27 March 2024

Saint of the Day: Bld Christopher Wharton

One of the many Martyrs of the English Deformation. He died under 'Good Queen Bess' as the heretics still call her. To see her real character read the introduction to this post.

Priest & Martyr

From Aleteia

By Br Silas Henderson, SDS

(1546-1600)

His life

+ Christopher was born in Middleton, Yorkshire, England. The son of a noble family, he was educated at Trinity College, Oxford. During his time at Oxford he converted to Catholicism.

+ In 1583, he left England and studied for the priesthood at the English College in Reims, France, and was ordained the following year. He completed his theological studies in 1586 and returned to England.

+ Few details of his ministry have come down to us. He was arrested in 1599 in the home of a widow named Eleanor Hunt.

+ During his imprisonment, he was forced to listen to Protestant sermons in the hopes that he would renounce the Catholic Faith. He was tried with Mrs. Hunt in 1600 and both were condemned to death. Christopher was executed on March 28, 1600. Mrs. Hunt would later die in prison.

+ Blessed Christopher Wharton was beatified as one of the “Eighty-Five Martyrs of England, Scotland, and Wales” in 1987.

For prayer and reflection

The right hand of the Lord hath wrought strength: the right hand of the Lord hath exalted me”—Verse before the Gospel for One Martyr outside Paschaltide

Prayer

Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God: that the venerable feast of Blessed Christopher, Thy Martyr, may through his intercession be strengthened in love of Thy Name.
Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
R. Amen. 

(from The Roman Missal: 
Common of One Martyr Outside of Paschaltide.)

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