Thursday, 20th June, The Irish Martyrs. Seventeen Irish martyrs, men and women, cleric and lay, put to death for the Catholic faith between 1579 and 1654 were beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1992: Dermot Hurley, Archbishop of Cashel, Conor O’Devany, Bishop of Down and Connor, Patrick O’Loughran chaplain to the O’Neill family, Maurice McKenraghty, chaplain to the Earl of Desmond. Dominicans Terence O’Brien and Peter Higgins, Franciscans John Kearney, Patrick O’Healy and Conrad O’Rourke, Augustinian William Tirry, and a Jesuit lay brother, Dominic Collins. Lay people Francis Taylor, Mayor of Dublin, Margaret Ball; the Wexford martyrs, a baker and a group of sailors, Robert Meyler (Tyler), Edward Cheevers, and Patrick Cavanagh. Six Catholics of Irish birth or connection executed for the faith in England had already been beatified in 1929and 1987: John Roche (alias Neale), John (Terence) Corey, Patrick Salman, John Cornelius (alias John Conor O’Mahoney), Carles Meehan, Ralph Corby.
Friday, 21st June, St Aloysius Gonzaga, born in Lombardy in 1568, joined the Jesuits in Rome. As a model novice he worked in the plague hospital and caught the fever, dying in 1591 at the age of twenty-three.
Saturday, 22nd June, St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More. John Fisher, 1469-1535, as vice-chancellor, built Christ’s and John’s Colleges, Cambridge, Bishop of Rochester. His love of truth brought about his death. Thomas More, 1478-1535, the first commoner to be Lord Chancellor of England, suffered martyrdom also under Henry VII. Patron of lawyers and those in public office. (Let us ask St. Thomas More to intercede for us as we pray for those who were elected to local councils and those who were elected to represent us in Europe. May they seek truth and justice for those they represent in public life.)