Showing posts with label CTSSaintsOfTheIsles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CTSSaintsOfTheIsles. Show all posts

Tuesday, 22 July 2025

St Nicholas Owen: Layman, Martyr, Builder of Priest Holes - Fr Gerard Skinner - CTS Biographies

St Nicholas Owen: 
Layman, Martyr, Builder of Priest Holes
Fr Gerard Skinner
ISBN 9781784697747
eISBN 9781784697266
ASIN B0FC33R6DM
CTS Booklet B782

St Nicholas Owen: Layman, Martyr, Builder of Priest Holes - Fr Gerard Skinner - CTS Biographies

I discovered the books and booklets of the Catholic Truth Society in 2018. Since that time I have read over 450 different titles, and many of them more than once. One of the first series I discovered was a subset of the CTS Biographies called CTS Saints of the Isles the books are no longer marketed that way but this volume would easily fit in that category. I have read one other volume on this saint, St Nicholas Owen Priest-Hole Maker by Tony Reynolds, but a lot of it focused on the holes that still exist today that are attributed to Owen. I have been excited to read this work, since it was first announced. It was well worth the wait.

The descriptions of this volume is:

“A lesser-known Reformation martyr, this courageous layman used his carpentry and masonry skills to create secret hiding places for priests, thus ensuring the preservation of the Catholic Faith in England.

A lesser-known Reformation martyr, St Nicholas Owen, a Jesuit lay brother and master craftsman, risked his life to build ingenious priest holes, enabling persecuted clergy to minister in secret.

Unlike many English Martyrs who faced execution, Nicholas Owen died under brutal torture – his resilience and sacrifice ensuring the survival of the Catholic Faith in England. His story is a powerful testament to the courage of the laity and the extraordinary ways God can use human talents for His greater purpose.”

This booklet is an excellent volume on this saint and it is part of a wonderful series and I can easily recommend it. The chapters in the booklet are:

The Persecuted Church 
Two Catholic Heroes 
Nicholas Owen at Work 
Baddesley Clinton 
Growing Danger 
The Mission Continues 
The Crown of Martyrdom 
After Martyrdom 
Prayer to St Nicholas Owen

About the author we are informed:

“Fr Gerard Skinner studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Venerable English College in Rome. A priest of the Diocese of Westminster, he has written, contributed to or edited many publications. His other books include Newman the Priest, Father Ignatius Spencer, Dominic Barberi and The Douai Martyrs.”

I highlighted a few passages while reading this volume some of them are:

“The noose had been tightening around the neck of English Catholic life throughout the sixteenth century. First had come King Henry VIII’s break with the Catholic Church, then a more determinedly Protestant era with the short reign of Edward VI (1547-53). Hope dawned under the rule of Queen Mary I, but this was short lived–less than six years. With Mary’s death on 17 November 1558, her half-sister, Elizabeth, acceded to the throne, and the hopes of a restored Catholic England were reduced to ashes.”

“The bull finally declared, ‘We charge and command all and singular the nobles, subjects, peoples, and others afore said that they do not dare obey her orders, mandates, and laws. Those who shall act to the contrary we include in the like sentence of excommunication’.”

“English Catholics therefore found themselves at risk of bringing upon themselves the same fate as England’s first martyr, St Alban, who gave refuge to a Christian priest and was sentenced to death for allowing him to escape and for refusing to renounce his Christian faith.”

“This is the context of the life of St Nicholas Owen, who did more than anyone else to see that priests could be hidden from the ‘pursuivants’, those who hunted them down. Having constructed scores–maybe hundreds–of ingenious hiding places for priests, Nicholas Owen would have known that, should he be caught, his captors would show no mercy until they had extracted information about the location of the priests’ hides, who had commissioned them, and who had used them.”

“The story of St Nicholas Owen is one of the finest examples of the courage and resistance that was lived out by thousands of English laity throughout the tempestuous times of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Due to the necessarily clandestine nature of his life, it is not possible to chart his progress from house to house or from year to year with great clarity, yet thanks to the accounts of others, we do know with certainty how important his work was and how bravely he laboured for the glory of God.”

“In 1566, the Owen family moved to No. 3 Castle Street, a property that they leased from Magdalene College. The street was even closer to the castle than their previous home, and their house was also the carpentry workshop of Walter Owen. From a very early age, Nicholas would have watched and learnt from his father the carpentry skills that he was later to master.”

