22 March 2023 - Wednesday of the 4th week of Lent - Nicholas Owen - Psalm 145, Isaiah 49:8-15

      The prophets were sent to Ancient Israel to not only proclaim a message from God, but also to bring the people back to God, to reconcile them to the Lord. The people of Israel may think that God had forsaken them for their transgressions and sins, but the prophet Isaiah reaffirms the message of the covenant that God made with his people, of his steadfastness in maintaining that relationship with them. The psalmist echoes this same message today, proclaiming that the Lord is gracious and merciful.

       In England, during the reign of Elizabeth I, Catholics were forbidden to practice their faith. 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 throughout England constructing hiding places in safe houses where priests could hide. During the evening and night, he worked 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 reveal the names of any other Catholic priests. He was released from custody when a wealthy Catholic paid his fine. He is believed to have engineered the escape of Father jJohn Gerard from the Tower of London in 1597. Owen 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 courage and convict that the prophets such as Isaiah has as well. All of us may be prophetic in our words and our actions in the way we live out our faith each day.