This penultimate day in October – all hallowe’ed eve’s eve – is the memorial of the Irish bishop and martyr, Terence O’Brien (1601-1651), put to a brutal death on October 30th for his hand in resisting the siege of the notorious Oliver Cromwell, grand-nephew of Thomas Cromwell. Both Cromwells were bitterly anti-Catholic ideologues, who dispatched many of the faithful to heaven, by the sword, fire and noose. A summary of his life may be found here (and, as mentioned in a previous post, because this link is from a rad-trad website, does not mean we here at C.I. subscribe to all of their views). Intriguing was the fact that the Roundhead soldiers beat the bishop’s body for three hours after his death, to an unrecognizable pulp. Hmm.
We also commemorate Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez (1532-1617), a Jesuit lay-brother who spent much of his long life – 46 years – as door-keeper at the newly-founded Jesuit college at Mallorca. He was severe with himself – his bodily mortifications and rigour of conscience were renowned – but always patient with others, gifted with ecstasies and miracles. His life bears much similarity to our own Canadian Saint André Bessette, the porter of Montreal. As the Second Vatican Council’s decree on the religious vocation says, the contemplative life is as effective as it is hidden. Saint Alphonsus lived the motto of his contemporary, Philip Neri: Amare nesciri – love to be unknown. Just so, the example of Saint Alphonsus resounds throughout the world.
The future Jesuit poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins – who also suffered in his vocation – wrote a poem on the saint, which the reader may find here.
As the poem ends, so may we:
Those years and years by of world without event
That in Majorca Alfonso watched the door.
What reward he had in heaven, we will one day, Deo volente, find out. But pray to him in the meantime. +