“The youngest brother of Nicholas, Henry, became a printer and was soon secretly printing Catholic literature, a mission for which he was arrested and imprisoned.”

“If the government thought that such a death as the one St Edmund suffered would discourage others from following in his footsteps, it was quickly disabused of the notion. As the Oxford Regius Professor of Divinity observed to the Earl of Leicester, ‘It used to be said, “Dead men bite not”; and yet Campion dead bites with his friends’ teeth… in the place of the single Campion, champions upon champions have swarmed to keep us engaged’. Undoubtedly, Campion’s death stiffened the already great resolve of the Owen brothers in their various vocations as Catholics.”

“Apart from his skill, two other virtues shone from Nicholas Owen: piety and discretion. He was clearly a man of prayer, receiving Holy Communion, if at all possible, on the day he commenced constructing a hiding place for priests. He was also observed to remain in a prayerful state as he worked. From his prayer flowed a spirit of humility, for he never felt the need to speak to anyone of his work and what it had achieved. This made him indispensable to his clients.”

“St Nicholas Owen, early in life, discerned his vocation and lived it out with great courage. He offered his God-given gifts to protect and promote the celebration of the Sacraments, enabling thousands of faithful English Catholics to be nourished and sustained through the ministry of brave priests and those who hosted them.” 

I hope those quotes give you a feel for this volume. In this work we learned a lot about his family. Two brothers were priests. One was a printer and printer Catholic literature in secret. Nicholas because of his stature would never be considered for the priesthood. And after accident with a horse had to have his leg rebroken and he limped thereafter. The book ends with a prayer that I have added to my daily prayer list:

“Prayer To St Nicholas Owen 

Almighty and eternal God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, your servant, St Nicholas Owen, worked in secret, labouring night and day in service of the Church, and with yet greater love laid down his life for his friends. 

May my life be hidden in Christ like his, and through this holy martyr’s example and intercession, may I have strength to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth of God’s love, that I may be filled with all the fullness of God when his glory is revealed. 
Amen.”

As mentioned this is the second biography of Saint Nicholas Owen I have read. My son and I both have a devotion to him, and are looking for an Icon to add to the wall of my den. This little volume is an excellent biography. It captures the importance of Nicholas Owen and his contribution to keeping Catholicism alive in England when it was against the law and they were persecuted. It also gives an excellent overview of the times and risk both priest and laymen took for their faith and living it out in those times.

It is an excellent biography and one I can easily recommend, another great resource from the Catholic Truth Society. It would be a great addition to any school, home, or church library!
  
Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2025 Catholic Reading Plan! For other reviews of books from the Catholic Truth Society click here.

For all reviews from the Saints of the Isles Series click here.  

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Books about Nicholas Owen:
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Books by Gerard Skinner:
Newman the Priest - Father of Souls
The English Vicars Apostolic (1688-1850)
Dominic Barberi
The Pallium: A Brief Guide To Its History And Significance
Father Ignatius Spencer: English Noble and Christian Saint
...

Catholic Truth Society Saints of The Isles Series
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Saturday, 29 June 2024

Prayer of the Day Saint John Ogilvie Prayer

Prayer of the Day Saint John Ogilvie Prayer

Dear St John Ogilvie 
By your devotion to Christ You held fast to faith, 
even unto martyrdom. 
With the Grace of God, May I have a loving heart. 
In the midst of trials, may I, like you, ‘Be of good cheer’.
And trust in the love of God. 
Please hear my prayer … 
Amen.

Prayer of the Day Saint John Ogilvie Prayer

This prayer is taken from:

John Ogilvie 
A Jesuit in Disguise 1579-1615 
Eleanor McDowell
Catholic Truth Society
ISBN 9781784690274
eISBN 9781784694159
ASIN B073GZ54DL
CTS Booklet B761

I have tried to pray this prayer daily since I first encountered it back in 2019, at the time I read several volumes about the Saints of the Isles, and the Martyrs of England and Wales. I have had this as my third last prayer of the day since then and if I add prayers towards the end of the day move this one back and insert the other. 

