SANTIAGO MATA
Beatifications and Canonisations
In 1874 a process had begun involving 353 persons, to which six more were subsequently added in Rome, bringing the total to 359. 285 have been beatified, and of these 44 have subsequently been canonised.
In 1886, 54 of the 63 martyrs whose relics could be honoured since the authorisation of Gregory XIII (1572-1585) were beatified. Two of them were canonised in 1935 and 11 in 1970. Discounting these 13, here are the names of the 41 blessed of 1886.
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Martyrs of England: The Persecution of Catholics from Henry VIII onwards
Henry VIII of England's break with the Pope seemed to turn a reasonable man into a tyrant capable of killing, among others, his former chancellor Thomas More. For some, however, Henry VIII was a quasi-Catholic monarch. In contrast, historian Santiago Mata shows in this book how the English Reformation not only moved rapidly away from Catholicism, but also led to the demise of the Church.
The supremacy of the king over the Church had already had the force of law since the Statute of Praemunire of 1392, and therefore was not the real novelty imposed in 1534 by Henry VIII. Was it only the need to guarantee a male succession that made Henry VIII change sides?
The answer can never remove the mystery, but, as Santiago Mata reveals, the conviction reached by Henry VIII, without being justified by a situation of abuses committed by the Church in England, was that the Church had to be destroyed, and therefore it was necessary for political power to be unique and omnipotent.
Proof of this purpose was the commissioning of Lutheran theologians by the king in 1536 to devise a religion that abolished four sacraments (confirmation, anointing of the sick, priesthood and marriage), although he failed to impose it because of the popular rebellion known as the Pilgrimage of Grace.
The story of the martyrs of England and of the countries subject to its Kings is further proof that even if someone tries to organise a pseudo-church structure dependent on the state, it will eventually disappear, while the persecuted Church never dies: In England today, 600,000 people attend Anglican ceremonies every week, 750,000 attend Catholic masses. In Scotland, the weekly attendance at Presbyterian Church (Kirk) ceremonies is no more than 80,000, while Catholic masses are attended by 125,000.
The martyrs, however, did not seek to impose themselves or to be better than their persecutors. That is why Paul VI, in thanking the cardinals on 18 May 1970 for approving the canonisation of 40 of them, singled them out as heroes of human dignity without particularism:
They did not hesitate to sacrifice their lives in obedience to the clear voice of conscience and the will of God; they are a shining witness to human dignity and freedom.
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