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Telegraph
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Sacred Mysteries: The carpenter who made secret hides for hunted priests
In 1585 a law made it treasonable for Jesuits or priests ordained abroad to be in England. By the end of 1586 only 130 of the 300 priests who had returned to England from seminaries abroad were still at liberty. Some died in prison, 33 had been martyred, 50 were in prison and about 60 had been banished or had fled abroad before being discovered. Yet the 'Mission' to England was not wiped out. By 1596, 300 priests were labouring in England, and by 1610 as many as 400. What made the difference was the level-headedness of Father Henry Garnet (who came back to England in 1586 and worked for 18 years as Jesuit superior before his execution), and the work of Nicholas Owen, a layman and carpenter, who built priest holes. Priest holes or hides allowed priests on the Mission to elude the government pursuivants. They were also hiding places for the trappings of Mass – chalices, patens, vestments, missals – that pursuivants looked out for. Priests were often given shelter in the large houses of determined Catholics called recusants because they refused to attend state-sponsored services in the parish church. Humphrey Pakington of Harvington, for example, paid fines of £20 a month (£4,000 in today's money) for failing to attend church. Examples of Owen's perhaps 200 hides can be seen at Harvington and at Oxburgh Hall or Huddington Court. The deadly cat-and-mouse game reminds me of dissidents under Stalinism or those who courageously hid Jews under Nazi rule. Nicholas Owen lived as a child in the 1560s near the Castle in Oxford, and was apprenticed as a joiner. Two brothers, John and Walter, left to train as priests at Douai College in France. The youngest, Henry, became a printer and, astonishingly, set up a clandestine press in the Clink prison when he was held there. Europe was shocked (as it had been in 1170 at Thomas Becket's murder) by the execution of the paradigm of a scholar, Edmund Campion, in 1581. While the fortitude of the returned priests was remarkable, I think the atmosphere of distrust and betrayal was bad for the persecuted minority and for the persecutors. Many brave protectors of priests were women, not least the daughters of Lord Vaux, Anne and Eleanor (who was impressed by Campion, her brother's tutor). The Vaux sisters leased Baddesley Clinton, a lovely moated house near Warwick. There in 1589, Nicholas Owen made hides for priests and Mass-gear and built escape routes. The house was invaluable for priests to make religious retreats. 'We have sung our songs in a strange land,' wrote Robert Southwell of a meeting in 1590. 'In this desert we have sucked honey from the rock.' He was hanged, drawn and quartered in 1595. Meanwhile, Owen's craftsmanship was tested by a dawn raid by armed pursuivants on Baddesley Clinton on October 18 1591. In Owen's hides hid Henry Garnet, Robert Southwell, John Gerard, Edward Oldcorne and Thomas Stanney. The carpenter saved their lives that day. It wasn't till 1606 that luck ran out for Owen (by then a Jesuit lay brother). Concealed with Ralph Ashley (Edward Oldcorne's servant) in a hide he'd built at Hindlip Hall, they spent four days with only one apple to eat. They were caught breaking cover. Owen, who had a hernia, died horribly under torture. He was declared a saint in 1970. His story is now told grippingly and with historical judgment in the 86 pages of Nicholas Owen by Fr Gerard Skinner.
LeMonde
12 hours ago
- Politics
- LeMonde
What is France's 'Black code' and why hasn't it been repealed?