John Ogilvie A Jesuit in Disguise 1579-1615 - Eleanor McDowell - CTS Saints of the Isles Series

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Sunday, 31 July 2022

John Fisher - Eldred Willey - CTS Saints of the Isles

John Fisher
CTS Saints of the Isles
Eldred Willey 
Catholic Truth Society
ISBN 9781860822445
CTS Booklet B678


The CTS Saints of the Isles Series is one of my favourite series. I have tracked down what I believe to be all the books in the series, and this is my last to be read and reviewed. Each of the books in the series is a biography. Most, like this one, are biographies of specific individuals.  Also most in the series are biographies of martyrs, making it fitting that I end on a martyr. Over the last several years I have read over 300 books and booklets from the Catholic Truth Society. This was the sixteenth I have read in the Saints of the Isles Series since 2018, and several have been read more than once. I have also read many in the CTS Biographies and also Great Saints Series. There are many great stories about the lives of the saints. As mentioned, I believe I have a complete list of the volumes in this series. The description of the series is:

“The Saints of the Isles series brings together telling accounts of the extraordinary lives of men and women from the British Isles - lives of holiness, courage and true discipleship to Christ and the Gospel message.”

And the description of this specific book:

“John Fisher was the son of a prosperous cloth-merchant. His brilliant mind ensured that he rose quickly in the Church, and he eventually became Bishop of Rochester. As a Christian Humanist he was a friend of fellow Saint, Thomas More.

His Yorkshire roots ensured a plain-speaking loyalty to the truth that led to his martyrdom. He remains the only British Cardinal to be martyred and the  only bishop of England who held out against Henry VIII until the very end.”

The chapters in this volume are:

Introduction 
     Only one man 
     The people's pastor 
     Of wood and wainscotting 

Interlude: The Writer 
     A delightful gift of language 
     The wrath is not in God 
     A preview of Screwtape 
     Mary the dawn 

Valiant for truth 
     The sermon of a lifetime 
     Men mad with marvellous foolishness 
     The king 's matter 
     Blackfriars 

The Onslaught 
     Divers new enormities 
     For this cause 
     Oranges and half a custard 
     The heart is a lonely hunter 

Epilogue 
     The inventory 
     Truth itself 

Further reading

As someone who was raised Irish Catholic, I was taught in the family and school to hate the English and their oppression over hundreds of years. Reading this story and others in the series has opened my eyes to a vibrant, rich Catholic faith and tradition in England, and the Isles. It was a great surprise to me, and one that has fascinated me over the last few years. I have used many of the biographies from the CTS as starting points and gone on to read books, by and about many of the subjects of these books. Fischer will be one such persona. I found this volume hard to put down. And I greatly enjoyed it. I highlighted a few passages my first time through this work. Some of them are:

“On 22nd June 1535 John Fisher laid down his life for the flock of Christ which he loved so much. He was the only English Cardinal ever to be executed, and the only bishop who withstood, to the end, Henry VIII’s takeover of the English Church.”

“Fisher was already Bishop of Rochester and Chancellor of Cambridge University when he published his first book, a commentary on the Seven Penitential Psalms. It was an instant success, and like any best-seller dramatic, passionate and hard to put down.” 

“If Fisher is Bible-based, he is also Spirit-filled. The most infallible sign of it is joy: what C.S. Lewis called “the serious business of heaven”.”

“By instinct Fisher was a pastor and teacher, not a controversialist. It was not until he was fifty - and then only reluctantly - that he turned to polemical writing. He did so “to confirm the faith of the weaker brethren” who for far too long had been “poised on the knife-edge between heresy and orthodoxy”. If the flock should perish through the negligence of the pastors, he argued, then “the blood shall be on our heads”.”

“By the time he was born, the great popes like Gregory and Innocent III were a distant memory. So neither did he spare the papacy, which Alexander VI (and son) had come close to turning into a family business. “Some may say,” said Fisher - and doubtless he included himself among them – “that nowhere else is the life of Christians more contrary to Christ than in Rome”, where the leaders of the Church “neither fast nor pray, but give themselves up to luxury and lust”.”

I hope those few quotes instil some interest in this wonderful volume. This is a fantastic read in a wonderful series. Reading about so many martyrs is not easy but it is important. And important that we know about them so we can call on their intercession in this day and age. 

Reading a book about a martyr was a fitting conclusion to the Saints of the Isles Series from the Catholic Truth Society. It was another profoundly powerful story. It is another excellent biography from the CTS it is a great read! 

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2022 Catholic Reading Plan! For other reviews of books from the Catholic Truth Society click here.

