frescoes depicting them as early as the 16th century. In the 19th century, following the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales in 1850, a formal canonical process was opened. In 1874, the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Manning, submitted a list of martyrs to the Congregation of Rites. On December 9, 1886, Pope Leo XIII officially introduced the cause of 254 martyrs. Shortly thereafter, on December 29, 1886, by a special decree of confirmation of cult (equivalent beatification), the Pope proclaimed 54 of these martyrs blessed, whose immemorial cult was attested by the paintings at the English College in Rome.

Beatification: The group of 54 martyrs was beatified by equipollence on December 29, 1886, by Pope Leo XIII. Subsequent canonizations: Cardinal John Fisher and Chancellor Thomas More were solemnly canonized on May 19, 1935, by Pope Pius XI. Eleven other members of this group (including Cuthbert Mayne, John Houghton, Robert Lawrence, Augustine Webster, Ralph Sherwin, Luke Kirby, Alexander Briant, and Edmund Campion) were canonized on October 25, 1970, by Pope Paul VI as part of the group of the "Forty Martyrs of England and Wales." The other members of the 1886 group continue to be venerated with the status of Blessed.

The spirituality of these martyrs rests upon an absolute fidelity to the unity of the Church and to the primacy of the successor of Peter. For them, the Catholic faith and the celebration of the Mass were non-negotiable, even in the face of the threat of death. Their witness is also marked by a profound Christian charity: on the scaffold, most of them forgave their executioners and prayed for the sovereign of England, affirming their civil loyalty while refusing to submit their conscience to temporal power. Today, they are celebrated collectively on May 4, the anniversary of the martyrdom of the first Carthusians at Tyburn in 1535, which is the feast of the martyrs of England and Wales. They are also celebrated individually on the anniversary of their death in their home dioceses.