France's code noir, or Black code, was a set of articles drafted during the 17 th century by the powerful first minister of state Jean-Baptiste Colbert and completed by his son, Jean-Baptiste Antoine Colbert. Commissioned by King Louis XIV, its purpose was to regulate the lives of enslaved people and their masters in the French Caribbean colonies. For example, several paragraphs detail punishments for escape attempts as well as the obligation for slaves to adopt Catholicism. Slavery was abolished during the French Revolution in 1794, then reinstated by Napoleon in 1802, and finally abolished again in 1848. However, the Black code itself was never formally repealed. French Prime Minister François Bayrou has promised its repeal, in what would be a symbolic act of remembrance. Le Monde explains how this legislation regulated human trafficking during the French colonial era. Read more Subscribers only French government faces calls for slavery reparations Chloé Denis, Olivier Escher (motion design) and Diana Liu Translation of an original article published in French on the publisher may only be liable for the French version. Reuse this content
Boston Globe
a day ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Quincy residents and ACLU sue to block Catholic statues at new city building
St. Michael is the patron saint of police and St. Florian is the patron saint of firefighters. The two public safety agencies will share the facility, now under construction on Sea Street. Advertisement Koch's office did not immediately return a telephone call and email seeking comment on Friday. In The 16 residents are described in the lawsuit as people who 'practice a variety of faiths, including Catholicism, Judaism, and Unitarianism, as well as Quincy residents who are Humanist, atheist, spiritual, or do not identify with a single faith or religious organization.' They object to using public funds — an estimated $850,000 — for the statues and also contend that Advertisement 'Affixing statues of prominent Catholic figures on the front of a government building conveys the message to Quincy residents, including Plaintiffs, that the City not only favors religion over non-religion, but Catholicism over all other denominations,' the lawsuit reads. Residents and the ACLU want a Superior Court judge to issue temporary and permanent injunctions barring Koch from spending any more money on the statues. Joining the ACLU and the residents are John R. Ellement can be reached at
Irish Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
New RTÉ series delves into Ireland's favourite love ballads
A new RTÉ series will delve into the fascinating stories behind some of Ireland's most adored love ballads. The four-part programme, Aistear an Amhráin, delves into the meaning of four tracks cemented in Irish history. This includes the heartbreaking Grace, Cork's favourite song After All by The Frank and Walters, Spandau Ballet's Through the Barricades and Irish-language stomper An Poc Ar Buile. Singers, songwriters and historians will appear in the series to give viewers an insight into the fascinating tales behind these hit tracks. Episode one will focus on one of Ireland's most loved and well-known songs - Grace. Written in 1985 by brothers Frank and Seán O'Meara, the song was inspired by the tragic love story of Grace Gifford, who married Joseph Mary Plunkett in the chapel at Kilmainham Gaol just hours before his execution in 1916. Appearing in the series, the O'Meara brothers say the song came about after they were asked to write a big hit by a music producer. As he was driving to Kilmainham in 1984, Sean says one of the most famous lines of the song came to him as he imagined the final words of Ireland's founding fathers. 'As we gather in the chapel here in Old Kilmainham jail, I think about these last few weeks, oh will they say we failed'. Grace was released by Jim McCann in 1986 and has since been covered by several artists including the Dubliners and Rod Stewart. The song was also made popular after boxer Kellie Harrington sang it following her Olympic gold medal win last year. While many are aware of the story as the Dubliners' version has become a pub classic, Aistear an Amhráin tells Grace's life story. Born in Dublin, she is one of the few women of the Easter Rising that is remembered. A talented illustrator, Grace converted to Catholicism to marry an Irish Republican. She joined in the struggle at the inception of the Irish state and ended up as a prisoner in Kilmainham jail during the Civil War, seven years after her husband's execution. In the episode, Fair City star Roxanna Nic Liam shows viewers some of the landmarks associated with Grace. This includes St Enda's Park in Rathfarnham, where she first met Joseph Plunkett, University Church in St Stephen's Green, where she converted to Catholicism, and Grafton Street, where she bought their wedding rings. Aoife Scott also discusses the haunting version of Grace she performed with Róisín O and Danny O'Reilly on the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Rising at Kilmainham Gaol. Domhnall Ó Bric, an acclaimed Kerry illustrator, explores Grace Gifford's work, much of which is housed in NIVAL, the National Irish Visual