Books in the Saints of the Isles Series:
Edmund Arrowsmith - John S. Hogan
Margaret Clitherow - Jean Olwen Maynard
Edmund Campion - Alexander Haydon
John Southworth Priest and Martyr - Michael Archer
Saint Thomas More - Alvaro de Silva
John Ogilvie - Eleanor McDowell
Frances Taylor - Eithne Leonard
Mary Potter - Elizabeth Gilroy
John Fisher - Richard L. Smith
Robert Southwell - Fiorella Sultana De Maria
Ignatius Spencer - Fr. Ben Lodge
Sr Elizabeth Prout - Dominic Savio Hamer
Forty Martyrs of England and Wales - James Walsh
Thomas Becket - J.B. Midgley
...

Books by Eldred Willey:
John Fisher – CTS Saints of the Isles
Generosity in the Family – CTS Family Matters 
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Sunday, 24 July 2022

Ignatius Spencer - Father Ben Lodge CP - CTS Saints of the Isles

Ignatius Spencer
CTS Saints of the Isles
Father Ben Lodge C.P. 
Catholic Truth Society
ISBN 9781860823312
CTS Booklet B681


The CTS Saints of the Isles Series is one of my favourite series. I have tracked down what I believe to be all the books in the series, and this is my second last to read and review. Each of the books in the series is a biography. Most, like this one, are biographies of specific individuals.  Also most in the series are biographies of martyrs, but not this one. Over the last several years I have read over 300 books and booklets from the Catholic Truth Society. This was the fifteenth I have read in the Saints of the Isles Series since 2018, and several have been read more than once. I have also read many in the CTS Biographies and also Great Saints Series. There are many great stories about the lives of the saints. As mentioned, I believe I have a complete list of the volumes in this series. The description of the series is:

“The Saints of the Isles series brings together telling accounts of the extraordinary lives of men and women from the British Isles - lives of holiness, courage and true discipleship to Christ and the Gospel message.”

And the description of this specific book:

“An English aristocrat with a European view of the world, George Spencer left his Anglican rectory at Althorp, entered the Catholic Church, and then worked as parish priest in the Black Country.

His vocation let him to enter the Passionist Order taking the name Father Ignatius, and from there on spent his life working for the unity of all Christians.

Much of his work centred on Ireland where he argued that if the Irish prayed for their English oppressor, God would listen to their prayers.”

The chapters in this volume are:

Beginnings
     Early Life 
     Eton
Education
     University
     The Continental Tour
Anglican Orders
     Another Tour
     Parish Priest
     Questionings
Becoming a Catholic
     Conversion
     Student Life
     Parish Priest
Secular Priest
     Opposition
     First Irish Tour
     Becoming a Religious
A Passionist
Apostolic Life
     Health
     Sisters of the Holy Family
The Man
     Hallmarks of the Spirituality of Ignatius
     Conclusion

As someone who was raised Irish Catholic, I was taught in the family and school to hate the English and their oppression over hundreds of years. Reading this story and others in the series has opened my eyes to a vibrant, rich Catholic faith and tradition in England, and the Isles. This one specifically spoke to the bias I was raised with. It was a fascinating read from beginning to end. I highlighted many passages my first read through, and some of them are:

“The diary and letters weave a tapestry in which the life of an English nobleman can be seen struggling to find and follow the will of God. This struggle takes him from his comfortable living on the family estate at Althrop, through the towns and countries of Europe, encountering both the rich and the powerful, and the hopelessly poor. But it also presents a picture of an inner struggle between a man and his God, this struggle was to lead Spencer to risk losing his family as he gave up membership of the Anglican Church and became not just a papist, but a Roman priest.”

“The dominant one, as far as he was concerned was that he was given to periods of ‘melancholia’ or depression; this was especially true in his early years when he would try to avoid any form of social contact with others, but he in fact struggled with it all of his life.”

“He recognised that he was accepted by his classmates at the cost of giving up his devotions; he later admitted to his lack of courage in making a stand when they went out pilfering walnuts, turnips, ducks and chickens. He felt he had no friends to share with, and his faith in God had been sorely tried, and he claimed that for two years he did not pray.

To mark the end of his time at Cambridge, his parents decided to take George on the Continental Tour, and so in September 1819 they set off; this was to mark the beginning of his life-long passion for travel.”

