The resistance to the crowned monster Henry VIII, by the London Carthusians, an order famed and loved for its service to the poor of London, rings down through the centuries. Blessed Richard Bere is one of seven of their number who were chained to posts standing and left to starve to death in Newgate prison. A word by them would have gained them release from their dreadful human fate. That word was not given. Blessed Richard Bere died on August 9, 1537. Think of him the next time you sing these lines:
Our Fathers, chained in prisons dark,
Were still in heart and conscience free:
How sweet would be their children’s fate,
If they, like them, could die for thee!
FYI- This verse is either omitted entirely from the hymn in the OCP hymnal, or has been shuffled to the bottom so it is not sung.
I have never sung it and had to look it it up in order to find out that it is part of Faith of Our Fathers (which I love).
I have at least some hope that I could face a red martyrdom by bullet or sword, a single decision of absolute fidelity. But thus, by starvation, when my hunger conspires against my resolve day after day… I greatly fear that my flesh would eventually win 💔
At my ordination to the diaconate, I had Faith of Our Fathers as the recessional hymn. Must say, it was only the older portion of the congregation singing it – somehow, it is erased from modern hymnals.
Too many want a Faith without the Cross Don
I dunno that I would call martyrdom a “sweet” fate. Honorable, yes. Courageous, certainly. “Blessed”, which is the word used in the version I’m familiar with, I suppose. But “sweet”? C’mon. Their martyrdom was horrific, terrifying, and not something one should wish even on their worst enemy. We can admire their courage and follow their example but do we have to like it or wish for it?