Arts Library at NCAD, Dublin. The series will also delve into Cork's favourite song, After All by The Frank and Walters. Formed in 1989, the band originally consisted of brothers Paul and Niall Linehan and Ashley Keating. However, Niall left the group as a guitarist in 2004, Cian Corbett joined as a keyboardist a year later, and Rory Murphy joined in 2010. The musicians created history when they became the first from the Rebel county to appear on the BBC's Top of the Pops with the hit. The upbeat tune, which featured on The Young Offenders, has been described by Paul as a 'celebration of life and value of relationships, even when they have their ups and downs'. Aistear an Amhráin will also tell the devastating tale behind English band Spandau Ballet's Through the Barricades. Released in 1986, it's the second single from their studio album of the same name. The song is inspired by the murder of a member of the band's road crew in Belfast during the troubles. It tells a Romeo and Juliet tale of the impossibility of a relationship with two people from divided communities. The final tune that the RTÉ show will delve into is the Irish language foot stomper An Poc Ar Buile. From an original poem by Dónal Ó Mulláin in the early 20th century, the song was made famous in the early 1960s when recorded by Seán Ó Sé. Translated into English as 'The Mad Puck Goat', it's a patriotic fighting song, and has become the anthem of the Puck Fair held in Killorgin, Co Kerry, every summer. Aistear an Amhráin returns for a second series on June 3 at 7pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
A Missouri town was solidly behind Trump. Then Carol was detained
The first sign of trouble came early this month when Carol didn't show up for her shift at John's Waffle and Pancake House. She was as reliable as the sun rising over rice and melon fields in her adopted hometown, of Kennett, Missouri, a conservative farming hub of 10,000 people in the state's south-eastern boot heel, where 'Missouri' becomes 'Missour-uh'. In the 20 years since she arrived from Hong Kong, she had built a life and family in Kennett, working two waitressing jobs and cleaning houses on the side. She began every morning at the bustling diner, serving pecan waffles, hugging customers and reading leftover newspapers to improve her English. 'Everyone knows Carol,' said Lisa Dry, a Kennett city councilperson. That all ended on April 30, when federal immigration officials summoned Carol, 45, whose legal name is Ming Li Hui, to their office in St Louis, a three-hour drive from Kennett. Her partner, a Guatemalan immigrant, had voiced suspicion about the sudden call. But 'I didn't want to run', Hui said in a jailhouse phone interview. 'I just wanted to do the right thing.' She was arrested and jailed to await deportation. Loading Hui's detention has forced a rural Missouri county to face the fallout of US President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, which was supported in theory by many residents in this Trump-loving corner of an increasingly red America. Many are now asking how you can support Carol and also Trump. 'I voted for Donald Trump, and so did practically everyone here,' said Vanessa Cowart, a friend of Hui from church. 'But no one voted to deport moms. We were all under the impression we were just getting rid of the gangs, the people who came here in droves.' She paused. 'This is Carol.' Adam Squires, a one-time candidate for mayor of Kennett, saw it differently. He did not bear any ill will for Hui, he said, but he voted for Trump, as did 80 per cent of voters in Dunklin County, and he was glad to see the deportation campaign reach home. 'They vote for Trump, and then they get mad because the stuff starts happening,' he said of his neighbours. 'We've got to get rid of all the illegals. This is just a start.' Hui said the call she received from immigration authorities ordered her to appear in St Louis without explanation. At the office, she said, an immigration officer called her into a secure area and initially told her the authorities would help her get a passport. Then she was told that she was being detained for overstaying a tourist visa that had expired long ago and that she would be deported. Now, as Hui bounces from county jail to county jail, her name has popped up on prayer lists at churches in Kennett. Her absence was felt, residents said, when she was not in the baseball stands to watch her younger son pitch, nor at the eighth-grade graduation to see her older son receive an agricultural science award. Cowart was her religious sponsor when Hui converted to Catholicism earlier this year, learning the Gospels from her Chinese Bible. She became a regular at Sunday morning Mass, as was her partner and their three American-born children: a daughter, 7, and sons aged 12 and 14. Hui was keenly interested in early Christian martyrs, Cowart said: 'She'd smile and say, God will take care of us.' According to the government, Hui does not have a blameless past. In court records, the government said she arrived in the United States from Hong Kong in February 2004, paying an American citizen $US2000 to enter into a sham marriage with her sometime around 2005. She had hoped the marriage would allow her to get permanent resident status and permit her to travel to Hong Kong to see her dying grandmother and return to the US afterwards, according to court records. Her lawyer, Raymond Bolourtchi, said Hui was young and desperate in those days, and she acknowledged that her actions were wrong. 