“Despite journeying through Catholic countries like France, Italy, Sicily, and Austria George does not appear to have been influenced by any religious sights. He subsequently commented that he had not been brought up with any anti-Catholic feelings, ‘but though I knew nothing of what it was (i.e. Catholicism), I rested in the conviction that it was full of superstition and in fact, as good as no religion at all.’ His escape on Vesuvius certainly caused him to take stock of his life.”

“From the beginning, George’s pastoral commitment was evident to everyone. Day after day he went visiting through the villages and hamlets which made up his parish; he estimated he was responsible for 800 souls. He was constantly visiting the sick and the poor, and was seen to give away food, money and clothing- much to the alarm of his housekeeper.”

“In April 1827 George encountered his first Catholic priest Fr William Foley who was working around Northamptonshire. Foley proved to be a true friend and support, encouraging him to persevere with both his prayer and his studies. His Catholic contacts developed as he was introduced to Fr John Fletcher of Douai seminary who was chaplain to the Dowager Lady Throckmorton.”

“Towards the end of January 1830 George left Brington to stay for a week at Garendon park, with Ambrose Phillipps and several other Anglican and Catholic personalities. On January 28th, he had his last conference with Fr Caestryck at Holy Cross church is Leicester. By the following Sunday, George was received into the Catholic Church, and immediately wanted to go back to his flock in Brington and tell them of the errors of their ways!”

“The religious landscape in England was beginning to change. The Industrial Revolution had marked a huge population shift away from the land to the industrial centres and the navigation canals, which attracted many Irish Catholics. It was no longer legal to persecute Catholics, and in fact Anglican theologians in Oxford and Cambridge were beginning to turn a very critical eye on their own church, partly stimulated by the followers of John Wesley. This was to give rise to the Oxford Movement, which in its turn led to several celebrated conversion, not least of which was John Henry Newman.”

“As a Deacon, George preached his first sermon as a Catholic in January 1832. On 26th May, the feast of St Augustine of Canterbury, he was ordained in St Gregory’s church on the Coelian Hill by Cardinal Zurla, the Vicar General of Pope Gregory XVII.  It was from the same spot that St Gregory had sent St Augustine to work for the conversion of England. The following day, the feast of the Venerable Bede, George celebrated his first Mass. George was only too aware of the coincidences.”

“George spent a fortnight in Paris and was introduced by Lord Clifford to the Archbishop of Paris. George made the proposal for ‘A Crusade of Prayers for the Conversion of England.’ With a number of friends he launched the Crusade, the essence of which was to engage in prayer for the conversion of England; he believed that this was possible through prayer alone.”

“On his return journey he had audiences with Archduke Franz Karl, and the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. Ignatius tried to visit as many convents as possible, convinced that these could enlist more convents to help.”

“In Ireland Ignatius used a rather neat argument to encourage the people to pray for England. He would explain that Jesus had said we should pray for our enemies, and if we did, then certainly our prayers would be heard.  He proposed that the Irish knew only too well that the English were their enemies because of the way they treated them, so if the Irish prayed for the English, God would listen, and the English would become Catholic, and so no longer be the enemy.”

“Ignatius continued preaching his little missions in Ireland through 1860, but at the Provincial Chapter (a meeting of the priests to decide policy etc., for the next four years), he brought under discussion the theme of “the sanctification and perfection of the Irish People.” The Chapter Fathers agreed with and supported Ignatius’ prayers and work. Ireland was also seen by Ignatius as a rich seed bed for new members of the Passionist Congregation.” 

“In a later letter to Mary Wykes he wrote: “Many wonders have been wrought by the receiving of the Lord in the Eurcharist.  Many by the intercessions of the Saints, but above all, of the Mother of God whom the Church teaches you to love and trust in, as your Mother likewise.  Pray to God to give you a tender devotion to her whom he loves above all creatures, and who all mere creatures is the most pure and amiable and exalted.””

“No person could have lived the life Ignatius did without having a strong inner life.  His life of prayer is solid and established in sound liturgy and doctrine. Writing to his Provincial on one occasion, he famously thanks God that he is not given to visions!”

“He goes on to argue that such a group of lay people, striving for perfection in their own lives, would be of enormous help in the active apostolate. Furthermore, he states that when other people would see this group living like the early Church, they could not fail to be influenced. Ignatius was convinced that if Protestants could see being lived out in practice, what they were being taught theoretically about primitive Christianity, then they could not help but return to the Catholic Faith.”

