Latest news with #religiouspersecution
Telegraph
4 days 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.
Russia Today
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Russia won't abandon Ukraine's Orthodox believers
Russia will not abandon Orthodox believers in Ukraine in the face of ongoing religious persecution by the authorities in Kiev, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has promised. Speaking at a Russian Foreign Ministry reception on Tuesday dedicated to Orthodox Easter, Lavrov condemned Kiev for cracking down on believers in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), calling it proof of the Ukrainian authorities' 'human-hating essence.' 'The authorities in Kiev have brought [the UOC] to the brink of legal liquidation… Churches continue to be seized, vandalized, and attacked, along with priests and parishioners,' Lavrov alleged. He pointed in particular to Ukraine's attempts to wrestle control over the iconic Kiev Pechersk Lavra, the country's oldest monastery. 'These acts are being carried out with the connivance and even support of many European countries, where the ghosts of neo-Nazism and Satanism are again lifting their heads,' the diplomat stated. 'Russia will not leave the Orthodox people of Ukraine in trouble,' Lavrov stressed, adding that Moscow 'will ensure that their lawful rights are respected' and that canonical Orthodoxy regains its central place in Ukraine's spiritual life. Ukraine has accused the UOC of maintaining ties to Russia despite the church declaring independence from the Moscow Patriarchate in May 2022. The crackdown has included numerous arrests of clergymen and church raids, one of the most notorious of which took place in the catacombs of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra where holy relics are kept. Last year, Zelensky also signed legislation allowing the state to ban religious organizations affiliated with governments Kiev deems 'aggressors,' effectively targeting the UOC. The Ukrainian leader has defended the measures, claiming they are necessary to protect the country's 'spiritual independence' amid the conflict with Russia. Meanwhile, Kiev has openly supported the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which is regarded as schismatic by both the UOC and the Russian Orthodox Church. The UN has also voiced concern about the state of religious freedoms in Ukraine, particularly regarding legislation allowing Kiev to target different institutions.