'Not a day goes by that she doesn't feel remorse,' he said. Hui was never criminally charged for the fake marriage, which ended in divorce in 2009. Court papers indicate that she has no criminal record. Loading Nonetheless, she was working, which people who enter as tourists are generally not allowed to do, and her tourist visa had lapsed. Her status in the country became a matter of dispute. Many people in Kennett expressed outrage that a hardworking mother had spent the past month jailed by immigration authorities. Supporters described her as an ideal addition to a rural town where the population is declining and the only hospital has closed. 'She's exactly the sort of person you'd want to come to the country,' said Chuck Earnest, a farmer. 'I don't know how this fits into the deportation problem with Trump.' Celena Horton, a waitress at a steakhouse, said she and Hui would give each other huge tips when they ate at one another's restaurants. Horton said she loved almost everything that Trump was doing in his second term. Hui is the reason for the 'almost'. 'I can't believe they're doing this to her,' Horton said. The sentiment reflects a stirring unease nationally over Trump's handling of immigration, his most potent political issue. Although most Americans in a recent New York Times /Siena College survey said they still supported deporting immigrants who are in the country illegally, most respondents disapproved of how Trump was carrying out his immigration policies. In Kennett, some residents said they had implored state and national Republican lawmakers representing the area to intervene to stop Hui's deportation, but had gotten mostly cursory responses. Kennett's own leaders have not officially weighed in. Hui's church organised a prayer vigil for her and meal deliveries for her family. Her bosses at the waffle house held a 'Carol Day' fundraiser that brought in nearly $US20,000 ($31,100). Petitions to bring Hui home, which have been signed by hundreds of residents, now sit on every table, next to the jelly packets and ketchup. 'This lady has the biggest heart in the whole world,' said Liridona Ramadani, whose family runs John's Waffle and Pancake House. 'Democrat, Republican, everybody was there for Carol' on 'Carol Day', she said. Well, not everybody. When an article about her detention was posted by The Delta Dunklin Democrat, a local newspaper, it was deluged with 400 reader comments. Most of them expressing sympathy, but not all. 'If you're here illegally, expect to be removed,' said one. 'This is the consequence of being in a nation with laws,' said another. One commenter simply wrote 'Bye'. The online debate got so nasty that the owners of the waffle house implored people to keep their political comments to themselves. From jail, Hui expressed surprise that her arrest had galvanised so many people in Kennett. Only a few people in town speak Cantonese, she said, so when she settled there, she started to go by the English name she had chosen for herself as a girl in Hong Kong, when it was still under British rule. She started a family with her partner, who also works at restaurants around town. (He declined to comment for this article, and his immigration status is not clear.) Hui bought a house in Kennett, and her front yard is decorated with 'Student of the Month' signs. She made an application for asylum in 2009, saying that her mother in Hong Kong had beaten her and threatened her because Hui was a girl, and that she was afraid to return, according to court records. Her claim was denied in 2012, and an immigration judge ordered her deported. Despite multiple legal setbacks, though, she managed to stay in the US by getting temporary government permissions known as orders of supervision, according to her lawyer, Bolourtchi. Loading Hui's most recent order of supervision was valid through August 2025, records show. But on the day that Hui was arrested, she was told that the order was being terminated, Bolourtchi said. ICE officials did not respond to a request for comment about Hui's case. Hui said she had been blindsided by her arrest, which was one of many the Trump administration has been carrying out at mandatory immigration check-ins. She said she spends her days shuffling between her bunk and meals, and waiting for chances to video chat with her children. She frets over how she would see them again if she is deported to Hong Kong. Her lawyer recently filed a legal motion to reopen Hui's immigration case. Hui said that being separated from her family was the hardest part. Her 14-year-old son was upset that she missed his middle-school graduation. Her daughter told her that one of her school friends offered to adopt Hui so she could stay in the country. During one call, her children tried to cheer up Hui by telling her about 'Carol Day'. She said she was stunned to learn about the outpouring of support. 'I didn't know they loved me,' she said.