“The point is that Ignatius was a visionary in the true sense. He anticipated by a century and a half the Second Vatican Council’s call to the laity to be more fully engaged in the life and apostolate of the Church.”

This book was an eye opener. As I have read further and deeper in this series the more I have been impressed by the men and women who are Saints of the Isles. This volume was hard to put down. Saint Ignatius Spencer’s, life of service is inspiring. His passion for garnering prayer for England inspiring.  It is an excellent volume, well worth having tracking down. 

Not being about a martyr this biography was different from most in the Saints of the Isles Series from the Catholic Truth Society. It is, however, a very powerful story. A story of a great witness to faith, love and to service. Another excellent biography from the CTS it is a great read! 

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2022 Catholic Reading Plan! For other reviews of books from the Catholic Truth Society click here.

Books in the Saints of the Isles Series:
Edmund Arrowsmith - John S. Hogan
Margaret Clitherow - Jean Olwen Maynard
Edmund Campion - Alexander Haydon
John Southworth Priest and Martyr - Michael Archer
Saint Thomas More - Alvaro de Silva
John Ogilvie - Eleanor McDowell
Frances Taylor - Eithne Leonard
Mary Potter - Elizabeth Gilroy
John Fisher - Richard L. Smith
Robert Southwell - Fiorella Sultana De Maria
Ignatius Spencer - Fr. Ben Lodge
Sr Elizabeth Prout - Dominic Savio Hamer
Forty Martyrs of England and Wales - James Walsh
Thomas Becket - J.B. Midgley
...
















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Tuesday, 7 June 2022

Mary Potter - Elizabeth Gilroy - CTS Saints of the Isles

Mary Potter
Founder of the Little Company of Mary
Her Life and Vision - and Beyond.
CTS Saints of the Isles
Sr Elizabeth Gilroy LCM
Catholic Truth Society
ISBN 9781860826672
CTS Booklet B729


The CTS Saints of the Isles Series is one of my favourite series. Each of the books in the series is a biography. Most, like this one, are biographies of specific individuals.  Also most in the series are biographies of martyrs, but not this one. Over the last several years I have read over 275 books from the Catholic Truth Society. This was the fourteenth I have read in the Saints of the Isles Series since 2018. I have read all that are readily available and now tracking down those that are harder to find. I only have 2 left that I am aware of after having read this volume. I have also read many in the CTS Biographies and also Great Saints Series. There are many great stories about the lives of the saints. I believe I have a complete list of the volumes in this series, and this is the thirteenth I have read from the fifteen I have discovered so far. The description of the series is:

“The Saints of the Isles series brings together telling accounts of the extraordinary lives of men and women from the British Isles - lives of holiness, courage and true discipleship to Christ and the Gospel message.”

And of this specific book:

“Mary Potter, was born in 1847 and grew up in a single-parent family. She endured a life of suffering from ill health and misunderstanding from those who opposed her, yet her vision lives on in the work of her congregation, helping many in the last and most difficult moments of their life. The Little Company of Mary is an international religious congregation whose main ministry is to pray for and assist the sick and dying throughout the world.”

The chapters in this volume are:

Introduction
Early Life
A Time of Discernment
Little Company of Mary
Expansion of the Little Company of Mary
Little Company of Mary in the 20th and 21st Century
Prayer for Beatification
Endnotes

This was an extraordinary read. As mentioned Mary Potter was not a Martyr. But she did live a life of great suffering, physical, spiritual, and emotional. Yet through it all she lived to serve and follow God. In many ways her story is a precursor to Mother Theresa, and it is easy after reading this volume to see how some draw parallels. I highlighted several passages while reading this volume they were:

“Then in 2008. A patient ill in a Little Company of Mary Hospital in the Mid-West of the USA, was experiencing pain and became worries. She also thought she was going to have a panic attack as she felt she could not breathe.  She closed her eyes to try to relax and the felt someone (she thought it was a nurse) lift her chin and hold her hand. “I opened my eyes and saw it was a lady dressed like a nun. She had a blue ‘cloth’ on her head, not black. She was so gentle looking and I felt so safe.””

“There were also major changes happening in the Church (the established Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church), as well as in the State and society. This included the passing of the Catholic Emancipation Act of 829 and the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in 1850. Until that time, Catholics had kept the faith by family traditions, in seclusion and through centuries of persecution. The Catholic Emancipation Act allowed Irish potato famine immigrants to have places of worship for the first time, without which they refused to work.”

