In England, during the reign of Elizabeth I, Catholics were forbidden to practice their religion. Starting in the year 1585, it was considered treason, punishable by death, if a man in England had been ordained a priest abroad. Thus, priests needed places to hide. Nicholas Owen was originally from the city of Oxford in England. He was a stone mason and carpenter by trade. He became one of the first English Jesuit lay brothers. From 1588-1605, Owen travelled all over England constructing hiding places in safe houses in England where priests could hide. During the evening and night he worked on his own, carving concealed rooms out of the stone walls or ground. The location of the secret room was known only to himself and the owner of the house. During the daytime he would work as a carpenter in the house in order to keep this secret from others.
He was arrested in 1594 with a Jesuit priest; despite torture, he would not give the names of any other Catholic priests. He was released when a wealthy Catholic paid a fine for him. He is believed to have engineered the escape of Father jJohn Gerard from the Tower of London in 1597. He was arrested again in 1606, at which time he died of torture. He was canonized a saint by Pope Paul VI in 1970 as one of the Forty Catholic Martyrs from England and Wales.
The bravery and courage of Nicholas Owen reminds me of the faith of one of the young men whom we hear about in the first reading in the book of Daniel. These young men are thrown into the fiery furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar for an unwillingness to worship foreign idols. Yet, rather than curse the king, or being mad at the Lord, they sing a song of praise to express his unwavering faith in the Lord. The martyrs, the saints, and many of the characters from Sacred Scripture are great examples of faith for all of us. May they give us encouragement and inspiration on our Lenten journey of faith.
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