“From this time, there were many converts to the Catholic Faith, including John Henry Newman, H.W. Wilberforce, H.E. Manning, N.P. Wiseman and many others. This changed the face of the newly restored Roman Catholic Church. Some of the converts to the Roman Catholic Faith following the Oxford Movement influenced Mary Potter later in her life, including Cardinal Wiseman, and Cardinal Manning who were both Archbishops of Westminster.”

“Mary Potter was born in a rented house at 23 Old Jamaica Road in Bermondsey, South London, which was a poor area not far from the docks.  Mary was the fifth child, and only girl.  Her brothers were William, Thomas, Henry and George.”

“As Mary was growing up she developed into a bright teenager who had a personality full of fun and good humour.”

“Even though Mary was an attractive young woman she was unsophisticated. She captivated people though by her warm manner and good looks.  She was fair with a mass of golden curls and her penetrating blue eyes remained her most striking feature to the end of her life.”

“Looking back over her life, one wonders how much this attempt to cover over her own suffering with a determined attitude of sociability and attractiveness to those around her, would set in motion patterns of interior struggle which would remain a feature of her spirituality.”

“During her time with the Sisters of Mercy, Mary was known to have a great spirit of joy and an insatiable desire for perfection. She was introduced to the life of prayer as well as the works of the Order. This special time of learning self-discipline and introducing method into her prayer life had implications for her future.”

“Eventually Mary became stronger and was able to visit the mission chapel not far from her home for Mass and Benediction. She also started to visit the lonely, poor and sick in the area and regularly walked around the wharf near the Garrison with her mother and brothers.”

“People began to carp about her excessive kindness to all and she earned for herself the names ‘madcap’, and a religious ‘fanatic’.  Yet the poor seemed to love her and welcome her into their homes.”

“She spent hours in prayer and reflection before a crucifix; in particular she focused on the Passion and death of Jesus and it was at this time she was drawn to pray for the dying.  She started to think of the possibility of founding in the church a group of religious Sisters dedicated to the spiritual, and, where possible, the physical assistance of those who were sick and dying. By 1872 she became more and more convinced that this is what God was asking her to do.”

“Mary Potter’s many writings over the span of her life were Mariological and those who read them are directed toward a relationship with Mary, and as quoted so much by de Montfort, devotion to Mary is “To Jesus through Mary.”  Mary Potter’s theology therefore was bound in Christology as well as Mariology.”

“The more we read and understand the depth of the courage, vitality and sanctity of Mary Potter, the more we realise how much more there is to know.  What she accomplished in her life, particularly in the light of her frailty, physical pain and terrible opposition from people, even those closest to her, is in fact a miracle in itself.  Her inspirational example of calmness and peace in the light of these sufferings is something only those who reflect carefully would understand.”

The final passage I highlighted was this prayer:

“Prayer for the Beatification of Venerable Mary Potter

O God to whose glory the Little Company of Mary was founded by Venerable Mary Potter, grand that she may be beatified soon so that her work and spirit may benefit still more the suffering members of Jesus Christ. Amen

Mary, Mother of the Church may this ardent apostle of your Maternal Heart be more widely known by special favours granted through her intercession. Amen.”

Not being a martyr this biography was very different than most in the Saints of the Isles Series from the Catholic Truth Society. It is however still a very powerful story. A great witness to faith, love and service. It is a story that can move the hearts of readers. Another excellent biography from the CTS it is a great read! 

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2022 Catholic Reading Plan! For other reviews of books from the Catholic Truth Society click here.

Books in the Saints of the Isles Series:
Edmund Arrowsmith - John S. Hogan
Margaret Clitherow - Jean Olwen Maynard
Edmund Campion - Alexander Haydon
John Southworth Priest and Martyr - Michael Archer
Saint Thomas More - Alvaro de Silva
John Ogilvie - Eleanor McDowell
Frances Taylor - Eithne Leonard
Mary Potter - Elizabeth Gilroy
John Fisher - Richard L. Smith
Robert Southwell - Fiorella Sultana De Maria
Ignatius Spencer - Fr. Ben Lodge
Sr Elizabeth Prout - Dominic Savio Hamer
Forty Martyrs of England and Wales - James Walsh
Thomas Becket - J.B. Midgley
...















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